Ermmm...Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & probably a few Happy Birthdays!!

Well doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself!....and I have been enjoying my time at Uni soooo much....and then when there was a holiday it was Christmas, New Year, essays to write, an exam to revise for.....then reading, and reading and reading! And to be honest if I am on the computer I just want to research, research & research!!! So apologies everyone for the belated Christmas, New Year & Birthday wishes.......and truth be told I may well miss Easter...so Happy Easter to you all too!

I don't know why I suddenly had the urge to do a blog post....I think it was a mixture of having an email from a special blogpal mixed in with the desire to take a few photos. I went for a walk by the river...first time this year!...and found myself composing a blog post in my head as I took a few photos...so here goes.....

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR: rather scarce photowise....must have been enjoying myself too much.......Mandy, Chris, Nicole & Chris's mum Edith came for Christmas dinner......I really enjoyed cooking it and their company. The only photo I can find is this one of Manda bringing in the Christmas Pudding (alight).....I love the look on her face!

NEW YEAR'S EVE: we all went to Leanne's......had such fun and a great buffet! Melissa has a Wii and I really enjoyed trying to play the bells.....Leanne is hooked on it and I managed to get a sneaky video of her & her friend Kim playing (please excuse the odd profanity)... a bit of trepidation here as this is the first time I've tried loading a video direct via blogger!




UNIVERSITY: all going well...I've surprised myself by getting grades ranging from 2.1+'s to a couple of 1='s. I was convinced that I'd failed my exam and was so suprised that I'd passed! When I reread my essay I thought...'I didn't even know I knew all this!'..lol

We had a couple of lectures called off because Uni was closed due to the snow...so have been playing catch up. It's already reading week/half term although we don't seem to have been back long! I would be finishing an essay about Poe's The Tell-tale Heart if I wasn't writing this post. The financial situation is terrible as a 'single' student without any children at home. My grant doesn't even cover my rent and council tax (yes I do still have to pay council tax)...but SOMEHOW I intend to get through the next few years & get my degree...not sure how yet.

We've had snow both before Christmas.....


and after......though not as much as many parts of the UK.

(that video still hasn't loaded....wonder if it's supposed to take this long!....think I'll go and have a cuppa)

Time for that walk by the river now........................one small step for mankind, one muddy trainer for Ruth.......
The ducks are out to play.....and these 'ugly ducklings' are starting to turn into......
.....swans...............

and some people are 'messing about on the river'....

or enjoying the tranquility.......

Time to 'paws' and enjoy the view....


you can see that the meadows had flooded......
My pet hate....LITTER.......part of a shopping trolley in the river...

and look how close the rubbish bin is to this litter by the bench!!!...it would have only taken seconds to use the bin!
A remnant of Summer frisbee playing....................

a remnant of Winter snow....

I remember when Mick & I used to collect molehill soil to fill our tubs....sweet memories....Back home in the garden now.......the snowdrops are beginning to bloom...
and the Iris.....
the daffodils started blooming three weeks later than last year!...
Well I must leave you and get back to my essay....I mustn't let my studies SLIDE!...
Till next time....whenever that may be....Be Happy, Stay Healthy & Keep Smiling.

OUR WEDNESDAY WANDERINGS AND WONDERINGS

We all had a real fun day on Wednesday; after a good cooked breakfast to set us up for the day we walked down the Quay for a boat trip. These are run by the River Stour Trust (this web site is well worth a visit) who are doing such a marvellous job maintaining and upkeeping the river.

We walked back home via the river bank and waved to the Rosette as it passed us on it's next trip. After a quick snack and a sit down we were back on our feet for a walk up to the Big Apple Bowling Alley

Phil keeping a tight hold on his little sister's hand....sweet

Leanne in motion

Kirstyand Mel

Mel was so thrilled when she got her first STRIKE! and did a celebratory dancePhil didn't actually play though he was quite happy to watch....secretly I think he was worried that one of us girls might beat him!!!!! As it was I won the first game and Mel won the second.....so it turned out the oldest and youngest were both winners!Some of you probably read my "Ghost Clusters Post"....Leanne had never visited the church and after seeing my photos of the orbs was quite keen to go there. It was dark by now so after a quick visit to MacDonalds (well we had to pass it...tee hee) and with it being such a lovely warm evening we thought we'd walk home that way......once again I took loads of photos (don't panic I'm not posting them all!) and although we saw nothing with the naked eye....... the camera saw all!!!!
again once the photos were lightened so many more orbs could be seen.........a copped close up of the orb by the small window from the photo aboveI also tried to take a photo of the beautiful full moon...this is the best of a bad bunch..It was funny because I took this photo of Leanne and we all thought that it was the moon at the top....until we realised the moon was shining in completely the opposite direction!!!!
this is a cropped close-up of that orb.....and in this photo of Phil there appears to be an orb hovering over his stomach.....

