odds and ends

This year
2016

and December
is rushing to its end.

Well not really,

but it feels like that ...

and it's rather quiet on the creative end here.

Though I can tell

that I finally finished my "zigzag sock scarf"

(a name which asks for an explanation :

a scarf 

in a zigzag pattern

with leftover sock yarn)

I must confess that it was nearly lost :

I left the little bag on the boat

when I came back from Rotterdam some weeks ago

(there were a lot of other bags to take care of ...)

But last week it was reported found

so I picked it up ...

and started knitting right away !

(here the colours are better)

All there is left to do :

weave in the ends !!!

*

When the weather was great last week

I started the long postponed cutting

of some shrubs in the garden.

The dust bin for all the green stuff

was filled to the brim

so there is lots more still lying in the garden,

waiting for the next round ...

Today, on the other side of the water

some men were busy

making pollard willows of our willows again !

They had obviously waited too long :

the branches were as big as small trees !!!

(at my side of the water you can see

half the Buddleja cuttings still in the garden

and the "Black Knight" near the water, isn't even done yet)

*

And yesterday we had a very strange visitor (again)

a ring-necked parakeet !

These birds are NOT native birds here :
they either escaped from captivity
or
were just put "outside"
because their owners didn't like them anymore ...
(They originate from Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
but are good survivors now in many European countries !)

Very odd to see such a bright green bird
but they seem to flourish here
:-)

(this one is probably a youngster,
younger than the one we saw a few weeks ago :
this one doesn't have the dark ring
around its neck yet)