Spring is come

Now l know Spring is on it's way..the crocuses are here! yeh! These have been planted in one of the troughs outside our main entrance.

 And the primroses are out too.

This is one of the cats that is on duty outside our flats....even at night!!!

 Isn't this the most beautiful red? and the leaves are just so amazing.

 Waiting for buses is soooooooo boring! "Anyone seen my bus"?

 This is is for a project that Photographer's Gallery is running. This image l hope represents The Banal. As in shopping and waiting for buses is so boring! And before you ask, no it is not a set up image!

I often go past this Church, as it is opposite Sainsbury's but l hadn't noticed before how beautiful the main window is.

Would like to see this window lit up, l bet it looks wonderful!

 I love lines and wires and this image says it all really. I am going to turn it into a print soon.

 I had to laugh when l saw this sticker on a window yesterday...wonder if they really do have a dog?

As l was walking down the street towards Putney Art School, l noticed that one particular house had been recently painted. Maybe that is why l had not noticed the following two sculptures, which are on the front facade of the house.

 This is the window between the two sculptures...think they may have just moved in!

 Is this a sign of the times in Putney? This house has suddenly put this "wall" and intercom up! Shame.

 Angry tourist or angry girlfriend / boyfriend? (Tony's comment was "Why not contact the Police? it is more likely to be a post mugging disposal!")

This is part of Purtney Art School overlooking the Railway Line. It has just had an extention put on it's roof and it has added to it's appearance l think. Think the blue sky helps make this image.

I wonder how l can manage to get this home to use in my Eco Rust Dyeing? Ha!

Don't you think this purple is beautiful?

This is where the above crocuses come from. 20 years ago there were just a few bulbs now this whole "Common" area is covered. They always come up at the end of the first week in Febuary and remind me Spring is just around the corner. When l come out of the main gates and see this view it always makes me smile.

Rutland, Kidderminster and home again!

This is Tony VERY carefully making sure his latest cake, arrives in one piece at our son's house in Rutland!

Every time l go past a certain house in Putney, l try and take an image of the toy owl on one of it's upper window sills. This time, we stopped opposite it in a traffic jam. It is still far from perfect but it gives you a good impression. It always makes me laugh how they dress this Owl depending on the season or celebration. At Halloween it is dressed as a witch and, for example, at Christmas... Father Christmas!

 Can you believe it, we went past Ikea and Tony wouldn't stop?!!!!!!

At one point on the road going out of London, we felt very closed in by trucks. A wee bit threatening even though we are used to London traffic!

Once on the Motorway, traffic was not too bad for a weekday. We went past this transporter and being in our tiny Mini, made us feel even smaller, nothing unusal about that you think.  I have to say l have never seen one just full of trucks before.

 LOOK.... actual blue sky, but it only lasted one day... boo hooo!

Love this view of a house near Andrew's! It looks as if it is magical, sort of partly hidden away from general view.

This next image is of the gorgeous bakery that is by my son and daughter's house in Rutland. It bakes the most outstanding bread, cakes and savouries x

 Some of the customers are just "SO" country!

 I managed to take a quick image of the "working" part of the bakery.

 The next image shows you what l mean about the Bakery being in the middle of no-where!

One of the reasons we were visiting Andrew and Gemma was for Andrew to photograph some of my Art in a Studio setting. l have to say he did this fantastically and l am so proud of him. I will show you the results on my Art blog  http://tryingtocreatearteveryday.blogspot.com  at a later date. Another reason was for Tony to help Andrew do some work on his Land Rover. (Don't you just love this bag?)

 This is my son Andrew cleaning his beloved Land Rover. I have to credit Tony with this image.x

We were very lucky to be around when a Hunt went passed Andrew's house. It is ok for anyone out there against Hunting... they were not actually pursuing a fox!

 There were many "Followers" in cars and 4WDs. I thought these two were great.

Later on in the day we went to visit Gemma's Aunt and Uncle who live near by. They live in the most beautiful house overlooking Rutland Water. l had given them one of my Wall Hangings for Christmas . The Hanging had been put on a chair by the front door, so Miranda could see it all the time before it went into the grandchildren's room. She then decided it actually looked good there and it may stay a bit longer than expected.

Gemma's Aunt also gave us some eggs from her chickens. Love fresh eggs.

Here are some of her wonderful chickens. There is some thing about chickens, l could watch them for ages and they are so colourful. If we had a house with a garden, we would have chickens 

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After we left Rutland, we went to visit some old friends of ours who live near Kidderminster. We have known them since we were neighbours in Dubai, which is a long time! They have a spaniel who believe it or not loves lettuce and onions! As you can see from the image below, she knows where to sit and "watch" when David is having a sandwich! Ha!! Don't you love that expectancy! Ha.

 On the way home, the weather was terrible, no blue sky on Saturday.

This next image shows you an area we travel through, where we nearly always see a few Red Kites. They were reintroduced around the Chiltern Hills in the last couple of decades in the hope they would rebuild their numbers.

 As you can see from this image... it has worked! Beautiful creatures.

This image shows you how dark and miserable it was travelling home on Saturday and it was not even late afternoon!

This is not a very good image but l thought this "parking space" for Cherry Pickers looked amazing! Think l may use this image in a printing project.

On the way home, we had the radio on when l heard this new perspective... A man was stuck in a traffic jam late in the evening and was getting angry because they were not moving and he was late.  His female companion simply said....."Isn't it beautiful? Rubies in front of you and diamonds coming towards you". Maybe sitting in a traffic jam at night, may not seem so bad in the future.

 As we approached London, traffic became a little more interesting!!