13/07: ASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA !!

askevidekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th. 
I don't consider myself askevidekatriaphobic but its a lovely word isn't it??

Anyway, today's post is about bugs.    You may recall that I dug up an area of lawn in our garden earlier this year and sowed lots of wildflower seeds in an effort to attract pollinating insects which are in serious decline in the UK.     Next year the wildflower bed will be better still but I'm really pleased with what we've achieved in just a few weeks - doing our bit to encourage the bees and protect our local fruit growers..... can't imagine Kent without Kentish strawberries, cherries or apples all of which rely on having the trees/plants pollinated. 

   Some photos:

This one has been busy - just look how full his 'pollen paniers' are

actually I'm not sure about this next one ... friend or foe??   I've read that we have 46 species of native ladybirds in the UK but they are under threat from Harlequin Ladybirds which were introduced to the US from Asia 25 years ago as a form of pest control and spread to Europe.  They are larger and more aggressive than our natives and are now the most dominant in London and the South East.  

I think this could well be a Harlequin?

anyway from buzzy bugs to something that has bugged me recently.

I didn't know till I was told yesterday that anybody leaving a comment on my Blog has to go through that irritating Captcha routine of typing in numbers/letters that are usually so fuzzy you have to change them a couple of times before you find one you can read (well that's what I do, but my eyesight aint what it used to be)!!        I read/approve all comments on my site prior to publication so I certainly didn't opt to use Captcha and I really don't know how long this has been going on.        

Apologies ... I have now removed Captcha requirement from my Blog.     If you want to do the same for your Blogs you have to do the following:

go to COMMENTS
to to  SETTINGS
go to COMMENTS (smaller tab under Settings)
go to SHOW WORD VERIFICATION FOR COMMENTS and change setting to NO

There is a note there saying Blog authors will not see word verification for comments so I guess most Bloggers don't know this is switched on unless told.   Many thanks to Jo for alerting me.   I know a couple of Bloggers who have got so fed up with Captcha that they've left Blogger and set up alternative blogs via their websites.

Right, back to work now.   Almost finished the current dog commission but need guidance from my client regarding coat colour (its a beautiful yellow lab but colour varies quite considerably from photo to photo so I'll probably need to make adjustments)  Hopefully will be able to post some WIP next week.

12/07: THAMES SAILING BARGE 'GRETA' cont/d

OK, some technical stuff/history - some learned from Steve Norris (owner/skipper) and some from the Greta's website.

Greta is a Thames Sailing Barge and was built in 1892 at Brightlingsea, Essex.  She is 80ft long and 20ft wide.

Early in World War II Greta was chartered by the Ministry of Supply to carry ammunition from the army depot at Upnor, Kent to Royal Navy vessels anchored in the Thames Estuary.   As mentioned in yesterday's post, she took part in the evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk in 1940.   Her War service ended in 1946 when she was overhauled, had a new engine fitted and returned to normal work carrying grain, timber and animal feed.   In the 1960s when work dropped off Greta was laid up and later acquired for parts to rebuild another barge.   She was found to be in better condition than the other barge so it was Greta that was restored and re-rigged in the 80s.

She is now owned and maintained by Steve Norris and his team of volunteers (one of whom, Tommo, helped onboard our trip).


So this is what Greta looks like in full sail - this isn't one of my pictures as, unfortunately, from the deck it wasn't possible to take a photo showing all the sails.   She leaves and returns to the harbour powered by engine and her sails aren't raised till we're out at sea.

I was discussing Barge sails with Steve (as you do) and he told me that when he reproofed the sails last time he used a well know timber fence paint which works better than the 'real product' apparently.    Apparently the sails on Thames Barges are always this brown colour and I recently read that historically they are dressed with a mixture of oil (traditionally fish oil), seawater (and/or horse urine if available) and red ochre (which is purely a colouring agent.   My horse, Roxy, can pee for England but I decided not to offer her services to Steve :-)

This is the ladder from the harbour wall that we climbed down to board Greta ...

