Snow good

 It's a bit sad, isn't it, that the most exciting thing that I can report since my last post was the snow that graced our world a while back. It snowed heavily overnight and for most of the day, and it got washed away by the rain overnight. It was good to see, and we were sad to see it go.

It brought back memories of  those occasions that we've been in Kantara during snow. It's not a rare seasonal occurrence in the Midlands, and there were reports on this occasion that it fell spectacularly on the marina. Our favourite snowy experience was back in March 2013, when we took the boat to Debdale Wharf to have the hull blacked. We awoke the day after they'd finished to job to find this...

We decided to go ahead anyway, and get back to Yelvertoft before conditions got worse.

It was a magical journey through a wondrous winterland.

Foxton Locks were a bit hazardous. The volunteer lockies - vollies - said, "No, you can't come up today. You don't look mad enough!"

A persistent wind was bringing the snow down off the field to the canal.

On the whole journey, we saw just one other boat on the move.

Needless to say, rain washed it away before the end of the day.

I've just read today's weather forecast. Rain all week.

Lockdown day 27 - A picture's worth a thousand words

Google Photos has its uses, but it has some really annoying features too, doesn't it? I think my biggest gripe is the way it keeps track of everywhere I go, then emails me and asks me to write a review of shops, pubs and so on that I've "visited" - except that, a lot of the time, I haven't. I almost always decline, but I will gladly tell interested parties (and Google frequently tells me how popular my reviews are!) that the Roman remains in St Albans' Verulamium Park are "a lovely little wall, though it's showing its age a bit", or that Beaumont School's playing field is "a very nice playing field. I'm sure it's excellent for playing on." In the first of those cases I had walked past the short section of ancient wall, about a hundred metres away from it; in the second, I had literally driven past the playing field without even noticing it. And my reviews are useful? How, and to whom?

One thing I do like about Google Photos, however, is their frequent and regular emails asking me to Rediscover this day in (year). So today I was offered 17th April 2017. And this is what it showed me,

plus all of the other photos I took that day, reminding me that we were at Foxton Locks on a short excursion.

I've taken nearly 26,000 photos over the years, and my cameras have been especially busy since we've been on Kantara.

I often spend time looking at them, reviving the memories of places we've been to together. This is all the more true now; now that we're confined to the marina, now that we have no idea when we'll be able to cruise again. I love looking at the pictures, but it's a bittersweet experience.

These are from this day in 2014,

just a few days before we set out south towards Stoke Bruerne, where we picked up our friend Michelle and took her on a week's holiday. It all came back to me.

Oh, the power of the photo; pictures worth thousands of words, eh? What did we do before digital cameras?

========

We're on our way...

Okay, okay! If you're reading this, Val Poore, I know I once said that my favourite season is the one I'm in at the time. And I know I probably said something very similar about the weather, but I have to fess up now and say that this "hot spell" is just too much.

I sympathise with the fridge. It just can't get cool enough, and it's running its pump continuously. Which is where the similarity ends actually, because I simply don't have the energy to keep active! I'm really aggrieved that I've not been able to do the regular walks I'd been enjoying so much. Sunday, however, was exceptionally cool. The temperature was only 28°, and a decent breeze made it feel cooler still, so I took advantage of that, and walked for almost two hours, a circuit via Crick. I didn't take many photos because I was concentrating too hard on a podcast in my ears.

I arrived back at the marina to see Grace still working on the second Roses & Castles panel. She was in the shade on that side of the boat, and was intent on completing it very soon.

And in fact it wasn't long after that that the final stamens were added to the roses, and the job was done!

Kantara is complete!

I spent a while on Twitter the next day quite unintentionally convincing fellow Tweeps that I'd lost my marbles. The thing is that I was convinced I'd seen an eagle. It wasn't far away, and it stayed in sight for several minutes, wheeling and soaring, and I do know what an eagle looks like. Warwick Castle isn't far from Yelvertoft as the eagle flies, and I knew that they'd had eagles fly away from their display team. When I learned that Stan had been recaptured in 2012, and Nikita was back, too, I had to cast some doubt upon my sighting. Google could find no more escapes. Though it has to be said that if anyone who had an eagle illeagley lost it, they wouldn't be in a good position to report it missing.

Regardless, I did see an eagle. A bit of research led me to believe it was a Sea Eagle (aka White-tailed Eagle). The photo from Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, who report that the bird is making something of a resurgence in parts of the UK.

We're now on our way to Debdale Wharf for the zinc-spraying of the hull. We left the marina on Tuesday, stopping in the early afternoon at Bridge 27, where I finally got round to having a wander through the woods, then at Welford Junction (see how dry the grass is on the bank!), and this afternoon at Foxton Locks. Tomorrow, we'll do the short trip to Debdale, and we'll leave Kantara there on Sunday morning. She comes out of the water on Monday morning, and work commences. We'll head for the house, where work will also commence - decorating! Whoopee!!