Catch up... June - Aug 2011

Will post a load of pictures to try and catch up with the last few months, have really got to try and get back in the swing of this...

Saddest time in late June and early July as my Mum fell was diagnosed with a brain tumour after having a couple of collapses at home, she was admitted to Bronglais hospital in Aberystwyth and sadly never got out of there, we had hoped to have her at home for a few weeks/months that were originally predicted. However, things took a turn for the worse in late June and in the first week of July Mum passed away peacefully at night.

I had managed to get back a few times to see her and spend time with my Dad before then, but it was a very difficult time.

The family all came down for the funeral from far and wide, and I will do a separate entry on that with some pictures.

For now here are the latest wildlife updates from Levignac... also a few in here from Ynis-hir in West Wales, where they have successfully had a wild pair of Ospreys breed for the first time in 400 years.

Lizard on the balcony - this was still quite cold outside...

The biggest moth I have EVER seen 14cm wingspan
- must get that 100mm Macro...

Pepé (Le Pew) - the tramp cat that has turned up

Butterfly... with a bit missing

Osprey chicks (taken from the live video link display) - Ynis-hir

Never did get close enough for a great Osprey shot, so this will
have to do for now...

Water Buffalo - in Wales at Ynis-hir

Young deer

Bullrush - Ynis-hir

Young deer, spots still evident - so this must be So and Ti...

Another beautiful view from the balcony

First Hoopoe in three years here.

First home-grown Peaches in three years

Camera to Hand... No :-(

Typically when it is most needed the camera is sitting on a table about 15 meters away, and moving to get it will undoubtedly scare off all the amazing wildlife that is currently visiting...
Saturday morning and a bowl of porridge and coffee on the balcony that has a large Cherry tree next to it is providing an experience on a par with Springwatch...

Firstly the normal motley crew of Blue Tits, Jays, Nuthatch and Blackbirds are enjoying the feast of overripe cherries on the upper parts of the tree. They are then joined by around four Blackcaps, what fantastic little singers they are, with the Golden Oriels in the background unseen with their melodious song it is a real treat to just listen.

Then bounding across the grass from the pine stand comes a small - I never realised how much smaller than those bully boy greys they are - and fabulously coloured Red Squirrel to join the cherry bonanza... making short work of reaching the top of the tree - which is about 1 meter higher but only 2 meters from my seat on the balcony - he throws himself around on branches that are mere twigs in reality. His powers of balance are being tested to the fullest as he goes for the plumpest and blackest cherries that are on the ends of these twiglet like branches, he then sits in the iconic squirrel pose and makes short work of the cherry selected.

Meanwhile on the ground the female Roe Deer has made an appearance and is grazing on the grass around the tree and the leaves on the lower branches, not sure if she is sampling the cherries though...
The squirrel eventually runs back to the pine trees and leaps through the branches and I have the Mission Impossible music running through my head... Next to visit is a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again seems to be the cherries that are the attraction.

Then briefly a flash of yellow and a greener yellow as two Golden Oriels briefly fly between the pines and then again they disappear... probably never going to get a photo of them at this rate!

As I write this Sunday morning, I have just had the male Roe Deer outside the French doors with my old cat Ella sitting outside looking fascinated by it, a short while later I see a flash of black and white and then brown in my peripheral vision, looking around I see the cat being chased by the female Roe Deer - not sure if it is trying to kill the cat or play... - Ella bolts under the balcony area and dives under a workbench that sits there, with the deer the other side front legs splayed as she puts her head under the bench.

Cornered Ella's fighting spirit kicks in a lot of hissing and waving paws at the deer ensues, the deer backs off and then stands watching the cat, with to be honest what seems to be genuine curiosity rather than malice. As I have the camera to hand this time I managed to get a couple of shots of her here - although unfortunatly not any of the Cat/Deer encounter.

As I am taking a few shots of her I can see rippling under her skin around her belly, the only thing I can think is that although she doesn't look that big, she must have a pretty active fawn inside her and as it moves around you can see the leg/head or whatever it is bulging out under the skin - maybe there will be a new addition to garden deer shortly?

