Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for my son arriving home safely on Tuesday and for the six weeks we will have with him before he rejoins his ship.

I am thankful for the good weather we had today.

I am thankful my roses are starting to bloom again

I am thankful for the gooseberries growing - more jam this year!

Simply beautiful!

It was a bright sunny morning.

Our Cherry tree is looking gorgeous.

We decided it as the perfect day to go and see the Bluebells again over at Ashridge Estate.

The rest are just pictures - it was so beautiful, although the blue sky had become a bit cloudier.

The lambs have grown!

Percy enjoyed himself.

A lovely morning indeed.

Thursday update.

The days seem so changeable at the moment...Tuesday was lovely and sunny although very cold.  Yesterday was grey and poured with rain most of the day.

Today was another lovely sunny day.

The garden is starting to get a bit more colour and there is much evidence of new growth

Pretty Primrose

Flower buds are forming

The pear tree has new growth

The first rose of the year is in bud!

A rather chewed Primrose

Daffodils are starting to show their pretty faces.

Evidence of the blue sky on Tuesday!

Sun reflecting on the leaves late this afternoon.

Percy sunning himself 

He loves it when the sun shines through the patio doors.

He is such a character.  Poor boy had to go to the vet today as he has developed an abscess on his anal gland - not pleasant!  Not that it has slowed him down - the vet was quite surprised, he said normally they are quite unwell.  Hopefully we caught it before it got too bad.

Only four more sleeps before I set off to New Zealand to visit my parents and sister.  I am really looking forward to seeing them again, although rather apprehensive at seeing the change in my dear Mum.  The warm weather will be very welcome as well!

The Sailor leaves...

Yesterday the Sailor and his lady headed off - him to rejoin his ship and her back to her home in Nepal.  It has been absolutely wonderful having them both here and we had a really special Christmas and January together - the best family time we have had in years.  

For their last day we decided to go for a walk in the park - it was VERY muddy, but an enjoyable morning.  I came home and cooked them a late lunch/early dinner of roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips and chicken with beans and broccoli.  

It was sad to see them go and I will miss my son tremendously - he is such a pleasure to have around and we are immensely proud of him.  He has worked so hard the last few years to get where he is and joins the ship this time as a fully fledged officer.  He is doing what he loves and enjoys and that is all you can ask for.   

We won't see him again until the end of May.  In the meantime I have a lot to keep me busy - so hopefully will manage to get on with things and not find missing him too hard. 

We were surprised during our walk to see some lovely camellias in bloom.

Very wet and boggy!

Percy enjoyed himself

Came back rather dirty though!

Fortunately however, being short haired, it dries quickly and brushes off easily.

The lovely couple.

There were also some daffodils poking up their heads and when I got home I also realised some of ours have also started flower!  Will have to take a photo today.  My main daffodil plot though, which was besides my sewing studio had a load of patio slabs and sand bags placed on pallets put on it - and despite requests for it to be moved - hubby still hasn't got round to it - so another year I won't have the beauty of those daffodils.  Never mind.

Very proud - he has his first stripes!

Tower of London

Words seem to be in short supply at the moment - so this is a rather picture heavy post of our lovely day out in London on Friday at the Tower of London.  Because of the glorious blue sky I couldn't help but take rather a lot of photos.

The impressive White Tower with part of the original Roman wall in front.

Tower Bridge.

Window

I loved the way the vegetation was growing on this window and experimented with different settings.

Archers.

Courtyard

here were lots of animals dotted around the place....  

For six hundred years, the Tower of London's most exotic prisoners were animals!

The elephant was sent to England in 1255 by the King of France - the only elephant ever seen in England at this time.  

A 'School of Monkeys' first arrived around 1799, but were disbanded in when one of the monkeys 'tore a boy's leg'!

They certainly look like they are eyeing up the tourists!

A white bear (probably a Polar Bear) was given by the King of Norway in 1252 and was allowed to swim in the Thames at the end of a long leash to catch fish. 

The only wild animals to remain today are the seven ravens (one spare) who are looked after by the Ravenmaster.

They eat at amazing 170g of raw meat a day, as well as bird biscuits soaked in blood. Yuck!  Rather them than me.  I don't even like soaking my biscuits in a cup of tea.  They also enjoy an egg once a week, a rabbit complete with fur occasionally and scrapes of fried bread

We were fortunate enough to see the changing of the guard.

Arghh! Didn't know I'd been walking around all day with my hat pushed up like that!

Me, my eldest son and his girlfriend.

London from the Tower Wall

Old mixed with new...  

I wonder what will still be standing in 100 - 1000 years time?!  I can hazard a bet it will be the old!

It looks like the forgot to finish the top of this!

One of the castle courtyards.

The day draws to a close....

What seemed like too soon the day drew to a close.  Six hours just wasn't enough time to see everything!  We did two 'tours' the second of which started in the chapel in the White Tower;  This was the most interesting as the guide was engaging and interesting and full of knowledge.  

Definitely a good time of year to visit some of these places as it wasn't heaving with people like in the warmer months.  

All in all a very good, if not tiring, day out.