RUBIK'S CAKE

Sitting here in the aftermath of six ten year old boys' afternoon action. The cake no longer looks like this and there is a Nerf gun rubber bullet missing. I should think Jack has probably eaten it and we know where we'll be seeing that tomorrow. If you don't know what a Nerf gun is, and I didn't, it seems that every boy other than OB had one until today, when he has joined a very nonexclusive club; not one I'm that keen on but I grit my teeth and hope that it will stay in a cupboard.  They were so full of pizza that not many of them were interested in the cake. The cube took over an hour and a half and is not the perfect thing I had in my head. Never mind - I did my best. It looks slightly better here I think......

The weather has been so wonderful I can't quite believe it. A couple of days ago, the light was such that the whole moor looked blonde. The new growth hasn't even started to come through so the pale dead deciduous grasses were blown out by the brightness. 

Tornado with his mum:

Yesterday morning was cold and frosty 

This was taken from some way off so apologies for quality but I thought it was funny how unimpressed the top Great Tit looks with the bottom one:

I don't often get near enough to Wood Pigeons to photograph them but this one was sitting in the big tree whose branch fell off last year:

I can still see you.

A buzzard on the wing:

The dogs appearing to be admiring the view:

The  birthday bike is a great success, if a little big at the moment:

The bunting can come down and the balloons popped, the celebrations over for another year. One of the friends is still here and I can hear them chatting upstairs in bed. Can you remember what you talked about with your friends at that age? I realise that I really can't. I wish I could. So, until next time, have a lovely Sunday and here are those dogs in poses that sum them up perfectly. 

MIRACULOUS ICE SHEETS

Where is a time lapse camera when you need it? It really hasn't been a cold winter but on Sunday morning, a phenomena that occurs often in deep winter was apparent here, but on a less heavy scale. What happens is a crust of ice develops across the top of a dip or puddle but nowhere near the water below. On this occasion, because it wasn't that cold, the ice was wafer thin, allowing me to look into the bowls below. Sometimes the ice creeps along and out from something like grass, as above, but in other cases, as below, there is seemingly no means of supporting the span. At the top right of the sheet, you can see the spiky ice fingers gently touching the peat at the edge of the bowl allowing it to rest there:

Jack broke the ice on this one and you can see how deep the bowl is and how far from the puddle below:

Beautiful patterns in this one:

I thought I'd try and lift the whole ice sheet off this one. It was reluctant to move, its edges meshed with surrounding fine roots but........

............underneath, it was as bone dry as any thing can be here at the moment. I would just love to watch how that formed. 

A more grass related one:

This one was absolutely enormous; at least 3 feet wide and absolutely beautiful:

Just a few more beautiful ones; like the finest sugar work:

Sunday was just awful - it rained heavily all day and on Monday morning, the wild ponies had perms:

Whilst out walking yesterday, I was looking very closely at some Crottle on a rock and noticed it seemed to be quite aggressive as lichens go. Given how slowly they grow, this will have been an extremely slow invasion, but look how the white Crottle has grown over the other more leafy lichen and, in the second picture, the surrounding moss. Amazing stuff.

More beautiful lichens:

It was threatening to snow but we got away with it. 

You really don't want to know why Jack is licking his lips:

Gorse is flowering of course:

OB can now solve the Rubik's cube in one minute fifty two seconds and has found a use for the Polo's previously redundant cup holder - genius:

Mum to Waitrose and MRI tomorrow, a meeting with the paediatrician on Thursday WITHOUT OB thank goodness and parents' evening that night, so a busy couple of days ahead. Hope your week is going well so far and welcome to a couple more followers. So until next time, here are the dogs enjoying themselves yesterday.