Crazy for...2

The real reason to be back in the UK though was to help on the crew of Crazy For You, the CMTC Spring production. What a great week it turned out to be, not only being back, backstage in the UK, but catching up and meeting up with so many people, some of whom I had not seen going on for two or more years!

The show itself was superb and a real testament to the hard work that everyone had put into the production both on stage, in the pit and behind the scenes.

It was great to work with Andy on the lighting again, and we both seemed to fit back into those roles well - neither of us knowing what was going on but managing to come up with a convincing show look somehow!
We had the usual fun and amusement that I have certainly missed these last couple of years in a theatrical environment. It was great to see such a large new contingent of people both in the cast and crew, and also refreshing to have tea made for us by a couple of cast members - thank you Lauren and Richard, George may have been involved but the rumour remains unconfirmed...

I had some great lunches too - especially good old English sausage, mash and onion gravy at Andy's along with Rachel and Nicola, I think this was a real highlight as it is the first time in a long time I have been invited into a girls bedroom - of her own free will...

Umpteen other parties and lunches over the week were all great although it does make you realise what you have been missing out on - the whole show experience - although the French Panto is doing a good job of filling that gap at least once a year.

I guess I cannot pass the week by without mentioning the unfortunate LoriBeth on the Friday night, the dreaded Tea Tray Tap claimed a victim, after falling backwards and landing on one arm she suffered a significant fracture, George should be commended on the way he looked after her immediately afterwards, and kept her calm and talking about anything but the excruciating pain she was in hopefully with the banter of George, Sally and Myself we managed to keep a few laughs coming, although this improved once the gas was administered! Although Lorraine seemed very reluctant to share it...
luckily (in context) it was the end of the first act, the incident delayed the start of act 2 significantly - in fact so delayed that even though we finished before 11pm the Theatre had closed the bar!! The one night drinks were definitely in order!
The good news was that Lorraine was taken to Stoke Mandeville (well done Sally - she didn't drive the ambulance but was there...) and on Saturday had surgery to repair the damage.
I am looking forward to comparing scars as I had a similar incident when I crashed off a mountain bike and had to have a plate fitted to my right wrist! - oh and don't believe the Urban Myth about it happening at the end of a beer crawl (ride) on bike (avoiding numerous canal incidents) and not wanting to leave a "fallen" (broken chain) comrade behind...

Sunday I managed to get over to the PEPPER set build - observing not building - and say hello to the good folk over there, and Sunday afternoon a few drinks and a nice meal in a pub.
Anyway all in all a pretty successful week (for me not Lorraine of course!) and it was great to catch up with so many friends. Looking forward to doing it all again!

Crazy for...

Well will see if my memory is good enough to do this update, so much happened it is hard to keep it all in order as well!

I got back to the UK on Friday the 8th, unfortunately my hosts were going to be very busy on the Saturday and Sunday, so left to my own devices on Saturday and having not been able to arrange any meets for the day, I took off early from Amersham to spend the day in London town - no plan, just me, a camera and an idea that going to Greenwich might be nice at some point.
Luckily caught the Chiltern line to Marylebone as the Met line was shut - nothing changed since I lived here then!.

Arriving at the station, I decided to head towards the Embankment, so a couple of tubes later - and oh the joy of a still functioning Oyster card! - I arrived and took a wander up towards the London Eye across the river, first thing I found was the amazing Battle of Britain memorial, a superb piece of art and the start of a project for the day... all the photos are here

On reaching the London Eye it seems as if they have installed an "Extreme Pod" I guess for all those bungee jumping extreme sport type tourists...

During the day I came across some wonderful architectural displays, and some amazing "hidden" artworks, so what started as a stroll along the embankment turned into a hike all the way to Surrey Quays, then a tube to Greenwich Peninsular and the Dome, then another hike up to Greenwich Observatory.

Some selected images from the day here, more at the album

Do, Re, Mi and Fa...

So looking out the window Saturday between Rugby games and I find that they are back... let me explain:

Do's a deer a female deer, Ra is her little bit of stuff, Mi's a name I called the fawn and Fa is a younger one then him... yeah, well sorry about all that honest!

