An explanation

Sunday 29 April 2018

I thought it only right that I apologise for the lack of posts on this blog of late. To be honest I have taken very few photos over the past few months. Although the poor weather has contributed to this I seem to have lost all of my motivation when it comes to photography. This may be because I only walk in the same two or three places nowadays. So I am taking a break. Whether this will be temporary or permanent I’m not sure.

I would like to thank all of you who have followed me and liked my posts or commented over the years. The blog has been something that, in the past, I have enjoyed doing. Maybe I will again in the future. Who knows.

Julia

A cold but sunny end to the month

Tuesday 20th to Wednesday 28th February 2018

Tuesday 20th saw us on Canford Heath, in the sun, where we met our friends Brian and Poppy. Brian is a Staffie/Shar Pei cross.

Come Saturday we were back on Upton Heath. Here is a slightly windswept Teddy…

… and a more posed version.

They were taken on the Friday, and on Saturday we were back on a lovely, sunny heath.

On Sunday we went to Canford Heath, where I snapped this shot of Teddy, the moon, and the police helicopter.

This next photo is of Teddy by a felled tree that he always likes to go and stand by. I’ve since found out that Chris has a habit of sitting on it when he’s walking him.

On Monday we met Teddy’s friend, Marley, on Upton Heath. Marley may only have 3 legs but that doesn’t slow him down and he and Teddy had great fun racing around together.

Tuesday 27th was my Dad’s 91st birthday, so I drove over to see him and took him to the Cliff Top café in Highcliffe for a cup of hot chocolate.

In the afternoon I took Teddy to Canford Heath and we ended up getting caught in flurries on snow.

Which gave me the opportunity to get a photo of a Teddy paw print.

This next photo was taken when we got home, and is another is the series ‘Teddy likes to lie in some funny places’.

And lastly for February are some photos taken from a cold walk on Canford Heath on the last day of the month. There was ice on the pond near the entrance.

Along the old pit road the council are clearing a lot of trees and shrubs.

This photo of a branch on a frozen puddle was taken on the old Coach Road.

Here’s Teddy posing

And ice on the stream.

And that’s it for February.

Teddy has been in the wars

Thursday 1st – Friday 16th February 2018

Well February started out ok. Here is Teddy with his friend Louis and Louis’ Mum, Tina, on a nice sunny morning on Canford Heath.

Then on the 2nd Teddy and I went over to Upton Heath for our walk, where Teddy posed to show off his nice collar.

En route home Teddy had a very brief run in with a white, aggressive German Shepherd that lives around here, but at the time I thought nothing of it. We got home and had snuggles on the sofa in the sun.

And then Chris walked in and said, “What’s that on his side?” And, as you can see, that was a large hole.

So it was off to the vet pretty sharpish. I had to leave Teddy who needed sedation and stitching. He was bright enough when I bought him home, though, and hadn’t lost his appetite.

The vet who stitched him up said he thought it was a dog bite, hence my comment about the German Shepherd. And if Teddy was scared of them before, he’s even worse now.

Other than that, Teddy was fine. Her he is posing on the bed in one of Chris’ old t-shirts (to stop him licking his wound).

And on the sofa

On 5th February I had to take him back to the vet for a check-up, so for our walk we went out to Kingston Lacy. The house was looking nice, as ever, in the sun.

And in the gardens the snowdrops were out.

My birthday fell on a Wednesday, so I went to see my Dad as usual in the morning. In the afternoon I took Teddy over to Canford Heath for a walk. That’s Jezebel’s old coat he’s wearing, which is why it’s a bit small. It protects his wound while he’s out, however. As you can see, he’s starting to look a bit shaggy.

At the weekend we had a bit of a cold snap, and the pool by the boardwalk on Upton Heath was slightly frozen.

The following week-end (beginning on 16th Feb) my cousin and her husband were supposed to come to stay, but on the Thursday our boiler packed up and needed major repair which couldn’t be done until the following week. So we were left without central heating and had to cancel our visitors. We did go down to Poole on the Friday evening, however, to see their Festival of Lights. I have to say we were really disappointed. To say we were underwhelmed would be and overstatement. I took the camera, though, and so here’s a photo of Chris and Teddy under one of the installations on Poole High Street.