Finally I must show you Mel's favourite photo...this is a crop from a larger photo.....Mel's pretty sure this is a Fairy...possibly the Tooth Fairy who often visits her at the moment and leaves her £1 for a tooth!

Leanne & co are back home now and time for me to get the house ready for tomorrow as Lynn is coming to stay. Then I'll be able to show you what I bought her for her birthday!

TO TOWN - TO "TEM"

You may remember some time ago that I did a post about a tree carving in Bellvue Park; well that's not the only tree carving in Sudbury and last Tuesday when I joined Manda & Nicole for a walk into town........ (Nicole had to get new trousers for school......*she did well it only took her to 3 hours to choose some!!!!....LOL).....oops went off the subject a bit there.....back to the tree carving. This carving stands on the edge of Newton Road and portrays the life of a Silkworm (Bombyx mori). Sudbury has a long history of silk manufacture and so this carving is very appropriate. Sadly I can find no information as to who carved it and the information plaque has been vandalised....possibly it is the work of the same artist who did the one at Bellvue Park. The top of the totem portrays an adult silkmoth........moving down you can see silkworms entwined around the trunk...then moving down there are reels of silk......and right at the base there's a woman in a silk dress* actually I had quite a fun time; under the guise of "picking clothes out for my grandaughter" I tried some of the "modern" styles on myself. I'm not someone who would normally frequent a clothes shop and would never wear some of the flamboyant styles and colours that the "youngsters" wear today.....but I must admit that if I could have ignored my "old ladies head" some of them didn't look too bad. I even bought some crop trousers for only £5! We then dropped into "Huffers" and had some lunch in their outside area...their chicken mayonnaise topped jacket potatoes were yummy!
and then walked back home via the river.......I wish I had sound effects with this photo...these ducks were swimming near the opposite bank and Nicole tried her duck calling technique.......and it worked!!!!!
It's been a miserable weekend weatherwise here in Cornard and this morning is cold, wet and gloomy with no prospect of sunshine on the horizon. Manda and co are off for a 3 day camping trip....I really hope the weather improves for them.

This morning my thoughts turn to the people affected by Hurricane Dean; which has wreaked havoc in the eastern Caribbean and began to hit Jamaica on Sunday night. I hear it is heading for Mexico and the Cayman Islands and could affect Florida and Texas. I hope all my blogpals and their families are safe.

DRAGONS!

After posting about the False Dragonhead flower in my post yesterday morning I found my mind turning to thoughts of Dragonflies. With a day that promised wall to wall sunshine I thought it ideal for a walk along the river and some Dragonfly chasing. I also wanted to check out a plant that I'd seen there last week but hadn't taken a photo of. On one of her posts the other day Katya...Life in the Bristolwood had posted a photo of Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) which looked very similar so a closer look was called for.

I've almost convinced myself that it is Jewelweed.....just wish I could have got closer to it instead of relying on my camera's zoom.

I was pleased to see the cattle were still about; I wondered if they may have been taken off of their grazing land due to the Foot & Mouth scare.There didn't seem to be many Dragonflies around...at least none that settled....but in the distance I could hear the sound of drums...Oh I feel a Jim Reeves song coming on...LOL. I immediately realised what it was........DRAGONBOAT RACE DAY....this event happens every year on the river as a charity fund raising event but I must have missed the advertisement saying when it was to be held. How weird that I went for a walk looking for DragonFLIES and end up seeing dragonBOATS!!!!
The teams are all from local rowing clubs or organisations and had chosen some fabulous names for themselves. The British Sugar team had called themselves "Beet Head" and the Rugby Club U17 were the "The Little Flankers". Even our local Waitrose supermarket had a team "The Waitrose Warriors"; they were wearing Afro Style green wigs...they must have been boiling in them.I wish I'd realised that this event was on as Leanne & co could have come over and watched it; I bet DILLY would have loved it too!
There was a beer tent...........

and I had to have a laugh at this guy swilling his pint outside the portable loos!!As I'd only originally intended to go out for a short walk I hadn't taken any food with me so must admit that although the beer tent didn't tempt me the burger and hot dog stall did!I'm not sure what this nifty motor had to do with the event...possibly they were sponsoring one of the teams.
One of the highlights for me the children is the Punch and Judy Show......

even the Queen dropped in on the act......notice her extra big hand....very handy when you have to do a lot of waving!The chidren (and I) really enjoyed the whole show...this is just a snippet (hold on to your eardrums!)



I'm glad these ducks got out of the way in time before one of the races started!


It really was a fantastically hot day........some of the Rugby Club lads found a great way of cooling off!!!!!

I'm not sure which team won as I left before all the final...........I never did get to take any Dragonfly photos while I was on my walk.....but when I got home...there in the garden was this!and this!!!! and he even stayed around long enough for me to get a closeup of his body........
and his head!!!!


It certainly was a day full of Dragons.....guess you never know when one might fly by........