June Photo Scavenger Hunt

Well it's time for the photo scavenger hunt again organised by Kathy from Postcards from the P.P.

Here's my selection


On The Edge
The lion statue looks very precarious on top of the Mansion House in Doncaster (you'll need to click on the photo to see properly)

Sleep
Sleeping Policemen 

In case they're not called that in other countries, sleeping policemen are the bumps in the road to slow cars down.  These are outside a local school.




Diamond

Crown
in a shop window

Bunting

Majesty
clutching at straws here

Before
A local beacon before it was lit for the Queen's Jubilee

After

Symmetry

Out of Reach
a very large book on the wall

Close
two senses of the word here, near and shut

At Night
the beacon later on, with the moon

Blue skies for the Olympic Torch

These balloons escaped from the crowds waiting to see the Olympic Torch go through Doncaster today.  Notice that blue sky?  It's been a bit of a rarity just lately and was very welcome, along with the sunshine.
  
It was a fantastic day with thousands of people gathered especially to watch Ben Parkinson carry the torch.  As a soldier serving in Afghanistan, Ben was severely injured by a land mine in 2006.   He lost both legs, broke his spine and had serious head injuries, and is the most seriously injured soldier to have ever survived.  It's a remarkable achievement for him to have walked those 300 meters with the torch which took him about 25 minutes, and I'm welling up now just thinking about it.

It was hard getting a decent photo but if you google it, the BBC News UK has some great footage if his walk; he really is amazing.




Totally unrelated; since the sun is shining I thought I'd show you a few flowers that are out at the moment

And you know the shirt I refashioned?  The first time I wore it, it looked good in the mirror, but when I looked down it reminded me of a dinner lady's overall with it being gingham, so I've added a bit to it

just a subtle applique.

Lilac time

This man's shirt was on the bargain rail at a charity shop for 50p.  I bought it ostensibly for my husband, but I knew he wouldn't be man enough to wear lilac, so after getting my Brownie points for thinking of him, it came to me!

I used the Colette Sorbetto pattern again (this is my first rendition of it) but using the existing front opening instead of the pleat at the front.   This time I added sleeves using this pattern.

I thought the sleeves stuck out a bit though so I put a little pleat and button at the bottom

and now it looks like this

what do you think, do they look better narrower?


I changed the buttons to some lilac ones I've got in my stash and as this doesn't have to go over my head I've put a couple of darts in the back to make it more fitted than the other Sorbetto I made.


There was no one at home to take the photos so I used the self timer, and kept forgetting you have to reset it each time, hence I ended up with loads of action shots like this

Cut-price weekend

Have you heard of the Premier Inn rooms at £29 a night, that are like gold dust?  Well a few months ago my daughter managed to book some.  We stayed in one when we went to Edinburgh the other week, and this weekend we went to Kendal in the Lake District.  When she booked this, there was a sale on and she got it for £24!  You can't get much better than £12 each can you?  Throw in some free train tickets and you've got a very inexpensive weekend away.


The river Kent runs through Kendal and has quite a few bridges over it.  This is looking from one to another

The 12th Century castle has been in ruins since the 1500s so there isn't a lot of it left now

but there are good views from up here

Kendal has lots of old alleyways going off the main street which are called yards.  Some are just walkways through, and some have shops and pubs down                                  
them

After breakfast on Monday we went to Windermere.  The lake was so still, it looked really beautiful

  
We visited Holehird Gardens which are a two mile walk from the town.  These are fantastic gardens with lots of different areas, which are all maintained by volunteers.  There is no entry charge, just give a donation.  
I took loads of photos but here are just a few.
Some lovely Hosta beds 

this is one of the Alpine houses, I loved the cushions of plants in here

We were just a couple of weeks late to see the Rhododendron and Azalea displays, but there were still a few out

We walked back via Orrest Head which has superb views in all directions and looking down at Lake Windermere

We were incredibly lucky with the weather while we were there because the forecast hadn't been good, but we didn't see a drop of rain and it was quite warm on the Sunday.

Feed me!

That's just what this little chap has been chirruping all day

isn't he cute?


and here comes Mum (or Dad) with a nice juicy caterpillar

Let's hope this one doesn't get pushed out by it's siblings, perching on the edge like this

because look who may be waiting below

(taken through the window so not very good quality)

Unwanted visitor

Earlier today I looked out of the window and saw Spaghetti sat on the bonnet of the tractor with her nose pushed up to the hole in the bucket arm (it's goes straight through), where the Blue Tit's nest is.  I shouted at her to shoo her away and rushed out 

I was in a bit of a quandary then.  What could I do to stop her getting near, but at the same time not keep the birds out or frighten them away? 
I scoured my husband's scrap metal pile and got some old scrunched up wire netting and placed it on the top.  I didn't spend much time doing it for fear of scaring the birds, but as you can see it didn't bother them

 Spaghetti came back later though and managed to get up again.  Since the birds weren't fazed at all by my earlier activity, I spread the netting out more, and added a couple of old hanging baskets and a bit more netting so the bonnet was completely covered and so was the back entrance hole, although the birds can get through.

The second bird in this first video makes it look like a bit of an obstacle course, but hopefully they'll be safe now

Bird watching

We've got Blue Tits nesting in the tractor bucket arm again this year.  Last year was the first time any had taken up residence there.  You can read about it here if you weren't around then. 
Before they arrived, my husband had put the doll's head on the tractor, but that obviously didn't put them off.
You can see one flying in front of the back tractor wheel in this photo, going towards the hole in the arm

Here's Mum and Dad together

They weren't bothered by my presence and I got nearer and nearer to them until Spaghetti (our cat) turned up, then all hell broke loose.  They retired to a nearby tree, loudly proclaiming that there was a cat about, joined by a Thrush on the house roof and a couple of Pied Wagtails.  Of course the more I tried to get her to go away the more she came round me so I had to give up.


If you want to see a video of something similar, but involving a Robin and hens,  check out this post.