JJJ - 5/1/26 - Nature

Hello! And welcome to the 5th day of Just Jot it January 2026 prompts. Today’s word comes to us courtesy of the most joyful J-Dub. Thank you, J-Dub! Please be sure to visit J-Dub’s blog to read her posts and say hello.   And if you want to find out all about the rules etc of the Just Jot it challenge go here to our host Linda's blog.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 5th, 2026 is “nature.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Regular visitors here will know that, despite living in the North East of London we are very close to the lake at Highams Park which leads on to Epping Forest.  It is lovely having nature on our doorstep.

The forest actually goes back down to where we used to live but it goes further north too and it's managed by the Corporation of London.

Over the last few days we've had a very cold spell of weather.  The days have been lovely and sunny with blue skies but the temperature hasn't got much above freezing.  The lake has patches of ice on it.

Not far from us there is another lake called Connaught Water.  This is near one of the Epping Forest Visitor Centres and recently they have made a pathway from the centre and around the lake that is accessible for wheelchairs and buggies etc.  There is also a parking area and a Brambly Hedge Trail of sculptures.  More info on this can be found here.

It's very popular.  But essentially it is still just a lake in the forest with lots of birdlife around.

It seems that at the weekend there was an incident involving an off lead dog and people going into the lake to rescue the dog.  There are signs around advising owners to keep their dogs on leads around the water and wild birds.

But apparently there are no lifebuoy rings around the lake and this caused a lot of debate on Facebook today.  Personally I don't recall seeing many lakes or ponds with lifebuoys on them.  You don't surely expect to go walking through a forest, stumble upon a lake or pond and find it has a lifebuoy in place.  I certainly wouldn't expect to find one.  Because once they are put in place they would need to be maintained.  And checked etc.  But the consensus seemed to be that the Corporation of London should provide them.

I think it's much easier to expect people to have a bit of common sense and not venture onto ice covered lakes and keep their dogs (and young children) under control. But human nature isn't always sensible.

Love the Lake 23/6/25

Recapping the weekend - we had a lovely time on Saturday at the wedding or our niece Annie to her partner Henry.

The view across the field.  The bunting had an emotional connection as some of the fabric had come from clothing of Nick's sister who died last year.

Henry's family are farmers and this open barn had been converted in a short space of time into a perfect summer venue

Complete with a bar area in the centre

Mexican singers, and food was served from catering vans and we had a choice of burgers, tacos and later on pizza - from a pizza oven fitted into the side of a landrover!

Earlier the couple exchanged vows in an area that had been set out with chairs for guests.

We only attended for the evening reception but I'm told this was lovely. But we still got to hear the speeches which was nice.

Our eldest son Matt, DIL Vicky, Daughter Rebecca, me and Nick.

I was so glad I swapped my outfit though - it was a very hot day but there was a breeze so it wasn't too unbearable and it cooled down a bit in the evening.

We left at about 11 pm - Nick finds it quite hard to cope with loud music but I'm sure the youngsters partied on into the early hours.

On Sunday I decided to try and get out for a walk quite early before the day got too hot again but actually the day was much cooler than the heatwave we had last week - still mid 20s but with a breeze so much more comfortable.

Both the wooden bridges over the river Ching which runs alongside the lake have been replaced.  This one is at the north end of the area and is much better because before there were no sides.

Not sure what the coot thinks of these Egyptian geese sitting on its nest!

Look at that lovely blue sky!

The cygnets are doing well and there were lots of ducks around

Some of them look like they could have been the ducklings that I saw not that long ago.

And this is the other bridge that has been replaced, again with proper sides - it has wire netting previously that wasn't great.

I spent the rest of Sunday just relaxing.  It was still too hot to be too energetic!

How can it be Monday? 26/5/25

It's been a while, again!  The days seem to be flying by and I need to be more mindful about making time to blog.  My blog serves as a journal of my life so I need to keep up with it.

But life gets busy sometimes.  Last Sunday (18th) was the annual Spring Festival in Highams Park.  I volunteer for the Planning group behind that so was there from 8 am in the morning helping get things set up - which involved a lot of moving equipment around and putting up signage etc.

Then when the main organisers from the Food Hub group arrived I helped them set up their stall and then volunteered there for the rest of the day (apart from an hour or so for a lunch break).  I didn't get home until after 5 pm and had managed over 16,000 steps!

Needless to say last Monday was a quiet day!

On Wednesday I was at the Food Hub taking in a delivery and then at the Food Bank session on Thursday as usual.  I did manage a couple of walks during the week and managed to catch sight of the new cygnets on the lake.

These pictures were taken on the 18th and (I think) it was the first outing for the cygnets.

These pictures were taken yesterday (25th) - aren't they cute.  This pair of swans are fairly new to the lake and it's the first time they've nested here.  It will be interesting to see if they chase the cygnets off when they are fully grown of if they will allow them to remain with them.

Friday found us "enjoying" Nathan and Ella's school fete.  It was noisy and hectic but we did join them for a nice dinner afterwards at their house.

On Saturday we were here!

Celebrating the wedding of our niece Megan to Freddie.

                                                

Hubby (Nick) on left with his brother Bernard.

22 of the 23 cousins - our son in the US was the only 1 missing.

L-R Our daughter Rebecca, her wife Victoria and cousins Geraldine & Natalie

It was a wonderful day.  They are such a lovely couple and the atmosphere was just so joyful.  The reception venue was the Catholic Club that we've been to for many events, but they had totally transformed the garden by hiring the marquee and everything was lovely.  My SIL (the Mother of the Bride) has a great eye for detail as has her DIL who is an artist and did all the artwork for things like the seating plan, place settings, Order of Service etc.  They had also laid on coaches to transport guests from the church to the reception venue.

And the rain held off.  We've had such lovely weather recently but on Saturday it rained in the morning and it was quite cloudy and grey in the afternoon but the bride did not get wet!

Needless to say yesterday was another quiet day - we were up reasonably early to prepare breakfast for our elder son and his wife who were here for the wedding but they left soon after to pick up their boys and head off to the Peak District as it's half-term for the boys this week.

So that's me caught up again.  I'm off to bed now as I have to be up early tomorrow to collect food for the Foodbank from one of the nearby supermarkets, then it's on to Keep Fit with tea and cake afterwards at my friend Catherine's as it's her birthday.

I love being retired!

Getting out and about

I managed a walk around the lake today.  I think this is the first time this year I've managed to do that in trainers rather than wellies.  It is still quite muddy in places but the edges of the paths are fairly well compacted so easy to walk on.  There was only one part where I went along the right side of the path which turned out to be the wrong side and I had to jump across a patch of mud.  Fortunately I landed on my feet and didn't slip and fall onto my backside!

The weather has been good so far this week and I've walked each day.

The pair of swans have had 4 cygnets this year by the look of things although someone posted pictures yesterday where there seemed to be 5 of them.  There was also a picture of 2 goslings but today there only seemed to be 1 with the pair of geese I saw.  The swan was already in protective mode of the cygnets, as in aggressive mode to any bird that dared to come near them.  It seems to be an ongoing battle every year.  

There is only one pair of swans on the lake and each year once the cygnets are fully grown they have had to be removed from the lake and rehomed elsewhere.  Fortunately there are several places nearby where there are lots of swans and no issues over territory.

These are the pics I took today.

Unfortunately another casualty has been the wooden bridge across the river at the top end of the lake.  It's still passable but the side bars have been vandalised.  Hopefully the authority responsible for the forest will arrange for it to be repaired.