July

Another time warp - July almost over. I know they say that as you get older - time goes more quickly but this is ridiculous! In my defense I have been pre-occupied with a project in July but that is really no excuse. We went to Hastings and walked through beautiful Hastings Country Park to Fairlight Glen where all the little grottos and waterfalls were Victorian attractions. On the way home we made it up Firle Beacon - Finn loved it!

Apart from that I have been walking and photographing as usual, picking raspberries, picnicking in the heather up at Bignor Park, tending my garden.

Picking samphire, swimming in the sea, walking around pagham harbour, watching the starlings and generally making the most of summer.

Beaches

While walking Finn I cannot stop beach cleaning. Martin Dorey - the founder of 2minutebeachclean was on BBC2's Springwatch last week - he's doing an amazing job. I've discovered that each beach I clean has a different type of rubbish: Wittering was littered with lots of dog poo in bags - I can only think that after bagging it the dog's owners didn't want to carry it around with them so discarded it - even though there are many bins around. Pagham has lots of matted fabric caught up in the dried seaweed. I didn't realise what this was until I'd been clearing it for a few weeks - WET WIPES - disgusting. Apparently they are becoming a real problem as people are using them more and more. Then there's Bognor - clogged up with beer cans and takeaway rubbish - just left behind regardless of all the bins along the promenade.

I also cannot stop photographing boat bottoms! I love the layers of coloured peeling paint and the textures. I think they look like abstract paintings.

April

Oh dear I missed April completely. Finn has been taking up my time and a myriad of family problems unfortunately, but that's life I suppose. Here's a photographic montage of the missed month - it's my favourite time of year - so beautiful to see the Spring colours with leaves and plants unfurling in the woods and the blue sea sparkling in the first warm sunshine. 
Finn is settling in well, he's a little wayward and has eaten all the wild garlic in the garden and scared off the birds which is a shame. It's a year since Bill died and Finn has made me feel better about everything, as well as being a great walking companion.

The start of new mini-adventures

I've been lost without a dog and it was so painful to lose Bill that I was unsure whether to get another one. But life was not the same and we had no companion to share our adventures with - then along came Finn. Last week we went over to East Sussex to walk part of the South Downs Way. It was a beautiful day - I get a real sense of freedom when walking in the countryside. We met a man who was out hunting with his Jack Russell and Harris Hawk, which Finn was really interested in. The bird would not move while he was around as another dog is apparently a threat to his pack - fascinating.

Blues and reds

Here is the past few weeks in pictures. Walking on the South Downs and enjoying beautiful landscapes, Alfie modelling his new coat, managing to fit in some drawing and Alfie and I having a lovely cuddle. 

A great night at the Komedia in Brighton proudly watching Gra's band.

A taste of Autumn

We're beginning to get a taste of Autumn even though the temperature is still warm and the sunshine's holding out. The photos below are from my travels around, plus a lovely one of Alf and a dog I met called Jack - who made me long for another dog. The trouble is that Bill's a hard act to follow. I would always get one from a rescue centre and the terriers seem to be snapped up quickly which is great. I'm sure one will find us when the time is right, just like Bill did.

15

My beloved JRT is 15 today. There were times last week when I didn't think he'd make it to his birthday but he seems to have made a good recovery. I know that as he's quite old anything can happen at any time but for now we are just taking one day at a time and enjoying the fact that Jack Russells are tough little dogs.

It's a dog's life!

Last year Alfie spent Christmas in a dog's home, this year was a bit different . . .
He was really up for having a good time, unfortunately his friends had other ideas.

teamwork

The serious business of hole digging. Bill likes to dig but Alfie tears up the grass and earth with his mouth - urgh!

Alfie

We have a new member of the family this week! My mum and dad have just got Alfie, a rescue dog found as a stray. Not sure what breeds are in him but mostly terrier! He is the sweetest natured dog and already will not leave my mum's side - he knows he's found a good home. My Jack Russell is not impressed but he will get used to him after a while!
Welcome Alfie.

Grumpy

My Jack Russell has recently been through a terrible trauma. He had a operation a couple of weeks ago to remove 6 lumps and at the age of 11 it was a worry for me. The good news is that the operation went well, he is much better now and the lumps were all benign.
The trauma was that he's had to wear a medical body suit to keep all the dressings in place and to stop him scratching his wounds. The suit has a velcro fastening around his tail and he kept becoming 'velcroed' to the sofa. It was a pitiful sight but one that had us in hysterics although we've tried not to let him see us laughing - we've now found a T shirt to replace his suit but he doesn't seem any happier.

Found objects

As well as focusing on nature, the other thing I'm visually attracted to are brightly coloured plastic objects. I found this broken toy down an alleyway and had to pick it up. When we were children we noticed strange characters, eccentrics who were not like everyone else, these people scared us and at the same time fascinated us and sometimes I wonder if this is how I appear to local people. Walking the streets picking up rubbish, wood for the fire or pushing a wheelbarrow full of garlic from my allotment along the pavement.
I think when I'm an old lady I'll be pushing a pram full of terriers!

Mister Tom's lesson

My Jack Russell met a new dog in the field yesterday. A small and lovely brown terrier rushed over to him and of course MJR growled and showed his teeth in a lop sided snarl. "Don't worry" shouted his owner. "Mister Tom needs to learn his lesson. He's young and a bit cocky - it won't hurt him." Suddenly MJR and Mister Tom take off and run to the other side of the field as a large Doberman has appeared - this is not good news as it's a breed MJR hates - I could see him standing there rigidly, refusing to look at the Doberman. Mister Tom was watching. Next they headed back across the field to annoy some terriers, a lot of growling and snapping is heard - from Mister Tom. He's definitely learnt a lesson from MJR but not the one his owner had hoped for!

Our holiday with cousin Gif

Cousin Gif with my Jack Russell on holiday

We've just been on holiday with cousin Gif, my sister and my nephew and had a wonderful week at Beesands in a cottage by the sea. A week of crabbing, fishing, skim boarding, walking the cliffs and inland hills in this most beautiful wild area. Fresh fish for dinner every night and falling asleep to the sound of waves lapping on the beach. We managed to exhaust the dogs and the kids had the kind of freedom they are not used to - exploring and mucking about on the beach from morning to night with new found friends.

We walked to the next village - Hallsands which in 1917 was destroyed by the sea - read about it here. Today you can see the ruins from a viewing platform which overhangs the sea precariously and some of the old cottages are still inhabited even though their doors are almost on the cliff edge.

Just before we went away we saw boys catching mackerel from the beach in Bognor and decided that we would have a go. (We do the gathering now we should try the hunting - or fishing!). We bought a rod that the boys could use too and Gray spent much of the week fishing. Despite the fact that everyone around him were catching loads of fish he didn't actually catch anything except a cold! There was even a woman fishing just to humour her husband who landed a monkfish from the beach. Gray was kind of worried about the actual task of killing the fish and the boys spent ages carving him a wooden cosh with their penknives. I did wonder if the worry of killing it actually stopped him from catching any but if we are going to eat meat or fish I think we need to be prepared to kill it too, although this may be easier said than done - we've yet to find out.