MY LAST ESCAPADES BEFORE LEAVING

ESCAPADE : an act or incident involving excitement, daring, or adventure.

Hello Lovely Blippers,

I didn’t think that I would get another outing before I get sent back to the frozen North, with Mr. & Mrs. T’s elves, but when Mr. and Mrs. HCB said that they were going out for a walk to “her field”, I jumped into the pocket of her anorak and before they had time to throw me out, we were on our way.

Mr. HCB had insisted that they put on their walking boots, because he said the field would be rather boggy, and he wasn’t wrong!  It was extremely wet underfoot, so we walked along the paths on the nearby road until we reached a little opening between the houses and went through there.  The wonderful 300 year old oak tree was just near that pathway and it was good to see all the other trees in the field.  Mrs. HCB took lots of photographs - about 50 in total, but has made some of them into a collage, so that you can see how many trees I managed to climb.

From the top left and going clockwise, you will see me on a branch of the oak tree - I think I heard Mrs. HCB say this was her favourite tree, next to the willow and I can see why.  As we walked along, we found some sticky buds on a horse chestnut tree, so that was exciting to see.  Mr. HCB had a phone call from his brother while they were walking, so Mrs. HCB walked on and we found lots of catkins on the hazel bushes and in the sunshine, they looked good. The  people who were walking their dogs in the field must have wondered what was going on, but thankfully, the dogs kept away, otherwise they might have made me tumble from the various trees and that would not have been a good thing to happen.

I then spotted a tree that looked just like a Christmas tree, so had to climb up into that and have a swing on the branches.  Then we found an ash tree - Mrs HCB said she knew it was an ash because of the black buds.  She obviously knows a thing or two but said she had drawn these buds when she was at school many years ago, so knew what they were because they were black and because of their shape.

We wandered into the area where the HCBs thought there might have been an orchard because there were lots of rotting apples on the ground, so of course, I had to climb into this tree - I do hope there are lots of apples this year and if so, no doubt Mrs. HCB will make some apple pies from the fallers.

There are quite a few blackberry bushes dotted around the field, so the next shot was me sitting amongst the brambles - but I had to be very careful the thorns didn’t dig into me or that would have been very painful.  

On our way out of Mrs. HCB’s field, we spotted some fungi so I inspected that, but as none of us are very knowledgeable about fungi, we don’t know what this is.  I know one of Mrs. HCB’s Blip friends, Nicoiseannie, knows a lot about fungi, so perhaps she knows.  I found a little den that was made of branches, so I crawled in there, but again had to be careful because the stinging nettles were beginning to grow and you know how it hurts if you get stung!

When we got back to the HCBs’ house, their next door neighbour, Mike, had been out on his electric bike, so of course, I had to have a little go on that - I did wonder if Mrs. HCB would like one of these bikes but she said her balance isn’t that good and with such a heavy bike, she didn’t think it would be a good idea.  She said she was very pleased that she had been able to walk around her field without too much bother, but says her knee is a bit sore now, so I think some reading and knitting will make her sit and rest for the afternoon.

Last, but not least, is the selfie of Mr. & Mrs. HCB, the first one of 2023.  I want to thank them for making me so welcome in their home all over the Christmas season - I will miss them and all the Silly Saturday Gang, of course, but am sure I will be back for Christmas later on this year.  Now I just need to find out how to get to Mr. & Mrs. T’s house so that I can join up with the elves there and get back to work.  I have certainly had lots of excitement and adventures today and hope that you have a great day too and it’s so good to see the sun shining. 

If you don’t remember anything else, please remember to be kind to one another. 

With love from Elvis the Elf xxx