White World

We are not happy ... Snow everywhere and whilst we like it looking pretty (and covers up the big brown puddles we have made in the wet garden), it has driven our friends with the brown bags of duck food away and we miss them (oh...and it is just a bit chilly on our feet too).

Chilly feet ....and hungry!

A couple of days ago we had a bit of excitement as one of our number got himself stuck on the ice -- his legs slipped and he ended up "doing the splits" and could not get himself up again no matter how much we quacked encouragement. In the end he required human intervention and Mick and Dayel lassoed him by walking a rope over the pond.  Once they got him in the "noose" he was pulled to safety and put back on his feet - fortunately he has survived OK and is swimming about again now -- he is a little "bow legged" when he walks though!

After the rescue - bottom pond is almost completely iced over

The black and white duck survives another day!

The only really good thing about the snow is that we can quite easily see when our 'friend' next door comes to visit us (she just likes to watch as we are a bit big for her to catch!).

Our 'friendly neighbour' enjoys the snow but it is a bit deep for her in places

Elsewhere in the Centre it has been very quiet but just before the snow came one little girl came to take up her Christmas present of a glass blowing experience - Stuart from 'Topglass' helped her with the molten glass and showed her how to blow it into a balloon,  She was too puffed to talk, but we think she enjoyed it!

Make your own Christmas Present?  Seems like hard work....

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Quacky New Year!

We are having a bit of a rest today after a really hectic could of days!

Lots of lights and partying went on in the restaurant with the New Years Eve party which was themed on the film "Casablanca" on Monday night.  The restaurant was dressed up and lots of tables moved about so that everyone was around the music and the dance floor which was in the middle of the party, just like when Sam played his piano in the middle of everyone in Rick's Café Americain.  (Except that the musicians Blue2 were not black, and the piano was a key board!)

Blue2 - play it again Sam!

The staff putting on their "Fez" and the customers came dressed for the evening - ladies in lovely dresses and gentlemen in black ties, some even dressed for the film, everyone looked great.

Christmas in Morroco!

 
The menu was based on Moroccan food but there was something for everyone and the desserts looked too good to eat!

Mmmmm

What a great night - lots of laughter, dancing and welcoming in the new year!

The next day started early too as the restaurant staff were getting ready for breakfast all day! It was a much better weather day so we saw lot of walkers as everyone finally had a chance to get out in the fresh air  - we had plenty of corn bought for us so we were pretty happy too!

Most of the staff are back to work today and Christmas is being taken down and lights cleared away - difficult to image that it will be a whole year until we have any days off again!

Quacky New Year everyone!

Where is everyone??

For us in the Jinney Ring gardens, Christmas Day was a very odd indeed - the Centre was deserted and not a brown bag of food in sight all day, we had to rely on out normal two feeds a day instead of the regular visits from our friends.  Fortunately we had had plenty of visitors in the run up to Christmas so we had taken plenty of corn on board.

It was a pretty busy week before our "day off" - we heard that Santa saw lots more of children when he visited us on his 3rd weekend here in the shop and that he had quite a few letters in his post box (replies have been made and are available for collection).

Santa reviews his "nice and naughty" book with his elf!

 We could see that the restaurant was pretty busy all the way through December with quite a number of office and family parties in the daytime and the evening. There were crackers and party hats and a good choice of menu, they were all 'suitably' noisy and had lots of fun and generally made time to come and see us too!

On Christmas Eve there was another sound from the Conservatory when the local singing group "Hanbury In Voice" sang carols to get everyone in the Christmas spirit - it worked a treat and the atmosphere was really festive.

Hanbury In Voice - a lovely sound!

The Centre has been really well lit this advent period,  including the gardens, and one night recently a professional photographer was here taking some night pictures so that we can remember it properly - we have not seen them yet but we did make sure we were swimming in the limelight as much as possible!  Even in the daylight some of the lights have made quite an impression!

Reindeer on the stairs

We are now looking forward to the New Year celebrations with a Casablanca party on New Years eve and an All day breakfast on New Years Day.

We are also planning our 2013 resolutions and seriously hope for a bit better weather -- this Christmas has been a bit too wet - even for us ducks!!

A little Elf!

Santa has been visiting this weekend in his lovely grotto upstairs in the gift shop.  We did not see much of him    as he stayed in the warm this weekend, however we did see his elf!  Very appropriately named, "Holly", one of the regular staff working in the shop volunteered to help Santa this year and what a good and cheerful job she has made of it!  Holly is a very versatile person as we have seen her working in the restaurant doing table waiting as well as cleaning two evenings a week - she is a real worker and is well loved by everyone!

Elf Holly

Santa will be back in the grotto for the next two weekends from 2-4 each day.

Out and about there is much frantic shopping going on ready for the big day and this weekend was a particularly busy one for Mike at Arkle plants and shrubs - he nearly sold out of Christmas trees today!

