New monster, walk on a beach and harvest

Hello, everyone! How are you? We had a nice day today. Not hot, not cold. Just comfortable. First, I will share the photo of my new monster. He was finally completed yesterday.

My new trickster monster

He hasn't got a name yet. Oh, he has a little cute tail at the back. I call him a monster, but he is not a fierce one, as you can see. He is a funny one. He is likely to do tricks on you when you are walking alone in the woods. He is good at camouflaging despite the red nose! Even the red nose is turned into a red berry when he wants to.

Mike wanted to adopt him, but I think he will hit on Etsy soon. Lately I have kept listing my ceramics on Etsy. I hope I would be able to raise some of the fee for the postgraduate course I will start in autumn. So my little guys have to find their new homes, where they would be loved and looked after, and in turn they will brighten their new family's days!      

Late morning, we took our dogs to Seasalter, a beach next to Whitstable. There our girls could be let free even at the height of the summer. We keep them on leads when we see people enjoying picnic, as Topaz has a criminal record of stealing food!  But nobody was eating yet when we went.

Left - not many people

Right -none!

I like to pick pretty stones on beaches. Sometimes I find fossils here. But today, I found this. Aghh, a bit creepy! There are tens of little holes in it. What were in it?

Tide was very low. So sand had nice patters of waves. This beach is very shallow. We often see people collecting shellfish. We had a good walk there in ozone.

Waves left patterns on sand

After lunch with yesterday's delicious bread that Mike froze to keep fresh, we did some harvesting. We have a hazel nut tree and local squirrels were having bonanza with it. So before all nuts are taken and buried in neighbors gardens, we decided to collect them, too. They are a bit too early, but we have no choice.

Our hazel nuts

Mike climbed up on the ladder, and I was telling him 'It's there!' or 'Lots are on over your head!'. Harvesting is always fun!

Our raspberries are having the second flush of fruits. They aren't as many as in the main season. But it's nice to have some later in season.  

A few raspberries from the garden. 

 Late afternoon, Mike made scones. We had English tea. I became full with scones, whipped cream and black currant jam Mike made ( He forgot about it being on a hob yesterday and went to shopping! It became dry, but didn't get burnt, just!)  So, I skipped dinner this evening. It is still before ten, but I am getting sleepy already, as we have done so much. Good night, everyone. Have a nice dream.  

Mike's birthday adventure

Hello, everyone. It's Mike's birthday, today. I gave him a birthday card that I made yesterday. He likes it. It was fun! It was made by scissors, glue and coloured pencils. I remembered myself doing similar things at kindergarten. lol

Birthday card for Mike

On his birthdays we go to somewhere he would like to go. It's usually a coast. This year he decided to go to Botany Bay after seeing the photographs, which look exotic and gorgeous. One concern was that whether pearl, the whippet could be alright, because she usually has motion sickness. But we have trained her, and she got used to travel to the nearest coast, about 10 minutes. drive from our house. Botany Bay is about 30 minutes drive, so we weren't sure if she could make it. We made plan B and plan C, just in case. This is how she traveled.

To start with, she was sitting on my lap, but decided to stand up later on. 

There was a very short tunnel, about 30 meters, where she started to panic, but she held on, and she finally made a whole journey. Hooray!

Mike stopped the car at Palm Bay. I looked around to see where the palms were, but couldn't find any. It was overcasting and a bit windy. You can see how this cliff was formed. It is mostly chalk. About 60cm deep from surface, there is loam. It must be very well-drained soil.

A good place to learn about strata

Lots of yellow flowers

We walked on the top of this chalk cliff. There are no traffic, and peaceful. We walked about 15 minutes on this path. We peeked from the top of the cliff. There was quiet and peaceful beach underneath. Botany Bay is ahead.

Mike wondered it was a nudist beach. I assure you it wasn't.

We finally reached Botany Bay. But unfortunately dogs were not allowed in summer. Sun appeared from the cloud, and it became warmer. Can you see the sailing boat? It looked like a Narnian boat!  

Botany Bay

Botany Bay from the other side

 Tide was out, and there were lots of seaweed. It is very shallow beach. We rested a bit, and decided to return to the car along the beach. We saw a steep path down just before we got to Botany Bay, so we climbed down there. I went down first. Second Topaz, Next Pearl. Mike came down last. We were all alright.

Midori is a scout. ' OK, guys, it's all safe here!'

We walked back on the sandy beach. Topaz rolled on stinky seaweed twice. I almost wept.

Lots of small chalk rocks had fallen from the cliff surface to the ground. Apparently one of the children decided to introduce her family to the world. It says 'Me, size 2, Mum size 6, DaD size 9'.

Sweet graffiti

After we came home, we had lunch. Mike wanted to have his birthday cake. If he had married a mumsy lady, a beautiful cake would appear on the table, but I could only produce a wacky birthday card. So we bought chocolate mousse. Voila, here is his birthday sweet.

Mike's birthday chocolate mousse

Dogs were exhausted. They went to sleep. After a rest, we went to town to find  tongs for glazing. We thought we could improvise with kitchen or BBQ tongs. We wanted a cheap one. So we fist visited Poundland and then Wilkinson. There was no suitable ones in either shops. So we almost gave up, but I thought we should try Fenwick because they always have a good selection of kitchen tools although they are not usually cheap. They only had good stainless steel ones with good price tags. But I found these, instead.

Wenlock mug

Olympics mug

They were also clearance. They were about 70% off. Mike picked the Wenlock mug for £ 1.20. He said he would use it at the office. I chose the London 2012 for £1.50. They are bargains! We were pleased.

We went to Waitrose to get something for dinner. While Mike was queuing at the till, I checked the BBQ corner. There was a cheap BBQ set at a half price. We were most pleased!

After a dinner, Mike altered the tongs so that they could be used for glazing. He glazed pots. We will fire them tomorrow.