Water, woods and a customised header

This was 'the swimming pool' (aka make-shift rain-catcher) after the rain on Saturday.  It rained again yesterday night, in fact it poured, and there was a rumble or two of thunder for good measure, so the garden is nicely soaked and there is now enough rain in the various water-butts to keep us going for a while.  The 'swimming pool' has now been dismantled, but it worked and gave us a bit of fun in the process.  Today it has been very windy and although the clouds have been out and about, no rain and a lot of sunshine.

So, that's the weather up-date.  

Yesterday, following on from my attempts to sort out the blog header, I had a bit of a mooch around the internet, hoping to find some advice and/or information that would help.  I needed something clear and written in language I could understand as I am something of a timid newbie blogger, and tend to get easily confused!  However, my search took me, yet again, to the Down to Earth forum where I found just what I needed, courtesy of a post by Nanna Chel.  With N beside me for moral support (and technical guidance), I downloaded Picasa and set to work designing my own header.  And there it is, at the top of the blog.  Yay for me!!  I am stupidly chuffed with myself, particularly for persevering when I was ready to give up.  And thanks to Nanna Chel, and of course to N.  Now I know what to do, I think the photos will change on a regular basis.  I've also started to label my posts, better late than never.

We put our walking shoes on again yesterday afternoon, and had a lovely walk of just over 7 miles, taking in Dame Anthony's Common, Firestone Copse, Fishbourne and Quarr, where we stopped for a refreshing pot of tea. 

These bullrushes, growing around a pond, were taller than me

A shady tunnel in the woods 

It was a great walk, and although we didn't see any squirrels, we did see a pair of green woodpeckers, but they flew off before I could take a photo.  However, I did manage a picture of one of the garden regulars over the weekend, a goldfinch on our neighbour's washing line.

The yellow flash on the wing is not so noticeable in this photo - I think it's shaded - but it's actually very bright and always catches the eye.  He and his mate have been in and around the garden for several days, and it is always a pleasure to watch them.