New Pond

Bills been busy doing some alterations to the fish pond...the sun gets on it quite a lot of the day and was starting to turn the water green so we decided to put a roof on it to protect it from the sun,,,,after a few drawings he came up with something we both liked!

The reed roof works really well--lets enough light through but keeps the brightness off allowing us to see the fish much better!

It didnt take too long to do---next job is to move the filter box and get the underwater lights set up again...then the fairy lights in the roof ready for the late night BBQ's -cant wait to see it all finished now!

We had a visit from the little whirlwind--aka Ollie yesterday when he came with his mummy for dinner...one thing we learnt is we need to be able to put up a net across the patio side of the pond when the little ones visit--Ollie soon lobbed his water bottle into the pond--followed closely by some mint from the garden! He would soon have been in the water as well if we hadnt been on hand to stop him! Not a very child friendly garden!

Ive been waiting for somewhere to put my lovely wooden turtle for ages--now he looks at home on the side of the pool! The new air stones we have fitted to the pond have made a huge difference, the ripples and bubbles in the water are so calming..we have decided that we are not going to have the water dropping into the pond making a noise when the filter box is moved, but will have the water diverted right into the water so it will be much quieter..

There was a beautiful rainbow last night  when we came back from the hospital!

Tommy!

Becky has been transferred back to our local hospital in Ludlow now,,,much better for visiting etc..the midwives are also very good and will feed the baby in the night so Becki can get her rest.     Tommy as he will be known is being as good as gold and sleeping well for his mummy..He has changed in looks again already,,and now he looks a bit like my sister did when she was born...He already fills the first size baby clothes -such a shame they grow so quickly!

Proud Grandad !

I love my cuddles with him!

Isn't he cute!

Thomas Frederick

I have had the most emotional 24 hours of my life ---My Becki was taken into Shrewsbury hospital yesterday to be induced with her first baby as she had developed gestational diabetes and wasn't allowed to go over her due date in case the baby grew too big!  WE had a laugh in the waiting room when I produced some Pringle crisps and said "When you pop you just cant stop! "

both me and Becki's feet were swelling up in the heat--luckily I had bought along a small water sprayer and we soon cooled down using the spray to cool down our feet!

After keeping Becki and her partner Wayne waiting from 8.30am until 7.30pm for a place on the labour ward they eventually moved them in....Becky had already started labour by this time on her own, and found the big bouncy ball gave her some relief from the pains...

This labour business is bloody hard work.....LOL Wayne catching 5 mins in the middle of the night!

All was going well for a while then the midwife noticed Becki's blood pressure was going sky high...so she was tyred on some drugs to try and bring it down,,, as her blood pressure went up the baby's heart rate went down...it got quite scary at times in there.Poor Becki was hooked up to so many drips and machines in there! At 2.45am it was decided to put her on a epidural  as the drug used can bring down the blood pressure.Becky could still feel her legs and the pressure of the pains but it took the edge off it for her...

Poor Wayne was knackered and fell asleep leaning on the sink....I managed 10 mins in the chair at 5.45am but that was it otherwise....I stayed awake for the 24 hours... The students who had been booked into the Serenity workshop all knew there was a possibility that the workshop could be cancelled if the baby didn't arrive on time--and Bill rang then all at 8am this morning to tell them the workshop was off as the babs still hadn't come..all were very kind and understanding about it and are coming to other future workshops instead...

Becky and Wayne hadn't made any fancy 'birth plan' which was a good job the way things turned out--but the only things they wanted was for themselves to look and see what sex the baby was and for Wayne to cut the cord! Becky let the epidural wear off so she could feel the pain and know when to push, and after just 20 mins our beautiful Thomas was born.....

the proud parents...

 few mins after his birth....waiting to be dressed.

''Blimey Nanny --this lights are bright'' he seems to be saying...

doesn't he look lovely?

proud Daddy Wayne....

and a very proud Nanny!!!

and a very happy relieved mummy....boy she was a star ! She made no fuss at all, was very brave at all times, and I'm so proud of her I cant tell you...

Becky is having a   well deserved cup of tea

isn't he beautiful? He looks just like his mummy did when she was born.. hopefully they will be transferred back to Ludlow hospital in the morning, as long as Thomas's blood sugars are OK after he has had 4 clear blood tests.We are on the market tomorrow so I wont be able to see them until early evening....I cant wait! I hope Becki will stay in Ludlow as long as possible so she can rest--at least the midwives there will feed the babies in the night to give the mums some well deserved sleep..

New Photos

I took this photo of the cow parsley this morning...one of my favorite ones from today...

The woodpecker is a regular visitor to our feeders...

what a beautiful sight--but not good if you suffer with hay fever though!

I took these photos this morning nr Leominster..stunning..

acres and acres of yellow oil seed rape..

hawthorn blossom is just coming out as well....

love this one too...

Mr and Mrs Bullfinch visit us most days--what pretty birds they are..

love the reflections in this photo -taken in the lake district..

Lavender Lake Workshop May 19th

Ali came back for the 2nd time and bought along a friend Dawn...unfortunately some of my photos have not come out again...and I have none of Dawn except on the final lineup..I'm going to start taking my old camera to class I think in future--..everyone loved working on a black canvas...its great fun as we cant see the colour we put on the canvas until we start adding the white paint to the canvas..great fun!

Sally---Bless her--came for her 3rd workshop and bought along her friend Sheila....as it was Bills birthday the day before and she had seen it on Facebook-she bought him a lovely cake and card ....very kind of her..

Sally was one of the most nervous students I had ever seen when she came to the first class...to have watched her confidence grow like it has is quite brilliant! She makes lots of wise decisions for herself during the workshop ...

Helen was treated for her birthday by her friend and our 'paper lady' Tracey--both newbies and both convinced they couldn't paint.....they loved it and both created wonderful atmospheric paintings..

Tracey loved using the bashing and tickling brushes....her clouds had great shape very quickly....you would never have known it was her first time.

Marguritta is a little star bless her--she has also grown in confidence with each workshop...

Elaine drove from llanidloes for the workshop and received her artist brooch from me for attending 6 workshops

Sheila has done watercolours for 7 years but this was a first for her using oils....

Sue is a great friend as well as a student--one of the lovely things about the workshops is how many wonderful folk we meet and end up being  close friends with....

wow ladies--what lovely results.....

Marguritta, Jenny,Elaine,Ali and Dawn with their masterpieces..

Tracey,Helen,Sue,Sally and Sheila with their masterpieces....looking forward to seeing them all again!

Doddington Friendship Club

I was back at the Doddington Friendship club on Tuesday to do a demo again, they enjoyed it so much last year they wanted me back for more.....I painted 2 different paintings for them this time----Winter Wonderland and Serenity.                                                                                                                                                                                         We took my daughter Becki along with us as she is about to have her baby anytime now.....We arrived at the demo to find we had left the bag with the photo albums, diary etc at home!  Then when I asked Bill to replenish my white oil paint on my palette during the demo we found that the box containing my oil paints had also been left behind at home as well!  After a panic lasting 2 milli-seconds I sorted the problem using the jar of medium I had mixed to coat the canvas with....it worked a treat to add the snow to the path and bushes. I painted both paintings in less than an hour and had several rounds of applause for doing so...

Doreen on the left won the Winter Wonderland painting and Mary won the  Serenity one---Mary was really lucky as she won the raffle last year too....

Its always a pleasure to go up Clee Hill--the views from there are just beautiful....