Day 90 - March 31st

At least once a month as part of my job, I visit the hamlet of Pegsdon which is situated in the Chiltern Hills. The hills in the background (Pegsdon Hills) are thought to have been the “Delectable Mountains” of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Although not quite so delectable on an overcast day they are still quite impressive.

Day 89 - March 30th

So many flowers in our garden seem to be growing in the wrong place. We have primroses growing in the middle of the lawn and these pansies growing on the drive!

Day 88 - March 29th

We went for a walk this afternoon in Maulden Woods. I took loads of photos but this was one of my favourites - Lara inspecting one of the 'treasures' she picked up along the way.

Day 87 - March 28th

A trip into town again today, and a photo of part of Bucklersbury this time. A real mixture of period properties in this street. The George pub (in the distance) is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the town dating from 1450.

Day 86 - March 27th

"Ladybird ladybird fly away home "

I snapped this little fella in the garden at lunchtime. Thankfully it looks like one of our native ladybirds and not one of those horrid Harlequin ladybirds that is invading the UK. Don't forget to click on the photo for a closer look.

Day 85 - March 26th

I'm still struggling for things to photograph this week. I really need to get out and go further afield but I didn't feel like dodging the showers today. Every time the rain stopped and the sun came out I looked for a rainbow, but alas no luck! LOL

I did venture into the garden for five minutes at lunchtime though and saw this old broken fork hidden under a tree in a corner of the garden and thought "That'll do" even though it's not a very interesting photo. So that's todays photo - a broken, rusty fork.

Day 84 - March 25th

Struggled for inspiration today. It's a wet, rainy day and I didn't want to venture outside.

Last summer I bought a pepper plant from the garden centre to grow on the kitchen windowsill. Despite being very badly neglected, the plant has continued to produce peppers, albeit very small peppers, all through the autumn and winter. I think these are probably the last though as the plant really is looking very sorry for itself now and I think destined for the bin.

Day 83 - March 24th

I snapped another feathered visitor to the garden today. We've seen an increase in the number of these collared doves in the garden in recent years and this one was more than happy to sit on the fence and pose for photos. He's not as nice as yesterdays robin but much more welcome than the darn pigeons!

Day 82 - March 23rd

Its dry today so some of the lawn has had its first grasscut of the year. This little robin was hopping around all the time behind the mower pecking at the freshly cut ground in the hope of finding some tasty bugs. I tried to get closer but each time I got near he hopped back into the bushes. This was the best shot. I've cropped it a bit but couldn't crop it any more without loosing the clarity, but if you click on the photo you can see him a little clearer though.

Day 81 - March 22nd (Mothering Sunday)

Mothering Sunday today and I was awoken by the children bearing gifts. They know me well - my favourite foam bath, some lovely flowers and a DVD plus cards including a handmade one from my daughter.

Day 80 - March 21st

Popped into Hitchin again this morning to do a bit of shopping. This photo was taken in the Churchyard area of the town. The lamp post and A-board on the left of the photo are just by the gates into the churchyard. Lots of quaint old buildings here.

Day 79 - March 20th

I had my weekly groceries delivered by Tesco today. A packet of Mothers Day cup cakes fell into the online shopping basket!

Day 78 - March 19th

After taking the cat back to the vet this morning (he's a lot better today), I went for a short walk. On the verge next to the main road through the village there are some almond trees and at the moment they are in blossom. I stopped and took some photos which was quite tricky as the branches were quite high. I had to hold the camera above my head and try and look in the LCD screen to check the blooms were in focus. Goodness knows what the motorists that drove by thought!

Day 77 - March 18th

My cat isn't well. He's lame in one of his back legs and off his food. I had to take him to the vet today. They think it is arthritis. They gave him a painkilling injection and I have to take him back tomorrow. If he doesn't start eating they've said they may have to put him on an intravenous drip. He's a poorly pussy cat today. :-(

Day 76 - March 17th (St Patricks Day)

"When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden daffodils"

I spent an hour or so outisde at lunchtime starting to tidy up the garden. It was actually quite chilly so considering I'm only a fair weather gardener I did well to stay out that long.

In our back garden we have some raised flower beds that seperate the patio from the lawn. This time of year they are filled with daffodils. They flower slightly later than those in the actual garden and at the moment they look beautiful.

Day 75 - March 16th

Deb asked my yesterday what type of camera I have. I use a Fuji S5500. Its quite old now but I love it. I always use it on the auto settings - I'm too scared and clueless when it comes to switching it to manual and having to think about fstops and apertures, etc. At the moment I'm enjoying using the macro setting though and love to get up close to whatever I'm taking photos of which is why a lot of my photo are (and probably will be for most of the year) closeups.

I thought that all the crocuses had past their best. Certainly the rain last week gave them a good battering. But this little one must have come out a bit later than the rest because today it is still blooming. Its gloriously sunny here so it is really open and looks so different to how it would look on a dull day, all tightly shut.

Day 74 - March 15th

For those people who asked to see more of the layout I posted yesterday, you can see it here in my UKScrappers gallery.

I went for a walk round the garden to find something to photograph today. It was a glorious sunny day. I spent ages chasing some bees around the honeysuckle trying to take their picture but the little blighters were too quick for me. Just as I was about to give up I noticed this fella sunning himself on an ivy leaf. I think it may be a leaf cutter bee so rather than sunning itself it was actually probably getting ready to have a munch on the leaf. It did however stay nice and still so I was able to take its photo.