The only decent installation was a squirrel on Poole Quay.

And for good measure I took a photo of Poole Quay itself.

Not much to talk about

1st – 31st January 2018

I’m really sorry everyone, but it’s been one of those months when I’ve hardly taken any photos as all. Life also followed it’s usual, predictable pattern during the month so there ha been nothing really to post about. As we start February, though, I’ve edited the few photos I did take and can share them with you now.

So 2018 dawned cold, wet and miserable here. Just to prove it, here are the Exmoor ponies on Upton Heath on 2nd January.

I got very excited at the beginning of January as a pair of bullfinches decided that they would visit my feeders.

On Sunday 7th January Teddy and I went to Canford Heath for our afternoon walk, and once again we were treated to some beautiful skies. This was the view over Poole.

And a couple more of the skies over the heath that day.

As the weather improved a bit so the first crocuses came out. I took this photo on 19th January in Creekmoor.

And here is a photo of Teddy from that same walk, as he surveys the old pits on Upton Heath.

On 30th January we had a beautiful sunny morning and for a change I took Teddy down to Lake Pier, which is in Poole Harbour. I used to go there a lot with Max who loved the sea, but Teddy is not so fussed and as it’s not a very long walk I’ve only taken him once. Here he is on the beach.

We walked up onto Ham Common and met a beautiful boy: Wellington the English Mastiff.

I’m told he’s what’s known as an apricot brindle.

After we walked around part of Ham Common we headed back to the beach and I threw stones into the water for Teddy. Here he is hunting for one of them.

And a lovely one of him reflected in the mill-pond like sea.

I quite liked this silhouette of the pier.

And I will leave you today with a clip of Teddy sniffing around in the sea.

 

Cold and wet for the end of December

26th to 30th December 2017

The Christmas period was miserable and wet, although not particularly cold. By Thursday, though, the skies and cleared and the temperature dropped. So when Teddy and I went for our walk on Canford Heath on Thursday mornings there were large, frozen puddles everywhere.

At least all the muddy bits were frozen for me to walk on though, so neither me nor Teddy got too dirty.

The same could not be said of Teddy on Saturday, however. We had had more wet weather and so it was muddy for our walk on Upton Heath. I was really surprised at how clean he stayed as we walked round. Until we got to the silver birch grove on the lower heath, that is, at which point we met Lexi, a 6 month old Rotweiller/Mastiff cross. They had a good play. Unfortunately they played in the muddiest, wettest part of the heath! I dread to think how long it took Lexi’s owner to get her clean: she was rolling and sliding in the mud as Teddy chased her. Teddy stayed upright, but just look at the state of him at the end of it.

He did not appreciate being hosed off when we got home.

And so another year ends. Happy New Year to everyone.

Christmas

24th & 25th December 2017

On Christmas Eve we had my Dad to dinner and I cooked our Christmas lunch: a very large roast chicken with all the usual trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding. Rather than making an iced Christmas cake this year I thought I would try Mary Berry’s recipe for Tunis Cake: a lemon and almond sponge topped with a chocolate ganache and decorated. I was very pleased with the result, although I dread to think how many calories Chris and I consumed eating it over the following few days.

Anyway, we had a very nice dinner and I took Dad home again in the late afternoon. And so onto Christmas day. We think it was most probably Teddy’s first proper Christmas as we suspect that he was a travellers dog (not house trained, frightened of people (especially men), frightened of big sticks and people shouting, but very dog friendly). I had explained about Santa Paws before the big day (I know, I know!) and he seemed to enjoy himself.

Here he is with Chris.

Kissy, kissy time…

Wearing Max’s old reindeer antlers

And with me.

I Hope you all had a nice time over the festive period.

A grey, miserable week

Sunday 17th to Saturday 23rd December 2017

On Sunday Chris caught the coach to London to visit his family. Normally we would have both gone and taken the car, but Teddy whines most of the time in the car so would never manage the journey to London. He’s not keen on people either, so wouldn’t have coped with lots of people gathered for a pre-Christmas get together. That meant I walked Teddy twice, but it was gloomy and I didn’t take the camera.

