Sunny afternoon

The abysmal rain (though much needed) has now dried up and we have had a week of sunshine and heat. I had a day off today so I went to the RSPB Lodge at Sandy to have a walk round and take photos. We were only there a few weeks ago but a couple of weeks can make a big difference.

I went a bit obsessive with the photos of azaleas and rhododendron because I just love them. Below is a photo of a bumble bee collecting the pollen.

The garden at the lodge is looking stunning with irises (pictured below) poppies, lavender, wisteria covered walls.

Whilst sitting on a bench in the nature reserve I checked my twitter to see that Mind (the mental health organisation) were encouraging people to share what helped them keep "mentally healthy." I tweeted that I tried to make sure that I spent some time either in the garden or somewhere in nature to help me relax. 

It seemed very apt to be discussing this today as I have been coping with one of my mood swings lately, Not depression this time but instead I have been quite hyper or manic. My CBT nurse is referring me back to start a new cycle of treatment with her, so we can focus on the mood swings. I know that I've come a long way from a few years back and I've really worked on my anxiety and stress, so my mood swings are not as marked as they used to be but there is still some way to go.

Being in the nature reserve really helped me feel calm today. I'm having to work on slowing down, something I've been working on for a while. But as well as slowing down the walk around the nature reserve and gardens made me feel incredibly glad to be alive and able to see such beautiful flowers and plants.

My favourite photo today is of the poppies above. I just love the fiery petals.

As ever I didn't see any birds at the reserve but I heard plenty, including a cuckoo and a woodpecker. Just being immersed in the sound of all the birdsong is so calming. It's one of the things I love about living here in Biggleswade there is always bird song, you don't have to go to the nature reserve the gardens and fields here are full of bird song and the joy of their flight.

As always you can see all my photos from today on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/happysalmon/

River walk 19th May

River walk 19th May, a set on Flickr.

Two weeks ago I went for a walk down the Ivel river just after the heavy rain we had in late April / early May. There was a lot of flooding and I took quite a few photos.

Today I went back to see how the flooding had affected the river bank and fields I also took quite a few photos.

The river levels are back to normal and is moving very swiftly. The weir has been cleared of the rubbish that I photographed, which is good.

The wild plants and flowers are flourishing after all the rain; the cow parsley is over 5 ft tall in some places. The water meadows are no longer water logged and butter cups are swathed across the grass.

I didn't see any water fowl but came across some greedy blossom eating cows. They weren't scared of me at all but I tried to not get too close and talked to them softly as I took photos with my telephoto lens.

I then went to sit on a bench a little way away from the cows but they stalked over to me appearing at the end of my bench, grinning like two old ladies. Yes I swear they are grinning in the photo I took of them. They were lovely but the flies surrounding them wre not!

I'll try and visit the river twice a month o track it through the year.

Quiet Friday

Please have a look at the blog entry below this one which is a link to my brother's blog about his extreme running. I don't know how he does it. Running is bad enough but to run through fields of fire and nettles and mud is just ridiculous. He's doing it all for a good cause though, raising money for the NSPCC.

I don't get up to anything nearly as exciting on my days off. Today I spent my time taking photos in the garden, filing tax and PAYE stuff for my business and reading.

I've included my 3 favourite photos from this morning here. You can see the rest of them on my Flickr page. I love the iridescent speckles on the blue flower. I think the ladybird looks quite scary.

Mud Runner Chris: Tough Mudder Kettering 12/05/2012

Please check out my brother's blog all about his running. He doesn't do normal 10ks and all that no, he runs through fire and iced water and mud! Check out his blog :-) Mud Runner Chris: Tough Mudder Kettering 12/05/2012: Tough Mudder 12/05/2012 It’s time for the big one www. toughmudder.co.uk, the run that I had seen back in February and set me on...

Nature walk, baking and the story of a scarf

On Saturday the cold wet rainy weather subsided for a lovely day of sun. Our weather has been so bad lately that I've felt like I'm living in one of those historical novels I read set in medieval times when they had nothing but rain for years. Anyway Saturday was sunny but not particularly warm. We went to the RSPB lodge at Sandy nature reserve. We had a lovely walk taking photos of squirrels, bluebells, insects and trees. We heard a cuckoo even though it doesn't feel at all like spring it must be if we've heard a cuckoo! below is a photo of a log I took with a fly on it.

