Arillas

Arillas is a little village on the north-west coast. They do, so I read, have a heritage trail that runs through a small farm showing the old methods of cultivation and finishing at the microbrewery, but it was only being signposted for the new season after we visited. If we go again, it will definitely be on my to-do list. As it was, it was just a short detour off our main route to see if we could actually find the brewery (no), but the scenery was just beautiful. Despite what it looks like in the third photo, C says he barely got wet at all, and not when he was sitting at the end. If I remember right, this was a very windy day. First beach we went to, the surfers were out and it was too cold for me to get in. It was still very surfy with a lot of undertow on the beach we visited after this, but we both got in and really enjoyed it.

Still learning Photoshop Elements, so I haven't yet worked out how to rotate photos to straighten crooked horizons. I will get there soon!!

Hot Sands

We're just back from two weeks in Corfu - a lovely break. 1000+  photos are going to take a bit of culling before I get round to editing the best ones, but these are from possibly my favourite place. C likes the mountains and the olive groves, but I love Lake Korission, and it was a pity that this time we were staying too far away to visit it more than once. Don't worry - it's not all sand! My favourite part is along the fringe of the lagoon and through the juniper grove. .But even on the bare sand there's plenty of life. We saw a lot of bird tracks, both large and small, and then spotted this Little Ringed Plover. I  can only guess it was hunting insects, which were abundant. We also thought we saw a snake track, quite possible since we saw a dead snake. Last time we visited we saw a hare racing across - no such treat this time, but we did have another  real treat when we first got to the lagoon, but sadly I had not brought my point and shoot so wasn't able to zoom in as much as I wanted too. I'll save the surprise for another post, though!

Hot off the Needles

It's my nephew's birthday this week, so this has just gone off in the post to him. I'd originally bought the cotton to knit something for C, but after knitting the gender-neutral top for his colleague who was expecting a baby back in January, there wasn't enough left for him any more. So George gets the benefit.
I've been loving knitting in the round and top down - no sewing up at the end is a winner in my book. I even treated myself to a book on knitting in the round, I just need to find time to read it properly.

Faded Beauty

I'm not always the best at throwing flowers out when they start to fade.
But when I spotted this lovely dead head a few days ago, it was worth waiting a couple of days for some better light!

April Cards

Favourite cards for April!
Not too many, I was so tired that I felt most of what I made was on the bleah side...

I loved the robot one, though. When I started making it I was thinking of my youngest nephew, but actually I think it will do very well for an adult engineer who studied robotics. Can't you just imagine a robot-style voice saying "Seize the cake"? I could.

Either my computer is ageing even faster than I am, or the new release of GIMP is very resource-intensive, I'm having a lot of trouble editing photos these days. Since C gave me PhotoShop Elements 11 for my birthday, I think I badly need to find time to load it and learn it and see if it reduces the amount of crashes I'm experiencing.

Birds

This was going to be a post with a couple of birds and then my pick of April cards. But time has run away from me, so tonight it will just be birds, the cards will have to be selected over the weekend.
As the goldfinches become a bit more accustomed to us, it's becoming easier to grab a few photos of them other than on the feeder. Of course with the robins that is never a problem! One of the current ones is already venturing up to the back door if it's open, they certainly know where their food comes from.

And how did I come to think my blogaversary was May, when actually it was 22nd April.
Thank you to those who have kept on visiting through the years and have become such good cyber friends.