Jolly July Jaunt

Five go to Cromford

17th July

First of all the important result of the photography competition... and the winner is:

 

A beautiful damsel fly captured (not literally!) by Helen J

Worthy Winner of the 2018 Annual Photogelly Competition.

 

Sadly Helen wasn't able to join us today so she will have to wait until next time to receive her prize!

Jo(working hard), Julia(living it up in Sicily) and Charlotte (having kittens) weren't able to join us either and Betty had decided that the day might involve too much sitting and chatting which she isn't very good at so she had stayed at home. As a result we were a very select bunch gathered together for coffee by the canal.

 Pam is looking very pleased with her bookmark!

 

It was lovely to catch up on the progress science has made in the neutering of dogs and cats and it is always good to discuss the rising cost of funerals,the merits of different types of coffins and whether or not we should all be taking out funeral plans with good

 friends!

Pam was only able to stay with us for coffee but it was lovely to see her even if it was a fleeting visit but I suppose you can't hang about when you are playing Russian roulette with car parking charges.

 

Lynn leads the way...

 

The four of us set off for a stroll along the towpath, admiring the flora and fauna and hoping that the grey clouds didn't mean that the weather was going to let us down - if it does rain we will blame the absence of a certain Helen J!

 

Some discussion about favourite bridges we have crossed over, under or just looked at - this one was on the list somewhere!

 

Lynn had to leave us after a while so then there were three.

 

We walked on to the junction and put our faith in Maggie who led us into the woods with a promise that she knew the way.

 

Our leader Maggie looking confident...

 

Our leader Maggie looking not quite so confident - just after Alison and I had said "It's a good job that Maggie knows the way"

 

With a little bit of back tracking and working out that if the path we needed to be on was below us then we needed to be walking down hill, we got back on track.

 

This is definitely the right way!

 

We headed back to the café for lunch still hoping that the grey clouds wouldn't amount to anything and luckily they didn't and that they would have something left for us to eat - which they did.

 

These are the birds that we could have seen

 

This is our bird list for the day:

Lots of mallards

Lots of geese

A blackbird

Some Moorhens

A lovely family of dabchicks (bird family of the day)

And we heard something in the woods that sounded rare and exotic.

 

I'm not sure that we were fully focussed! But a lovely day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clicking Away at Kedleston

Kedleston

June 28th 2018

 

Today we settled on a return visit to Kedleston and Helen J, Maggie, Alison and Pam all had fun playing hide and seek with Helen M and Betty who arrived a little after the 11.04 rendezvous time and tricked everyone by arriving in a little white car rather than a big blue van.

 

But eventually we all came together and headed for the café in the glorious sunshine, sadly Jo, Julia, Charlotte and Lynn weren't able to join us and we all sent love and big virtual hugs to Lynn.

 

After a good chat and a catch up on what everyone has been up to we set off on a walk which thankfully took us through the woods out of the blazing sun.

Here we all are on the lawn ready to set off on our walk - I wonder what we might find in the woods!

 

Today's challenge was to take a prize winning photograph so there follows a series of numbered photographs, three from each of us, each one intended to capture something of our day so who has done the best - you decide!

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

 10

11

12

13

14

15

 

Each one a mini masterpiece in it's own way I think you will agree!

 

Who's photograph will be the best?

 

Perhaps it will be this one

 

Look - that's a good view, no it's better from this angle...

 

Betty can't understand why we keep stopping - but she is enjoying the shade.

 

It was a lovely walk through the woods, the trees were beautiful, if only someone had a book about trees we could have identified lots of them! The bird count was only 14 although we did see an oyster catcher which is a new one for this years list.

 

We also learnt that if you were very posh back in the olden day you could have a pet hermit and we saw the lovely little house that he could live in (or she - I'm sure there were lady hermits - or were they something else...)

 

Pam even did some homework when she got home - perhaps she is thinking of applying for the post!

 

 We were a bit late for lunch when we got back to the café but we managed to get the late few sandwiches although some of us had to supplement them with cake. And Maggie gave us a short lesson about Kedleston Hall, perhaps we should all theme each room in our house to reflect our travels - the Skegness room should be a lot of fun!

 

It certainly was a cracking day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Bubbles goes to Japan

Bubbles goes to Japan

May 2018

 

I always enjoy helping with the packing when I am going away - I have advised Helen to pack four pairs of shoes - little does she know she will only actually wear one pair.

 

I have been told that time stands still at airports and that it is always gin and tonic time - but it is one way of killing time before our flight.

 

Here I am on the plane just checking that the pilot is heading in the correct direction, I've been wanting to check this for ages but Helen keeps insisting on watching films, I'm hoping that she will go to sleep soon so that I can take control of the screen.

 

At last we have arrived in Tokyo - we are all very weary and it is very nice to snuggle down in this lovely hotel bed.

