Camper vans and otters

It was my elder grandson's 6th birthday last Sunday, and his mum & dad have just bought a van to convert into a camper, which he's very excited about. So I knew just what to put on his birthday card. Lisa Jane very kindly sent me a camper van template, and here's what I made with it.

The camper van and signpost are coloured with Promarkers, and the signpost has a peel-off greeting. The background paper I found in an office supply store (it's made to print letters on). It just happened to fit the subject perfectly!

Ewan loved the card, but was particularly pleased to note that he, and not his little brother, was in the driving seat!

We had a wonderful time with them, and didn't want to come home, especially as the weather was so good. I could get used to daily walks by the river, in such beautiful surroundings! Here's another couple of photos.

And finally, as an update to my earlier post, I'm delighted to report that we saw the otters at last, and no early rising needed as it was in the middle of the day! In the next picture, you can just about see the head of one in the water, to the right of the branch and almost in the middle of the pic. Unfortunately my camera wasn't up to the distance, but we watched two of them swimming and then saw them come out on to the shore and trot off into the bushes. Magic!

It was a relaxing and refreshing break, but back now to work and reality! Lots to do, but I'll try and catch up with everyone's blogs as soon as I can.

Easter hols

First of all, I hope you all had a lovely Easter, and thank you very much to everyone who's commented on my blog over the past week or so. I'm sorry I haven't had much chance to reciprocate but I'm up at my daughter's in Dumfriesshire for the Easter holidays and my grandsons have been keeping me busy. The weather has been gorgeous, and we had a great day at the beach on Friday. I actually got my feet wet in the sea, so you can tell how warm it was.

My daughter lives close to the River Annan, and I love to go for a walk alongside it and watch the wildlife, especially on a beautiful spring evening such as yesterday's was.

On my walk I met a local man out with his dogs, and he told me that there are otters in the river and that  last week he saw three there early in the morning. I'm not very good at early rising, but since I was awake at 6.15 this morning, I thought I'd get up and go and see if I could spot them. Needless to say, I didn't, but I did enjoy being up at that time in the morning, with no-one else around except the birds and a few cows and sheep. The sun was up when I left the house, but there was low mist lying in some of the fields and over the river, eerily beautiful.

It was also very cold at that time in the morning! I think I'd have to be up even earlier to see the otters, so I don't think a repeat performance tomorrow morning will be on the cards!