Since we now have a garden of sorts we have started growing some lettuce and zucchinis in pots. They are growing very well and the lettuce are already providing us with our daily salad.
A variety of fast growing lettuce, all very tasty.
One of our two young Zucchini plants
This weekend we drove up to Newcastle to visit Ruby and her baby, Harry. We also looked around the area, visiting Hadrian’s wall and also going to the Northumbria county show.
On Saturday we had a look around Newcastle city and then went and visited Ruby and Harry in Hexham, about an hour away. On Sunday we visited Segedenum and also Housestead’s fort which are part of Hadrian’s Wall. Housestead’s fort was great, it was in a beautiful wind swept, wild farming area and had a good solid bit of wall remaining as well as the remains of a roman fort built to guard the wall. Afterwards we had lunch at Ruby’s mum’s house in Hexham. The food was fantastic and we spent much time making Harry laugh, he is a very happy little man. On Saturday night we caught the metro into town and had dinner and some drinks in the Quayside area of Newcastle. We had a nice Italian meal and then sat by the window in a pub and watched all the hilarious drunk people of Newcastle walking around. Newcastle is Britain’s Hen and Stag night capital and even on a Sunday night the place was overrun with them. Today we drove to Corbridge for the Northumbria county show. It was very very busy and huge with an amazing number of tents and displays, animals, shops, food etc. We bought a squirrel to eat and some venison and wild boar sausages. We also got some local cheeses and a leather bag for Corinne. We found Newcastle and the whole area to be great and especially noticed how friendly and safe Newcastle felt compared to some other cities we have visited.
Hadrian’s wall at Housestead’s fort
The fort ruins
Harry, an always happy baby - excellent
A very solid Sheep rump
A very large tame owl at the show
A very cute snoozy Gpig.
For Those of you who don’t know, we are now proud parents. Over the long weekend we went to Newcastle to visit Ruby and her baby Harry. When we cam back today Jemima had produced a huge number of babies. There are about 20-30 of them and they appear to be doing very well. We have had a fish tank now for about 6 weeks and already we have babies. Jemima was looking a lot fatter and had really slowed down. We also have jane and guiseppe. Jane looks pregnant too so we may have more babies soon.
They are very hard to get photos of because of the water, focusing, movement etc.
Finally i have a goldfinch feeding from my special goldfinch feeder. It contains niger seed which they are supposed to be especially partial to. I woke up this morning and found this little man eating. He was quite relaxed and came back again later on.
Today I saw a Yellowhammer on the rd to Offchurch. They are a really good looking bird like a yellow canary, but we don’t get them in our garden. They seem to hang around the oil seed rape fields which are the same colour.
We also now are getting more starlings, rooks and jackdaws in the garden. This is annoying because they are bigger birds and flock together and scare off the smaller birds.
None of the photos below are mine, I have borrowed them from other websites.
Yellowhammer
Goldfinch - I have seen these in our yard once - this is a male.
Jackdaw - from the crow family
Rook - an ugly bird that hangs around in groups and nests in colonies called "Rookeries". They are noisy and scare off the finches.
Starling. We have these in Australia and they are real pests.
Here is a foto of Corinne with the flowers and chocolates that her wonderful mother sent her from the Colonies. They are a beautiful bunch from the best florist in Leamington. It is Corinnes Birthday tomorrow and we are celebrating tonight and tomorrow and possibly all weekend.
Corinne looks a bit tired as she has just driven 1hr from wonderful (not) Birmingham after a full days work and a night on call.
Here are some pictures of spring in Hunningham. All the bare trees and hedges suddenly have leaves on them and the baby bunnies come out, the lambs, the birds are frisky the temperatures rise (23 today - amazing). It is really enjoyable being in the country to see the changes as they are much more spectacular here than in the city (shity).
A man made canal near our house. Built during the industrial revolution to move stuff about.
A lock in the Canal
A Canada Goose on her nest by the canal.
A local pig
Some Lambies relaxing in the sun looking very tasty
A fine example of a young female scottish horse vet - Katrina.
A male pheasant trying to hide in the Oil seed rape or canola as we call it in Australia.
We have been a bit slack and slow but here is the final episode of our holiday in December and January. We spent the last four days of our trip in New York. We stayed in the Wellington hotel which is very central to all the goodies like central park, times square and much more. We looked all around Manhattan, took a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty, went up the empire state building at night, ate a few street vendor kebabs, had some great japanese and italian food, shopped, and did a lot of other touristy things. It is a cool place with a lot to see and very different from the others areas we saw in the US and Canada. We went to little Italy one night for a pizza, we caught the subway all over the place and we even saw the movie "Cloverfield" while we were there, which is set in manhattan. We found the people to be the rudest of our trip with very little time for slow aussies - But we loved it all anyway
Times Square at night - big, bright, busy, boisterous and other alliterations
More times square
Me in Central Park - shite weather while we were there.
A busy little NY squirrel gathering more oak leaves for his dram (squirrel nest).
The great big lady of liberty looking very green.
A view across the great lake in Central Park with a view of the mid-upper east side in th background.
Corinne - cold and tired and ready for a snooze.
Corinne devouring another kebab/pita bread type thing from a street vendor - they were very very good and only 2-3$
