Turquoise wings

 Aren't you lucky, you get 3 outfits this week!  I can tell it is getting warmer as I am more creative and having more fun with my wardrobe.  This outfit was worn 2 Sundays ago and I felt like I had wings or fins. This pretty green skirt looks like it has fins- it was a birthday present in around 2009-2011 from my Stepmum and Dad and unbelievably, I only shared it on the blog once, in 2012 here.  I wore it with this top from a brand called Sun and Sand. I bought it at Spitalfields Market when I was 22 and it was the best stall ever- everything on it was made of white cheesecloth with printed butterflies and flowers on them! I bought this top as it was so different from anything I owned. I still love it! I added a wooden Peacock butterfly necklace from the now closed Ladybird Likes and a charity-shopped turquoise cardigan! I wore it in honour of my Mum who came over with CBC's birthday presents.  Of course I cunningly managed to put her to work since she was in the garden...she helped me get some compost out of the compost bin and trimmed a few things! She took this photo!

I wanted to share a nice thing or two from today.

I had a student teacher lead the music lesson today. She did really well and it was nice to give her the opportunity. She's helping me with choir this half term which is so nice.  When I went to the classroom to pick the children up for their lesson, their regular class teacher told me that the British Bird poster that I had made for the children and put up in their classroom was really popular- a little boy, apparently, has been asking to go over and look at it every time he has finished his work and he seems really fascinated by it.  He told her that he's been looking out for birds and he'd only seen a Collar Dove before.  I told him to keep looking out for them.  The lovely thing was, that later, after my lesson, he and another boy came rushing back to the Music Room to tell me that they had seen a Chaffinch.  They were SO happy.  Later, when I went outside to fetch my next class, they told me a Gull had flown up in the tree.  

Another lovely thing was how hard the children in the orchestra had worked on the Tetris theme- considering we have only done it for 2 weeks, it sounded really good. I was so impressed with them- they had clearly all gone home and practiced!

I'm starting Recorder Club next week but doing it before school and I hope that I get takers for it as I needed to ask parental permission for it because it involves making sure they are there for 9am.  I had about 40 children who said they'd like to join it (in year 4) but I just worry about the parents responding as they proved in Lockdown, that they don't respond to things I send. It's free and they won't be missing proper lesson time so there shouldn't really be any objection but who knows how they will respond.

The caretaker showed me the work and developments he is working on in the conservation area and it looks so pretty.  I'm going to take some wildflower seeds in next week to plant in a bed that is there.  He's so lovely, this caretaker and like me, hates, hates, hates, hates waste!  We always gleefully egg each other on if there is some reuse or recycling we can do! 

Hope all is well with you!

xx

Birds and Butterflies and Blooms

Here are some birds and butterflies I have enjoyed in the last couple of weeks!


As I walked down the steps to the main high street in Aldeburgh, I saw these beautiful lilac blooms.  And a myriad contented bees.

Above, blossoming blackberries being pollinated by our bumbles.

Below, the beautiful purple blooms are irrestistible at Benjamin Britten's house.

A flower bee enjoys the alien beauty and elixir of our returning Passiflora.

A Holly Blue butterfly reclines on the blackberries.

A hover fly or wasp of some sort on the Campanula!

Our Lavender has blossomed this week and we are the proud hosts to many bees!

What a joy!

How are your bees?

x

Circumnavigating the UK- Honfleur- butterflies!

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I felt I should really finish writing about my last Summer's travels.  If you recall, I was on a 12 day cruise circumnavigating the UK.  Our final day's stop was to be the pretty town of Honfleur in Northern France.  Mum and I had no particular fixed idea about what we wanted to do and decided to walk around, find some brochures and then make a decision.

The town was really attractive, particularly this busy section around the river.

This old-fashioned merry-go-round reminds me of Amelie!

We decided to walk to a Butterfly House we'd seen on a map as both Mum and I adore butterflies.

I have tried to identify butterflies in retrospect as best I can but whilst I know my British butterflies, these Tropical ones are a bit of a guessing game comparing pictures.

Here is a Malachite.

The place was really warm but it was delightful to be surrounded by so many beautiful, huge tropical butterflies. However, it was extremely hard to get them to land and pose prettily for a photo.  Most of them were extremely flighty though, and just fluttered tantalisingly out of reach most of the time.

I was after this blue-tipped one for ages. Could this one be a Blue Morpho? I'm not sure.

This looks most like a Common Crow, but I am not sure if my identification is correct!

We soon discovered that the butterflies weren't alone and there were a whole host of other creatures within the tropical gardens.

A very strange low-pitched moaning attracted my attention and I caught this strange fellow lurking on top of a doorway.

I always love how much like eyes these outer wings seem.

