Brought to you by the letter B.

Boot fair Beswick hound.

 Verbena Bonariensis

 Large bee, today's visiter to the Verbena. It was not so happy to be photographed as the moth, and flew all round me a few times before flying off to feed undisturbed.

 Blue...house over the road against the yellow leaves. 

 Black hair and clothes of doll from weird little doll set I found today. 

Humming Bird Hawk Moth

I got home about 5.30 today and was washing up a few things when I noticed something large buzzing around the Verbena Bonariensis. I was excited to find a Humming Bird Hawk Moth. It stayed there for ages, long enough for me to fetch my camera and go back again for my glasses so I could see it properly! It really does look like a tiny humming bird. I couldn't hear a humming noise but there was quite a lot of background noise. What an amazing little creature!

 This photo is about the clearest one-it moves fast so all the others are a bit blurred.

 It is so precise at putting its proboscis into each floret-it never misses!

 As you can see, Cassie is interested, so I was watching her as well, to make sure the snacker didn't become the snack!

Beautiful Kew

I had a very pleasant visit to Kew yesterday with Linda Sue and Nona. Lots of pictures and not too many words!

 Love a good seed head!

 Soft strokable grass teamed with Verbena Bonariensis. 

 The Hive-an art installation linked to a bee hive. The activity of the bees is interpreted through sound and light.

 Inside the Princess of Wales glass house. Amazingly bright and unreal Bromeliads. 

 More steamy plants. Had to keep wiping my camera lens on my shirt!

 This amazing creature is a Stag Horn Fern. Its leaves form a cup that collects nutritious debris and water. It is impressive!

 Waterlilies have the best seedheads. 

 The Piranha wants to get me!

 Or maybe the bear does. 

 Autumn Acer. 

 Student grown grapes. 

 Yew berries. Such an enticing red, but don't be enticed. 

 More water plants. 

 The sun came out. Lovely scents behind the Palm House. 

 Cheeky Jackdaws kept us company at lunch. 

 Sculpture on the way out. 

 Twisted. 

 Posing for me. Nona told us that one year either a swan or a goose made a nest in one of these urns!

 Lovely coffee near the station. 

 Berries on my road when nearly home. 

 A collection from Kew. The green thing is a black walnut. Holly berries, conkers, a pine cone, a beech nut case and some leaves. All in a bowl for the moment to remind me of the visit. Cassie's paws in the background-she had a good sniff when I emptied my pockets!

A Bit Yucky.

Over the years, I have trodden in lots of dog mess, fallen over in someone else's sick, sat in chewing gum, and been pooed on by a squirrel. I have, however, in all the time I have been a nursery teacher, managed to avoid sitting in wee. Today, my luck ran out. I was about to engage in some timed lego building with one of the afternoon kids, when cold wetness seeped right through. I shot up, but it was too late. I had to wait for someone to be able to relieve me from the classroom, then used the hand drier in the loo. After this, I fashioned a fetching bubble wrap skirt, finished off with masking tape, to enable sitting on things without contaminating them.
More revolting stories occur to me. The time I had to take an assembly, which was bad enough, but bad turned to worse, when a child at the front suddenly projectile vomited. I jumped out of the way of that one. And there was  the time I had just managed to single-handedly get my Reception class changed for PE, and was headed into the hall. Two children led the line, PJ and George. As I followed them in with the rest of the class, George came rushing back out of the hall to tell me, "PJ's pooed on a hoop!" Indeed PJ had, a perfect small egg of excrement, balanced on the edge of the hoop. End of PE lesson.
Ah well, teaching and life are not all roses and playdough. I will leave you with a pleasant image of something or other once I have found one!

Happy Autumn!

Miniature pumpkin-surely too small to cook and eat. Made into a little Autumn moodboard with a cute French doll, cat and starred book on puppet making. 

 Doll planning in my journal. I have got as far as making the doll, and have spent the last half hour searching through my fabric bags for inspiration for clothes.

 Doll collection in the antique shop in Greenwich, amongst the reflections of houses across the road.

This last picture has nothing to do with Autumn or dolls, I just liked the way the picture has been glued over the broken spine of the book.

And this picture is a recent one of the cats that I liked, as they are working as a team and sitting in exactly the same way. Not sure what was out there, but they were guarding together. 

Bits and Pieces

A few photos from the last couple of weeks... Ones I particularly liked. 

 Heads in Brixton market with Linda Sue.

 Completely laid back cat in the same place. He ignored both of us taking photos of him, as did his friend, another cat.

 Dresses in Palma, Mallorca. Love all the colours together. 

 Beautiful evening light in Palma.

 More beautiful evening light at home. It looks like a light show on the wall!

 One of many charity shops in Tunbridge Wells, where Linda Sue and I went on Saturday. 

And a squirrel perched on a clock, also in Tunbridge Wells.