'God protect Greta' .... Amen to that!    The 'steering wheel' is the traditional shape for a Thames Sailing Barge and is called a chaffcutter apparently.

Our Skipper, Steve, and volunteer, Tommo, sorting out the sails.  You will notice that the sides of the barge aren't very high and we were very conscious of that fact when moving around the deck - luckily although it was very windy and cold the sea wasn't too rough  :-)

The little flag at the top  is called a Bob (or Bob Fly) and carries the owner's colours and/or ID (in this case the N stands for Norris - the skipper's surname)

 

Windfarm on the horizon ... you can see how horrible the weather was.    We are very close to Margate where Turner painted so many dramatic sea and skyscapes ... he believed that the skies over Margate were the loveliest in Europe!      They weren't exactly lovely on Tuesday, but they were quite spectacular if you like grey and black :-)

this strange vessel has been laying cables/working on the local windfarms I believe - they were friendly and gave us a nice wave as they passed ...

But the main purpose of our trip was to get a closer look at the Redsands Towers (also known as the Maunsell army forts) which we can just about see from the coast - they are approx 8½ miles away from Whitstable. Guy Maunsell designed these forts for anti-aircraft defence. They comprise seven interconnected steel platforms on concrete legs, five carried guns arranged in a semicircle around the control centre and accommodation while the seventh, set further out than the gun towers, was the searchlight tower.

 Three forts were placed in the Mersey and three in the Thames Estuary. They carried four QF 3.75 inch guns and two Bofors 40 mm guns. During the war there were around 120 men stationed at each fort - they shot down 22 aircraft and about 30 flying bombs. The forts were decommissioned by the MoD in the late 1950s.  

In the 60s Redsands Towers were used by various Pirate Radio Stations, Radio Invicta July 64 to Feb 65, King Radio Feb 65 to September 65 and Radio 390 from September 65 to July 67,  but they had a chequered history.  Invicta Radio was run by Tom Pepper (actually a tug skipper from Folkestone - Harry Featherbee). The station was notorious for the number of times it called out the emergency services due to injured staff or running out of drinking water etc. On December 17th 1964 Tom Pepper was drowned,
together with 21 year-old DJ Simon Ashley and 18 year-old engineer Martin Shaw (neither of whom could swim) when their boat "David" sank en route to Faversham from Red Sands Fort.

Being in open sea and constructed largely of metal the Red Sands Towers are natural lightning conductors.   Pirate radio DJ Paul Beresford was struck by lightning but managed to broadcast his usual programme.  Even on good days there are stories of station staff being thrown some distance after grabbing metal door handles. 

Today, Redsand Fort as the only complete structure as built in wartime is the focus of attention by Project Redsand, a group of enthusiasts who aim to reinstate the Fort to its original built condition.  Work has progressed to installing a new access system to the main control tower. Built at a cost of approximately £40,000, the access system enables project members to board the tower to commence restoration.

They are really quite eerie close up - like maritime Daleks!!

and finally after our 6 hour round trip we were back in safe harbour ... just as the heavens opened and it started to thrash down with rain - so pleased it didn't rain that hard whilst we were at sea!

11/07: SEA DOGS

One of the definitions of 'Sea Dog' is .... 'a sailor, especially an old or experienced one'  so how appropriate to these two lovely mutties I met yesterday.     

Some time ago David (hubby) said he'd like to sail on Greta, a Thames Sailing Barge who is based locally at  Whitstable Harbour during the Summer months.   Greta was launched 120 years ago in 1892 and, as a working cargo barge she carried ammunition, beer, grain, malt, building products etc.   She also took part in the evacuation of British Soldiers from Dunkirk in 1940 and she is the oldest active 'Dunkirk Little Ships' and bears a plaque honouring that fact.   She is a fantastic sight when under full sail and its wonderful that she has been preserved and still having a useful working life ...

Nowadays she is privately owned by Steve Norris who has undertaken raising sponsorship to restore her and who takes paying passengers out into the Thames Estuary during the 'Summer' months. 