Sadly this will be Mike's last Christmas here at the Jinney Ring as he is retiring at Christmas.  Taking over his business and plant unit is Karl who is a local and grows his own plants close by.  KArl was here today meeting customers and helping with the trees.  He has assured us that we will still have the same quality if plants as previously - of course our only input has been to have a little taster when they are planted in the Jinney Ring gardens!  We understand that there is also a vacancy for a new gardener here too as Jean (Mike's sister) and Chris (Mike's wife) are also retiring and they have been maintaining the gardens for a long time on and off.  We will miss them all but expect them to come back and visit us regularly.

Here is a reminder of the help we give the gardening team:

Helping out in the Spring - they put up wire barriers!

So sad to lose a friend!

We have just had news that Floss the chestnut mare who normally spends her summers in the fields next to us has died. She had undergone surgery recently for a tumour in her intestines and we thought she was recovering well (which for a 26 year old horse would have been impressive), however she has been suffering with more stomach problems and her owners have put her out of her pain.

We are all very sad and will miss her but are glad she is not suffering any more.

Floss with her friend Molly in the fields this summer.

On a more positive note - the newest ducklings still have not got their full feathers but are out and about on the water now and loving it -- the nights are a bit cold for them though so they are still snuggling up under a lamp.   And -- the mallards are back - not really sure where they went during the floods but they certainly look fit and well!

Alpacas steal the show!

This weekend was all about shopping and lights -- or so we were led to believe!

Late night shopping on Friday night was followed by the craft fayre in a marquee on the front carpark.  There were lots of lovely crafty bits and pieces for Christmas decorations incremental to the normal showing and also the regular Art group here (Art Circle) held their Christmas Exhibition (This showing/sale was extensive this year as there are now two groups of painters meeting here on a Tuesday and a Thursday).

The stars of the show were some baby Alpacas who came along with their owner Victoria to promote her Alpaca wool products -- they certainly proved very popular with children and adults over the busy weekend - we ducks definitely were not the main centre of attraction, our beaks were most put out!

One little boy was really happy to be photographed with the Alpacas

Craft Fayre - lots of gifts for Christmas

The real excitement of the weekend was when Santa arrived to switch on the lights -- we were worried though as the first thing we saw was an Ambulance with flashing blue light - it was pulling the West Midlands Search and Rescue boat, and we were really relived to see Santa fit and well on the boat.  He then came onto land and sounded the bell to light up the Centre.  There are lots more lights this year, including some in the gardens so we got to see them too.

Santa came to switch on the lights.

Santa is coming back to meet children in the Grotto each weekend until Christmas and there is a post box outside the shop for letters.

The next late night shopping event is 12 December for those that missed the last one.

Good weather for ducks and antics in the restaurant

We saw a couple of fun nights going on in the restaurant last week.. the first was a ‘Mission Morogoro’ Ladies’ Evening, held last Friday, 16^th November. This involved a glass of wine followed by a talk from Jane Brook of ‘The House of Colour’ -- she gave an overview (to the 50 or so ladies that were listening) on how best to buy the right colours in clothes for your skin type, as well as how to accessorize!  (We have never seen this many ladies all be this quite - not at all normal in the Jinney Ring restaurant!)  After this the Centre's own Jenny Muschner of Blue Lemon gave a short presentation about their soaps -- then everyone chatted as normal and had a good look at the stalls.  The event was to raise money for the African charity supported by Bowbrook group of churches and happily it raised £570, the cheque is displayed above!

The winner!

The second evening witnessed was much "sweeter" - the Christmas themed "Pudding" Night had some delicious puds on show (not that there was anything except corn for us!).  Chef Shirley had made a gingerbread house as a raffle prize for everyone that came - this was fantastic and was won by the youngest "pudding eater".  Shirley is making another one which will be raffled for charity over the Christmas period.

Just one of the lovely puds.

We also had an unwelcome visitor in the restaurant last week - at 4 am in the morning we were forced awake by the Centre alarms going off, a window had been forced and a young man entered the building.  Fortunately, as the owners live on site they were very quick to react to the alarms and the intruder left empty handed - we are not used to having this sort of rude awakening in the gardens. (The police visited but did not ask us ducks for descriptions, oddly.....). It is a sad state of affairs when you have to have CCTV and alarms everywhere (they even watch us in the gardens) but we can see why when this sort of thing happens.

Aside from this excitement, out here in the garden - well, it has been "a bit wet!" hasn't it? and windy too? The ponds have overflowed once and the garden is extremely "squishy" -- just how we like it, with plenty of worms around.  The wild mallards seem to have flown off though - probably to get some richer pickings in the flood zones locally, yum yum! 

We are now getting excited about the lights going on in the gardens on Saturday.......