Blakemere - First Boot of The year

Nice to get back to some booting. Bumper crowd at the field in Blakemere. So many in fact that there was an overflow in the field next door. Got a few bargains including some art house DVD's , a game, some candles, pots , plants, boxes, garden stuff, lovely 3-D printed toys by a young lad who gave us a free rabbit for buying so many! We told his mother he should do a foundation course at art school. He was only 12 so has plenty of time to decide. We are biased of course.

Marbury Picnic

Nice day for a picnic in Marbury Country Park. Met up with old chums Tone and Pene. Lovely walk in the bluebell woods. The sunshine really brought out all the colours. The park was packed but thankfully the woods were very quiet. Hazel put her bird app on and discovered gold cap, wren , collar doves, blue tits, great tits etc. close by. Picnic under the dappled shade of the cherry tree - the blossom landing on our sandwiches from time to time! Went to the garden centre which was also very busy. hazel bought a couple of plants and gave one to Pene and Tone. Home for tea and biscuits.

Fishy Ponds Walk

This mornings wander round the fishy ponds and Community Orchard. Hazel turned on her birdy app and she could hear a blue tit ,great tit, dunnock, gold cap, red cap, a small cream, two dozen eggs and a widget. The ducklings were grown in number too. getting very adventurous - exploring all parts of the weedy perimeters. Nice a sunny. A shield bug landed on my ear and made me jump! My photo of it wasn't appreciated.

Walk To Park

This mornings walkies to the park and the Co-op. Bumped into Richard and Sparky for a quick chat as we sat on our favourite bench watching the clouds scud by. Lost of dandelions in the park - bird sounds on the app included great tit, blackbird, dunnock and green finch. I'm sure Hazel Jones will correct me if I am wrong!

Chester

This mornings wanderings around Chester. The cathedral and the shops etc. Massive queue outside the tiny record shop. No photo sadly. The other record shop was sensible in not taking part in Record Store Day but was still busy and with two records playing at the same time was a bit much and drove me out of the shop after 5 minutes of rummaging through the world music CD section. So no bargains to be had but a few photos. Hazel went off to buy some ribbon and a tin drawer for her notebooks. We had an al fresco lunch sat at the bus stop - vege sausage roll for H. and a vege curry pasty for me.

Walk to River Dane ( Trying Out New Pocket Camera )

Nice sunny day but a bit nippy. We never know which season it is and which clothes to wear! Lovely to see two ducklings on the pond. So tiny! No swans - the geese seem to have taken over the swans nest. A few coots and moorhens. Grumpy do walker. Nice mad from the apple crushing event was waiting for the others to turn up to mow the grass and harvest the willow. He asked if we wanted any willow. We said we didn't as didnt have a damp garden which is what they like apparently. We dotn fancy weaving baskets either. No tiny froglets.

Marbury and The Broken Cross

Nice sunny day again and more like July than April! Went out with Stella and Brian again to Marbury Country Park and had a picnic after a walk n the woods to see the bluebells which were just beginning to bloom. Better next week probably. Park was full but easy to escape the crowds. Then to Winnington to the garden centre to buy some herbs and looks at stones and rocks for £6 each. Archie has about 100 in his back garden!. Then to weird warehouse nearby that sells bankrupt stock or slightly damaged packaging returns from Amazoom etc. Hazel got a lot of crafty stuff, brown paper, fabric paint, hooks, wrapping paper etc. going cheap. I found a roll of stickers with bees on to decorate my envelopes. Then home for a welcome cup of tea. Later went to the Broken Cross pub for a drink and pub grub. The place has improved since we last bought a dry curled up sandwich there about 15 years ago! its been through a couple of managers since then. Very nice squeaky cheese burger and fries. So much for the diet!