Birthday

It's my birthday today, I had some lovely gifts - I have started reading the book already, some much wanted secateurs and I was really pleased to receive Shostakovich's Jazz Album which I have been looking for and haven't been able to find. It's not a wonderful day for a birthday as most people have plans so I end up not going out, anyway I will enjoy my evening reading my book!

Happy Christmas

A belated Happy Christmas to all.

Back again

Well I have had a break from blogging, many changes in the past few months so much so my life will never be the same again, much sadness. That's all I can say.

I have decided to join Photohunter and here is my first photo, this week's theme is 'Small'

Computers!

Just a quick note, I have complete computer failure - I hope to be back soon!!

Free headers

My computer was repaired, luckily not a major fault. I then decided to take a break from blogging for a while due to being so busy at work and coming home each evening unable to do anything but flop in front of the TV.

Mark Eccleston is offering free headers over on his blog, so watch this space, I hope to add one of his headers soon.

Unable to blog

I am using a friend's computer as my computer is out of action so I am unable to blog for a while :-(

It has gone to the repair shop and I miss it so much!! It's surprising how dependent we become on the computer for day to day activities - checking mail, downloading photos (which I can't do right now), looking up information, courses ( I am doing an online Open University course at present) and of course reading blogs.

I hope the problem is not major and I get it back soon and can get back to blogging :-)

Seaside

My son and I travelled to Clevedon at the weekend to play on the bandstand with a brass band. Note the trees leaning due to the prevailing wind!

Clevedon is a quiet seaside town the on the North Somerset coast, it still retains a somewhat genteel atmosphere from the Victorian age.

Fortunately the sea front has not become commercialised, there is a place to buy teas, coffee, ice cream and fish and chips so all are catered for.

The Victorian pier was opened in 1869 but in 1970 the end section collapsed, since then it has been restored and reopened in 1998.Most of the coast is rocky with a small sandy beach by the pier.

Oriental Poppies

Join

These oriental poppies have been a wonderful sight in the garden for the last couple of weeks.

Unfortunately they have been battered by the wind and rain.

Mystery flower - now solved

I have found out the name of the flowers that I didn't know. Lorraine at Living in a Box is growing them and has photos on her site, they are a different colour than mine but definately the same flower. The name of them is Mimulas, also called Monkey Flower or Musk. Thanks Lorraine!

Show

Yesterday I visited the Bath & West Agricultural Show which is held a few miles from where I live, there was lots to see and do including shopping, food, a flower display, crafts, equestrian competitions and arena displays. It was a delightful sunny day.



I was there to play with a band for hymns in the church tent, they have a short service every day. I play for half an hour and get a complimentary ticket to the show – a good deal!

No gardening today

Heavy rain and wind today so no gardening for me!

Here are some photos from earlier in the week for Green Thumb Sunday

Flowers

These are flowering in my garden right now, as you know I moved in the winter so I am really enjoying seeing what comes up in the garden. I am not familiar with these and do not know what they are called, they range in colour from pale pink to bright red, if anyone knows please let me know. Today while walking my dog I met the lady that lived in this house before me, she created the garden as the house was new when she moved in, I thanked her for all the beautiful plants she had left behind, she said she has had to start again with her garden as there was little there when she moved in. I could have asked the name of the flowers but I forgot!

Green Thumb Sunday

The flower of the herb chive is very beautiful when viewed up close.

Roadside flowers

I came across these beautiful flowers planted along the roadside, miles from anywhere on the Mendip Hills, I hope whoever planted them knows what joy they are bringing to the this small part of the world.

It's raining!

I did not think that I would ever be pleased to see rain. Today I did. The garden was getting very dry and although I have watered the plants there is nothing like steady rain to soak the earth through. I love the smell of the garden after a dry period, you can almost hear the plants soaking up the moisture.

We have had no rain for 21 days which is very unusual for this part of the country. In this area we normally get too much rain, it can be raining here and 10 miles away it is dry and sunny. Rain can get me down especially when it rains constantly for days and days like it did during January and February this year.

