pond life

In our garden we have a pond.At every house we have lived in we have had a pond due to my sons love of pond life! We have 15 fish 3 of them are koi.We also have lots of frogs.We had masses of frogspawn but due to the hungry koi we never have tadpoles.As i was telling Rattling on in her blog about her pond.

Last night the pond was a hive of activity with the frogs croaking getting louder and louder.

Frogs popping up from all directions.

And sitting singing in the evening sunshine.





And this morning,more of this had appeared.I have never known them to spawn twice.I'm now in a dilemma.Do i move some frog spawn out?I cant move the koi!I always feel terrible for the poor frogs when they come back year after year and still end up with no babies.If i move some out do i move some frogs too?Oh dear life is so complicated!!

Meet Jess

Jess belongs to a friend of ours from church,she comes to stay with us when her mummy's away.shes very good and puts up with all the other animals here at the madhouse. First she played with Ellie-may.

While T bag played with Millie-mog.

Then they all played together (well almost!).

Then it was time for a snuggle and a nap.

until someone with a camera got too close.

But Jess slept on.

On your bike

For a few days in the summer this will be my main view whilst i travel 174 miles coast to coast following my friends along Hadrian's cycle way.They have managed to get a bit of practice in.

We will spend one night in here.4 adults,1 child,a dog and 5 bikes!

Tomorrow i have to learn to maneuver this.

Unless i can convince them all to get one of these!.

sorry about the poor quality of the pictures.

A bridge too far

It was a lovely day so we decided to go for a walk and feed the ducks.Ducks were few fishermen many. (we didn't feed them!) To get to the duck pond we walk along a little lane know locally as field tops.When you get to the other end you are in a little part of our town where my family has lived since the 17oo's.Its full of old cottages scattered amongst the newer buildings,and old buildings with new uses.

Half way along the lane is a little bridge,it seems to be stuck in the middle of nowhere now, on one side of it are NHS offices and the other is a housing estate.You can't cross it as its up in the air the land must have been dug away and lowered when building began.

The date on one side of the bridge is 1899 (very hard to see in the above photo sorry)

And the date on the other side 1891.

When i was a small child i used to walk along here with my grandma,she would tell me the most fantastic stories of her childhood growing up at the other end of the lane.

She also would tell me the story of the wealthy mill owner who had a Mistress. She lived across the fields in a little village.The village and the mill were separated by 2 big walls that had been built to house a little lane that ran along the field tops.The wealthy mill owner decided to build a bridge so his Mistress could cross it to be with him.He started building his bridge in 1891 but his wife found out and work stopped.It wasn't until his wife died 8 years later that the bridge was finished and the mill owner and his Mistress could be together.

I thought as i got older that the story may have been made up by grandma or one of those stories passed down that you just never know if its the truth.Whilst doing my family tree and researching the area i found the story in a book and found it is in fact true.

That time of year again.

May is a month full of birthdays in this house,Family and friends birthdays all seem to come at once.Here's a snap shot of a couple...

We designed.... We partied........

We danced........

some dafter than others!.......

Then the next day for No 3s birthday we baked......

And came up with this......(Oh dear! ) Happy 17th birthday B. xx

Where is it now???

Sometimes i have to hunt for my lovely new camera.And sometimes when i upload the photos i find things like this!!

Here we go again....or not

I see the air space over Scotland and Ireland has closed yet again due to volcanic ash.It a good job we don't need to go anywhere here at the madhouse. But i do feel for those who are still stuck abroad,or need to travel the world for work.I read yesterday about one little boy who has had to be temporarily enroled in a school in Australia.His family's flight was due to leave today!
The girls keep checking out flightradar24 it shows you where all the planes are all over the world and if you hold your mouse over a little yellow plane it gives its call sign,and if you click on it it will show you the route its taken.We used it to follow No 1s flight to America last year.It was a very strange sight when the air space was completely empty a few weeks ago,but at least today some planes are in the air.