Hares

A few years ago, Mary came up to Norfolk and we spent a couple of days wandering around Norwich in search of dragons!   Every few years, the organisation Wild in Art put on an art trail around various cities around the world and Norwich has been blessed to have hosted a number of these - so far we've had elephants, gorillas and dragons.  

Last year, as we were having a hares art trail, I asked Sam if she'd like to come up for a few days and do the trail with me, in Mary's memory.   This time though, we took three days to do them all and I'll post each day's adventures separately.  This post is really just about the organisation and I've thrown in a few photos of hares outside of Norwich that weren't included in our list!

When Mary came up for the dragons, I thought it would be fun to give her a souvenir of her trip up here for her birthday so I was delighted to discover that the organisers and Break, the recipient charity, were producing a sticker book!   This had me probably more excited than I should be!   So I felt that I really ought to do the same for Sam's birthday too - so I purchased the hare sticker book and started collecting my stickers - this time though, I got involved with sticker swops too which was even more exciting.  Facebook is a wonderful thing!

This is Horatio - I think!   I am rubbish at names.   I found this one in Wymondham and, interestingly, he's still there, in the market place, two years later.  Most of the hares were auctioned off for charity to private organisations and individuals, so it's lovely to see that some have been bought by the locations they were originally homed in and we can still see them.

Mmmmm, actually I think this one might be Horatio - he certainly seems more nautical than the first one.  (I might have to borrow Sam's sticker book for the names!)  This one is outside a pub on the Broads, but, never paying enough attention, that's as vague as it gets.   I know there's a micro brewery there also - Woodfordes?  Does that sound right?

No idea what this one's called, but I know he was definitely at Wroxham Barns and seems to have a cheeky little hippo and elephant to keep him company!

And this one was definitely outside John Lewis!

Getting ready to send some swops off - with the dragons sticker book, I did all my swops with a young lad called Peter - he was six years old!  (He was the son of Amanda's colleague, and everything was very easy.)  This time, it was all a bit more fraught as I was having six or seven FB conversations with people and promising a certain number to one person, who then turned out to have already swopped with someone else as I was so late getting involved.   It's quite a stressful occupation!

And here are the trail maps in readiness for Sam's arrival - is it wrong to be so excited about these things at my age?!!

Keeping Cool at East Runton

During last summer's heatwave, Finn and I spent quite a lot of time up at East Runton at the beach.   There's very rarely anyone at the beach, especially at the time we get there, in the early morning - apart from the fishermen bringing in the catch, and the odd dog walkers.

I think Finn was trying to cool off even more as he took himself into this bunker to hide!

Finn only goes back on the lead if I see other dogs being walked on the lead and I'm assuming this was what was happening here.

Either that, or I was trying to stop him charging about again, overheating.

Odds and Sods - August 2019

I've had a lot of time off work in August - both on leave and then on sick leave.   For that reason, I haven't been doing anything more strenuous than sitting on my arse and knitting!   We have a craft fair coming up in November so I have a little system going on - I am knitting everyone's Christmas presents and then putting them on our Folksy site.   If the item sells on Folksy or at the craft fair, then I have a month to run around the shops to find the recipient an alternative.  And if it doesn't sell, then my friend/ family member gets the present that was always intended for them.   I had no idea it would be so stressful - especially given that I have 44 presents to make, but only 16 weeks in which to do so!

This is just a little selection of what I've made so far.

I have also been foraging, from my own garden as well as the public highway!  I picked enough elderberries to make a litre of brandy, but first I had to decant the beech leaf gin into bottles to free up the kilner jars for the elderberry brandy.  It's like a proper little production line!

While on holiday at the caravan at the beginning of August, I was so inspired by moody skies and the light on the trees, I took some photos which I then took to the John Arbon Textile Mill to match up with some yarn - this will be my next project after the current feral jumper is finished (which won't be until after Christmas - see above!)

I've had some minor surgery - hence the sick leave from work - but that hasn't gone too well, given that I fell down stairs after just one week at home.   The above photo doesn't show the bruises up so well, but I felt that I ought to record my clumsiness!

Finn has enjoyed some quiet time, including time down at the caravan.  The past month has been very very hot so we've been spending as much time as possible, trying to keep cool.