Visitors, rainbow and sunset.

It has been an age since I have posted properly, but with little going on in my life right now apart from GP and hospital visits and of course gardening, I do not want to bore you all, so I am only going to post when I have something of interest.

Great joy came on Thursday when there was a knock on the boat. Standing on our pontoon was Jan and Tom off of Narrow boat Waiouru. They were moored outside of the arm on the towpath and decided to come and find us. It was such a wonderful surprise. Jan came bearing gifts of a Lemon Cake, and so the kettle was on and seats were taken for a couple of hours of chit chat and laughter. The Lemon Cake was extremely yummy, so thanks again Jan. It was an absolute joy to catch up with them both and to hear all about their Summer cruising. We are meeting up with them this morning.

Yesterday as many of you will have been aware of it was very wet and here it was windy. But as the light faded, we were treated to a beautiful fun rainbow.

And the sunset was glorious.

Bernard the Bear was all of a glow.

It does not get much better than this really.

Lovely day for a stroll.

Autumn is here and the clocks go back. With my day off to a great start, with my washing on the line, lunch cooked and nothing else to do, I suggested we went for a walk.

Everything always looks glorious in the Autumn sunshine.

A Volunteer lock keeper waiting for a boat to arrive.

Road roller, which has seen better days.

Keith collecting the last of the Blackberries.

It was lovely to get out together for a stroll. We managed to get to lock 32 and then Keith’s back began complaining, so we took a nice steady stroll home.

I look forward to getting out more over the coming weeks and months to hopefully get more walking in.

Sad News.

Very sad news today for all who knew her. One of the original Women on the Cut, Sonia Rolt, waterways campaigner and all round wonderful woman has passed away aged 95. Thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends. Sonia has gone to be with Tom who died in 1974.

Read more about her life here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/…/sonia-rolt-and-her-love-af…

Always time for a nap.

Taking a nap.

Marmite enjoying a snooze.

Sweet Dreams

Sun's Up.

Sun up.

A beautiful start to the day, with the mist rolling along the surface of the cut.

An Important Quote.

Blood relatives often have nothing to do with family, and similarly.

Family is about who you choose to make your life with.

Yet more gardening.

As you will have read in a previous post, I have been transforming our garden. That task continued yesterday.

The shrub patch has now got some plants in it. I spent the morning moving bushes from other parts of the garden. There are still more to go in, but it is taking shape.

I then turned my attention to my new herb patch, which has Lemon Balm, Thyme, Parsley, Sage, Chives and Rosemary in it. I am quite sure I will be adding to it next year.

Whilst busily digging my garden, the plants arrived for the trusts car park garden, so it was drop everything and start planting the old wildflower bed and turn it into a formal bed. Keith helped me by measuring it out properly and putting in Bamboo canes to mark each segment. We then arranged the plants in clusters, stepped back and looked at how it looked. I felt like Alan Titchmarsh or should that be Charlie Dimmock.

This is the finished bed. It may look a little sparse, but the plants will fill out and hopefully give us all a riot of colour. The bed can also be added to, which will be wonderful. Now the weeds just have to be kept down. I finally finished at 5 pm, having been gardening since 8.30 am, so I was really shattered. Thankfully my Sciatica did not become any worse and I was none the worse for wear, when I got up this morning.

Today I took the day off from gardening. I did take Paddy up to the vet’s for a weigh-in and he has gone from 13 kg to 13.04 kg, so a slight improvement. Unfortunately on the walk back to the boat he did go lame in his right front leg. It came and went a few times, so something else to keep an eye on and to mention to the vet when we next see her.

The rest of my day was spent, cooking, washing, eating, drinking, knitting and watching films. Tomorrow I know I am busy as it is back to gardening on one of the trust’s beds ready for sewing the wildflower seeds.