Anniversaries...

For some reason, I was sure I had started my blog in May. But recently I looked back, and it was 22nd April 2009. So today is my blogiversary - who knew I'd still be going 8 years later.
Yesterday was my birthday - so I took a memory trip back to two years ago when we were in Giverny and I never got round to editing and sharing photos from that day. My sister and aunt got a slideshow of ALL the photos; the overload is why I never got to do anything about them.

Here's a quick pick. It was a lovely day - Easter was late, so the gardens opened to the public a little earlier than usual and we were able to go on our last day in Paris. It changed the whole feel of the trip from just a city break to a holiday, because we got the train to Giverny and then we were right out in the countryside. When we arrived, the gardens were full, because there was a big group from a cruise ship. We walked around the gardens once in the throng, then sat on a bench at the back of the water garden for about half an hour enjoying the peace (and a cuckoo calling in the distance), and then when we walked around the gardens again, they were practically empty.

Now I think I want to make a card with my dogwood die!

Steeples

I took a better look at the steeple on the old church/new distillery. It's glass - it's going to be beautiful!

Here's the very squat steeple of the Catholic St. James' church across the road (where you can get your Camino passport). I like the way the glass echoes the colour of the what I presume is copper encrusted with verdigris.

And Spring is on the way - the sweet chestnut inside the gate in work is greening up all of a sudden.

I was trying to take a photo of a couple of grey wagtails, but didn't get the camera out of my bag in time - so all I have is the structure of the bridge.

And some more blue....

On the way to work...

Not today, but last Thursday which was beautifully sunny if still on the cold side.

The old de-consecrated Anglican church on St. James' Street was a lighting showroom when I first started working here, and then it went bust during the recession. It's now being converted into a micro-distillery  - and getting a very fine steeple in the process; it hasn't had one since 1948 when it was apparently blown down.

March Favourites...

This month's header is a photo of a wren taken in St. Catherine's Park last April.

And some favourite cards from March:

I like this one because my mother called me after Sabrina in Milton's poem "Comus". So this was probably the first piece of poetry that I learned by heart. And I have a lovely little S-shaped enamel mermaid pin that was my grandmother's.

Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair:

I feel this bird looks as if he has seen something which has astonished him - so I am thinking of adding a snail or something in the bottom right corner.