Ooooh, this is new

Today’s picture is of Florence as she looks out of the bedroom door onto the balcony for the first time. She explored both ends, before realising that she could get down into the garden, by going over the kitchen roof. There is still much work to be done to the exterior walls and the decking still has to have a proper floor added, but it is now usable. We must remember that if we want to keep the cats in then we must keep these doors closed.

The kitchen designer came today and as the first person who visited had made such a hash of everything it was decided that it would be a good idea to start again from scratch. My husband had also drawn some sketches to show exactly what we wanted and where it was to go. Hopefully the new design, expected early next week will be exactly what we require.

Polo

Today’s picture is of Polo, the mother of Dougal, Florence and Sybil. She was reluctant when it came to posing for her picture to be taken, having just finished eating her tea; in fact her tongue is still licking her lips. I only have one more day to feed Polo and Sybil, before their family come home from their skiing holiday.

I have been without Internet and main line telephone for much of the day as the window, where the line comes into the house, was taken out and replaced today, which meant disconnecting the line. It took longer than it should have done, the walls, which are about 200 years old are proving to be much stronger than our builders first thought!

The builder brought the bathroom catalogues today for me to choose which ones I want in the shower room. I know exactly what I want to choosing should not be difficult.

Flowers

Hellebores

Winter Aconites

Snowdrops with Raindrops

Snowdrops with Raindrops

 A dull day with rain during the afternoon hence my picture of flowers with raindrops on them. I had difficulty choosing one picture today and wavered between these four pictures.

Crocus - From Above

Another sunny day, but it is also windy, this lovely weather means that more of the outside building work can be be completed. Today the window in the family bathroom has been replaced although it has the wrong glass in it. The builder decided we were having Pelerine patterned glass; no, we are having Cotswold. More rendering is also going on the outside as well as inside so things are still moving along nicely.

The Crocus are now beginning to flower, some yellow and some purple. Today’s picture is a purple crocus, which is just beginning to open; it was taken from above.

Snowdrops

Today the sun shone and there were blue skies, so this morning I did some gardening; not much, just an hour or so tidying up some plants. It was warm enough to have our morning coffee on the balcony although as yet we do not have any chairs or a table! This afternoon I caught up with the latest episode of Broadchurch.

Today’s picture is of some Snowdrops, flowering just at the edge of the rockery, which is just above the small pond, we have hundreds of Snowdrops in the garden; the photograph does not do them justice.

Spiral

Today I was so busy that by this evening I had not taken any photographs; this is an emergency, guess what it is picture.

The Town Lock-up

Today we continued our wedding anniversary celebrations by having lunch at The China Garden Restaurant in Great Dunmow. Then as usual we had a walk down to the ‘Doctor’s Pond’ to photograph the ducks and geese.

I had planned to blip one of the Canada Geese that I photographed, but on the way back I saw this little building. I have walked past it many times, but never took much notice of it before.  If you are interested, the plaque beside the left-hand window states:

TOWN LOCK-UP

This small single cell prison ceased its function in 1843 when the Dunmow Police Station opened.

During the 1890’s this disused Lock-up was adapted to be a Soup Kitchen to help feed the poor of the area during those hard years.

Lady Warwick is reputed to have provided venison for the kitchen from her labouring lands.