My crafty creations corner
I can never hear the word ‘thrift’ without thinking of the old threepenny bit (pronounced (thrip-any) that showed a picture of the sea thrift plant – a play on words for the idea of saving them.
So of course when they ceased to be legal tender, I just had to pop one in my impromptu coin collection.
Fortunately my camera is small and light and can be operated with one hand so I am not reduced to using only archive photographs.
So here is a photograph of my saved threepenny bit. 
When people hear the word ‘Lane’ I would guess that they tend to think of country lanes. Well, when I have had the time, the weather hasn’t been suitable for going out and trying to photograph country lanes, though I would have liked to. So I had to think of something else.
I remembered the proverb “It’s a long lane that has no turning.” and thought about a long lane in Southampton that has a few wiggles but nothing you would call a proper turn – Hill Lane.
Hill Lane is about 3m that is almost two miles long and goes from the top of Southampton Common down almost as far as Southampton Central railway station.
Well of course you cannot capture the whole of a lane like that in one photograph but on Tuesday, after going for my weekly walk on the Common, I went across to the point near Bellemoor Road where you can see the whole of the top quarter of Hill Lane and took this photograph.
Of course Hill Lane rather belies the proverb!!
I couldn’t get too excited about the topic ‘waste’ and didn’t want to photograph my rubbish but then looking at the little pile of ends on my work table in the sitting room gave me an idea.
This is something I have shown before but is something made from these waste ends that I am still collecting to make something even bigger. 
And this is the one my granddaughter made. 
She insisted that the strands had to line up!!
I showed you the guest house where I was staying 
but on the last day I suddenly thought that I ought to take a couple of pictures of the inside. So I took a picture of the dining room where guests had breakfast. 
Then went back to my room and tidied up the bed to take a photograph there. You can see I didn’t do it very well. 
If it had been done properly the pillows would have been even.
I also thought that I would share a few of the quick flower photographs I took as I went about.
I am a real sucker for interesting flowers and these were on a front wall in a nearby road. 
Not sure what they are but they look a bit like a sort of sedum.
I found this up on the Giant’s Hill at Cerne Abbas. 
Then the day I went on the walk to Thorncombe woods I passed this in a garden in Dorchester. 
I chose this photograph because it also includes some blue flowers which look like the ones I have growing all down the drive at the front of my house.
Later not far from Hardy’s cottage I had to stop and take a photograph of these poppies that looked so gay in the bright sunshine. 
(And if anyone objects to my use of adjective. I don’t know another one that describes the scene more perfectly.)
Couldn’t think of anything clever and too busy with other things to take a new photograph so here is one from one of my beach holiday posts. 
And yes they are my feet!!
My last full day in Dorset.
I had decided that after my day of walking to Hardy’s Cottage and back it would be wise to plan a less energetic day in case I was feeling tired.
I decided that I would go to the coast and had been trying to choose between Bridport and Lyme Regis but in the end I decided to go to Charmouth as it looked to be a smaller quieter place.
I caught the bus and had a pleasant ride through the Dorset countryside.
Then a gentle walk down to the beach. I went and had a look round the study centre and them ambled out onto the beach itself. 
I felt obliged to hunt for fossils though I didn’t really expect to find any as there seemed to be regular organised fossil hunts.
However I already have a couple of fossilised shells that I collected sometime in my late teens. Not sure from where.
But I took a photograph of the grey crumbling cliffs. It looked as if a little stream ran down here. 
I also took some photographs of interesting rocks. (I often do this when I go to a beach). 
and 
and this pile someone had made. 
Having clambered over the rocks at the far end of the beach I walked back to look for something to eat. There was a cafe that sold some savoury items and I settled on a pasty which I ate sitting on the other side of the beach on the stones in front of the beach huts. 
As you can see from the photographs is was a very hot sunny day and I longed for a bit of shade but having decided that there wasn’t any I decided to buy an ice cream and catch the bus back to Dorchester.
