So I am the very proud owner of a stunning British Short Haired cat.
Her name is Luna and she is already four. I have no idea where the time has gone, from initially bringing her home from the breeders.
She is predominantly an indoor cat, but I do put her on a harness and take her out in the garden and also in a cat rucksack, which unless you knew she was in there she is very well hidden as her coat is the colour of the rucksack.
So besides my own garden I do love to go to a local garden about thirty minutes drive from home.
The weather was grey and overcast, which was perfect as it meant the gardens would be quiet. Luna is not used to lots of people, so is very wary, unless she's in the rucksack, where she lies and watches the world go by.
The flowers where looking incredible.
The size of this Oriental Poppy shows how huge it is, as for scale there is the tiny fly sat on the petal.
I am a big fan of these hardy Geraniums, I have some in my garden, the only slight downside is that they can spread very easily.
Nature is such a wonderful place for inspiration.
The variety of colour on these leaves and then the red stalk that holds them I just love.
On the Sunday I was back at my favourite spot, WWT Slimbridge.
As part of Pride month, they had put on mix of events, one of which was a talk by an ecologist
Connor Butler Connor handed out a handheld lens, which you hold really close to your eye and oh my goodness the detail when you really slow down and observe things is incredible!
The above pictures are the lichen growing on the little bit of twig that Conor picked up.
I then spotted this stunning coloured beetle and watched it whizzing around on a piece of wood next to me.
I of course had knitting with me, and found a new place to sit and just take part in one of my lovely past times of people watching.
When I got home I had my first ever go at wet felting for the next module in my knitting course.
I really enjoyed the process, I just needed to have agitated the fibres more so that it shrinks to at least a third of the original size and all the fibres are fully bonded together.
Week three was one I have been looking forward to for months, as it was my first trip away in my camper van this year.
I arrived on the Saturday and the weather forecast was for lovely, not too hot.
The campsite, is one where you pick your own pitch, which is not normally the case, when I have been away, so I picked a lovely one based by the trees, for shade and to be near the birds so I could hear them, morning and evening.
After setting up the first thing I did was take a walk, which I remembered from the previous year to the local beach, which was only fifteen minutes walk.
It was around 6pm and just perfect temperature. Not too many people about, but enough that when sat was interesting to people watch, a pastime I love to do.
The next day I had no set plans. I had brought my, new to me felting equipment, some hand spun and knitted sample I had made and fleece. I spent a blissful morning sat in the van listening to the comings and goings and just felted away with no set pattern in mind.
For the afternoon, I again had a walk to the same beach, with a detour into the local church.
Just look how thick the walls are, they don't build places like this now!
I had a dip in the sea, oh it was so refreshing and spent time looking at all the different coloured stones on the beach. They are not the most comfortable to walk on, but I do love to just sit and look at them and wonder how old they are.
I also took a short walk along the coastal path which is eroding very rapidly. I am not sure in a few years if that caravan will still be there!
I made slow progress on my sock knitting as I was too busy relaxing and walking!
The following day I decided to do an eight mile walk along to the next town called West Bay. I really enjoyed the walk, it was perfect walking temperature with a nice breeze.
For my final full day, I had planned to do a much longer coastal walk, but there was a very low sea mist, so I would hardly have seen anything.
So instead I decided to head to Lyme Regis. I am not really a "town" person, but it was a lovely size and not too busy being the week day and not full sunshine.
There were lots of independent shops which were interesting to look in.
I absolutely loved the mix of houses two, just fascinating the amount of history in one town.
When I got back I decided to head down to Hive beach again for the last time, and goodness look at all the different things I discovered on the beach!
Just a perfect trip away in my perfect home from home.
I have been long overdue a haircut and am lucky enough to know a great hairdresser, albeit he is booked up months in advance. So on my last annual days holiday I took a trip over to Gloucester and was treated to a lovely hair wash, cut and blow dry, not something I do often!
I could not believe how long my hair is now, or how many shades of grey you can get!
As the weather was just perfect I had a little wonder around the town as I had time left on my parking.
I stopped by the Cathedral and saw two classic vintage cars outside as there was a wedding happening, what a venue!
I also stopped off at the "rugby" cafe Mozo and had a delicious Hazlenut Latte and did a little more sock knitting.
For the last weekend of the month I stayed local.
On Sunday I met up with a good friend first at my favourite coffee chain Nero and we had a lovely catchup, before heading to a new craft market that has started up by small team who have gone from strength to strength in the space of a couple of years here in Cheltenham.
They started off with a haberdashery as a pop up shop whilst a building in the town centre (Cavendish House) was still open.
This building then shut and undeterred they set about finding a new venue.
Whilst the location is a short walk down the main high street, the building itself is very grand, with a huge parking area at the front. Just right they felt to hold a craft market, so they set about asking vendors if they would like to be part of this new venture and of course many people applied.
So not only were there local craft stalls, but the haberdashery shop, which honestly I think literally covers every craft you could ever thing of was open too.
They had a lovely mobile coffee vendor and home made cakes and a very talented singer. The weather, albeit a little windy was so much cooler than it had been, so just perfect for the visitors that popped by.
They are set to have three more confirmed fairs in July, August and September which is great.
On my walk home I spotted this incredible art.
I have lived in this town for thirty eight years and it is finally starting to feel like home.
See you in July!
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