Scenes From Cornwall.

I thought I would share a few scenes from Cornwall where the sun has finally arrived and all around the Cornish folk are already sporting gentle tans, though truth to say this probably has far more to do with the ever-present Cornish breeze (gales) than the presence of the sun. So, to start us off some bright forsythia which is shouting from just about every garden including our own.

From our garden we pop down to Falmouth town where, as I have said on many occasions, we are lucky enough to shop with the river running alongside us. This is one of the scenes we see regularly from the main town carpark where a little quay juts out and fields of golden gorse surge down to the sea on the opposite bank. I love the back of the buildings lining the water's edge as they look so quaint and higgeldy-piggledy as though they are climbing over one another to get the best spot. Well, in my mind anyway.

So many little boats are tied up to the quays and bob in the choppy tide as the larger vessels languish in deeper waters. The harbour is quiet at the moment waiting for the season to begin when it will once more play host to myriad boats, ships and ferries with bright sails and flapping flags hoist high on masts as they venture off in search of adventure. We shall be one of them on our little boat Mermaid and I can't wait!

We sail Mermaid all year round though it is infinitely more fun - to me anyway - with the hot sun on our backs. This image is typical of what we see as we make our way along the river toward the harbour.

A quick visit back to the garden as we are now spending so much time there grabbing the sunlight and longer days with both hands while we can after what felt a particularly long, grey winter. Not a cold one I know, but dreary enough to make the burst of colour draw us outdoors onto the courtyard for prolonged chats over pots of coffee in the weekend mornings, me knitting on one side and Davey doing the same on the other as the children race around. Evenings see us meet there after Isabella is in bed for a quiet wind down over a glass of something and though the air is chill by then, it still has a magic that I love with the birds singing goodnight and the breeze scented with hyacinths and daffodils.

A cuddle with Pecan who is in need of a new mate as we had a fox attack a while ago. We no longer have my beautiful Biscuit or her gorgeous daughter May, and even the loss of the ever-useless (bless him) Mustang who finally managed to produce some fertile eggs (!) has made me rather sad. I am very good at not dwelling on these things as there truly is little point in keeping livestock if you cannot take a somewhat pragmatic view, but sometimes it does snag a bit. Foxes are something I no longer think of as particularly wonderful as they indulge so often in senseless killing where bodies are left decimated and not taken for food. Obviously, this is nature though and I must accept it does not work on our thought process.

So, we are searching for a companion for her and my comfort is the fact that I watched two crows collect some of Biscuit's soft, downy feathers to line their nest. How pretty that must look unlike moi who is in definite need of a haircut...hmm.

Masses of pretty ladybirds appeared over the weekend drawn out of hibernation by the warm sun much like ourselves. Isabella is fascinated by bugs and often walks up holding some totally revolting specimen which I rather like to see. She is so much like me in this area and I will have to keep an eye out for empty cardboard boxes with no lids atop supposedly housing ants and being kept under beds - ahh, I remember doing this so well! Funny how the ants never stayed in their box... my poor Mum!

Luckily Isabella happily released this ladybird to wander on her way.

Well, this long post is drawing to a close (hurrah!) and I will leave you with some more Cornish coastal scenes including Porthleven Harbour on a rather less sunshiney day

A fishing trawler on its way to work, heading out around Pendennis Point and into Falmouth Bay

And a look at one of those boats I mentioned bobbing off of Falmouth town near the Prince of Wales Pier.

Well done if you got this far and thank you for reading my rambling if you did!

See you soon x

P.S. Sorry, that really was long!!!