My new garden has clay soil which just turns the lawn into a sticky mud bath and then it dries like concrete with cracks going to middle England – oh how I miss the loamy soil I had in my previous garden, that is one thing I would like to have brought with me!

Flowers

My garden is fluourishing, I am still waiting to see what pops up, the previous owner of the house was a keen gardener so the garden is quite established.

Spanish Bluebell, this is one of my favourite flowers and I brought quite a few with me from my previous garden, I have left them in pots and will plant the bulbs in the autumn. It is related to the English Bluebell which are a protected species now, a woodland full of bluebells is a beautiful site.

Pulmonaria - which I brought with me, I only brought one pot as it spreads quite a lot.

This is a beautiful shrub - but I don't know the name! It had orange berries in the winter, if anyone can tell me what it is called I would be really pleased.

Visit to Kingston Lacey

Some friends and I visited Kingston Lacey at the weekend. It is near Wimborne in Dorset. The house and garden are set in 250 acres of wooded parkland. After eating our lunch in the sunshine,we went on one of the woodland walks which took us past the Japanese Garden, quarry garden and Cedar walk. The weather was sunny and warm, it was so enjoyable walking in the sunshine. In February there is a beautiful display of snowdrops, I would love to go back next year and see them.

The house is 17th century house designed by Sir Robert Pratt for Sir Ralph Bankes to replace his ruined family seat at Corfe Castle; it contains a collection of Old Master paintings with works by Van Dyck, Titian and Brueghel collected by William Bankes, there is also an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts from 3,000BC.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Kingston Lacey House

This is the fernery, a few weeks ago this would
have been a beautiful drift of snowdrops.

Lady's Walk

Japanese Tea Garden was originally built during the
Edwardian era and has been recently rebuilt.

Part of the Woodland Walk

Camelias

Kingston Lacey house from the Cedar Walk

Ozzie

This is Ozzie, a border collie, he was found in Bristol and had been set on fire by thugs. He has a 50% chance of survival. How can anyone who calls themselves human being do this to a dog? I just cannot understand how people can be so cruel, what did this poor defenceless dog do to them? The pictures on TV showed a very friendly dog and even after this ordeal he was playing with a ball, he has not lost his trust in humans. Follow this link to read the news story.

(Photo BBC News)

Happy Easter

Forget-me-Not - One of my favourite flowers

100 year old photoblog

If you like looking at old photographs of the USA visit Shorpy the 100 year old photoblog
it's full of superb photographs from the past

Lytes Cary

Visited Lytes Cary Manor this afternoon, this is a small manor house, once the home of medieval herbalist Henry Lyte, he created a botanic garden but unfortunately there is now no trace of the garden. The Manor house was built by the Lyte family who owned the property for 500 years from the 13th to the 18th century.

Spring flowers under the trees

There is a small cafe where we were able to enjoy a cup of tea and cake, there are also plants for sale but I didn't get tempted this time.

Rounded topiary yews leading from the front door,
these yews stand tall looking like guards .

We went on the riverside walk, although the weather was dull it did stay dry.
I took quite a few photos but it was not ideal being so dull.

Spring is coming!

The weather has been fine this weekend, after rain every weekend for weeks. This afternoon I enjoyed an outing with my sister and aunt to a garden centre near Cheddar, its a beautiful setting just below the Mendip Hills.

There many different garden ornaments:

I love this rabbit!

Afterwards we visited Cheddar, famous for Cheddar cheese, the Gorge and caves, Cheddar's most distinguishing feature is the natural phenomenon of Britain's largest gorge, while The Cheddar Yeo in Gough's Cave is Britain's biggest underground river, and the Gorge Cliffs are Britain's highest inland limestone cliffs.

The river that originally created the gorge.

There is a wonderful shop in Cheddar called "The Gorge Bear Company" its full of bears of all shapes and sizes, there are so many to choose from. See their website if you love bears.