Welcome to Melanie’s February Monthly News, in a month where we have had quite a lot of rain….! We had a deluge of about 3 days and nights of constant hard rain and it created a surge of water in the local rivers. They burst their banks and flooded across roads and into villages and towns. The photos below were a couple of days after the rains has subsided, in a small village called Maesycrugiau. There is a lovely river walk whereby you can also walk across a field through a kissing gate….Scroll down to see!
The gate is pretty much chest height so you can see how high the river was.
This view is looking down the river on the bridge and the trees aren’t normally in the water, also the water is not meant to be in the distance either!
Still Running..!
My friend and I have still been getting out and about before and after the flooding. The river was flowing fast, but at least it had subsided from our usual running road. We took some photos on one of our runs and the flooding in the field had attracted some ducks. The sun was coming up, plus the early mist was rising and it was a beautiful morning.
My running friend Jo keeps Quail and she very kindly gave me a hoard of Quail eggs! They are not only delicious but so pretty. The patterns on them are all so unique, good enough to paint!
So in return for the eggs, I made Jo a loaf of bread. I have just invested in a bread maker and it is the best thing… since slice bread! The loaves are amazing and it also is just wonderful to wake up to the smell of bread wafting up their stairs. Here are a couple of photos of the early loaves. If anyone reading this is fed up of shop bread… get a bread makers. You won’t look back.
The Evening Skys…
We have had a few good evening sunsets here this month. It won’t be long and the clocks will change so taking advantage of the early sunsets to take photos is fab. The two photos below show lovely sky’s on our usual Lily walks up the track.
Lily has been groomed this month, she was a week behind due to the weather being bad, and was quite overdue a trim. This photo was taken when we got home, she was a little wet from being out in the rain in and out of the car, but it shows her eyes well.
The Garden
The garden is gradually coming to life with the snowdrops starting things off and the camellias are in bud and flower too. The photos below show them well this year, as they are usually battered by the weather however we are in a lovely sunny spell at the moment so they have plenty of chance to bloom.
Chicken Update!
The chickens are doing well – they have grown! I guess this should be a chicken update. Where as we had thought that the two girls were brown and the two white were boys… from the eBay sellers listing that they could be autosexed from a day old. Also all Warren’s in my book are brown! Consequently, it turns out that the brown ones were boys and the white ones are girls. And what a lovely pair of hens they have become. The photo below makes me laugh, they are so tame, they come right up to the camera and also if you aren’t careful will jump all over you, especially if you have food.
So the two hens are called Snowy and Honey. Snowy is above and at the back of the photo below as she is pure white. Honey has flecks of orange on her wings. I am hoping that they will start laying soon and I will no doubt take a photo of their first egg when they lay!
And the final piece of news was that my friend sent me this beautiful star with the words ‘I wish you lived next door’. She knows I love stars and it’s been so long since we have seen each other as we live opposite ends of the UK. We hope to meet up this summer… if our lockdown ever ends! Wasn’t that such a lovely thoughtful gift and such a surprise. I have it hung in my kitchen on the fireplace by the cooker so I can see it every day when getting meals 🙂
Sarah’s Oil Portrait
Nicholas has also completed a beautiful painting this month for a returning client called Tracy. He has painted two pet portraits previously for their family and now it was Sarahs turn. Tracy was thrilled and you can read a lovely email when Tracy received our email with Sarah photos in. The portrait was a 16 x 16 oil painting on canvas to match the other paintings. We hope you like it!
Dear Melanie and Nicholas,
Thank you for finishing Sarah’s portrait and framing. My husband and I are thrilled with the results. When I opened your email and looked at Sarah’s smile, I cried. It was a very emotional moment. As always, Nicholas has done an amazing job capturing her image and we’re grateful! Go ahead and ship. You have our okidoki! As always, thank your kind thoughts and for the lovely painting of our Sarah.
Yours,
Tracy Maguire
Finally, we hope that you have enjoyed Melanie’s February Monthly News and if you missed last months, pop over to our other blog post Melanie’s January Monthly News and take a look at what we did last month.
Are you enjoying our blog? Why not sign up to our Melanie’s Monthly News, which comes right into your inbox each month! You can sign up at the bottom of our website or at the top of the blog. Please don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel too. You are more than welcome to comment below, we love hearing from our readers!
One thought on “Melanie’s February Monthly News”