Homemade card by Charlotte.

Homemade card by Charlotte.
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

Scythe and sickle.

Scythe and sickle.
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

The River Wye from Yat Rock

The River Wye from Yat Rock
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

The Veg Patch

The Veg Patch
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

We have garlic, broad beans and onions in the veg patch at the moment. Lots of sage and mint and the enormous cardoon which gets bigger and bigger every year. We are growing brussel sprouts and leeks in pots at the moment... and will be putting them in the patch when they are ready. Next year we may dig out another patch on the flat bit to grow potatoes and carrots.

Voices

There was a lovely idea in the paper at the weekend.
The idea is that instead of or as well as taking hundreds of photos and hours of videos of our families, children and friends.... why not make some audio recordings ....ideally on one of those old style tape recorders...with microphone plugged into the side.
So.....just voices and noises...without pictures.
A very simple thing to do....but something that could really capture a moment.
Hearing a voice from the past can make you gasp out loud. It brings the memories flooding back and is a true reminder of that person.

Bambino.

Sophie and Mauris baby boy arrived on saturday. Congratulations to them all.

One cheeky sheep.

One cheeky sheep.
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

Charlotte and Ang came down for 2 nights last week. Ang had arranged for Richard and her Mum and Dad to look after Joseph and Florence while she was away.....and Charlotte and I had booked a couple of days off work. They arrived on Thursday night. On Friday we drove to Abergavenny and walked up to the top of Sugar Loaf...where we met a very friendly sheep!!! We then drove onto Crickhowell which looked beautiful in the sunshine...and had some food at The Bear. It was one of those lovely days. We ate lots of licorice allsorts...moaned and groaned about things that were annoying us....realised that we are not looking too bad for our years....decided to start saving up for a special event on our 40ths....met lots of lovely people especially the man at the vineyard....bonded with Sebastian the sock monkey....listened to Neil Diamond and realised how great it is to have old friends. x

On top of Sugar Loaf.

On top of Sugar Loaf.
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

Funny man.

It was very very warm in The Tobacco Factory on Sunday night. It is a great venue but they have a problem with a lack of air conditioning or any sort of ventilation. It was just about bearable. Daniel Kitson was looking slimmer and came on in a cool suit. His performance was lovely....lots of shouting..... almost 2 hours on stage without a break. Its hard to pick out any "best bits" as the whole thing was excellent, very funny and very moving.
"The world is a saddening mess of unfathomable complexity and the simplest cruelty and yet rather than raging or weeping, most of us still manage to eat snacks, do crosswords and occasionally wash. But what if, what if we heave our compassion from wherever its buried and with courage enough to seem naive or under informed or oblivious to futility, we reach for something better. Something more engaged, more humane and less snack based."

A British Lop.

A British Lop.
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

Yesterday was the 1st of June.... and it was also Open Farms Day.
We visited Cowshill Farm in nearby Hewelsfield. It was great to see the pigs.....British Lops and Berkshires, Gloucester cattle and the hens, geese and ducks. We bought some sausages and talked tractors with the farmer. They have an alpine tractor there, which we are hoping to mow our field with in July/ August. They will come along and do all the hard work for us....for a small fee.... and cups of tea and sandwiches.

Sausages

Sausages
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon

Farmyard

Farmyard
Originally uploaded by terry Dixon