Anyway, I'd booked this trip some time ago and to be honest when I saw the weather forecast for this week I had my fingers crossed the trip would be cancelled ... but it wasn't.     However, we were very lucky and just had a couple of light rain showers during the 6 hour trip - but it was VERY cold and windy and I didn't think I'd ever thaw out despite wearing several layers of warm clothing and a waterproof jacket!!    This is July for goodness sake.

I'll post more tomorrow about the Barge and what we saw ... but here are some pics of the 1st mate and 2nd mate who accompany Steve on his sailings.

This is Alfie - he's a very experienced sailor.    Been there, done that, got the T-shirt etc:

 and this is Ludo - who really doesn't like the cold weather but didn't want to be carried below deck in case she missed out on anything.  She doesn't have much coat and it really was very cold and windy yesterday so I sympathise:

When it got too cold, Alfie let Ludo share his upper deck house:

but on the couple of occasions when the sun showed through the clouds, she found a sheltered place out of the wind and curled up for a snooze

Well, you can see they are less than impressed with the scenery!      What you can see in the background is basically what we set sail to look at.    I'll  blog about them tomorrow but I have to say I wasn't much interested in viewing them until we got close and I got hooked ... I've spent several hours researching these strange buildings and am now toying with the idea of booking a special visit to go inside one .... more tomorrow

Cupboard love!!  we'd unpacked the cheese rolls at this stage ... 

and although Ludo was interested in the food she could barely keep her eyes open ... she must have had a very busy night methinks!    She slept for most of the 6 hours we were at sea.

  

anyway, David told me off for taking so many pics of the mutts, but they really were cute and so well behaved!  

We saw a seal in the sea but it was too far away to get decent photos of ... but we had a brilliant day and managed to thaw out after only 4 hours back home :-)     

06/07: NOT FRIDAY 13TH!!!!

Today hasn't been a good day ... and we're still a week away from Friday 13th!!

Our TV stopped working last night so strictly speaking that was Thursday 12th although we couldn't do anything about it till today.    I really don't miss the TV but David does .... I'm happy to draw, cook, generally potter but he likes to relax in front of the Box every night.     The Sony set is not old and we thought it was in guarantee still but it misses by 1 month!     Sony Helpdesk (Mumbai) were useless ... they just suggested turning the set on and off and doing the very basic things suggested in the handbook.     David phoned around various TV repair shops but it seems the engineers are all extremely busy dealing with the aftermath of the switch to digital TV in the UK and nobody can look at a broken TV for at least 2 weeks.

So ... we have at least got a quote for repairing the set ... £150 with a 14 day waiting time.    We don't have a 'reserve' TV in the house so the question is now whether we invest in another TV to tide David over for this 14 day period.     I think he's worried I'll find lots of jobs for him to do if we have free time in the evenings.  Its probably cheaper to book a flight back to Fuerteventura for the fortnight ... but I have 4 commissions to work on and he couldn't possibly go alone :-{

So that wasn't a good start to the day - David was late for his voluntary stint at the Hospice eBay office and then I had to pull out of my bowls afternoon as the weather was horrible.    

We're having friends round for a get together tomorrow (weather permitting it will be outside .. but who knows)!!  so I spent my unexpected free time this afternoon preparing the dishes that could be done in advance and cleaning the house.   Managed to smash one of my favourite (irreplaceable) plates when I knocked a jar of peppercorns out of an overhead cupboard!

Then when I turned on the computer to double check a recipe on the internet I got the dreaded message that my computer was locked as I'd been looking at  'illegal porn sites' and I was locked out unless I paid a £100 fine to West Yorkshire Police ... Yeah Right!

This happened to us in Spain and its such a pain.    Its known as ransomware - a sort of virus that is described as malware that holds a computer, its data or a particular function "hostage" until a ransom is paid. Usually, a credit card number or wire transfer is sent to the criminal that has taken control of your computer. In exchange for the fee, they will give you a password to unlock your computer or send you a program to remove the ransomware.

