It is hot hot still

and likely to be for the next 4 days at least, breaking some sort of record that I dont want to know about.
I am going to Adelaide tomorrow and it will be 39C . I have to see my mother so I will go early and come straight home.
Yesterday was messy and so will the next few days be, one tends to get up really early while it is still a bit cool and then settle to not much during the day and water and do things late when the sun is going down.
I find it extremely tiring and have to find things I can do with my feet up as the wretched things tend to swell in this weather.
This morning in the early morning light when I went out to see if I had a foal I thought from a distance, oh yes there it is, until it hopped away, it was a kangaroo!
This is Kelso Abbey which I found a bit about, it says it was founded by David the first in the 12th century and it was destroyed in 1545 by the Earl of Hertford.
Onitsura wrote this Haiku.

How hot and dusty
these sunstruck
cobwebs glisten
between dry branches.

Conwy

Not sure what my scanner is doing as this should have more colour on the right, the mysteries of getting it right.
I loved Conwy, this small walled town with castle overlooking the sea and estuary, we had a lovely time in the rain wandering around, well it only rained a bit and we had umbrellas.
Yesterday today and the next week are going to be horrid here, hot and gradually getting hotter with tops of at least 37 degrees, it is over 35 by the back door at the moment. Poor Tab's wedding on Saturday is going to be about 34 and I hope by then the temperature has gone down and not up.
Yesterday was the show, all I can say is read about it here although we had quite a good day it was far too long and tiring and the ridden is on today, I am not there!
The poor garden is going to turn up its toes as it hadnt had time to get used to these temperatures. We live in a country where there are floods on the east coast and stinking hot and dry here, but that is what usually happens, if it is wet there we get no rain.
Basho's Haiku feels a bit like the way I feel at the moment (not that I have a fever but heat does this to me)
.
Wandering, dreaming,
in fever
dreaming that dreams
forever wander.

Still in the UK

The first is a rather wonky sketch of Bamborough castle which I drew from the sea ward side while John was investigating plants and rocks, it is a bit wonky as there was no where to sit and I had to stand and draw the outline.
The next is a bit out of order, these pots were what I could see when we had a small meal while waiting to find out where our gate was in Heathrow airport, the most awful airport ever.
Finally we went to Portmeirion which is the gloriously mad Italianate village in Wales, not a lot of time for sketching but we did sit and draw breath for a few minutes looking across the water to the further shore.
So one picture drawn on the East cost of the UK and the other on the west coast.
Still cool today, I have cleaned the house and walked so I feel terribly virtuous.
Robyn on Art Propelled, has a wonderful piece on taking a few minutes during your day to take stock and refresh yourself. I love her blog it is well worth visiting, even though I wish she would blog more often! I am hungry for South African images.
My Haiku today is by Etsujin

Poppy petals fall
softly quietly
calmly when they are ready.

My poppy petals are falling at the moment.

Roman artifacts and Whitby

On our way down to Yorkshire from Berwick on Tweed we went through the Cheviots and saw some moorland and different country again.
We called into Chesters Fort on Hadrians wall and had a good look around and I sketched a few of the horse related stuff that they had in the very good little museum they had there.
I was determined to go to Whitby while we were in Yorkshire, a long day but very interesting, we called into Castle Howard on the way through and going over the moors was a different experience to those on the other side.
Whitby is famous to Australians as it is where Captain Cook started off from for his travels to discover Australia so we had to go as I had heard of Whitby all my life.
So here are some of the houses across the bay from where we had lunch and a very good fish pie at the Quaterdeck. I sketched both these while we had lunch, the second is of the Whitby Abbey plus a bit of the church, it was not easy to work out what was which so I sketched the outline in fist and then went from there.
The weather is a bit kinder today, yesterday was a pleasant day but as I was in Adelaide I was tired by the time I got home. more of that in my other blog here.
my haiku is by Hyakuchi
Thinking comfortable
thoughts,
with a friend in silence
in the cool evening...

Northumberland

Today we are supposed to have a cool change but it is still steamy and uncomfortable.
I went in to see Gaby and Mason, he is a terror but gorgeous.
I have been painting pages for a small book I am doing on line with Lynda Monk, also a cover for a book doing another on line class with Maggie Grey and I should be at the sewing machine doing things for Dales class as well but its sort of not happening.
Two of these sketches were done at Berwick upon Tweed, the first was sitting on the Lowry trail, Lowry lived here for some years and there are various points where he painted and this is one, but I am no Lowry and he did paint in oils.
The next is of the three bridges that cross the Tweed at Berwick, the last is a wonderful railway bridge and while I was taking a photo a train actually went over it. I was sitting sketching this view from further down looking over the mud flats, all the tides along this coast go out for miles and then come in very fast.
The last is of the Farne Islands, or what I could see of them as the day was very gloomy, this was possibly done down near Seahouses but it could have been Bamborough as well. They wer interesting as well as when I first saw them they had great cliffs and then as the tide came in the cliffs disapeared.
Looking back the weather was pretty overcast most of the time so that the light was not very bright, infact I cant remember seeing much of the sun in England, and at times it was positively gloomy, not like our light at all, but for all that it was what I expected.
This Haiku by Shiki is apt for the northern hemishpere not here.
Oh how I enjoy
eating a ripe persimmon
while deep
old bells boom!

London

Well this is not most peoples London but this is what I did when I was there. Walking in Kensington Park we sat for a while on a seat by the serpentine and as the shags in the UK dont look much like the ones I know, their beaks are much longer and bigger for a start I had to try drawing one.
the bottom bird in the next sketch is I think supposed to be a canada goose but it looks more duck like to me, oh well I tried mr/mrs goose.
The huge amonite was in the Natural history museum, along with a million children, so John went off wandering and I found a seat where I could draw it. I really really want an ammonite and I tried hard to get one but to no avail. I keep hoping that he who knows best might one day remember and get me one, its not for want of reminders.
Then in the metal area of the Victoria and Albert, well I could have sketched there for ever, so many wonderful things keys and balconies and odd things I didnt know what they were for.
I was dragged away from there far too quickly but it was probably just as well as we walked miles to get back to our hotel and all that looking was tiring.
Here today we walked along the beach and had a coffee, very hot and humid so we were home quite quickly he who knows best is having a problem with his knee.
I checked the mares early, no new foals, and have been tidying the house and washing so I know think I can move a bit all the clothes are away and I have actually started doing some stuff for me.
My Haiku is again by Basho
On this well-worn stone
garlanded with
pinks of spring...
O to drink and doze!

The last of Europe

Another foal this morning, the girls had one of their major hack shows and our ponies did extremely well so that was a bonus, perhaps we can sell some for hugely inflated prices.
Any way although this little mare was a maiden she did all the right things and had a filly and it was up and drinking when I saw it so a huge sigh of relief.
I think I have finally sorted out almost all of the photos from the trip it has been a major task, especially as a lot of them are for me to use in my textile and other 'stuff'!
So here are the last three Europe sketches, one from the train as we headed on eurostar for London and the other two where we had our last lunch in Paris, sitting on the pavement watching the world go by and a bycycle that was chained to a tree so was going no where. This area was near a university so lots of students and lecturers.
John went fishing today, the cat is happy with what he caught but we will have a pretty meager meal.
No haiku tonight, I am too tired.