New Beginnings

Today, the last day of February is cold, very wet with dull grey skies. I had planned to do some gardening today, but the weather has prevented this.

I have not written in my blog for many months, but plan to do so again. I will record the building work, which will be carried out this year, to bring our cottage into the twenty-first century. Tomorrow I shall restart my weight loss journey. I have already lost eleven kilos, but have plateaued ,so today I shall eat what I like; tomorrow is another day.

Meringues at Scotsdales

Today we went to Scotsdales Garden Centre, not to buy very much, but mainly for a look round. After lunch we made our purchases and before coming home we had coffee and a meringue. These are the peppermint ones, they are also available as cherry or raspberry. and are served with cream. As you would expect, they are gluten-free and made on the premises by Sarah.

Other purchases were made including some white Hellebores, pale yellow primroses as well as the bright and colourful variants. I also purchased a new pair of Aqua coloured 'Hotter' sandals; did I need  a new pair, no, but I liked them.

Today was my birthday so we visited Cambridge in the United Kingdom to spend the day, sight seeing, taking photographs and shopping. During the afternoon we visited Harriet's Tea Rooms in Green Street where we had a delicious Special Afternoon Tea. Mine was gluten-free and consisted of sandwiches, these were smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber and chicken. There were gluten-free scones with Harriet's strawberry jam and cream as well as assorted cakes. All washed down with a pot of Harriet's special blend coffee. My husband's tea was equally as good although not gluten-free. It is advisable to book, especially if you have any dietary requirements. The price incudes a voucher for a free tea or coffee on your next visit.

The gluten-free option is the one in the foreground

Sunday Weigh-in

I have lost some weight, but post Christmas I needed to lose a little more.  I am using 'myfitnesspal' to track and count my calories. I have not lost any weight for the last two weeks despite sticking to my allowance.

I am exactly the same as I was two weeks ago, despite a very good effort. However, I do have a valid excuse and it appears this excuse will be valid for ever! I have some medication which helps my Sciatica pain, which I have been taking for a while now. On Thursday when I had my yearly check-up and complained that it seemed even more difficult to lose weight, the doctor informed me that this medication extracts more calories from the food I eat; how can that be right? Her answer was to eat less or walk more; on 1200 calories a day I will not have the energy to walk more.

 If I was meant to eat salad I would have been born a rabbit!   

Wildlife in my Garden

This morning while looking out of the window at the many birds on the feeders in our garden,  I saw, all at the same time, about twenty Mallards on the pond, two squirrels, two male pheasants and suddenly a very small Muntjac ran from the curved border down to the pond; clearly something had startled it. There was no time to grap a camera but here is a picture of a Muntjac I took the other day.

A Muntjac in the snow, it has just been startled by something moving along the lane, as had the Robin which took off as well. This picture was taken on 24 January 2013.

Dougal in the Garden

I really should update this more often! I started this as a daily on line journal, but that was before I discovered blipfoto which has rather taken over my life as my journal.

Dougal is progressing well after his accident which he had almost five months ago and for the last day or two he has been allowed out without his harness, which  he hates. We go with him and Florence also joins us on our walk around the garden. His back legs get tired very quickly, although he is not keen to come back in again. Once he has been persuaded to come in he generally has a very long sleep on the foot on our bed.

New Neighbours

Today I discovered that the squirrels which visit our garden have started nest building in an old ivy covered tree opposite my spare bedroom window. I think only one was building the nest as three others were in the garden eating from the squirrel feeders. It was extremely difficult to capture it with leaves in its mouth as it moved very fast and went in and out of various entrances and exits. In the end I focused on one entrance and waited until it went through; this is the best I could get but does show the leaves in its mouth.

A European Grey Squirrel building a nest.

Snow

Overnight there was a lot of snow so we went for a walk along the footpath taking photographs as we went.

Two views of a snowy lane.





St Mary's Church

                                                                                           

                                                                                         Train travelling to London

Dougal - Going Outside

Dougal says, today when the back door was opened I rushed out into the garden. The big problem was that I could not run around freely, I was on a lead like a dog, only I am definitely a cat.

It was quite cold so I sat down amongst the leaves on the lawn and decided that being outside was not as good as it used to be when it was summer and much warmer and I could run free. As you can see, my fur is now almost, but not quite, back to normal.

Daddy carried me back inside and I have spent all morning on mummy’s lap; she is having great difficulty using her laptop. I hope I will be taken outside again as it might be nice even if I do have to wear a harness and lead.

Dougal - Harness

Dougal says, yesterday I discovered what a harness was, it is a bit like a collar, but there is a bit that goes round my tummy too. Daddy put it on and then I went and hid and did not come out until it was dark; I did not realise that he was going to take me outside for a walk.