Tuesday 7 April 2009

Scenes from the weekend... Part 2

Palm Sunday morning; gorgeous blue sky and some real warmth in the air. This morning we're off to our local community centre where a few members of the village cricket team are gathering to do some preparatory work for the coming season. The pitch has to be marked out, the grass mowed and rolled. The practice nets need to be checked and mended. The grass where last year's Guy Fawkes bonfire was situated also needs some work to it before it can be played on.


It's not a 'serious' team but they enjoy quite a few social matches and we all chip in to do our bit. I don't play but my husband does and I thought it a perfect opportunity to snap a few photos for my blog!


The first thing we saw when we drove into the carpark was this hot air balloon - not sure if it had a 'learner driver' at the controls but it seemed to be having some problems with sufficient lift. By the time we'd parked and I'd managed to grab my camera and scramble out of the car, it had gained some height...




only for it to skew off to the side a little when it then lost all height and dropped into the field... that it wasn't supposed to land in! It dragged along for probably 100 metres or so and then started to climb once more... no doubt the basket removed quite a lot of the crop as it dragged along the ground!



Fortunately, it regained good height and headed off to wherever these things head off to... but I rather suspect that the passengers got a little more excitement than they bargained for.

The guys got stuck into the area of grass that needed to be repaired from the bonfire. Although new turf had been laid here, the heavy winter rains had done a bit of damage to the soil levels and it needed to be levelled out a little to make it safe for all.



I thought I'd leave them all to it and take the opportunity to see what was hiding in the 'outfield' or the rough grass. Maybe head over to one of the benches whilst I watched them all working - what a treat! When I reached the first bench, I decided that there wasn't quite enough sun to enjoy so started to walk on by. And that was when I noticed that it was not actually the nice quiet little spot I'd originally thought it might be...




It's one of those compressed air bird scarer guns and it was only about 30 or so feet away from the bench! Mind you, I guess it would be pretty peaceful after you'd had your heart attack.



A sweet little violet blossoming in the shelter under some trees and below a photo of some leaf bursting through on a horse chestnut tree... and clearly an angel had brushed by this branch.



Meanwhile, the guys were starting to get a little serious with their work, so I decided to wander back and take a some photos of their efforts. Discussions were held about the correct area to mow - or was that about the correct way to mow the area?



Some manpower went into the cutting and the rolling...



then more cutting whilst some fertiliser was spread over the cut grass...



and the batting practice nets were mended...



But clearly they enjoyed themselves and a lot of fun was had by all.



Time to have a little chat about this and that before we all headed back to our homes, lunch and whatever other plans we had in place for the rest of the day.... for us, a little more work in the garden, a lazy lunch in the sun and then later on we were heading off to the Queen's Head for a nice, relaxed evening meal. Hope you can join us! Warm wishes, Vxx

9 comments:

  1. Good morning, Veronica!

    I LOVE your posts.....and have some awards for you over at my bloggie!

    Blessings and hugs,
    Spencer

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  2. to the queen's head it is. pints all around and talk of sport throughout the fortnight. we have baseball and the english cricket and i'm sure they don't make much sense to either....cheers, jack c

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  3. Bloggers like you just capture what's going on around them, and you can tell with sheer delight, enjoy every aspect of what they see. Then they share. It's lovely. Thank you.

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  4. Oh I do like to see men working! What a lovely photo of that Horse Chestnut too!

    Marie x

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  5. Sounds like a fun afternoon. Of course I'll come on over to the Queen's Head with you! Why do English pubs always sound so much more interesting than ours?

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  6. I dont know how you got so many posts ahead of me, but I have just been having such a great time catching up on all your flowers & other photos. I love the muscari, thanks for sharing them!!Mine all have leaves but no flowers... no idea why. In NZ I had heaps of them, & they took care of themselves!

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  7. Love your pictures of the hot air balloons. we are right in the path of hot air balloon rides from a Dutch company, and they go right over the house. We had several land almost right in the front yard, it made quite an excitement here in the neighborhood! I like your pic of the violet! How pretty. I have to practice with my camera getting close ups!! Yours are great. Take care, and thanks for all the great comments on my posts. always fun to see you there! ciao, debby

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  8. Perfect weather for getting to grips with the cricket pitch. My goodness, who could have been piloting that balloon! x

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  9. Hello Veronica,
    Thanks for visiting my blog, now i can also have a look at yours.
    You have very nice pictures ! especially the landscape of your last post ! beautiful
    I wish you and your family a happy easter !
    Greets Yvonne

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