Had a great weekend ,although very tiring ! Saturday was spent demolishing a fire place with dad . It was good getting stuck in and covered in dust and soot and there's
something so satisfying about demolition!Dad was feeling his age a bit though after we'd finished and he wasn't the only one.Muscles were aching I never knew I had.
Sunday was a day of much slower pace.... thank god. Although with two kids the day's of leisurely lie' ins are long gone! The kids were in as usual at 7.00 ish just to
remind us of the life long commitment we have made to being parents. To entertain and generally cater to their every whim and want. Its funny how our copiously sized bed shrinks unbelievably upon their arrival in the morning. You then find yourself teetering on the edge of the bed with a postage stamp sized space to get sort of comfortable in. Anyway the battle never lasts too long and you find yourself being evicted to go and prepare breakfast. My wife will obviously correct me that its usually her that does that bit!
Well the forecast according to dad was for bad weather so we were scratching our heads as to what to do with the little darlings. However on inspection it did look to be quite bright.After some failed suggestions we hit on an idea favorable to Joe ( our main critic ) of going up to the RSPB reserve at Topsham , Called Bowling Green Marsh. Of Course this went down better with me than with Donna but the decision was made and Joe was excited about doing some sketches of his own and taking photo's of the waders and ducks. I would also get the chance to do some sketching too!
Well the forecast according to dad was for bad weather so we were scratching our heads as to what to do with the little darlings. However on inspection it did look to be quite bright.After some failed suggestions we hit on an idea favorable to Joe ( our main critic ) of going up to the RSPB reserve at Topsham , Called Bowling Green Marsh. Of Course this went down better with me than with Donna but the decision was made and Joe was excited about doing some sketches of his own and taking photo's of the waders and ducks. I would also get the chance to do some sketching too!
Donna prepared us a superb picnic and we set off as ever a little later than planned.We devoured our picnic in the car park at Topsham with such usual family incidents as Joe knocking my hand making me spill hot coffee in my lap!! A well to do lady and gent parked too close to our car , as the lady tried to exit the car she knocked the front of our car with her door!.... , did'nt even notice us inside and proceeded to walk off without a care !!!
So in revenge when Maisie inevitably needed an emergency wee. I aimed her at the offending peoples vehicle.
We then took the twelve minute walk to the marsh and public hide. Walking along the road we stopped to watch some Widgeon grazing the edge of the marsh and for joe to take some photo's with my camera. Its funny watching him trying to hold this large SLR with attached 100-400 lens but amazingly he still manages to get some decent shots, and even funnier watching his three year old sister insist that she must have a go, which she does... with more mixed results!!
Once in the Hide we settle down to our sketching and watching.Joe has his little book, Maisie has her's and I have mine. I set up the scope for them to look at the gathered birds. There were
Teal , Widgeon , Shoveler's Shelduck and my favorite's some Pintail's. Not many wader's though.
but I think we misjudged the tide! although there were a few Blacktailed Godwits there.Also swans, Egrets, Greylag goose,moorhen ,coots, mallards, Dab chick and lots of smaller birds too. Goldfinches ,Wagtails etc. Donna kept maisie occupied looking at the pictures on the wall and
the ever so friendly cat that seemed to hang out there. But all too soon we had to quit because Maisie's attention had wained too much. Joe did some great drawings bless him and I even managed to get some done myself!
We walked back to the car and drove round to the Quay side where we sat and had another
coffee , watched the wader's feeding out on the exposed mud of the river. The kids sat quietly
drawing in their books( Amazing!!) and Donna also did a sketch to use in her textile work.
What a creative family eh!
I slipped out onto the beach by us to take snaps of passing Godwits then we drove home.
Later at home we printed of some of joe's photo's and ones I took and stuck them into
his book . This got me thinking of my very early efforts and I think I'll put some on here
soon to show.
All in all a productive fairly rela
xed weekend for the Ellis family
xed weekend for the Ellis family 
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