Perfect Autumn Day

My friend and I have been walking to get fit. We went to the deer park today. It's been there for hundreds of years and seems timeless. The trees are starting to turn, the slight mist was burning off and the day was turning crisp and clear. Then we turned a corner and saw the very big deer with the enormous, multi branched antlers staring at us, and we remembered rutting season was about to start. They are big, intimidating and incredibly beautiful and I have never seen as many in the park before. Literally hundreds. There are Red Deer and Fallow deer, and they are all absolutely free and wild. The fallow deer are the bambi type, and have such pretty markings. The Red deer are the big, Monarch of the Glen types and we saw lots of very impressive males - the females are not as spectacular or generally as pretty as the fallow deer, but they are lovely in motion.

In the top part of the park, we were lucky enough to see lots of white deer too - at least a dozen, ranging from white bellied with pale fawn backs to pure snow white. Just stunning. And me without my camera! I will try to get photos another day.


On one of our walks last week, part of the route took us along the canal.  There used to be a rail bridge that went across the canal and across the Severn, and this is one of the supports that are left. Not a bad view to start the day!

Last weekend's niece fest

I had a lovely day last Sunday. Went to London to see my sister and my two nieces. Mum was there too, and my Dad & Stepmum popped in for lunch so it ticked lots of boxes! Both E & G were adorable. G shown above at 1 week old. E is 23 months. It's a joy to be able to sit and snuggle a new baby. They are so soft and utterly trusting. Lovely! I gave them a haul of presents, some made, some bought. For Ravellers, you can see the baby blanket and cardy here, along with the cot toy.

For E, I made the owl hairpin - modelled above by sis - that I blogged about before (10 minutes and it's done!) and the megahit of the day, Teddy. She slept with Teddy and we played ball with Teddy and Teddy kept getting lost. Luckily in the same place so E kept on rescuing Teddy. Phew!

Aren't the girls lovely? So nice to be able to give girly things too. A change from my boy-dominated life!

colourful food!

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originally uploaded by curvyjax.

I'm on a diet - need to kick my bad eating habits up the arse again. Although when a salad looks this pretty, it's not so bad. I grated some fresh beetroot from the allotment into this brown rice and raw veg salad, and it's made the rice a very pretty pink. A feast for the eyes, even if it isn't as satisying as chocolate!