Trying to photograph this beautiful turquoise prettily shaped one was a futile venture!

These pretty curved orange and spotty ones were positively docile by comparison. They look like a Golden Longwing

A wonderful opportunity suddenly presented itself when I spied this pair of Giant Swallowtail butterflies alongside a Blue Morpho one but I had to stand on one leg, leaning over a pond to take it at full zoom!

At long last! A Green Swallowtail!

This pretty marbled fellow sat on a leaf for a while but his wings were constantly on the go- this is the least-blurred of a myriad photos! I think he's called a  Paper Kite or a Rice Paper but then again, he resembles a Wood Nymph too!

This one below looks like a Tailed Jay.

I think this is called a Tiger Longwing.

This strange and detailed one really reminded me of a cat! I think it may be called a Clipper.

More watching eyes...Apparently this is called an Owl Butterfly.  How wonderfully appropriate!

This one looks also like a Blue Morpho  (ventral) from the outside.

A variety of a Lacewing here.

Hello Giant Swallowtail!

This resembles a Gap-banded swallowtail.

This one looks like a Lacewing.

What I failed to capture on film is the moment a butterfly landed on my hand! My camera had died by this point.

Afterwards, I had a yearning to visit the beach so we made an extremely lengthly and tiresome trudge to a beach which appeared much nearer on the map.  The tide was right out and the beach, to be honest, was rather yucky.  I regret dragging Mum all that way in my haste and causing her to be tired.

After this, we headed back to town to look for somewhere for something to drink.

With a little perusal of shops, we eventually made our way back to the ship.

Honfleur was undoubtedly pretty and we were glad to have made its acquaintance, even if all our photos were of the butterflies!

Do you like visiting Butterfly houses?
xx

South Africa- Christmas day and Constantia Groot

Hello there,

Apologies for the hiatus in posting.  It's been a weekend of getting up late and then tidying and then doing school work so haven't got around to posting.

On Christmas morning,we took our friend's dog for a walk around the park in Constantia and then headed over to her Brother's house for Christmas day celebrations.
I admit, I was curious to see how it is celebrated by different people in South Africa but given that the majority of the family have lived in England at times, it might not be an entirely accurate representation of the country at large.

They'd set up a beautiful table.  We ate snacks whilst food was prepared.  Biltong and crisps and cheese and olives. We had made a big mango salsa which was eaten with crisps and tortillas.

They had a lovely looking pool which I was itching to swim in!

The house was lovely and spacious so plenty of space not to get in everyone's way.

They'd prepared a turkey and a gammon and then there were cheesy baked potatoes and a delicious salad

For dessert, there were many choices. We'd brought along a Christmas pudding but there was also Gingerbread houses...

Lemon possets...

and an amazing gluten/dairy-free chocolate and avocado cake

After dinner we messed around with djembes...

and I got my swim!  

That evening we went home and watched a film!

The next morning, we got up and drove to Groot Constantia which is a lovely extensive vineyard.  There is lots to do there- a museum, deli, restaurant and walks...

We were so happy to see beautiful Agapanthus everywhere.  They are CBC's favourite flower.

We went for a walk round the vineyards.

The views were wonderful.

Not sure if this was Table mountain or not, but if it was, it had its table cloth on as usual!

The grapes were looking good but not ready yet!

All of a sudden, we noticed a heron....

We chased him for a while trying to get a closeup photo but he was deliberately waiting until we got tantalisingly close and then flew a little further up the path.

Until eventually he flew off!

Our walk continued in a chilled and enjoyable manner.

We spotted this bird of prey swooping...

And Harvey was made to wear my hat.  I don't think he liked it!

This is the view from where there are tables set out for lunch. Gorgeous!

We headed onwards towards some water.

The swimming itch was upon me again but the signs said no.

I chased butterflies over ditches for a while and this was the best picture I got. Not sure which type it is although it resembles a Monarch/Milkweed a bit.

The restaurant there looked delicious.  It does regular food but J suggested we try the Bobotie, a traditional South African dish of minced curried meat with fruit and a creamy baked topping.  It came served with rice and a set of chutneys and a pomadom.  It was pleasant but not my favourite dish ever. It's a bit like moussaka but, I think I'd prefer less solid meat- I struggled through it!

Later on, we went for a walk around the woods and area in Constantia again.

We found a pleasant path that went along a river.

Finally, we ended up in La Belle for a drink.  Rather than be a grown-up, I had a chocolate milk shake. These are DELICIOUS in Cape Town- proper chocolate,ice-cream and thick and substantial

It was a lovely day and although I wasn't seeing loads of FAMOUS sites, I prefer a nature approach to it!

Have you been to any of these places?

xx