Sounds of the Sea (and Swearing)

 

 "Please make more audios of the sea!!!" Ms Scarlet instructed in no uncertain terms.

 Your wish is my command! (I'm sorry about the birdsong.  I know you didn't request it, so I hope it doesn't detract from the sounds of the waves lapping gently at the shore.)

 

7:37 am, Overstrand beach.  Yes, that's Bitey having a paddle.

Four Photos: On My Way To Work I Saw...

Sunrise from Aylsham (I stopped Car and got out to look at the sunrise - this was just before 6am last Wednesday)

 

 

If you look very carefully, atop the pointy bit on the roof of the Norwich University of the Arts (I used to go here back when it was known as the Norfolk Institute of Art and Design) you'll spy a cormorant!

 

 

These phone boxes outside St. Andrew's church have featured here before.

 

 

Behind this spreading cherry tree are some ramparts of Norwich Castle.

 

Bitey on the Beach

  I'm on holiday this week.  I made some plans - something to do every day so as not to waste the time - and thought I'd have plenty of time for catching up with your blogs and updating my own.  The universe had other plans, however...

 

  Still, I managed to go to the Old Vicarage Gardens in East Ruston on Saturday, window shopping in Norwich on Monday morning, a long walk & paddle on the beach with Bitey on Tuesday, back down to the beach for a swim (which turned out to be a very deep paddle - more on that later) then gardening and allotmenteering yesterday, and here we are on Thursday already!  I've been swimming (in a heated pool) and done some tidying up in the garden and then came indoors because the forecast is for rain.  

 

  It is not raining.  Rather than put my shoes and socks back on to go back outside, I thought I'd use this opportunity to do some blogging.  So, here are some of the photos from Tuesday's foray down to the beach:

 

Approaching the End-of-the-Line

 

The End-of-the-Line

"Access at either end remains open"

 Just popping up some photos of last weekend's beach walk before I get distracted with something else and another month flies by. 

 I'll probably take Bitey down to the beach again today because the weather hasn't changed since last Saurday: sunshine and blue skies all the way (although it appears to be reverting to the normal clouds and rain from this Tuesday, so that's a comfort).

 

Tails and Orbs and Fairy Rings

 Just dropping off some photos from a couple of Bitey walks (as vaguely requested by The Very Mistress, here): the sun setting over the trees set are from Saturday, and the fairy ring and sea set are from lunch time today.  The musical accompaniment - "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars -  is only featuring because it popped into my mind while swimming this morning.

Orb!  Or Camera artefact...

Cormorants!

 I know I said at the end of the previous post that I'd probably do a Garden Photos Event reminder next, but I took Bitey along the beach (what little there was of it due to the high tide) to the End-of-the-Line this morning and: Cormorants!

'Tis Done

Who doesn't enjoy a battered old groyne surrounded with spume to start their evening?

 Well, 'tis done.  My Ten Day Blogging Challenge that I didn't advertise or commit to or even admit to doing ends with this post.

 What?  Your ten day challenge?  I did most of the posts!

 Pish posh.  It's done now.  No one will care who did what.  Although, they might care to know that it was I who took control of your button pushing finger while you were swinging Camera around and snapped the photo on the right.  I had to time it just right to get the horizon and sea wall to line up with the railings.  Pretty good, eh?

 Bah!

Yeah, bah!

 Oh, don't you start.

 I'm off to bed.

Phoenix!

Oh.  Er.  Sorry.  I meant: Cormorant!

 

 Here are the other photos from this morning's Bitey walk (early while it was still relatively cool), and a little slow tempo music (as someone found Friday's too fast...)

 

 That is all.

Water, Water Everywhere!

June is Water Month over at Melanie's Nature Led blog, and she wants to see

"your bodies

– of water that is!  Ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls, fountains being appreciated by wildlife, your favorite puddle or bog."

(Click the link for full 'terms & conditions')

 So, with that in mind, I set out with Camera yesterday to see what I could snap.  Unfortunately, yesterday lunchtime down on the beach was a bit dismal (but warm), and quite people even though the tide was in!  Suffice to say, the few water-related photos I took were rather lacklustre:

I availed myself of a swim while I was down there.

That's my stuff draped on the revetment on the right.  And, look - on the far left: People!

Because someone wondered where the cormorants were.

Knicknacs and Odds-n-Sods

 Before we get to what may be the final part of our Epic Collaboration - yes, I know, but nothing good lasts forever - and Terrifying Triffidery at the end of the mon-

 Which reminds me: those of you who haven't emailed us your garden photos and triffids, you don't have much time left - We want them in by 29th October!

We told you we'd be nagging and haranguing until then.

And probably afterwards, too...

 Anyway, before all that, here are a couple of knicknacks and a mish-mash of stuff We've been up to that doesn't revolve around epic blogging and gardening:

 

There was a reason for Lenny being here but it escapes me now...

 

Bike ride to Gimingham on the 12th:

On the way through Trimingham, I engaged in a staring contest with...

... these three roe deer.  I lost (they had the advantage of numbers).

Muddy Meanderings and an Octopus Sucker Bath Mat

Continued from ... When Worlds Collide and a Pair of Striped Tights

 "STOP HER!!!" I shrieked screeched yelled, mindful of The Very Mistress's observation about my apparent tendency to 'scream like a girl'.

 "Who are you shrieking at?" the aforementioned Very Mistress enquired.  Well, her be-tighted legs appeared to as they hung from the bUbble Haze™, anyway.

 "Yes" said Dinahmow as she used her wand to lift up the edge of the drape that was covering me.  "I'm hardly likely to stop Ms Scarlet as I helped her to leave, and Mistress MJ is just a pair of stripy legs."

