Last week, was a busy week. Humans had a visit from the hairdresser and Ruby had a visit from the groomer. We showered her the day before she was clipped. The groomer would do that but Ruby is used to us showering her as she needs a good wash between grooming visits. We end up almost as wet as Ruby as she has plenty of vigorous shakes during the process. Once out of the shower and toweled down there follows a cracker dog session before we can start up the hairdryer. It’s always sad to see the teddy bear look disappear. On the plus side, the daily brush is easier, and the highlight for Ruby is that both the hairdresser and groomer come with treats. What was even better, last week was that Ruby’s favourite delivery man also came with a treat.
All this meant that we didn’t get much gardening done. I did, however, manage to plant up our tubs with spring bulbs.
We had an afternoon at the allotment when Martyn cut back our apple hedge. The photo below shows the stage when half had been done.
You can see that the weather was miserable.
I did more tidying up and had a peep at the garlic and onions growing under enviromesh.
We cut a cabbage before we came home.
Before Ruby’s shower, we had a walk around Nostell where they had hidden painted stones to create a Halloween trail, Ruby was intrigued by the one she spotted,
Our afternoon out was at Clumber Park. Before setting off on our walk we headed for Central Bark their dog-friendly cafe where we could enjoy a snack for lunch. The cafe was quite busy. There is a seating area outside the main cafe but dogs are not allowed inside. There is more choice for humans at the main cafe but it is becoming a bit too cold to eat outside.
Unlike some dog-friendly cafes, Central Bark doesn’t just allow dogs access but provides lots of extra amenities just for dogs.
Ruby collected a fifth stamp on her passport – just one more to go until she gains a bag of treats.
After our lunch, we set off walking. There are lots of birds on the lake and for the first time at Clumber Park, I spotted a couple of cygnets. These, unlike the cygnets at Nostell, were still predominantly a greyish brown. I’m guessing the number of birds will swell with overwintering visitors.
Some of the trees are now completely denuded …
… but there is still plenty of autumn colour.
As the clocks were set back an hour last weekend, the sun was starting to set as we made our way to the car.
Finally some of last week’s meals.
Red and green peppers, onion, garlic and potatoes were used in a curried chicken cottage-style pie.
Crown Prince squash and onion were some of the ingredients in a turkey tagine.
I used onion and carrot and from the freezer, green pepper, runner beans, peas and sweetcorn to make a vegetable rice dish.
That’s all for this week so as always seat safe and stay well.
more dog friendly facilities are needed everywhere. I think there are quite a few around here now, certainly an increase to what they used to be. Thankfully, most dogs are very well behaved, often better behaved than their humans!
I think places are waking up to the fact that dog walkers are a good revenue stream especially in winter or bad weather, Debbie. Often they are the only visitors as dogs need to be taken out whatever the weather