Jumping ship ...

26th March 2018

No, not us!

... but this small cruiser left the marina today.  The river Thames is currently on orange boards ... stream decreasing (navigate with care) but some of the reaches above and below Hambleden are on red boards, so I hope he's not going too far.

Later in the day I took myself off for a walk ...

... first round the marina as I could see from Still Rockin' that the crane was being moved and I wondered if the small boats currently on the grass were being put into the water, but actually they had just moved the crane out of the way.

Two work boats moored here, one of them has the 'things' (?) that reach down to the river bed to hold the boat steady whilst working from the vessel ...

... and there's two pontoons with more plant on them - I wondered what they were doing or having done.

I continued my walk and had to wait at the lock for this trip boat to go through heading for Marlow for the Easter weekend.  They may do a brisk business of sheltering visitors from the forecasted rain!

I enjoyed stretching my legs on the walk today noticing the bright yellow pussy willow in the sunshine

... and the white blossom in the woods.

Ideas please ...

Hubby George says many thanks for all your birthday wishes and comments both here on the blog and also via my facebook page.

We've had three comments about giving his exercise bike a dual purpose to 'drive' something else ... but what?

For your information and perhaps the start of the 'ideas' is that the bike sits alongside the hatch that contains the bow thruster battery.

All 'good' ideas welcome.

Building up to a birthday ...

... a big one!

 Started early on Saturday 24th March

... with George's sister Diane and husband Paul visiting with cake ... and candles!

But it's not his birthday yet ...

Sunday 25th March ... more celebrations ...

 Sunday lunch at Cote Brasserie in Marlow
Me, daughter in law Ange, Birthday Boy, Dan boyfriend of granddaughter Lucy, Grandson Ed and son Mark.

... and a walk along the river afterwards where we saw fuel boat Merchant (but no Chris onboard).

... but it's not his birthday yet!

Once our visitors had left for the journey home to the midlands we decided to stretch our legs ...

... as the sun was starting to set

There's still plenty of water coming down the Thames

Back at the marina  

... and a wonderful sky. 

 So when is this birthday ...

Today! 26th March!

 Lots of birthday cards

... and he's very happy with his presents too
 ... an exercise bike and a Bose Soundlink Mini from the family.
He's chuffed to monkeys!

How many ...

... fenders

... does one boat need?

I suppose it depends on its size!

Blogging visitors

It was really good to have these visitors for lunch today onboard Still Rockin'

George and I enjoyed a few hours of laughter and catch-up with

Sue and Vic, No Problem XL and 

Jill and Graham, Dutch Barge Francoise

 and four dogs ...

Baxter and Mutley and Penny and Meg

taking it easy and being very patient in the sunshine on the deck.

Hope it won't be too long before we see them all again.

Siberia? here?

... it certainly felt like it yesterday, it was freezing with a gusting cold wind of +50mph and snowing too ...

George had and appointment with the Apple Genius Bar in Reading at 12:15 and I was going to go into Henley for a few bits and pieces but when we got to the bus stop a chap stopped to tell us that there had been a nasty accident on the route between us and Henley involving several vehicles and no traffic was being allowed through.  What to do?

We could easily walk into Henley along the river path, about 2½ miles but I didn't fancy walking both ways with a bag of shopping on the way back and we didn't know if buses coming this way from Reading were returning there.  We returned to Still Rockin' and made a decision.

I would go to Reading with George, we would walk into Henley to the train station to catch the train to Reading, I would shop whilst he was in the Apple shop and hopefully the road would be open again by the time we were ready to return home.   

I changed into my boots and we headed off over Hambleden weir bridge and the Thames path towards Henley.  There are large areas of open ground as we walk and the frigid wind and snow was blowing from our left, the wind factor against our faces must have been at least -5° and it took us about 50 minutes to reach the station where we had to wait for half an hour for the next train changing at Twyford for the onward train into Reading.

All went well except that it took over 2½ hours for George's computer to be updated (it has stalled upon installation at home and then only gave the option to install the system present when it was purchased back in 2011).  By that time it was after 3pm and we were starving!  We had lunch at Jamie's Italian and headed to the bus stop where we were in luck ... partly!  The bus was running but only to Henley as the road passing Mill End where the marina is was still closed...

 ... so another 2.5 mile walk with the wind and snow (it had kept it up all day) now in our faces.  Wooly hats on pulled down to our specs, hoods up and chins in our collars we wended our way home.  The fire had gone out (I'd only expected to be out for an hour or so) and it was a while  and a couple of cuppa's later before we properly thawed out.

The day ended well though in the good company of friends Karin and Peter in a nice warm boat with lots of 'nibbles' and the odd alcoholic drink consumed.

Today ... we woke to snow, lots of it ... again an outside temperature of 0° but with the 58mph gusting wind blowing the snow from the trees, feels more like -5 once again.

 That's a cormorant taking off!

 Icicles from the stern canopy dripping

Hope that the weather wherever you are is not too bad and that you're warm and safe. 

Now looking forward to a relaxing day (roast lamb for lunch) and visitors tomorrow.

Out walking in the spring sunshine

Continuing on from my previous post on Tuesday ... our short walk ...

... over the weir path there's a couple more sluices open to let down the melted snow from the Chilterns

... and as we get closer see that the navigation is on 'Stream Increasing' once again.  Still Rockin' has now risen about 8" in the mill stream

See that tree with no branches just right of middle?

There's a Cormorant drying his wings!

Pussy Willow shining in the sun

Round the Flower Pot Hotel - we've come up from the river on the right and will return via the left-hand path

Back at Still Rockin' this cormorant was in the mill stream

... and there he was and then he wasn't!

Getting ready ...

The snow has gone, the temperature is up, we've had a couple of sunny(ish) days and life goes on here at ...

Hambleden Marina winter moorings (Still Rockin' bottom centre)

 The Woodpecker (male has the red spot on his head) is still a regular visitor

 A Water Rail has popped up from under the pontoon a couple of times

 The squirrel's antics still keep us amused

We've not really noticed before but we actually have two Woodpeckers on the feeders, this one is a female (no red spot), brilliant!

 ... and getting ready? To move that is ... but not for another couple of weeks ... George has been itching to clean Still Rockin' and this morning he's made a start with the roof ... a job well done!

I've also been keeping this morning and taking the opportunity to have the flower boxes off the roof I've tidied them up a bit.  The Crocus and Iris are still blooming nicely and I can see a Snowdrop in each box (just one each at the moment) and also the leaves of the miniature daffodils and tulips coming through too.  The violas have been in flower for the whole of winter and will hopefully continue through the summer months.

 Red Kites can always been seen in the sky here

... and the Canada Geese come in pairs or groups nearly every day.

Off for a walk now ... see you later.