 "Well, maybe Beaky could?"  My blood suddenly ran cold and I looked around wildly.  "Where is that dratted bird, anyway?"

 "Oh, he flew off.  But don't worry, I'm sure he'll be waiting for you when you get home!"  If it was possible for legs to grin evilly, The Very Mistress's legs did so.

 "Hmmph!  I'm sure" I said as I threw off the drapes and got to my feet, kicking aside a muddy Wellington boot that Ms Scarlet must have used to trudge across her swamp lawn.  "So, where did you send Ms Scarlet, Dinah?"

 "Oh, up Jon's back passage."

 "Award winning back passage" The Very Mistress's legs corrected.

 "Yes, award winning back passage" Dinah said.

 "Right.  Then that's where we'll go.  I just hope we'll all fit?

 "Up Jon's back passage?" The Very Mistress snorted.  "There'll be room to spare!  Besides, I'm not going."

 "What?  Why not?"

 "Because I'm not getting paid enough, nothing's been disinfected, and the longer I spend here the more chance there is of someone mentioning the C word."

 "The C word?  But you have no qualms about saying cu-"

Enough Moping - Time For Gardening!

While I dried off, this stone spiral 'happened'

 After a week of moping and mourning, this weekend's wet and blustery turn was rather a let down.  So, instead of dwelling on that and before we get to the gardening bit, here are some photos taken last weekend when I ventured down to the beach for a swim.

My sea swim spot

: : :

The Elusive Flotation DeVice

 

 Before rushing out in a 'must-get-pictures-of-paths' related panic yesterday, I popped down to the beach for a swim and to see if I could summon my aquatic alter ego, Flotation DeVice, for Mistress Maddie.  

 Quite why Maddie wants to get acquainted with a pallid, gangly Cloverfield-like seamonster is beyond me, but each to their own. 

 Anyway, although FDV did put in an appearance, they ruined it with their squinting-in-the-sun/frowning Sam-the-Eagle face, fortunately!

Cloud Mouth

 Under threat of a Sideboard Invasion if I don't make an appearance before Friday, here I am!  (Although, I'm not convinced that the invasion won't go ahead anyway...) 

 I don't have much to say for myselves, so may I present a selection of photographs depicting some of what I have been up to this month: 

From the 3rd . . .

This huge cloud-with-a-mouth loomed over the garden, but moved on when I hid under the trees pointed out that my sister (who lives down the road) has more meat on her bones than me.

 

From the 13th . . .

I popped down to the beach for an early morning swim - the first of the season!

(I had to brighten this photo considerably in order to make it resemble how the beach really looked - Camera didn't like being pointed at the sun, I suppose...)

A Paddle At Last!

 I've got to prepare for an invasion - I suspect The Little Witch and Vom Smallhäusen will appear any moment now - so, as I have just finished sorting out the photos I took on this morning's drift along the beach, I thought I'd pop the least boring up here for you to peruse while I'm battening down the hatches etc.  Besides, I haven't furnished you with beach pics for quite some time, so this will be a nice(?) change from Triffids and such (although there are some triffids here).

 I shall return once normality has descended upon Hexenhäusli Device once more...

Wet Shags with Old Groynes

 Oh, there's so much to do and yet so little time!

 Where has the year gone?  And why do I have the feeling that something important is coming up?

Well, why don't you look at the calendar, you dolt?!

Rude!

 But what a splendid idea:

 Ah, just in time!  Allowing for time zones and other time travel-related nonsense, while still the 22nd here, it is the 23rd in Queensland so: Happy birthday, Dinahmow!

 And in a couple of days time, it will be Mistress Maddie's turn on the birthday merry-go-round!

oOo

Sunny Side Up II

 I couldn't bring myself to torture you with any more photos than I did on Thursda-

Ha!  What a fib.  You just couldn't be bothered to sift through and sort any more out!

 Shush, you.  So, anyway, as I was saying, here are the rest of the carefully selected sunrise photos from Thursday, plus some from yesterday, and an exclusive bonus from the 12th.  

 

First up: Thursday 6th

What could be better than watching the sun rise over a big, wet groyne?

Happy Birthday, William (You Stink!)

 And, apparently, Katie smells of poo and Tom is gay.  Oh, and it seems Bob Dylan fancies himself as the next Banksy with a seaside installation consisting of some rather suspect faces...

 But before we get to all that, there's another week of mornings, including Groynes!  War of the Worlds!  Cormorants!  And that Red Admiral on the right (the garden is full of them at the mo - along with Peacock butterflies, Commas, Painted Ladies, Tortoiseshells, Coppers, and the ubiquitous and varied whites).

Monday, 9th August

☼

Tuesday

☼

Wednesday

Sunday Swim: Swimming with Jellyfish

 I had my first sea-swim of the season this morning.  A week earlier than last year, but nearly two weeks later than in 2019.  Other than sharing my swim with several comb jellies that were still lurking near the surface at the early hour (they usually return to the sea bed in the morning), I haven't got very much to say, so I'll just leave the handful of photos that I took and their captions.

Not a shooting star over the End-of-the-Line...

Not Quite Majorca

 I had a little stroll down along the promenade after tea - just to get some air and stretch my legs, as tomorrow's weather forecast is not conducive to going outside (unless I get up very early in the morning), so there'll be little in the way of leg-stretching then.

 I haven't got a lot to show for it*, you may be relieved to hear  - Cromer Pier in the distance, a young(ish) cormorant, and a bunny!  Plus there's music at the end.

 Norman and Norma got married in Cromer and caught double pneumonia.

 Quelle surprise...

 * Not even worth putting a page break in.