Both times it has happened to us it has been via Firefox and the answer is to open your computer in SafeMode and via Internet Explorer take your computer back to a date prior to the attack ... or download a programme to disable the malware.      But ... be warned.   There are a lot of programmes out there that advertise themselves as Free repair Programmes but at the 'critical time' they ask for payment ..... sooooo frustrating that they are cashing in on what is already a stressful situation.   I have an up-to-date antivirus programme but obviously these sick malware people are able to break through every now and then....

Having got that problem resolved (only took all afternoon) I was concerned to see a pigeon fly into our garden fence and sit stunned on the grass.   When I took a closer look it was obvious the bird had suffered some sort of attack from a cat or another bird  and was bleeding underneath and unable to fly.        Although I count myself as a 'country lass' I was never brought up to despatch animals so couldn't put this one out of his misery.    Unfortunately, he/she is staying close to the house and obviously just waiting to die ..... All we can do is give it some water and ensure it isn't attacked by any bigger birds.   Must admit I hate pigeons but I don't like to see anything suffering.

David keeps harping on about 'plump breasted pigeons' - if you've seen that particular episode of Black Adder you'll know just what he's on about ... but I promise my mates that tomorrow's BBQ will not include pigeon!!

Perhaps it wasn't in 'the best possible taste' to photograph it, but I did anyway ...

 
The pigeon is currently hiding in my herb bed under the mint .... perhaps he does fancy being on the menu tomorrow after all :-)

So .... not the best Friday I've ever had .... but still a damn sight better than the one the pigeon is going through!    Who was it said .. .always look on the bright side??    

Looking forward to a great afternoon tomorrow and back on track with commission work on Sunday.

Hope your weekend will be good 

04/07: UNWELCOME VISITORS!

I am busy working on commissions (honest) but can't show any progress pictures just yet .....  

Just thought I'd share this picture of what we found in a small cupboard in the hallway when we got back from holiday.  

My love of animals doesn't extend to spiders I'm afraid so this family were evicted pretty quickly.    But it did prompt me to find out more about these creatures ... thank heavens for Google.

Appears that this is a female daddy longlegs spider (Pholcus phalangioides)  otherwise known as a cellar spider or vibrating spider because of its habit of vibrating rapidly to make itself blurred and difficult to focus on if it feels threatened.   It has 8 eyes.     I've also learned that perhaps I shouldn't have evicted her as these spiders actually prey on other (larger) spiders and household pests.   Oooops too late!!  

03/07: WHAT?!!!

Apologies for the 'missing' post on my Blog .... I have submitted my entries for the UKCPS Open Int'l Exhibition and posted photos of the entries.  Then I thought perhaps it isn't a good idea to show the entries before the closing date which is Saturday - nothing in the rules to say I can't ... but better to be safe than sorry, so I removed the post.

Instead, here's some pictures taken 'down on the farm'.   My retired horse Roxy lives very happily at Warrigal Farm near Darenth in Kent.  It isn't a working farm - its a livery yard which also has a few sheep, geese, cats & dogs and lots of off-road riding around the neighbouring fields.    Its a happy yard and all the animals get on well together so when I moved away from the area I made the decision to leave Roxy there (on full livery) as to move her to a new home closer to me would be like uprooting a little old lady from all she knows and loves.  The downside is that I only get to visit her once or twice a week but I know she is in excellent hands and Clare the Yard owner loves Roxy like her own!

I have a love/hate relationship with the Geese .... at this time of year they are cantankerous and very hissy and aggressive.   They have a big bathing pond but don't always like sharing so there are also lots of smaller baths scattered around so they can have 'individual' dips:

I was quite pleased with this series of photos I took of one of the 'bathing beauties' - but she doesn't look too happy about being watched does she ...

 

and Roxy couldn't understand why I'd abandoned her by the woodchip store just to take photos of bl**dy geese!   I'd just removed Roxy's rainsheet and neck cover, hence her messed up mane - a real 'bad hair' day for her!

Perhaps a better caption would be 'does my b*m look big in this???

