Sunny day on the river
Pp's birthday today and an early high tide, so we got our act together and went out on the river again. I'm a bit sunburned now, I should have put cream on. I tend to be lax about sunburn since I almost never burn badly, but it's foolish really. We were on the river at nine and the water was full of that wonderful smell of leaves warming and drying as the sun shone on them (lots of very steep hills here, so though the sun had been up a good while, there were still leaves wet and shaded.
You can see the Wonky Chimney twice here: once on the skyline and once in reflection.
The leaves aren't quite all out yet, and there was lots of shade on the way up the river. The wild garlic was in full bloom, and as we got higher up, the smell of woods in sunlight gave way to the forceful smell of LOTS OF GARLIC. No kingfishers today, alas, but there were many very tiny ducklings pootling about on the still water. We also saw a Mandarin Duck, looking rather lost and hanging out with some mallards.
We made it all the way up the river to Gunnislake Weir : the first time we have made it all the way up as far as the tidal limit. Here's Pp looking pleased about it under his hat.
The tide had turned by now, and was with us all the way back to Calstock where the Tamar Barge Lynher was moored up.
It wasn't a super-high, high tide today, and the slipway was well-named: by the time we got back there it was very muddy and slippery indeed! But we managed to get ashore without falling in, though I did wonder at one point if I was going to end up on my face in the mud! But I did not, and the icecream parlour was open too, so we had ices which by that time were very welcome for it was warm by then.
I made this card for Pp yesterday when he was playing a Blind Guardian concert on DVD. I started this just as a generic mountain with stars, but then Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill) came on, so I decided to make it Fingolfin on his way to Thangorodrim.
No pic from art class this week: we are learning to paint dewdrops, which is interesting, but my dewdrip picture needs a bit more work next week.
You can see the Wonky Chimney twice here: once on the skyline and once in reflection.
The leaves aren't quite all out yet, and there was lots of shade on the way up the river. The wild garlic was in full bloom, and as we got higher up, the smell of woods in sunlight gave way to the forceful smell of LOTS OF GARLIC. No kingfishers today, alas, but there were many very tiny ducklings pootling about on the still water. We also saw a Mandarin Duck, looking rather lost and hanging out with some mallards.
We made it all the way up the river to Gunnislake Weir : the first time we have made it all the way up as far as the tidal limit. Here's Pp looking pleased about it under his hat.
The tide had turned by now, and was with us all the way back to Calstock where the Tamar Barge Lynher was moored up.
It wasn't a super-high, high tide today, and the slipway was well-named: by the time we got back there it was very muddy and slippery indeed! But we managed to get ashore without falling in, though I did wonder at one point if I was going to end up on my face in the mud! But I did not, and the icecream parlour was open too, so we had ices which by that time were very welcome for it was warm by then.
I made this card for Pp yesterday when he was playing a Blind Guardian concert on DVD. I started this just as a generic mountain with stars, but then Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill) came on, so I decided to make it Fingolfin on his way to Thangorodrim.
No pic from art class this week: we are learning to paint dewdrops, which is interesting, but my dewdrip picture needs a bit more work next week.