A final favourite

Isn’t it difficult to choose a favourite photo, from a vast archive? Some of the photos I love best are of my grandchildren, but posting those would add even more problems because I’d have to pick four!

So I decided to think about places I’ve been, and I think that our favourites are likely to be the ones that evoke the strongest memories. I’ll always remember the morning I took this photo and I’ve posted the story of it here and before.

I’m not sure if linking to the final weekly photo challenge  is still possible, but I will really miss creating the posts. I’ve been blogging for 7 years and have probably only missed 20 in that time.

Thanks to WordPress and the amazing  Daily Post team, I’ve made lots of friends around the world and learnt about things and places I’ll never see,

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The spring at Okohia

Early on a September morning in the year 2000, I was told to get up to go for a walk through the bush. It was hot and humid, but not unbearable, and I was intrigued to know where we were heading. The path was narrow, mostly just one person wide, and with low undergrowth both sides.

Here’s my daughter with my cousin Kelvin.

After a while I began to wonder what might be sharing the path with us , after all there’s no bush without bugs. My sister Patricia laughed and said, yes there are snakes and many things that will bite you. Well I was already bitten, mozzies see me as their own private banquet, and I told myself that most snakes would scuttle away.

After half an hour, we reached our destination, the village spring, with, so I was told, the best water I’d ever taste.

It was definitely a delight for our feet, the best tasting? I can’t remember, but the experience of walking to collect it, makes it the most memorable liquid ever.

Here’s Patricia carrying it home.

Millenium Lines

The Guildhall shopping centre in Exeter was created in a historic area right in the middle of the town in the 1970’s. Although there’s a lot of concrete, there are a few little gems ,like the tiny church of St Pancras, first recorded  in 1191 and the former Turk’s Head tavern building that’s at least 700 years old.

A mosaic was created, for the shopping centre at the turn of the millennium, by schools and community groups. Somewhere around a thousand 10 cm wooden squares were decorated and mounted in eleven lines on a shop wall.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to be involved in something like that, and still see your square eighteen years later?

This is my post my the weekly photo challenge of lines.

Being Here Now

Oh, to be in England
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England – now!

Robert Browning

There’s still two weeks to go to April, and its’snowing heavily today. I’ve just got in from a dog walk, chilled and damp, so I’ll happily laze the afternoon away. I have two books and some crochet on the go, I made orange polenta cake yesterday and I could even try to finish the poem I began.

You all know I love to travel, to anywhere hot, but there’s something very wonderful about England in spring. This snow should be gone by tomorrow and I live in the loveliest place on our planet, have a look, click to see a slide show, maybe you’ll agree.

So I’m thinking about this year’s holidays, because I crave experiencing different cultures, but right now there’s nowhere I’d rather be, but right where I am.

Built to last

When I first saw a travel programme about Cappadocia I thought how surreal it looked and I really wanted to see it for myself. A few years later I found my way there and it didn’t disappoint, it looked totally out of this world.

with it’s landscape of bizarre rock formations,

cave dwellings, both ancient,

and still in use. In fact you can even stay in some of them, fancy a week as a troglodyte?

How many . . .

. . . of these do you think I can eat?

There is no competition, Lindor Extra Dark are my very favourite chocolates. Last year in Florence, I found the Lindt shop and of course I was forced to try some flavours that I hadn’t seen before. They were lush and I wouldn’t turn any of them down, but chocolate should be dark to be taken seriously.

Now, I’ve tried all sorts of expensive chocolate with high cocoa percentages and they are lovely even when there’s barely any sugar.

But these Lindor still win.

Although they’re dark, they’re still sweet.So how many of these heavenly treats can I eat?

I think I’ll leave you guessing . . .

My lovely boodle

Jen asks that we share a photo or several of something that is dearly loved for the weekly photo challenge. Leaving family aside and small objects of desire, it’s not easy to pick. No surprisingly I’ve seen a few photos of pets and so I’ve decided to do the same.

If you’re an animal lover of a certain age, there’s a high chance you’ve experienced the loss of a pet at some time in your life. Last year it happened to me – twice in quick succession and while the edge of the pain has faded, whenever I come across a photo of Dido and Daisy, the tears are never far behind.

But then in July new puppies arrived. The moment my eyes met Flora’s she was mine and the moment Flora’s eyes met mine, I was hers.

She’s impossible to take photos of, dark eyes hide behind dark fur and she moves swift as light.

So, she’s my beloved Boodle (border terrier cross miniature poodle’, her brother George who belongs to my housemate, comes a very close second.