Father and son photo's.

This isn't my photo, it was taken at the front of Soggibottom cottage by the Soggibottom carpenter last night.  A fantastic sunset which lasted half an hour. No special lenses, snapped with our little hand held 16 pixel camera.

Another beautiful photo yesterday of a Cambodian sunset taken by Mark who is visiting our granddaughter.

Wow, has Marley Wynn grown and she is walking too. Every photo we see of her she is always smiling and seems a happy little soul.

And you thought I was going to show you more dirty ditch photo's.

Freya is over at Cat Flap Cavalier. 

Where ever you are, hope the weekend brings more beautiful sunsets. Have a great weekend.

Freya Rose Blossom's portrait.

It's such a pleasure to show a new addition heading for Soggibottom's cottage wall.
Freya Rose Blossom's portrait painted by our very talented friend Caroline.

This is exactly the way Freya looks when she sits in the back seat of our car in her own special place, strapped in safely. Freya tends to look straight ahead, so she can see the road in front.

Freya's portrait isn't the only art we have that was painted by Caroline.
This is a portrait of Mew, our dear ol tabby cat.
I struggle with a paint brush to paint a wall which makes me rather envious of all artists who have such talent. Caroline has more of her beautiful art over on her blog Uniqart.

Update about the new flood relief water course. As you can see it's coming along. So much for the dead line of it all taking 16 weeks. It started way back in February we are well past the dead line.  Even we can see things are at last taking shape now.

We take every opportunity to escape the noise and dust especially when the sun shines. Last week we headed on over to one of our favorite beaches Slapton Sands.  No dust, no noise, perfect bliss with only the sound of gentle waves lapping the beach.

Instead of driving home along the country lanes we called into Dartmouth to catch the ferry home.

Although Freya is strapped in she can still move around enough to catch sight of any ponies that we might pass or the sights that can be seen when half way across the river Dart on the car ferry.

Freya can be found over at the Cat Flap Cavalier as usual. This week she is advertising a very bespoke beach front property in South Devon.

Hope everyone has a great August Bank Holiday. We have one extra day of peace and quiet and are making the most of it :-) xxx

More about Soggibottom's rag dolls and a rain dance

At the weekend we had a little Soggibottom rag doll that came back to us... She also brought another beautiful doll with her.

The soggibottom rag doll also brought not only her new owner but her owner's brother, a beautiful little guy called Jacob.

They also brought their nana.

We haven't had many visitors to Soggibottom this year......... too much dust during the week..
Thanks guys it was good to see you all and spend a normal quiet, Sunday afternoon.

Things are progressing, behold the new water course, or part of it.  Some days are better than other days.  Today, the Soggibottom carpenter swept the road at the front of the cottage.. cough, cough, splutter.. we can't believe we both wish it would rain !

The weather forecast gives rain, just a splash but that will do. Cough, cough, cough... Might mean we can try the new water channel out too... you never know.

The last resort...... just has to be a rain dance !
:-) xxx
Again, we have to say thanks guys for all your support. You know who you all are :-) Your all such special people, we might not have the time to visit blogs but you visit us. Thank you.

Outbreak of Soggibottom Rag Dolls Pet insurance, it pays to look around.

Soggibottom rag dolls are hanging around the cottage at the moment. At least one is off across the pond to America.She just needs to be parceled up.

Another doll went to a new home yesterday.
I had a request to make a doll from a piece of material that had a special meaning. A keepsake doll, so here she is, made from pink material and dressed with every scrap of material that was left.

Freya had her booster jabs yesterday. She enjoys her visits to the vets, especially when she greets and meets her own special vet nurse. She's jabbed up, been clipped and had her yearly check up. The first thing we always ask is to give her a heart check. She is fine. As the weighing scales were insight Freya jumped on to find she was as she should be, not too thin, not too fat.

We also had to renew Freya's pet insurance. Insurance companies can be sneaky. The pet insurance suddenly jumped up another £108 per year.  We called the insurance company and cancelled Freya's insurance as it was in my name and re insured Freya in the Soggibottom Carpenter's name at a cheaper price. Two can play at being sneaky. IT PAYS TO LOOK AROUND and not take it for granted that the quote you are given is a fair price. Same dog, except she is a year older.

Freya has grown into a beautiful, bold, loving and funny little dog.
After saying we would never have another dog after Amie Soto Blossom, we are so pleased we had Freya Rose Blossom.

Freya can be found over at her blog as usual.

You can follow her over to  Catflap Cavalier just here. 
Have a peaceful weekend guys.

Village Fete's go on and on, no matter what..

I would love to say,  this is a super imposed church against machinery in the back ground, but this isn't any doctored photo.

We love the view from our bedroom window.  One of the cottage bedroom window's faces West. It's always been a sight to behold when the sun goes down.

Deer used to graze and foxes played. This view is never going to be the same again

This is something we are going to have to get used to. At least the road will be behind the embankment they are building.
It's not going to worry us or bother us.

It will however push traffic further along the road to another bottle neck. What a waste of money, time and hey just wished people would really do their homework first.. So many people crossing our little DAMAGED MEDIEVAL BRIDGE that have never been down here before...............

