The Gallery: Animals

She who would like to be obeyed

Life on a farm is rather ruled by animals. There isn't much we can do without thinking of their needs. I can't just go out for the day without making sure the ponies are fed and watered, that the dogs will be okay, the hens are settled and the sheep are in the correct place*.

One thing I don't have much to do with is cats but when The Boss, aka my mum, is away like today (she's at a family funeral that I can't go to because someone's got to stay to look after the animals) I get to look after the three black farm cats and the one house cat, Calico, pictured.

Calico expects a certain level of care and if the Boss is away Calico is disgruntled. She will vanish on day one of the Boss's absence and then reappear in high dudgeon half an hour before the Boss returns. Once she's given the Boss a dose of haughty ignoring she will then make it quite clear she was not treated in the manner to which she has become accustomed and that my care was severely lacking in the caring department.

It's difficult to look after a cat who just isn't there. I rest my case.

So Calico, who for once is indoors while the Boss is away (I don't think she's realised she's not coming back tonight, yet) is the subject of my The Gallery this week. Pop on over to Sticky Fingers and have a look at the others. 

* As for sheep, on Monday when we were seal-spotting and ice cream eating the flock left the farm en masse and headed down the drive and onto the road. Mum set off in hot pursuit, leaving the gate open should the sheep discover the error of their ways, only to encounter them coming back up from a neighbouring farm's driveway. Mum executed a neat three point turn, managed not to squash any of the sheep in the process and then herded them home in her little Nissan Micra. Who needs a sheep dog or Quad bike? Actually we do, but in the meantime apparently one woman and her Micra is sufficient.

The Gallery: World Photography Day

I haven't taken part in The Gallery for a while - not because I have taken any photographs (I've taken nearly 700 in August alone) but because they have all been specific to things other than the Gallery prompts. But this weekend included World Photography Day so I had to include an entry.

Saturday saw butterflies everywhere in my garden and on the farm. Lots of tortoiseshells, peacocks and red admirals. Butterflies are a frustrating subject to photograph. They're beautiful but elusive. I only have a compact camera with a small zoom so focussing on the buggers butterflies can be a frustrating business. I got this shot though (it took only about 15 attempts!)

Coincidentally on World Photography Day I also got to order my birthday present for next Sunday - a second hand Canon Eos DSLR*. Hopefully photographing the butterflies in my garden will be a less frustrating business from now on.

* There's a story behind this. I regularly used a Canon Eos 35mm camera when I was a reporter to take pictures when the paper's photographer wasn't available. The editor knew I was competent enough to get a good shot. It's quite a thrill to see one of your photographs blown up to fill a broadsheet page or on page one. (I photographed the Queen once and she bought a copy for the Buckingham palace collection). So when I finally saved up for a DSLR I went to the self-proclaimed Canon experts at the camera shop in Carmarthen for advice. The wide boy behind the counter treated me like an imbecile and told me - when I asked about DSLRs - that I could have 'a compact camera for sixty quid'. I felt my Canon Powershot  - I always carry it in my handbag - shudder. Offended, I left, and bought my DSLR elsewhere (from a woman).

The Gallery: My weekend

The washing is on the line and there's a stuffed chicken roasting in the oven.

The prompt for this week's The Gallery is 'My Weekend'. On Saturday it rained, I ran, I washed everything and I watched Andy Murray win his match at Wimbledon. On Sunday the sun shone, we swam, ate ice cream for lunch on the beach and everything I had washed flew on the line until it was dry.

The three word Gallery

Tara's inspiration for The Gallery this week was the 'your day in three words' feature from Simon Mayo's radio two show (which I listen to most evenings while I'm cooking dinner).

So my The Gallery three word Wednesdays are:

Polytunnel skeleton completed

"All" we have to do now is make the doors, dig a one foot deep and wide trench all the way round and put on the polythene cover.

Gorgeous sweet peas

R7 and I planted five different varieties last September and they've been flowering their little socks off for about a fortnight now. Here we have (little vase): Anniversary, Mrs Collier, (big vase) Matucana, Black Knight and Midnight (all seeds from Sarah Raven.)

The Gallery: Dads

The theme for this week's The Gallery is Dads so here we have my husband (who of course is a dad), an interloper (who never will be a dad, one of these is enough) and my own dad who is moving to Mull at the end of this month. It'll be strange to have him so far away (was it something we said?) but we're all looking forward to some lovely Scottish holidays.

Happy Father's Day both of you!

PS: Brian does have hair, it just didn't bother to show up for the photograph.

The Gallery: My Back(farm)yard

This weeks theme for The Gallery is My Backyard. This, literally is my backyard, or what we call 'The Yard' anyway. These double gates are at the top of our rather steep driveway. The grey pony is Pippin, the bay is Itsy and Bullseye is sleeping  inside the stable on the left. The outbuildings (desperately in need of a coat of limewash) with the red doors are the old cowshed which we now use for lambing in and the old dairy. It's all a bit tumbledown now and needs money spending on it (which we don't have at the moment). The little red building on the left is where the milk churns used to be cooled and immediately in front is a finger post pointing out the footpath, so if you're passing through on your way to the Preselis (which are hiding behind the trees at the back), come and say hello.

The Gallery: Mustachioed

You've been Schnauzered.

The theme for week 59 of The Gallery is mustachioed. The children said NO! so I was left with the usual suspects, one of whom helpfully brought his own...

Click HERE to go to Tara's blog and have a look at the other entries.

The Gallery: Chilled out

This is my idea of chilled out (which is the theme for this week's the Gallery) coffee and magazine in the sunshine next to a pot of soothing lavender and with mum's cat, Calico, for company. Sitting quietly here, chilling, after I had taken this photograph, I watched a little leaf cutter bee busily snip a circle out of a strawberry leaf, roll it up into a tube, tuck it under its legs and fly away.

The Gallery: April

This week's theme on The Gallery is April - a month that meant so many things this year: A long school holiday augmented by two double bank holidays and two 'snow' days; lambing; That Wedding; chocolate and Easter egg hunts and Devon with fabulous friends, good food and lovely donkeys.

I can only choose one photograph and this one perfectly illustrates the abiding memory of this April with its seemingly endless sunny days. The garden and the fields are parched and there's been a fresh wind mostly keeping the temperature down but we had one day which was still and a real scorcher.

That day was still enough for me to lie on the floor and photograph the tulips and it was too hot. Fabulous.

The Gallery: Trees

This week's The Gallery theme at Tara's Sticky Fingers blog is trees. It dawned on me yesterday, as I ambled around the farm looking at and photographing some of the hundreds of trees we have here, just how we rely on them as sentinels.

At the moment I'm studying them hard for signs of spring. The days are sunny but still chilly and only the hazels are showing signs of life with catkins hanging from their branches like little lambs tails. All of the other trees, including the mighty oaks and this ash, are still firmly closed up for winter, the branches like arms and fingers tracing shapes against the sky.

From time to time they fall down and provide a sudden burst of hard work and a lot of firewood, like last Easter Sunday. We moved our Easter egg hunt from the garden to the fields and spent the day hiding and finding chocolate eggs among the branches.

The Gallery: Body Parts - Hairy chest

I was trying to photograph his inch long eyelashes:

...it didn't quite go according to plan. In fact it was an impossible task. Instead I give you his adorable hairy chest (and a bit of beard and a few teeth).

This is for Week 41 of The Gallery at Tara's Sticky Fingers blog. Click the link the find out more about The Gallery, take part or see the other entries.