Stormy old time.

Dear family friends and followers.

I hope this rambling finds you all keeping well and if you are poorly may it brighten your day.
Today has been more like April with sunshine and showers.

This is a view from our engine room doors, showing how moody the sky was at times, then all of a sudden it would chuck it down with rain. If I was one for being outside this afternoon, I would have been in out, in out and shook it all about, as it was I did my walking this morning when it was dry although cloudy. At least we have gotten rid of storm Brendan who did his best to have us rocking and rolling. The only thing we did notice was the rain and our wind chimes doing a merry dance. I actually took them down and put them away, so they did not get broken and the noise did not keep us awake or our neighbours. I think we can probably say that this Winter has been extremely wet, in fact I am trying to think of a wetter one and I cannot. If only we could send our water down to Australia, where they are desperate for some substantial rain.
After a lovely walk this morning, it was back to the boat to sort the stove out and to empty the ash pan. I then fed the wildlife which visits our garden on a regular basis.

The Bank Voles always get fed first, but they always seem to be the last up to eat. I reckon they are snoozing and are only woken by the smell of food for free.

Mr Robin comes and visits everyday. Of course I cannot be sure it is the same one, but he is very friendly. I am hoping to get him eating out of my hand at some point. He loves the meal worms I put out for him.

The Blue Tits then caught wind of the fact that there was free food available, so they came in their numbers to enjoy breakfast, before the hungry Wood Pigeon came and took most of the food.

Now I am a lover of all wildlife, but the Wood Pigeon and the Magpie always bully the other smaller birds off of the food, so I am going to have to take action. I am going to put some wire around the table which only the smaller birds can get through. I am hoping that this will stop the larger birds nicking all the food so quickly.

Whilst photographing the birds, my attention was drawn to the Squirrel on the opposite bank, who was tucking into an old loaf of bread left out by a fellow moorer.

I learnt something new this morning, because I have never seen Squirrels eat bread. This Squirrel certainly enjoyed tucking in and was not a bit bothered by me watching or photographing it. Not sure if the moldy bits are going to be very good for its health though :-(.
Wildlife fed and sorted, it was time for coffee and a catch up with e-mails and Facebook. I am very fortunate to have many wonderful friends on Facebook, but I do wonder why people send me friend requests that I have never heard of and they do not seem to have any of the same friends I have. The one thing I do is bin them. I will not add people I do not know unless they tell me where they met me or which friends we have in common. I am well aware there are lots of scams going on out there and so it is not worth taking any risks. I can actually say that all the friends I have, I have actually met at one time or another. I am in fact hoping to meet up with some of them this year when we go cruising, whenever that will be, because until I get my hospital appointment, we cannot make any firm plans. Hey ho that is life. I am quite sure if we do not go cruising as early as we usually do, we will find lots to do, like my on board shop, which we have been planning for a couple of years. Watch this space to see what happens.
I am back to my crocheting and have been given some lovely donated wool by friends, which has kind of kick started my crocheting habit again. I had a break over Christmas and the New year and then found it hard to get going, but I am back on the case.

Yesterday I had to go and have my eyes tested as it had been 2 years since my last test. I have reading and long distance glasses these days, so it is never a cheap affair and yesterday proved to be the case again, as I needed both sets replacing. It has made a huge difference to me though, because for years I have struggled with things blurring together and odd things happening like me walking left (I kid you not). I finally found an optician who knew exactly what one of my issues was and has put it right. I need reading glasses anyway, but they also needed a prism in my right lens and this has changed my life. I now have one in my long distance glasses as well, so I no longer walk left. You can only imagine how dangerous it was when walking along the towpath or pavement :-). So after having had all my measurements done, it was confirmed new glasses required. As we paid over the money, I gave a sharp intake of breath. The saving grace was my second pair were half price, but needless to say it still emptied the bank balance yet again, which has meant January has been very expensive on way or another.

As Wednesday draws to a close. I am thankful that I have my health (pretty much) and the love of a good man and my immediate family, because we have friends going through so much at the moment, what with life limiting illness and family bereavement. It puts our own lives into perspective and makes me especially realise how lucky I am.

Hug the ones you love, because tomorrow is not certain.

Pop back soon xx