Many thanks to Mark and Becca last weekend for saving our sanity. Of long weeks of noise and invasion.  Of having to watch men in yellow coats coming over our side of the bridge.

We love seeing visitors at Soggibottom, but things have been changed this year.
Tonight we had to tell our son in law, our grandson Jake shouldn't be here for a day let a lone a week or two. Too much dust, it wouldn't be good for him.

Too much dust and disruption. We love having Jake here, it's another thing that by building a water relief channel  here, it has changed our lives. Good idea up to a point. ONCE you have been flooded, you never trust anyone no matter who they are. If they say you will never be flooded again, great, but you never trust them. You make your own precautions against flooding. So all this STUFF you see here, to us being flooded as many times as we were last year. Hum.. well .. no.. we make our own precautions. But it does look good on paper, on official documents.. hey, this part of this village will never be flooded again... Good thought...

When every sunny day brings coughs and splutter's from construction work (that is only from me) !

We protect our little bit of history. When we can.

Here is to the guys who say.. YOU CAN'T DO THAT..................
But they do !
We try hard to stop them, they do what they will and we can't stop them... sorry for not visiting and so sorry for not replying to emails.. We are here and unable to get out and escape at times.

Making sure that Soggibottom cottage and our little bridge is safe is always the first thought in every waking moment over the last few months.  .......... ONE OF US. hasn't been able to visit our local park.... It's okay, except it shouldn't be that way.

Hum...

The stonemason's had gone home, part of this embankment collapsed....
As Soggibottom is only feet away it was more than worrying tonight.
For over eight years we have lived within inches of a derelict cottage.  The county council brought for this very scheme in mind. It's such a shame because with more thought the two hundred year old cottage could still be there.
The next time we have a letter from our local council telling us that we are not in the noise zone of the new road, boy is someone going to get a good ol Soggibottom telling off.........
So here is to the new road in one part of South Devon in England.
Here is to all the bureaucratic people (phew, I was going to say something else there, thanks Mark and Becca :-) ). Good to see you both.

How did I sleep through a stone delivery ?

She is there, just click :-)  Catflap cavalier 

She still hasn't got the hang of it... but shh, don't tell everyone :-) .... X X X 

May contain mutts

Some one here has lost the plot. it used to happen on Thursday morning. This week it was 8. a.m. on Monday morning.

Cracked walls inside and out........................ All because of heavy loads of stone and stuff a few feet from out cottage door. LOST THE PLOT. YOU BET YER ! 

She is as usual over at the CATFLAP CAVALIER. 

x x x

Frogman found under the bridge at Soggibottom.

It's true, there was a guy all dressed up in a suit who went scuttling around under the little Medieval Bridge that we have to cross to get to Soggibottom Cottage.

Things aren't as strange as they seem.
Before the two hundred year cottage beside us was pulled down at the start of February, batmen came down here to check for bats. Bats only like warm places to roost, according to the batmen. As the old cottage had been empty for at least eight years it was unlikely they were there.

The frogman was surveying damage caused by heavy lorries crossing the little bridge.  A new water course had to be built after all the flooding that has been going on around us. Especially because of the new road that is going to skirt our village. New roads tend to mean more water one way or another.

The little bridge is one of the oldest places in the village, for all our efforts to try and protect it, the local football club and cricket club had stronger objections. They mostly play football and cricket at weekends, the lorries only work during the week. There was a plan for the lorries and their heavy loads to skirt the playing field at the back of Soggibottom Cottage. Instead the little medieval bridge that we use to cross the river was chosen for all the heavy loads.
Heaven forbid anyone upset the football club or village cricket club, or the Parish Council... 

The cracks are defiantly beginning to show and not just in our newly cobbed cottage wall.

Being unable to get out of our own gate at times, wears you down after a while.

Cages, fences,

Constant dust and noise. Five months of it so far, Soggibottom often loses the plot on Monday after a two day rest from digging machines.
It helps to escape and leave it all behind during the day so thought you might like to see some of the places we escape to, to save our sanity.

Two Bridges in Dartmoor National Park ,  great place to clean a muddy dog after she has fallen in a muddy lake.

That's an AC Cobra under the tree's if you are a car lover.

It was worth a very large sigh and a closer photo.

Dartmoor is only about 14 miles away from Soggibottom.
I did say we lived right at the bottom of the hill. 

Be warned, there are muddy parts around this lake... ask Freya Rose Blossom.

Tomato photo's especially for Caroline.

Soggibottom really has been out and about slightly more than usual, time is scarce so don't worry that we haven't been blog visiting, we will when everything calms down again.. IN THE MEANTIME. muttley is over at CATFLAP CAVALIER.
Watching what we wonder !

Last photo, we came across three dogs locked in a car this week...
One of us was about to make a call on our mobile phone, the owners came back before the call was made......... We aren't sure how long the dogs had been in the car.

Even though parked under the shade of a tree this is not a kind thing to do to your dog. Please don't leave your dog in a car in hot weather. If you can't take your dog with you, don't go........ or at least leave them at home in the cool..  That's it... Moaning Saturday over.
Have a great weekend :-) X X X