MORNING BIKE RIDES

As you may know I ride a three wheeled bike around our little town for some exercise! I'm really enjoying these early morning rides, especially at the moment...after the cold mornings...and before it gets really hot. A bit like the story of the three bears...my 'porridge' at the moment,the temperature is just right! 

But is is more than just the temperature...it is all the fragrances that fill me with delight as I ride. This morning there was the scent of freshly mown grass, a jasmine flowering over a post, wisterias in bloom, the 'whiff' of delicious roses as I ride past. On one of my 'roads,'on the edge of town, there is a horse farm so I have the lovely...to me....horsey smell as I ride right past.This morning a sheep truck drove past me, no sheep on board but I could still smell them, again to me a smell that brings back memories. 

Then there are the birds I see and hear. So many different ones and some elusive, I hear them but they are well hidden high amongst the foliage in the trees I past. There are of course the magpies dive bombing me, crows and Indian Mynah birds strutting their stuff,  very important in their own eyes. Willie wagtails, masked lapwings, blue wrens and so on, a real feast of them.

So come with me and I'll show you some of what I've seen in the last couple of days...

A 'bee' tree caught my eye!

If you look very carefully you can see the bees above...I just happened to pull up beside the tree this morning and noticed the bees very busily flying in and out. 

So...I hope you've enjoyed your ride along with me! And that you're enjoying your Sunday too!

ROSE HEAVEN

I hope you won't be bored with this post....more rose photos! The first bunch I picked was given to the owners of our rental, they were so gorgeous and so scented I thought she would like them as I know they haven't yet developed their new garden. And it was easy for me to pick my second bunch, so much choice!

And my third, all the same variety this time...

Today I visited a friend, taking a lovel bunch of pale pink roses for her as she has lots of stronger coloured roses in her garden. I wish I knew all the names of the roses here so I could sound knowledgeable! Before we leave here I will ask our landlady to walk around the garden with me and a I will WRITE down the names of my favourites and will then plant them in our new garden next Autumn.

AND my friend gave me a beautiful big bunch of her roses to bring home! I put them in a bucket when I got home, up to their necks to give them a good drink and a cool down...

Two vases later, preserving jars actually as most if my vases are still packed and I've run out of the ones that I do have...

I wish you could smell them! I have one vase now waiting in our bedroom, one beside the chair I sit in at night, one on our table, and more on a shelf in our kitchen area, how spoilt I am!! 

MY FIRST BUNCH OF ROSES!

There are millions of roses, welllllllll, perhaps that is an exaggeration but it did seem that way when Lucy, Joe and I pruned them all! I've been watching the delicious buds appearing and waiting for the day I could seize the seccateurs and pick a bunch! E had picked the first pink one for me a couple of weeks ago so we did have that to adore!

So this morning I could do it! With seccateurs in hand, Bear, our dog, and I went into the garden, just the back garden mind you and we collected this lovely bunch, yellow, the deepest dark red which the photo doesn't do justice, pinks, and pink with apricot tones, most of them scented, how lucky am I to have such a collection to choose from!

And beside me as I write there is this beautiful scented pink rose, short stems so I'm floating them in a bowl as I didn't want to lose any of their 'sisters' who were budding up with such promise!

I wish I could give all my readers a bunch of them so you could all enjoy the fragrance as well!

Maybe tomorrow I'll pick some fro my front garden and show them to you. Have a good and rosy day today!

HOUSE NEWS AND SOME SPRING PHOTOS

Our big news this week is that we have bought a house. Very exciting as we have been looking for ten months to get something we liked. I'm looking forward so much to unpacking all the boxes in storage, probably getting rid of even more as we unpack. We are not sure when we will move, the present owners have to find somewhere to live while they build. All my art and crafting materials in one place! All the things I've had to manage without! 

One of the joys of a new garden is discovering all the treasures in the garden. I know in our new garden there are some lovely gardenias, camellias, a silver birch, all favourites of mine and there will be room to plant all the roses I've brought with us that are now in pots. A really good lemon tree....always great to have! And, I'm hoping for lots of surprises as the seasons roll round. Things do have a habit of popping up...bulbs would be lovely!

The garden here in our rental is a beautiful Spring garden, the blossom trees, in particular a flowering cherry and a couple of stunning crabapples....

The roses here are also beginning to burst out, all beautiful. And I'm delighted to see some of the roses I potted to bring with us are flowering too, always a bit of a gamble not knowing whether they will adjust to going back into a pot. The following yellow rose is a very treasured rose, a cutting  taken from a really old rose in the original garden at the farm.

This pink rose is the first for our season, picked and brought into me by E, I'm sure that makes it even better!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with a lovely bunch of roses for you!

ATTACKING MAGPIES!

When I was a little girl my brothers and I rode our bikes to school every day, heat, rain, frost, no matter! Off we toddled 2 miles, approx 5 Ks, for the six years we attended the tiny country primary school. In Spring time we were attacked by a family of magpies. Every year the same tree! We would ride reasonably close, pause, and then peddle hell-for-leather hoping we would miss the ping as the sharp beaks connected!  I don't think the beaks often did connect but we always heard the snap as they flew past our ears, warning us I suppose!

Little did I think many moons later that I would hear those familiar snaps again! As most of my readers would know I now have an adult (thank heavens) three wheeler bike which I ride around our little town in the mornings. A couple of weeks ago there was the familiar sound which I instantly recognised, as well as the flap of feathers as the magpie swooped at me. One morning he/she followed me, flying from tree to tree, swooping between each one! BUT the good thing NOW is that I wear a helmet so I'm perfectly safe if I were actually caught by those beaks! No helmets back in the days of the dinosaur, just our delicate little heads!

I love to have magpies around, I adore listening to their warbling, a lovely start to the day! Here we have lots of blackbirds and thrushes who welcome the day with their songs. What a beautiful start to the day!

Before we left the farm I heard a scrabbling from a window and looked up to see a magpie silhouetted against the sky, on the fly wire. He probably could see his reflection and was flirting!

Funny old maggies or mudpies as one small grandchild called them!