Planet Ruby Starrs

We seem to be experiencing a life as we knew it again.... A walk on the beach with a good friend from Northumberland - a long overdue get together and in spite of lock down limitations we still seem to have plenty to chat on about... then visitors (in the garden) at the weekend and then a day out in the van..  It was very glorious to get up silly early (for us) with the sunrise - have our marmite toast and then head across country and be parked up in a little layby by 9.00 to have a rambling wander along the valley near Ullswater.  The weather was completely amazing - you just don't get many days like this in the Lake district and we were glad we had made the effort to make the most of it.  There were few people about - to be honest we didn't expect to see any one but we did come across a couple of other walkers. The fields were full of lambs pronking and the grass was full of wildflowers.  We meandered along the valley path for about an hour and then made camp and a...

Life is very quiet at the moment - due to the pandemic we had to forgo the usual Yuri Gagarin first man in space celebrations which was a shame given it was the 60th anniversary -  flying the flag for Yuri (T Shirt actually) as this date is also Dr Freds birthday we did have 6 friends for a picnic in the garden - post snow with a firepit.  We were all wrapped in blankets and ate enough curry and cake to make our bodies keep warm burning calories - but we missed the space tunes and the other party goers but the occasion was marked and we reminisced about the 50th anniversary party in the scout hut near Hebden Bridge where most people dressed up and we had a very tuneful night - much food and alcohol was consumed - good night... 50th anniversary pic 2011... don't have permission for all faces..... This year we didn't even get the yuri bunting out or the CCCP rocket stored under the spare bed, no space suit or dancing light up shoes ..... these days will come again.... Other news...

Adamfrost is back!!! At least I think it is Adamfrost - To be honest I find it quite difficult to tell one hedgehog from another but we have a lot of nocturnal hog activity caught on camera... only one hog at a time which suggests its the same one returning -  I'm ridiculously pleased - We can now use our massive supply of hog biscuits we won last year.    We have also got a huge crows nest under construction in the top of the copper beech tree - we are quite fascinated to watch the crows breaking off tree branches and inserting them to build this massive nest - I'm not sure if have crows in the garden is a good or bad thing - they are very good for eating pests but I think they might scare off other birds - time will tell - they are taking up residence and there's not a lot we can do about it.. When we were in Northumberland we lived next to an amazing rookery but were very saddened by the local 'gamekeeper' one day shooting into all the nests (I'm supposing he...