A lovely bunch of special, prize-winning, sheep at the Mid Devon Show last week! Any idea which is my favourite and why? 🙂
Show Off Sheep
Tag: England
Lazy Poets Thursday Haiku
Wounded in her youth
she stands in grace and splendour
limbs raised to heaven
Walsh Glass
A few days ago I was at the Mid Devon Agricultural Show where I met Matthew Walsh who was on the next stand. He makes wonderful studio glass, including these wall plaques connecting together to show the fluid movement of the carp, butterflies or seahorses.
Very elegant vases.
Paperweights 
The sweetest little birds 
Clocks
But these perfume bottles were my favourite! 
Matthew was actually my hero for the day, he helped me with his hammer when I was setting up, so here he is! 
Matthew says ‘My aim with all my work is to bring pleasure to all who see it.’ Well he certainly bowled me over, his work is exquisite, click each image for a better view, or have a look at his website.
http://www.walshglassdesigns.co.uk/Glass/Welcome.html
Lazy Poet’s Thursday Poem
I was inspired by a TV program, A Poet’s Guide to Britain, and so  think I might do a Dartmoor series. Of course this depends on how lazy I am . . .
On Houndtor
The glistening granite of millennia
clings like the crest of a dragon
on the horizon beneath a thunder cloud sky
scramble a pathway between and look east
to where a habitation of stone once lay
but now sprinkled like so many marbles
on soil trampled and bovine nibbled
leaving only echoes of medieval voices
causing ears to question when mist descends
to infuse ancient hearth where fire burns no longer
and generations that huddled have migrated
to pleasant valleys far from nature’s scorn
replaced by fair weather wanderers
unaware of those who stepped before
Weekly Photo Challenge: Fresh
Otterton in East Devon has it’s own mill, producing flour and powered by the River Otter. This is real flour, not the mass produced stuff we find in the supermarkets, but artisan quality and very tasty. They mill a few times a month and you can buy it FRESH in standard packs or larger sacks. I actually tried it, freshly milled and delicious.
This is my take on the Weekly Photo Challenge, join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/weekly-photo-challenge-fresh/
Sonel’s Black and White Challenge: Family
I think this must be a family group so it should fit the bill!
There are lots more here! http://sonelcorner.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/black-and-white-weekly-photo-challenge-family/
Weekly Photo Challenge: The Golden Hour
I’d pretty much given up on posting this week but I wasn’t too happy with that because I’ve only missed one or two in more than two years. I have very few early morning shots, not because I don’t get up, I just don’t go out. It’s either too cold in winter or dawn is much too early in summer!
Then I remembered an evening on Dartmoor a couple of years ago, when I went especially for the sunset in September. These photos are taken at the same place, within twenty minutes and facing different directions. Somehow they are in reverse order below!
The Fastest Way to Slow Down!
Dave was the skipper yesterday when I went for a trip on the Grand Western Canal, on the last horse drawn barge in the South West of England. He delivered the Health and Safety rules with humour and a broad Devonshire accent. Our horse was Dandy, a 15 year old Clydesdale working his last season, Dave said that he loves cuddle and polo mints – Dandy that is not Dave.
The most frequent question people ask is how the horse manages to pull such a heavy load, with 43 people onboard it weighs 17 tons. Well, once the barge gets moving it has its own momentum and Dave said that we work harder pushing a fully loaded supermarket trolley than Dandy does, so he has an easy life. Dandy himself weighs three quarters of a ton.
The barge has a bar for snacks, drinks and ice cream, womanned by the lovely Katie, they need every penny they can make to keep them going. It is painted in the traditional Barge art, seats 75 and runs trips twice daily from late March to the end of October.
Some of the canal bridges have very narrow towpaths and it can get a bit tight for a large shire horse to squeeze under, they can easily bang their heads on the curve. Dandy has even fallen in, while tractor watching one day, he got a bit distracted and in he splashed. Unfazed though, he swam to the other side, had a bit of a mooch around and then headed back upstream! The canal has several horse, one of their others Taffy, is a bit of a Prima Donna, he has his own Facebook page and has been featured in local and even national newspapers. Dandy is my favourite though and I hope he has a long and happy retirement.
Should you find yourself in Devon, pop up to Tiverton, a nice little market town for a canal trip. It’s a mini escape, a tranquil and silent way to explore. I usually walk along the bank, but yesterday was hot and the barge was so tranquil. There is plenty of wildlife if you are very observant, we only saw ducks, moorhens, damsel and dragonflies and even those evaded my camera – I was too relaxed.
Related posts
https://lucidgypsy.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/grand-western-canal-2/
https://lucidgypsy.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/grand-western-canal/
Travel theme: Simplicity
Morris Minor’s were produced in Britain from 1948 to 1974, as an economy vehicle. There were several versions, saloons, convertibles, an estate with wooden trims and functional little trucks. More than a million and a half were built and they still have huge following. There is an owners club with events and rallies all over the country. I captured this one with my phone camera on Exmouth sea front last night, it was lovely, a real treasure from the days when car engines were simplicity, not a gadget to be seen.
This post is for Ailsa’s Travel theme, join in at  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/07/12/travel-theme-simplicity/
100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups Week# 97
Julia has given us just one word this week, Â HEAT – at last we’re feeling it on this small island! ‘Take it in any direction you like’ she says. At work today I took it to lunch with me.
Heat
 I feel like a seal must feel, slippery, smooth and slick with moisture. Beneath the shade of dappled beech leaves, I sit awhile. A patchwork pattern of sunbeams, peep through the green canopy and above a happy blackbird trills its summer joy. My ears catch the crescendo of Flybe’s twelve forty-five to the Costas, but for once I feel no envy of the flyers, instead I have England at its best, with late orange blossom flourishing it’s fragrance on the breeze.
Alas I must retreat to my desk or risk burnt knees in the heat of my lunch break.
In case you’re wondering, the first sentence was purely imagined!
Join in at http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week97/
Lucid Gypsy 