Last Sunday, my oldest friend and her family came to stay.
The evening they arrived, we all went for a short walk after supper. The skies
were amazing. I’ve talked about us living in a cloud before, but usually we just
sit in a big grey mass of it. This time, the edges and individual wisps and
sections were very obvious. It was slightly drizzly, creating another of those
rainstumps, this time very dramatic over the rocks. Here are the pictures I
took which give a pretty good idea of what it was like. I rarely get out in the
evening, so it was lovely to observe the difference in light.
Betty and Lizzy were hanging around that evening with a grey
gelding who was acting very proprietarily. Betty seemed happy to have him
around and, in the mood for anthropomorphism, I thought they looked like a
lovely family group.
One thing that has been really lovely about writing this
blog is the notice I’ve been taking of the moorland flora. I think I only thought
there a few flowers out there before, but having spent a lot of time
scrutinising the ground, I’ve been amazed at their numbers. Everything is
miniature or stunted in height, somewhere between normal and alpine I suppose.
Mouse-ear
Red Clover
Hawkbit seed-head
In the disastrous vegetable patch, we decided to leave a
couple of last years leeks to go to seed so we could sow them next year. I’ve
been waiting and waiting for them to flower and they are spectacular; about six
feet tall and such a lovely subtle colour. The bees are enjoying them too!
Trigger’s eye is healing well thank goodness. The bad
weather came just in time for him in terms of the reduction in fly numbers.
He’s looking good and the split in his hoof is pretty much gone after Tuesday’s
trimming.
Here are some pictures of:
SNIPPET’S WEEK
Blurred fun...
Completely uninterested in the ponies
Rodent hunting....
Shattered
And a few things I’ve seen over the week too:
More strange clouds
That lone hawthorn again from two different angles
A sparrow-hawk out the back from rather a distance I'm afraid - Sorry!
A drinker moth I think. Bit difficult to tell to be honest!
Again, rather difficult, but a common green grasshopper is what it most looks like.
Sorry to sully proceedings but I thought these dung fungae were rather beautiful
These three are part of the herd I had the magical experience with some weeks ago. The middle one is the one who let me scratch and stroke him. Out of their own patch, they were far more wary
I may not manage to post before we go to London
next week but I’ll make sure I take the camera. We’re staying with friends who
live near the Olympic park so we’re going to try and have a look round. Origami
boy wants to go on the London Eye so, as the person who doesn’t suffer as badly
with vertigo, I’m the one having to accompany him. I grew up in London ,
only coming here ten years ago, and I only really look forward to viewing it
through my son’s young, Devon-born eyes. His life is SO rural, it must be
incredibly exciting for him. So, till next time and hoping Olympic cold turkey
isn’t too painful!
Love the photos, Em. The eye is looking so much better. Um so this is what leaving my leeks would produce in the way of a flower, if left? how pretty.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of growing them just for the flowers next year. I've never had much luck with ornamental allium bulbs so this is obviously the way to go!
DeleteLove the pics of Snippet. I think we have a distant cousin here. I call her Gnasher, but her name is really Delilah. She is a poodle crossed with a schnauzer, but I would never have guessed about the schnauzer.
ReplyDeleteSnip is Patterdale crossed with Lakeland terrier, but obviously the outcome is very similar!
DeleteWhat lovely photos and so many of them to drool over and get my Dartmoor fix! I loved the contrast between the acid colours of the moor grass and the soft grey cloud and muted green background in photo 6 or so.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy London - I bet your son is over the moon at going.
He is. I do wish we had a helicopter though; it's SUCH a long journey with a sore back! Don't forget to send your address so I can get that photo off to you. Perhaps you didn't get the message.....emparko@gmail.com when you get a minute.
DeleteGorgeous photos as ever. I love the Dartmoor rainbow.
ReplyDeleteTrigger`s eye does look well healed. One of ours has needed treatment for a fly induced sticky eye this week. He has a fly mask but his friends keep pulling it off!
Have fun in London. I would love to see the Olympic Park while the flower meadows are still in bloom.
Did you know there is an exhibition about the development of the horse on at the British Museum? It has had very good reviews.
I didn't know, no. I would love to see it but, sadly, due to a pending WW2 project at school, we're going to the Imperial War Museum instead. I'll have a look at the details on-line instead so thank you for the tip!
DeleteWhat beautiful photos of the moor! I especially love the one with Betty and the grey gelding.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you like them. I like that one of the ominous sky best!
ReplyDeleteSome great photos again! Especially love the rainbow and the three ponies standing together! Your dog looks fun! My landlady accepts cats, but not dogs unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteHe's a huge amount of fun but is missing his London border terrier friend now we're back....time to get him another dog perhaps!
DeleteWhat absolutely GORGEOUS photographs. It makes me think of Wuthering Heights. You live in a lovely part of the world.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine is in London right now. If you see her, please say hello to her for me. ;-) Have a wonderful time!
It is a stunning part of the world and, despite the rain we've just come back to, I'm so glad to be home. It was unbearably hot in London and we're just not set up for hot weather with air conditioning in this country!
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