Last week on what was the hottest June day for forty years I went to another beach that I must say I enjoyed a lot more. It is also a ‘Dorset’ beach though when I moved into the area it was in Hampshire.
It is my favourite ‘day trip’ beach. 
To me it is quite ideal. There is a café
(though not a restaurant so I generally take some cheese and biscuits and a piece of fruit,) up on the cliffs set in the grounds of Highcliffe castle.
The trees and bushes create a pleasant backdrop to the beach which has sand, if you want to make castles, but also pebbles that you can sit on not to get your towel too sandy. The beach is ever so clean and so is the water.
And when you have had enough sun you can go up and find some shade and sit and look at the sea. 
It is the addition of this shade that makes it so ideal.
I get there by catching the train to Hinton Admiral and I was pleased to find that about two thirds of the walk to the beach was also shady. I can’t stand too much sun now I am older.
A while ago I wrote a post about waves ( https://rainbowjunkiecorner.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/the-evolution-of-a-wave/ ) and so I chose one of them for this week’s Photo Challenge.
Stinsford church, Thorncombe Woods and Hardy’s Cottage.
Having had a bad migraine the evening before (maybe I was overdoing it after all!) I was pleased to find my head feeling much better as I set off.
I had a leaflet that I had printed off the internet 
and I followed their walk to Hardy’s Cottage and back.
The walk started at Grey’s Bridge. 
The instructions were then to take the second footpath on the right which was a bridal path. I did this, went under a busy road and eventually turned left as a little detour to see Stinsford church. 
On the wall outside the church near the door was this plaque containing a quotation form one of Thomas Hardy’s poems – The Darkling Thrush. 
I especially like the font they had used!
There were a few features of note ins1de the church that I photographed.
The font. (Another meaning of the word!!)
This side chapel evoked a sense of peace and harmony.
The stained glass windows were not exceptional except for this one that seemed more modern. (I am less keen on Victorian style stained windows.)
It was clear that this was Elijah and a closer look confirmed it. There was a dedication to Thomas Hardy underneath but the ivy which you can see in the above photograph rather obscured it.
There was a Madonna and Child: 
The niche may well be older than the statue.
I also liked the carving on the pillars.
This photograph will help tie it all together 
as you can see the Elijah window, the statue, the pillars and the side chapel was to the left beyond the statue.
Of course I had to have a look for the graves of Thomas Hardy’s heart, 
Cecil Day Lewis 
and his wife. 
I enjoyed the poetry of C Day Lewis and Thomas Hardy but I have never read Hardy’s books as they seemed from reports to be rather depressing!
I then retraced my steps back to the original path and continued on my way. I came across this 
when the path went through a farmyard. I thought it looked like something of an antique.
About 1130 I passed the Pine Lodge Tea Room which was noted on the map and instructions. It was an extremely hot and sunny day and I was feeling rather drained.
It appeared the they were shut but I went up to read what it said on the door. It appeared that they were open at midday for lunches but that seemed a long time to wait.
As I stood there the door was opened and a women asked me if she could get me a drink. I chose a sparkling elderflower which came with ice and she also filled up my water bottle. I suppose she saw the opportunity for a sale but it was still very kind of her.
Much refreshed I continued on my way until I reached Thorncombe Woods. 
Here I found Rushy Pond 
and these attractive and unusual seats. 
So I sat for a while in the shade.
I then walked on, following the signs, until I could see Hardy’s Cottage. 
I wandered around and found this memorial put up by fans from the USA. 
Here is a closer look at what it says. 
I also walked round to where I could see the back of the cottage that was surprisingly plain and almost windowless.
I was getting hungry by now and there was a sign to the Visitor’s Centre and Car Park so I followed it down what turned out to be a very long and sometimes quite steep path.
After a bowl of soup. I trudged back to the cottage to rejoin the route in the leaflet. I didn’t pay to go into the cottage as I tend to prefer grounds to interiors and I knew I would feel awkward in my walking boots.