Yes ...... it does :-)

01/07: CANCER RESEARCH RACE FOR LIFE

Well yesterday I blogged about the Ride for Life  (equestrian fund raiser) and today two of my friends, Di and Mari will take part in a Cancer Research Race for Life fund raiser.

There are more than 240 races taking place throughout the UK but Di and Mari will participate in the one at Blackheath, London which kicks off at 10.30am - fingers crossed the weather will be kind to them.     Its just 5km and the ladies will be 'strolling' the course rather than running/jogging (bless) but I wish them lots of luck and congratulations on raising sponsorship for such a great cause.  

I tried to find a photo of the two of them together from my collection but this is the best I could do - taken way back in 2004 - Ladies Day at Royal Ascot - me in the middle wearing 'rust', Mari to the left with blue hat obscuring her face  and Di  in white - laid out on the floor behind me (again)!! 

 

What is particularly poignant is that John (left of photo) died from cancer within weeks of this event - it was very quick and unexpected - so even more reason to support Cancer Research and the Race for Lifers today!    

 

30/06: TREE RATS!

When shopping in France on Thursday we bought a big bucket of 'fatballs' to fill the birdfeeders on our trees.   Whilst it is officially 'Summer' here in England, I think the birds still need a helping hand ....

So far, we've only seen robins on the feeders ... till tonight, when a couple of squirrels (tree rats) appeared ... they are quite skinny so we certainly don't begrudge them the calories.     

This squirrel seemed more interested in the windfall apples from our trees, but the apples are so small they must be pretty sour I'd think?

Seems to be rubbing his/her tummy don't you think????

Anyway, so long as they don't take the last of the strawberries or the rhubarb they are welcome in the garden ... their antics really keep us amused.


Back to artwork tomorrow .... I've photographed all the UKCPS entries so will complete/submit the entry form tomorrow.    6 days before deadline - how organised is that ????!!!


More in a day or so .......

30/06: RIDE FOR LIFE

The annual 'Ride for Life' at Speedgate in Kent took place today.    Horses and riders from around the country became as 'pink as possible' to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

The weather was pretty grim this morning with torrential rain first thing, and very high winds.     Whilst visiting my horse, Roxy, I sneaked a few photos as the girls were getting themselves and their ponies/horses ready.    The yard is named Warrigal so the collective name for entrants from our yard was Warrigirlies (or similar).  

   In previous years the outfits were much more outrageous but today's high winds meant that outfits (for the horses) had to be restricted to items that wouldn't flap too much and cause panic .... nevertheless they were all having fun and here's a few pictures I took early this morning

Not looking impressed!

 

Lulu didn't want to travel with the 'little ponies' but eventually got loaded into the horsebox!!    Don't you just love that crown!???

 

 Always so perfectly behaved ... the perfect pony!!

I think the riders all opted to dress once they arrived at the venue and could assess the weather conditions better - wise decision as most of the ponies were already pretty wired up by this time.


My 'old lady' had her own brand of decoration:

Not pink at all ..... more bird sh*t coloured!!!!!    Swallows have nested in the beams at the top of Roxy's stall in the barn and so she is a natural target for any of the 'fall out' from the nest.     Happily, the young swallows are now very active and likely to fly the nest in the next day or so ....


and after visiting Roxy, we went to visit the Mums and Daughter/Grand-daughter.

Grand-daughter, Sophie-Louise was joining in with the Pink Theme.   She has been given this 'play tunnel' which she just loves .....  reminds me of the flexible vinyl tunnels you see at Dog Agility classes ... but if it keeps grand-daughter amused, who am I to comment :-)

Too much girlie pink for me .... I'm more of your mud coloured lady methinks!!

WORK SCHEDULE UPDATE

Exhibition work has dominated my schedule for the past few months but I can now see the end and I can get back to taking on commission work for completion during the summer.  My lead time for delivery is currently 6-8 weeks from date of order.  (Not from the date shown on this posting, which I've postdated to keep it on top.)