Here are a few pictures of the deer roaming around the garden, eating from what I could see, rose hips, Magnolia  blossom, Cherry blossom and a bit of grass!
Have resisted all thoughts of juniper berry sauce and roasted venison, but I have to say it does make your mouth water...

Re

Mi, Fa and Do

Do

Fa

Do or maybe Mi...

No sign of Spring on a walk in the forest

Must be something important...

Not sure what to say really...

Spring!

Cathar, Pyrenees and jelly legs

Well I have been promising myself a visit to Montsegur for two years now. It first came to my attention when I read the book Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (not that one! with an E), it is a tale told over two different times modern and the 1240's that is set around Carcassone and the area to the south and west including Montsegur - it was a great tale and a lot of historical fact was interwoven with the story, and that is where Montsegur came to my notice.

In 1243 the catholic inquisition was in full swing and the Cathars were being persecuted and hunted down, those that refused to renounce their beliefs were summarily burnt at the stake. In Occitania at the time - an area making up the south of France if you draw a line across from Bordeaux - the Cathar religion was widespread and there are many, many Cathar towns, villages and châteaus to visit now. Montsegur was famous and probably the final nail in the Cathars religion when it was besieged for 10 months from 1243 to 1244. At the end of the siege those that renounced their religion were released, those that refused were burnt at the stake on a pyre set up at the foot of the mountain that the château was on, there are loads of articles on this on the web - Occitan; Cathars; and Montsegur. Note having done some more research myself the current château is "Montsegur III"; "Montsegur II" the Cathar stronghold having been completely pulled down after the siege!!!

Anyway the trip itself took about an hour and a half to get there passing through Palmiers (in my head it is stuck as Pam Ayres!) and the Foix and a 2.5km tunnel through the mountain - I was amazed to find that half way through the dash display was still showing the blackberry having two bars of signal! Then a twisty mountain road with 180 degree hairpins as you slowly ascend to the the 3000ft of Montsegur. Once in the car park and looking up to the château, I didn't worry to much... oops! So I had prepared well with my camera rucksack so I had my different lenses, and also stuffed in there - just in case! - were, thermal leggings and top (ex RAF stuff excellent) the fleece liner for the ski jacket, chocolate, water, tuna mayo sandwiches on lovely rustic bread, batteries, torch (you never know!). So about half way up and huffing and puffing like some 60 a day chain smoker - had a chest cold that is slow to shift - I had to sit and rest as all the old and young passed me by on the way up and down. You get to pay halfway up for the pleasure as well! Having had some of the rations (should have had more than a coffee for breakfast!) I started up again and it was painful legs felt like lead, compensated for by some amazing views and the need to concentrate on not tumbling over the precipitous edge and bouncing several hundred feet to certain doom... anyway eventually reached the top and what a relief, at least it was mainly flat and although the legs were feeling it I spent plenty of time just wandering, taking pictures and then found a great spot to sit and have lunch.
After ignoring the "interdit" on the steps to the ramparts - well worth the risk - and to my mind a damn site safer than a lot of the path on the way up! I decided to head back down, well that seemed fairly easy and lots of Bonjours along the way, the hardest one to bare though was to the - looked about 75 - old gentleman complete with hat and smart long coat and walking cane who you would have thought was off to the shops for the paper the ease he was going up - I manned up and stood aside to let him up and he observed I looked "fatigué" thanks gramps!

Eventually got down to the field where I assume the massacre would have taken place, a horrible thought and so many echoes of what goes on today with religions trying to force their views on people.

The legs had now achieved jelly status and I swear it is why people where smiling as they passed, I thought maybe they were looking like the cartoon ones that don't have knees and just stretch and wobble all over the place!

A quick drive down to the village and a visit to the free museum - after that climb I would think so! Fascinating stuff and filled with finds dating back to Roman times, but with the emphasis on the Cathar period,  one thing I noticed around the village - and I have seen around Toulouse - was the number of houses that were flying the Occitan flag and the cars that had the stickers on bonnets, doors and boots.



The photos can be seen either at this page on Facebook, or here in the Picasa Web album (higher res I think).
A few of my favourite shots from the day though.