On Sunday I did some gardening planting some campanula and pansies in my border. I also spent some time completing the scarf pictured below which I posted to my friend Lorraine today. I like to think of the journey my humble scarf has been on. I've been knitting it for about a week and I've been knitting on the train, at the hospital, in local coffee shops and at home watching TV. It's a well travelled scarf and each knot captures a second in time. If the scarf could tell its story it would be full of train journeys, coffee cups, hospital waiting rooms, Scandinavian crime dramas and scifi films!

Today I used up some old bananas to make banana muffins. Hopefully they'll taste ok but I'm waiting for Jase to get home before trying them!

May field side

May field side , a set on Flickr.

Here's the link to the Flickr photos I mentioned below.

Field side walk

This morning before taking the cats for a routine trip to the vets, I went for a walk along our local fields. I took some photos of the wildflowers, including the 2 dandelion photos below.

I hadn't even noticed the insect on the dandelion when I first took the photo!

You can see other photos from my walk on Flickr, linked to above.

Photography, Wimbledon and the Avengers Assemble film

Being visually impaired taking photos

I wrote a post a while back on the ups and downs of being a visually impaired gardener. This time it's photography. I love taking photos and digital cameras with their auto focus, large display screens have meant I can take much better photos. But I really wanted to try different things with my photos that I'd really need an slr for, except an slr is difficult for me to use as you need to manually focus generally to get the best results. The introduction digital cameras with different lenses seemed like the perfect compromise for me!

Jase bought me a Nikon 1 (v1) camera for my birthday and I'm having great fun learning how to use it. Ive been trying to find opportunities to use my camera and the kind of things I like to photograph are scenery, interesting places, flowers and plants and wildlife. The wildlife side of things is proving problematic. I went for a walk along the river twice last week wanting to take photos of river birds. The trouble is I can hear them but often can't see them! I have to use all my senses and knowledge to try and seek out the birds to photograph. I'm sure I missed loads of ducks and coots when I walked down the river on Saturday. I could hear them calling and snuffling by the far bank but couldn't spot a single one but someone with normal sight would have seen them easily.

But just as I was leaving feeling frustrated and vowing I'd have to bring Jase with me next time to spot the birds I turned the corner to see two swans on the grass in front of me no more than 4 or 5 feet away! I'm good at being quiet and calm and spent five minutes photographing the swans. I also always thank the animals that have let me photograph them, it just feels right.

Below is one of the swans I photographed.

Wimbledon and the Avengers Assemble film

Today we went back to Wimbledon, 2 years after leaving. We went to the pictures to see the Avengers Assemble film which was awesome. We also had a look around Wimbledon town centre and walked back to our old flat. Not much in Wimbledon has changed. There are a few more shops including 2 Waitrose' not sure why they need 2, and there's a Halfords!

It was lovely to see Wimbledon again but I'm very glad we've moved to Bedfordshire. The peace and greenery of Biggleswade was so lovely to return to.

I love radio

I've always loved listening to the radio. I was brought up listening to the Archers, Terry Wogan's Breakfast Show, Strve Wright in the Afternoon, the afternoon play and Woman's Hour.

I even used to record my own radio shows on to cassette when I was little. I called it Nutty Radio. I'd interview my brother, pretend to be Delia Smith reading out recipes or just natter away to myself and my friends.

I got the chance to do some plays for Hospital Radio when I was a teenager and even got my own show "Nat's Indie Hour" on a Christmas charity radio station when I was 17.

Now I spend most of the day listening to the radio alternating between BBC 6 Music and 5 Live.

So the other day when I was contacted by local DJ Nick Coffer and asked if I'd go on his afternoon show to talk about "stuff" I was ecstatic! The premise for the show is to get local people talking.

The empty radio studio

I had a nightmare journey to Luton where 3 Counties Radio is located but once there I was made to feel very welcome and relaxed.

The other local person joining me for the first hour of chat was Faith pictured below. I'd not met Faith before but we hit it off. It's hard not to warm to Faith with her lovely North Caroline accent, her calmness and positivity. Faith has a great blog where she shares inspirational stories and advice to and about people, especially women who are trying to achieve their dreams. You can find her site at www.greatsmitten.com

We talked about all kinds of stuff, how we met our husbands, mental health and what defines people, my disability work, being positive and lots more. You can listen to it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7nr just click on the iPlayer bar on the right of the screen and select the 1st May show. I'm on for the first hour of the show. You've got until 8th May to listen to it.

Below if a picture of Nick in the studio. I had such fun, met some lovely people and it's really put a spring in my step this week.