End of the Year blog 2023 Part 1

It's that time of year again, time for me to go through my photos for the year and share one or two with you all from each month.

JANUARY

A cold but bright January afternoon.

The light was amazing. The photo above shows late afternoon sun on the beach huts on Walmer seafront.

FEBRUARY

The view looking South from Deal Pier, it always looks different.

In the woods at Walmer Castle, a nice bit of February sun shining :)

MARCH

Stoneacre, a National Trust property near Maidstone Kent.

One of the many stained glass windows in Stoneacre.

Back view of the house, a lovely place to visit.

APRIL

Newly born lambs on a farm near Dover. So beautiful.

Not sure what this bird is, but he was very interested in what my friend and I were doing. Sandwich, Kent.

Deal beach, theses seagulls had just been enjoying some food that two men gave them :)

MAY

A piece of my bobbin lace. My favourite hobby :)

A Horse Chestnut flower, we all see them but many people do not realize how colourful and pretty they are.

The Garden of Rest, behind St George's Church, Deal. It is always so peaceful in there.

Cygnets in Kearsney Abbey, Dover.

JUNE

Another cygnet in Kearsney Abbey, Dover.

St. Paul's London and neighbouring buildings as seen from the South Bank.

The Houses of Parliament photo taken from the opposite side of the Thames.

End of the Year blog Part 2 to follow.

End of the Year Blog 2023 Part 2

Photos from the second half of the year. Above photo was taken in Walmer Castle Gardens.

JULY

Kite flying event on Walmer Green, aren't they great?

Russell Gardens, Dover, always a lovely place to visit.

Another photo taken in Walmer Castle Gardens.

AUGUST

Beautiful butterfly :)

Walmer Green, Deal, showing the Lifeboat House on the left.

SEPTEMBER

Dahlias, such a gorgeous colour :)

Roses spilling over a garden wall.

OCTOBER

Adult swan, Kearsney Abbey, Dover.

An interesting doorway in one of the walls of Kearsney Abbey, Dover

Amazing clouds! On the beach near Walmer Castle, Deal.

NOVEMBER

Finally pruned the roses in my garden, I found these. LoveLy to have garden roses in the house in November.

Autumn berries.

DECEMBER

Looking towards Kingsdown on Boxing Day

The Sailing Club, Walmer, having a Boxing Day sail.

That's all for this year, hopefully I can get some more good photos next year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

 

Swans

I haven't done very well with my blog posts this year, but I have still been taking photos. 

These swan photos were taken at Kearsney Abbey, Dover.  It is always lovely to see the new cygnets, this year one pair of swans had five gorgeous babies.

All five cygnets together, these photos were mainly taken at the end of May. I think someone told me that they were about a week old.

A beautiful family.

Proud Mummy :)

This  last photo was taken at the beginning of July. Luckily all five cygnets were all still alive, apparently usually one or two are lost for various reasons. I will go back next year and see any new broods :)

London in June, The South Bank

Back in June I had a hospital appointment in London at 9.00 on a Monday morning! Although it would be do-able by train from where we live, my daughter and I decided to travel to London on the Sunday, and have a look round. 

We stayed the night in a Hotel very near the London Eye, so we started our walk there. I had never seen the Eye close up, such an amazing construction. However it is pretty expensive to go onto the Eye, so we decided to leave that on this visit.

It was a beautiful, really hot late afternoon, almost too hot for me, but there was a lovely breeze coming off the River :)

Looking towards Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

We found a lovely Bar under one of the bridges, where we had a cooling drink to keep us going :)

A pavement plaque.

Looking towards St Paul's Cathedral.

A base of one of the lights along the River.

Closer view of St. Paul's.

City skyscape :)

The Oxo Tower and Thames Beach in the foreground :)

St Paul's again, then we found a beautiful Carousel...

Absolutely gorgeous Carousel horses and dragons.

I was tempted to hop onto one of these beautiful animals, but decided to behave myself! Maybe next time :)

From here we found the Southbank book market, where my daughter bought a beautiful silk bound book at a very good price. By this time we were getting hungry so we went to a dumpling restaurant call Ping Pong Dim Sum where we had a beautiful meal, then wandered slowly back to our Hotel.

Monday after my appointment we made our way back to the Southbank, and headed towards Westminster Bridge. Above is one of the Lions on Westminster Bridge.

Looking across the River to the Houses of Parliament.

Westminster Bridge, before we walked across we had to visit the Covid Memorial wall.

So very sad to see the names of all that died due to Covid during the Pandemic. Such a lovely memorial.

Big Ben from across the River.

Watching the River traffic from Westminster Bridge.

Another view of the London Eye.

Crossing the Bridge, getting closer to the Houses of Parliament.

After this we made our way home. We had a great time, well worth spending the night in London. I might have another hospital appointment coming up soon, I wonder what we will get up to then?