The rest of the route was less picturesque and included electric fences and an Animal Care Centre. Luckily a couple of the girls there happened to know how to open the gate because I was struggling. It is surprising how many different sorts of gate you meet on a country walk.
I saw this house 
which I now think is Kingston Maurward House and shortly afterward a rabbit! 
On the whole the instructions were very clear and the sign-posting was excellent. However I was about to meet a problem on getting to section 13 (unlucky for some!). The signposting for The Old Manor was not at all clear and I ended up asking two different people if they knew of a nearby cattle grid: as the next significant point to find. Once there I had no more problems and when I saw these signposts 
I knew I had completed the circular part of my walk. 
Have you noticed this holiday is all about circles: walking all round Maiden Hill, walking the almost all way round bank of Maumbury Rings, Walking round the Giant’s Hill and now a circular walk that took in Hardy’s Cottage!
The way back was now straight forward and I went and collapsed gratefully back in my room at the guest house.
Not much to show in the making line this week though I have been working hard.
So I thought I would take the opportunity to fit in another garden update. I am so enjoying my new style garden taking shape.
These photographs have been taken over the last month. All taken and processed rather quickly, just as a record really.
Before I went on holiday I looked at my clematis. The Vagabond is only meant to grow to about four feet but of course it won’t get that high this year. I saw that it had a good crop of blooms 
but also realised that it needed spreading over the trellis. 
In a way it looked better with the flowers closer together but this was for the future!
My clematis on the other side of the garden was in a similar state, though less ready for spreading out. 
Odd really given that it was planted first.
After I came back from holiday after all that sun and only a little water, courtesy of my son, the same clematis looked like this. 
The first clematis is still producing the odd flower, now further from the ground and so free of slug damage 
but the clematis the other side only has seed heads. I wait to see if I will get a second flush later.
At the same time I was pleased to see that the rose bush had plenty of buds. 
and the alliums (Christophe – my favourite) were developing their flower heads.
When I came back from holiday the roses were in full bloom and the alliums much bigger 
They seemed bigger than I remember them but then they are in a much sunnier location now and the ones in this bed, the sunniest, are bigger than those in my herb bed. More recently they are so big and heavy I have had to give them support.
Those extra green floppy leaves either side of the single allium are from my garlic.
I have been growing garlic for a few years now.
I always take a few of the fatter cloves out of the fridge because the garlic cloves for sale in the garden centre cost as much as a whole head of garlic in the greengrocers!
When I started, I read that you plant garlic on the shortest day of the year and harvest on the longest and I have always stuck to this pattern up till now.
I was always a little disappointed that each clove only multiplied itself into four new cloves, so last Autumn I decided to try an experiment and I planted the garlic at the same time as the daffodils.
When the garlic was beginning to flop over and produce flowers I decided that it was time for harvest even if earlier than before. I dug up one first, just to see, and then decided to dig up the rest.
I always plant three or four cloves and here they are when I had just dug up the last three. 
And here with all of them washed. 
They gave me six or seven or eight cloves this time so I will be planting them September/October time again this year.
I have a lot less flowers in my garden at present as the first flush of roses is over and the other new plants are small, so of course I have less bees than I used to. Though here is a rather poor photograph of one taken a few weeks ago. 
I do have a lot of different greens though. 
And my fuchsia is covered in flowers as always. So there are a few bees there. I was rather pleased with this photograph 
as normally all you see are their bottoms! 
A few of the pansies are also hanging on though
but I don’t know if bees like them.
Just managed to fit in an entry for this week. My Dorset Adventure posts are taking so much time and I haven’t even found time to think of monochrome!
As a Christian the first meaning of the word ‘cross’ that comes to mind is obvious.
This is from the archives and was taken on the hill above Lourdes when it was very, very misty up there. 
The above is actually a monochrome version but you could hardly tell the difference from the original colour version. 