Monday was sunny, though, and I took these photos on Upton Heath.

En route home I took this photo of the cormorant on Creekmoor Ponds.

And after that the weather was so miserable I took no photos at all!

It Turns cold

Sunday 10th to Saturday 16th December 2017

On Sunday Teddy and I walked on Canford Heath. It was dull and miserable, so I didn’t take the camera. I did take this photo of Teddy resting after his walk when we got home though.

He’s a funny dog. Amongst other things he has a strange idea about what makes a good pillow.

Tuesday was cold and icy, and I took the better camera when we walked on Canford Heath. As we walked past the scuzzy pond near the Gravel Hill entrance I was taken by the sunlight on the trees and ice.

Here’s Teddy backlit by the sun.

And a colour photo of the trees that I shared last week in black and white.

And a different black and white one of them.

Out on the heath the puddles were frozen solid in pretty patterns.

We walked across the heath in front of the old pit, and then into the woods on the other side, where I loved the effect of the sunlight through the trees.

In the trees there was a huge birch bracket fungus. Although I took a photo of it last week, this one is better.

We turned back across the heath where I took this photo of Teddy by one of the frozen puddles.

He was having a lot of trouble with that ice. He’s race off and then hit a frozen puddle and legs would go in all directions. And either playing on the ice or playing with dogs earlier he managed to cut his back leg. It has taken ages to heal as he kept opening it up, but is just about better now.

On Saturday we went over to Upton Heath as normal. It was still very cold but the skies were good again.

And so we head towards the Winter Solstice and Christmas.

Playing with black and white

Sunday 3rd December to Saturday 9th September 2017

Before you get too worried if you’re not a fan of black and white, there are colour photos in here too, but this week I have been watching a course on black and white photography on Lynda.com so have been practicing.

The first photo is in colour, though, and is of a piece of bark which caught my eye when Teddy and I walked on Canford Heath on Sunday afternoon.

Up on South Walk Teddy was posing for me.

He even sat down – something that’s very rare.

As usual, though, it was only as a prelude to lying down, as you can see (he didn’t even want to play with the little cockerpoo).

A few minutes later we met our friend John and his dog Eddie, and while we talked I took photos of the view.

When I turned around, though, this was the sight that greeted me.

Later as we walked across the heath the sun was setting behind the trees.

And so onto some black and white photos (I’ve not shared all of them – there are a few more on Flickr). These trees are along the path as we head towards the old pit.

And here’s Teddy on the heath.

On Friday we were on Upton Heath, and I was taken by the long shadows from the trees and old concrete structure along what was once the railway line.

And now it’s back to colour for the silver birch grove on a cold morning.

Autumn colours were in evidence along the Roman Road, though.

And one last photo – another rainbow. This time taken as we headed for the heath.

Not a bad start to December.

Sunshine after the rain

Sunday 26th November to Saturday 2nd December

Monday was wet and cold, so I put Teddy’s new coat on him for our morning walk on Upton Heath. I think he looks a very smart boy.

Tuesday morning the weather was very different and I took this photo of Teddy in the sunshine on Canford Heath.

Wednesday afternoon we were back on Canford Heath again, in yet more sunshine! This photo is taken near the Pilsdon Drive entrance to the heath.

The sun was low behind the clouds when we got up onto South Walk though.

It re-appeared as we crossed the heath though.

And the colour of the clouds and the sky meant I got a nice photo of one of my favourite trees.

On Thursday we were back walking the eastern side of the heath. As you can see, it was nice and sunny again, but it was quite cold.

And so onto Friday, and this time we were on Upton Heath in more sunshine. And we met our friend Zeus.

He’s such a lovely boy.

After he and Teddy had a play we walked onto the pond and then round into the old pits. This photo shows that they can look nice in the sunshine, although most of the time they just look drab and mucky, especially given the amount of litter the local boys leave behind when they play on their bikes there. It’s such a shame.

And that’s all for this week.