 

Oh dear - I hadn't realised that going to the toilet was going to be so complicated and I don't think I really like a warm toilet seat - it makes me think that someone has just been in before me so I am going to set it to hot - no ones bottom is that warm.

 

This was just outside our hotel and it is the busiest intersection in the world, or Japan or somewhere, but it was very, very busy!

 

So here we are on the coach - off to see the sights - I have carefully read all the safety instructions so everything should be fine, thank goodness everything is in English too.

 

This is Laura our 76 year old Japanese guide.

 

 

 

So today we have visited Meiji shrine a Shinto monument and I now know the difference between Shintoism and Buddhism, we have been to a lovely peaceful garden and here we are at the Asakusa Kannon Temple - it is very busy, there seem to be an awful lot of Japanese tourists here.

 

There are a lot of souvenir shops but I'm not allowed to go in them in case someone buys me by mistake

 

There are lots of groups of school children too - don't they look smart!

 

Lots of helpful and informative signs

 

And here are some Shinto priests walking in a line - they only do this twice a month so we are very lucky to see them.

 

We saw a bride and groom getting ready to ride off in a rickshaw, her hat seems a little bit on the large side.

 

It's been a very busy day!

 

Here I am travelling in style again off to see some more of Japan

 

This is the great Buddha - he is 750 years old

 

He is protected by these lion dogs which look very ferocious but this one was quite friendly

 

Nice to find a quiet spot to have a little rest

 

Not sure who these two are, I found them by Lake Ashi where they were trying to spot Mount Fuji through the clouds

 

Everyone knows what Mount Fuji looks like so just use your imagination and put it somewhere behind these hills

 

 

Well if you can't quite see the fabled Mount Fuji the next best thing has to be a cable car ride over a volcanic sulphur mine!

 

And a nice cold glass of Japanese beer is always a good consolation

 

Thankfully we were able to see Mount Fuji very clearly the next morning as we were waiting for the bullet train

Here I am on the bullet train, it went very fast but you couldn't really tell that it was going fast but we got to Kyoto very quickly

 

We went exploring Kyoto and found the Philosophers path by the canal which some Japanese philosopher used to walk along every day philosophising as he went, we tried philosophising but found that we weren't very good at it.

 

This was the view from our hotel window

 

Next day Mike had the responsibility of carrying me

 

Today we went to see the Kinkakuji Temple which is covered in real gold.

Then we went to Nijo Castle but we weren't allowed to take photographs (I think the Samurai might have come and got us if we did) we had to take our shoes off and the floor made bird noises as we walked on it to warn the Samurai that we were there and might attack the Shogun.

 

 

Next we went to Fushimi Inari shrine which has hundreds of Torii gates stretching up the hillside, it was very hot again and there were lots of Japanese tourists but they weren't allowed to use their selfie sticks so they all looked a bit sad.

 

These chaps were all a bit stony faced

 

In the evening we went for a walk round the area where the Geisha's live, Mike kept hoping that a door would open and that he would be welcomed in but I don't think the Geisha ladies were very interested

The fences round the bottom of the houses are called dog fences - that are to stop dogs weeing on the houses because houses made of paper would collapse if dogs weed on them.

 

After such a busy day I was very hungry - Oh more sushi!

 

Today we had quite a long journey by coach but there is always something interesting to look at - I especially liked the ladies picking up the non existent litter at the services on the motorway.

 

Travelling can be very tiring but thankfully there are lots of places to rest

 

The Japanese don't seem to have quite got the hang of what to do with all their electricity cables

 

Today we were in Hiroshima, I wasn't allowed to be in any of the photographs.

 

But then we went on a boat to Miyajima Island and it was a bit like the seaside.

 

And this is the floating Torii gate - it isn't really floating though!

 

I am a bit disappointed that we weren't allowed to have sparrow for tea, I'm sure it would be very tasty.

This is the tallest pagoda in the world - or Japan or somewhere but it was definitely very tall.

 

Always good to be well informed

 

Mike and Helen went out for Okonomimura for tea which is a speciality of Japan but they forgot to take me so I didn't get to taste it but they told me that it was delicious.

These are the ladies cooking the Okonomimura

 

 

Today we drove to Osaka and we stopped at Koraku-En one of the three great gardens of Japan

 

This couple were celebrating their engagement

I liked the Ninja Turtles the best

 

I'm sure these kindergarten children would have loved to play with me.

 

We certainly didn't want to eat at the Atomic café!

 

If I point at what I want to eat I won't have to attempt to speak Japanese

 

Today started nice and peacefully with a visit to a museum of old Japanese houses

 

Dotonbori was hot, busy and very noisy

 

Then we went to Osaka castle which has been completely rebuilt in concrete.

 

Always good to find a rest room.

 

Mike making friends with the locals

 

 

Sunset over Osaka

 

On our final day it rained for the first time all holiday. We did battle with the Osaka metro system to go to this art gallery - but when we got there it was closed because they were changing the exhibitions! So we went for a beer!