More hats

Here's one hat that I haven't given away. It was Joyce Grenfell's birdwatching hat, and lived in Norfolk for when she visited her friends there. I think she bought it in the U.S.A.

I used to use it as a work hat, and when I wasn't kicking up dust, it hung on a peg from a beam in my workshop. One Spring, I found that a wren had made a beautiful nest in it, so it stayed on the peg until the chicks had hatched.

I arrived one day to find four fluffy little chicks perched all around me, and they stayed for a few days, watching what I did with bored expressions on their faces until the mother coaxed them outside. They spent about a week watching me from various perches the yard until they went off to forge their own lives. Joyce would have loved that.

I found one of the eggshells the other day, and you would not believe how absolutely tiny it is.

I think that this hat was made for hunting, and since Americans use the word 'hunting' for what we call 'shooting' (at birds with shotguns), Joyce G. put it to almost the correct use, but substituted binoculars for a gun.

Normally, bird-dogs - or hunting dogs - are spaniels, but this Daschund below is so well equipped for the job, that he has been given it anyway.