lizblog

Boxing clever .... not

So, yesterday I received my new BT headset from Play.com.

The box it came in felt a little like overkill.

Dog sitting

Well, next week I am going to undertake the dog sitting venture again. Not with Laddie this time, but with Asher, my son Ed's dog. She's a border collie, friendly, affectionate and obedient , well for Ed, I will hopefully gain this respect too. She's a cute dog with interesting TV viewing interests. She loves wildlife programmes and becomes very engaged with the TV, slightly dangerously if not kept in check. Nothing she likes better than a TV dinner after a long walk. Sadly Newbiggin beach is out of bounds, so I will have to go further afield for doggie walking, but I'm sure we'll both have a good time. Ed and Laura will surely have a great time in Edinburgh at the festival.
After a few days we are going to meet up on Holy Island where I will return the dog and they will proceed up to a wilder part of Scotland to have a holiday. (Yes, I have checked the tides.)

Here's Asher ..... awwwww

  

Poppy

I love these big opium poppies. Bruised and battered by the rain, it has managed to show its face in the garden.

Cragside

The house at Cragside is a Victorian mansion which towers above the impressive grounds. There, that's the tourist information over with. Louise and I went there the other weekend. It was damp and misty, which added atmosphere to the whole visit. (and had the added benefit of ensuring that there were few other visitors). We just loved the whole place. The little river, the magnificent bridge ... wonderful.  

We walked up through the woods on little narrow paths. It must have taken for ever to lay all the slabs of stone making these paths up, beautifully done and making the walk very doable. Right at the top of the woods there are broad paths which form part of a road which goes right around the estate. We drove right round this track before we went home. It had stopping places so it was possible to park and get out of the car and view nearby attractions. At the top of the woods the grounds open out to an unexpected nearly moorland area with a solid rock base, part of that crag?

  
The other attraction is the Labyrinth. Through an imposing entrance ..... then a secret tunnel woven from interlocking rhododendron branches leads in and out of the woodland.

If you are up this way, it's well worth a visit. :-)

Louise exercises

When Louise last came up to see me, we took the opportunity on a misty Saturday to go and visit Cragside.

Louise used this to further her physical prowess by using the various climbing and balancing equipment scattered round the gardens.

  

She rounded it off with a nice energetic walk on the crowded beach.

  

Nature Close-ups

I seem to be getting more and more pleasure from taking photographs of the beauty and strangeness of the nature around me.

On a recent botanical garden visit I took this selection of photos: some beautiful, some interesting and some quite strange.