Late spring in Zanderland and as always Christmas is never to far from our minds. What will we eat? What will we drink? How many guests? These lovely little goslings hatched last week and that's probably what thrust Christmas to the front of our minds.
Looking at these cute little birds you'd think that they could read your mind; did you spot that they were running away down the orchard? Apart from the gander that is, he looks ready to give someone a good gandering and wing beating.
Well, you'd feel posh too if you were dressed in ermine with those foxy black stockings, wouldn't you? We're talking to the ladies and High Court Judges here by the way, not you men!
Back to the subject, we found this Ermine Moth sunning itself at the side of the front door; obviously the moth's logic said the camouflage was brilliant but to us it seemed to stand out so well that it looked as if it is mounted in a Victorian display cabinet.
Now if the big moths are appearing the temperature must be about to warm up, here's hoping we see more very soon.
We were walking the two terriers the other morning when we began to feel a just a little Japanese, a bit of a woodcut moment if you like. The pale pink to white apple blossom against the grey sky had us hunting for a snow capped volcano on the skyline, but then we remembered we were in West Norfolk.
For the technically minded, and the cloud lovers amongst you, the lovely pale grey sky is transparent altostratus or the 'tracing paper sky' that allows you look at the sun and see the disc up behind the cloud and then spots before your eyes straight afterwards.
Homeward bound now for the complicated ritual of the West Norfolk coffee ceremony.
Not forgetting, of course, the biscuit ceremony for the terriers.
Flarepath
Flarepath, the first in a series of six linocuts on the Fenland landscape featuring the land, the water and the spectacular skies. The subject of this print is one of the psychedelic sunsets that are a regular event throughout the year and whatever the season.
Some of the evening skies are so lurid that they seem to have been lifted from the psychedelic art of the 1960's. Far out or what?
Flarepath is 297mm x 210mm and is printed in five colours on 310gsm Magnani Litho White paper.
It appears that they're back again, spiralling down in a complicated approach for an emergency landing in the densest part of the orchard, probably for a little routine maintenance and a polish of the portholes.
So, a quandary, do I ring Lakenheath and let them know? They left me on hold last time for five hours so maybe I'll just pop into the orchard and pretend I am the leader that aliens always ask for. Then I'll gently persuade them to hover over the main runway at Lakenheath, de-cloak and do a pass at the tower at about fifty feet at warp speed seven. Catch us if you can F15s.
I wonder if they will take me along?
The boss says it would be a great idea if they did.
Dull days, grey skies and rain, the boss and I saw the first House Martins and Swallows over three weeks ago chasing insects over the river, but they seem to have pressed on to somewhere else or maybe they have turned round and gone back to Africa.
In the greyness and rain there are some bright spots, those cheery yellow cowslips are back and doing their best to liven up the overcast days.
Full marks to the farmers who are looking after the wild flowers and letting them seed and spread along the river banks, dykes and field margins.
Well, Sir Terry Frost anyway.
We spotted this bowser tucked away in retirement in a quiet corner of a farmyard while we were walking the dogs.
It is painted in the requisite Norfolk Heritage paint range 'Bog Door Blue', but when you walked round the rear end of it there it was, a Terry Frost painting or print in 3D.
The colours are quite subtle for a change, the sky bleached out by the early morning sun and the colour in shadow on the end of the tank has been bleached and distressed by a lot of sun and weather.
Wonder how much it's worth as an installation?