Day 73 - March 14th

I spent most of today at the monthly crop at Stamp Addicts. I managed to finish 3 layouts. I usually end up with half finished layouts that need journaling or something or other adding to them, but today I was pleased that I actually finished all the layouts I worked on. I even scrapped my February 5th 365 photo. My photo for today is a tiny bit of that layout. The layout is really simple but uses some Prima Galaxy Stars. I had never seen these before and some people might consider them quite garish but for the theme of my layout they were perfect.

Day 72 - March 13th (Comic Relief Red Nose Day)

I made some cakes today for Comic Relief Red Nose Day. Well, that's not quite true. I bought plain fairy cakes from Mr Tesco and decorated them. LOL

Day 71 - March 12th

About a year ago my eldest son bought himself a Nabaztag Rabbit. Even though it's been in the house nearly 12 months it still makes me jump out of my skin, if I'm at home on my own in another room, and it starts talking ... or singing ... or laughing ... or giving the weather forecast ... or tells the time .................... It may look cute but at times it can be so damn scary!

Day 70 - March 11th

I went to Hitchin again this morning. This small green shed standing the Market Place is an 'Edwardian Cabmen's Shelter' originally built to provide shelter and hot food for the drivers of hansom cabs and hackney carriages. It used to stand outside the Railway Station, was then sold and used as a garden shed in a private garden, before being donated to the town at which point it was restored and moved to the Market Place. Very few such shelters survive. There are 13 in London, all Grade II listed buildings, plus a handful of others (including this one) in other parts of the country.

Day 69 - March 10th

With the combination of several wet days and a few dry sunny days everything in the garden is growing - including the nettles!

Day 68 - March 9th

I usually help in our village school on a Monday by listening to children read. Today I was instead asked to accompany them on a trip to a local church. I managed to snap the magnificent east window on my mobile.

If I had been on my own I could happily have spent an hour or more wandering round the building taking many, many photos, but as it was this was all I managed. Hopefully later in the year when there is an event at the Church I'll get to take some more photos.

Day 67 - March 8th

We were going to go for a walk in the woods today but it had to be abandoned due to the wet weather. Real shame because today was the only weekend-day that we have free for several weeks and wanted to make the most of it doing something together as a family.

So, instead I had to resort to another closeup shot in the garden! This time 'heather'. Amazing though just how beautiful this plant is when you really look at it close up. It looks so uninteresting normally but when you get down and close it is really stunning.

Day 66 - March 7th

I popped into Hitchin this morning to do some shopping. The town centre is generally made up of quite old buildings. This area near the church is particularly nice with the timber framed buildings. The shop in the centre with the 'H' outside is a delicatessen which has been trading for over 150 years. It sells wonderful cheeses and cured meats that you can't get elsewhere and has recently started selling locally grown vegetables.

Day 65 - March 6th

We had a very cold and frosty start today. So very cold and very, very frosty. The dead leaves on the lawn look so pretty though covered in frost.

Day 64 - March 5th (World Book Day)

Today is World Book Day. Each year the children at Lara's school mark the occasion by going to school dressed as a character from a children book. Try as I might to persuade Lara to go dressed as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or some other pretty, girly character, she was determined that yet again she was going to go as a dalmatian from 101 Dalmatian. It wasn't really a problem, 'cos we have a Disney 101 Dalmatian costume, it's just that she has worn it to similar events so many times before. Hopefully by next years she will have grown out of it! Although having said that she does look cute in it. LOL

Day 63 - March 4th

Ventured out into the garden this morning to take a photo of this clump of violets which is growing underneath the shelter of a shrub. Such an old fashioned type of plant. So tiny and so pretty. I don't recall ever having seen violets in this part of the garden before so assume they are either self-sets or got transplanted with something else. Either way, they are quite welcome.

Day 62 - March 3rd

After Mother Nature fooled us yesterday into thinking that spring was on its way by giving us glorious sunshine, today's weather was horrible. Wet, cold, dull and windy!

Stuck inside doing work and no real inspiration for a photo.

I work from home and spent a lot of today shredding some of the mountain of correspondence, documents and general paper that seems to be taking over. Not my favourite job but it has to be done from time to time otherwise we would all drown in paper. LOL

Day 61 - March 2nd

Today has been really bright and sunny. The first day that it has been warm enough and dry enough to hang the washing outside.

Day 60 - March 1st (St Davids Day)

I don't watch a lot of TV but at the moment 9pm on a Sunday evening is compulsive viewing for my eldest son and I. Well actually that isn't quite true because at the moment the show clashes with 'Wild at Heart' which the rest of the family like to watch, so we record Lost and then watch it at 10pm. Lost is though my all time favourite TV show EVER! I just can not get enough of this show. My son raises his eyebrows at me because every week after the episode has been aired in the US on Wednesday I check Wikipedia for a synopsis of the episode so I know what's going to happen when it is shown in the UK on Sunday. I'm the sort of person who always reads the last page of a novel first, finds out as much about a place we are visiting before going to it and so it seems natural to want to know what's going to happen in Lost before I watch it.



As we are now into March I'm using a different frame/border for the photos on my blog - something a bit more subtle than the gilt frames used in February. LOL