Finally Facing my Waterloo

Taking time out from from my present pre-occupation last night, I took mutt and her best friend (he's on holiday with us for a few weeks!) for a walk in their regular venue - the place where the two first met.

After a experiencing a few, very welcome short showers during the day, it had turned into a lovely evening and the sky was putting on a performance to match the performance going on in another area of the park. Every Summer, picnic concerts are staged here, whatever the weather, and last night I was feeling relieved for all the concert go-ers, that they could enjoy the evening without the use of waterproofs. Equally, we were enjoying our musically accompanied walk in the park where song birds and jackdaws alike, were adding their own bedtime chorus to the performance.

I was being gently chaperoned by Abba's 'Arrival', when Bjorn Again moved quickly into the up-tempo 'Waterloo' where the words 'finally facing my Waterloo' struck a chord for just one moment, before I shook myself out of it and thought again.

I might only be one week away from my Open Studios but 'Waterloo' definitely would not do as my signature tune. Perhaps 'I Have a Dream' might be better.

That dream?
That I might find you all popping along to my studio next weekend!

See you!

http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk/annual-open-studios?title=Celia+Bartlett&field_artist_type_value=&media_type=All&main_area=All&disabled_access=All

This is the House that Jack Built

 

Earlier in the week, I observed some busy activity in the jackdaw community. It started with the bird strutting on the ground in front of me, eyeing up a stick, snatching it up and flying off to a nearby perch. This could only mean one thing. Nest building. For some time, I stood and watched with my p&s, waiting for the moment the bird would reveal which front door this new piece of furniture would have to fit through. All of a sudden, it made for the seemingly smallest knot hole in a plane tree. How the bird and the stick fitted through so easily is probably a secret that only it and the most experienced furniture removal men share. Needless to say, the p&s was inadequate for capturing this activity, so I would return the next day with 'the big one'.

During my walk next day, I observed a second nesting site, this time in a dead tree trunk. For a while I watched the birds going backwards and forwards, this time fitting sticks in through the gap of the broken trunk, with the finesse of a furniture removal man you would opt never to employ again. (Even birds show skill levels). Lifting my camera with the 400mm lens, the jackdaws suddenly became cagey and downed tools as if they suspected I was an H&S inspector. My idea that jackdaws would be willing subjects was obviously wrong and the only way to really observe would be under cover. However, a camou-hide in the middle of my neighbourhood dog-walking paradise might raise some odd comments. So, for now, I think I will just continue to observe in passing, but I can't leave without showing you:

This is the nest that jackdaw is building