I believe there was an eclipse.

Hello. Here are my photo's of the eclipse yesterday, wasn't it exciting. The sun comes up at the back of my house, behind the trees in the next garden. It was a beautiful sunrise, a big red ball of fire emerged bathing the sky around it with a soft orangey red glow. Oooh, this looks a good start I thought. 

I knew I shouldn't look directly at it, so after playing with two pieces of white card and a pin hole, I couldn't see how that would work, I heard on the radio that you could use a colander to project the image onto card. I have one of those, so I took my 'equipment' outside, and waited in anticipation of this magical scene that I was about to witness. 

Then a few whispy clouds appeared, drifting across the sun, by which time the red glow had disappeared and it was now a milky white colour. Not to worry, I checked the time, 9.23am, something should be happening soon. I peered closely at the white dots on the card, searching for something that resembled a crescent shape. Hmmm, no, not there, can't find it.   

Ooooooh, hang on a minute, what's that, is it, can it be, the third dot right of the centre. Yes, I do believe I have got it. I'll zoom in, there is definitely a crescent shape there. Oh dear, just a minute, I may be mistaken, as I scroll the crescent does not move, oh drat, it's a bit of dirt on the screen. I knew I should have cleaned it. Oh well, have to wait until the next one, when is it, two thousand and fifty something, will put it on the calendar. 

In the meantime, if you missed it as well, pop over to Louise's blog Ramblings from a Roachling, she has some excellent photo's on there.

Please excuse my absence yesterday, I took the new wheelz to Burton upon Trent to visit family. It was the 33rd anniversary of our mothers death, so I took the opportunity to visit the Crematorium with my sister. The car was a joy to drive, it behaved perfectly. So comfortable and a smooth ride.

The flower room was jam packed full to bursting with flowers of every colour and description. My sister had bought herself some flowers for the house, and we took a few of those. It's lovely to see that so many people remember their loved ones in this way, but I feel a little bit sad that a lot of money has been spent on something that will wither and die in a short time. In my eyes it is not necessary to buy lavish and expensive bunches of flowers, a single bloom or two has the same meaning of remembrance. Our families live on in our hearts, the money would be better spent by donating it to charity.

After a stroll around the grounds remembering our mother, we went a short walk through nearby Stapenhill Gardens, and along the river. There are always lots of swans and assorted bird life here, it is such a peaceful place. The birds are very tame and walk around mingling with visitors. 

The Ferry Bridge is an ornamental wrought iron pedestrian bridge which takes you across the River Trent, past the college and market place, directly into the town centre. My sister often takes this route as the road bridge is frequently clogged with traffic.

Ooops, I cut his feet off.

In the centre of the well laid out gardens is this huge stone swan, surrounded by bedding plants, with flowers nestling in between it's wings. 

Yes, of course Rocky came too. He had a walk earlier but is happy to ride when his little legs get tired.

Passing the magnificent St Peters Church, on the way back to the car.

Back to the house for a drink before I went off to visit Uncle Stan. I took my landscape picture so he could see how it was progressing. Some useful tips from him, what Uncle Stan doesn't know about art isn't worth knowing. Auntie Pat has an amazing very old sewing machine which she asked me to look at as it needs some tweaking to perfect the stitchery. I fiddled with the tension, the stitch length, changed the needle, checked the bobbin, but sadly I couldn't work out why it wasn't performing as well as it should. It's a lovely machine and purrs like a contented cat, but it's as heavy as a sack of coal. I think she needs someone more knowledgeable than me to help her.

I rolled home at gone 11pm last night. What should have been a straight forward one hour forty minute journey mostly on motorways and dual carriage ways, turned into a mystery tour around the outskirts of Doncaster. The chuffin M18 was closed at Junction 4 due to overnight roadworks, and we had to take a detour.

It's the weekend. Brian Mathews Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 has finished, and I must get on with doing stuff. Thank you for popping in, enjoy your Saturday.
Toodle pip.