Blenheim Horse Trials

This weekend, the Blenheim International Horse Trials were being held just up the road from me. I love horse riding, and although I don't have the time or money to keep it up myself anymore, I love going along to events like this where you can watch the top event riders in the world compete in the beautiful setting of Blenheim Palace.

Usually the cross country takes place on the Saturday, with the showjumping finale on the Sunday, but this year there was additional cross country on the Sunday, which I went along for. It worked out well as there were hardly any crowds and a bit more going on to see.

Here are some of the pictures from the day.

A very photogenic young man

I was looking after my nephew yesterday and took the opportunity to get a few snaps in whilst he played in the garden.

Luckily for me, he's happy enough to pose and give me a quick smile!

Oxford Botanic Gardens

Summer here has been a bit of a washout so far, but yesterday we had a bit of sun, so I went to the Botanic Gardens to make the most out of it and to get some photos.
I could have spent all day there; it was so tranquil and beautiful, especially in the summer sun. Here are some of the pictures I took...

Goodbye Mogalina

My beloved tabby cat, Mogalina passed away today.

I've had her since I was 16 when she turned up as a stray at the vets where my mum worked at the time. She has had a lot of health problems over the last couple of years. Her achilles tendons on both legs were damaged and she was on medication for an overactive thyroid gland. Still, she was always happy and content so long as she had somewhere to sprawl out in the sun.

Last week she didn't come home, and after days of searching for her, I got a call from the vets this afternoon saying she'd been brought in after being hit by a car and unfortunately she didn't make it. I don't know where she's been for the last few days, but she was found quite far across town. It's not in her nature to stray far from home, so I guess something wasn't quite right with her.

Whatever happened, my Mogslie will be very much missed. Goodbye Mogalina x

Glut!

I have so many courgettes at the moment, I'm struggling to keep up. It's my first season of growing them, so I've been pretty impressed so far. The only thing is, I'm running out of things to make with them. I've done courgette fritters, courgette soup, and am eating courgettes with everything else. I'm not sick of them yet, though.

I had also almost given up on my willy chillis ever doing anything. I had to move them outside as they were too big for my windowsill and I don't have a greenhouse. Once outside, they just sat there looking a bit sorry for themselves, but today I finally noticed the first flower on one of the plants, so hopefully I might actually have at least one willy chilli this year!

More Ladybirds...

... but this time they're a bit more naughty!


Yes, I caught them 'at it' on my broad beans! They were busy for ages, so I managed to take the opportunity to practise focusing on my macro lens and was able to get up really nice and close.

Garden wildlife

My broad beans are crawling with blackfly. The horrible little monsters are everywhere and I'm really struggling to keep them under control. Luckily I spotted (no pun intended) this little fella on the plants this morning. Apparently ladybirds love to eat blackfly, so I'm hoping she's brought her family.