Blossom

 Yesterday's walk took us down through the local recreation ground at the bottom of which is the fairly new, colourful building belonging to the Clarice Cliff Primary School - which is now an Academy sponsored by the Co-op.  The recreation ground which is maintaianed by the City Council houses a football pitch, a netball court and a children's play area with the usual swings, slides and bouncy chickens.  It is also very popular with local dog walkers. In the centre with paths either side is an area of trees mostly pear and crab apple.

The pear trees were in blossom and looking wonderful. 

At home in the conservatory the sweet pea seedlings I showed you in my last post have grown enough to be planted in a larger pot using the twine or 'twool' that was included in the seed pack.

Eight out of ten of the seeds have germinated and there are five in this pot.  The other three are taking a little longer to grow.

March is nearly at an end.  Did it come in like a lion or a lamb?  I can't remember.  It has gone by so quickly.  From the weather reports it looks as if it is going to depart in lamb like fashion so perhaps it did roar as it came in. The clocks spring forward this weekend and next weekend is Easter.  Time is racing on.  I have the ingredients to make a Simnel cake and when I was searching the cupboards for something else I came across the Easter decorations.

 

I need to find a suitable twig from the garden to hang them on. 

Yesterday it rained for most of the day.  There was frost this morning and although the sun is bright at the moment it is bitterly cold with a harsh wind.  I think the day needs to warm up a little before we venture out for today's walk.

We put the wildlife camera out a couple of times this week.  It has captured visits to the food bowl from three different foxes one with a limp - holding up it's front left leg - three different badgers including the pale, female one, crows, magpies, blackbirds and of course a few of the local cats, some of them in the collage below.

We know them all by sight and all but one by name - Dolly, Mabel, Sox, Peanut and Pip.  I wonder what the white and black cat by the pond is called? It visits most days to sit there.

 

November Days

What does November hold?  Wet breezy days,  falling leaves, darker evenings, misty mornings, frosty cobwebs and the first fogs,  occasionally the first snow too.  
Wet gardens covered in fallen leaves from the now skeletal trees. The bang of fireworks on most nights but especially on the fifth brings back memories of childhood bonfires, of warmth from the fire, hats scarves and gloves, sparklers and baked potatoes from the fire.  Making the Christmas pudding on Stir-up Sunday and in between that and Bonfire Night the solemnity of Remembrance. 

 Towards the end of the month festive  lights will be switched on across cities, towns and villages and households vie to see who will have their Christmas lights up first.

I love the curlews on the November page of the calendar.  It's time to turn to

Warming soups with homemade bread.  Above cauliflower, cheddar and kale soup.

and good books to read.  The latest novel in the Simon Serrailer series by Susan Hill and the latest Mephisto and Stephens novel from Elly Griffiths one of them starts with a funeral the other ends with one. Also on the small pile is 'Hidden Lives' by Cathryn Walton.  It's about the women members of Leek Embroiderers Society which was founded in 1872.

The Tulip Tree in the garden has gradually taken on a different hue over the last week.

in the last few days it has turned  from the gentle colour above to the more vibrant colour below.

 It's the colour of orange marmalade and

it has looked wonderful in the different light of both the early mornings and at dusk.   The colours of Autumn have been outstanding this year.

Fallen leaves have been raked into piles and within minutes have been replaced by others swirling in the breeze and drifting across the gardens like falling snowflakes.

The Squirrels have been busy burying, bustling and chasing each other across the garden.

They look very plump and healthy 

The garden is covered in fallen leaves

We've also had feline visitors to the garden

Pip lives across the road.

This is a new cat who chases those chasing squirrels high up into the Tulip Tree.

Peanut who visits our garden every day lives across the road with Pip and a tortoiseshell cat called Pumpkin.

It must be getting colder as the town pigeons (rock doves) visited in a gang to pinch the breadcrumbs we had put down for the wood pigeons and collard doves.  They seemed to enjoy the homemade bread.

Farewell to a Friend

We had to say goodbye today.  The house feels so quiet and empty.

Max aged 22 years.

April 1996 - 30th March 2019

I'm going to take a break from blogging as the last few days have been quite stressful. Please forgive me if I don't visit you all for a while.

I'll be back soon.

In the Meadow

On Saturday morning we visited the RSPB Reserve at Coombes Valley where we took a gentle meander through the meadow.  

I hadn't been feeling myself for a couple of days after falling in the garden trying to avoid stepping on next door's new puppy!  It had come through the hedge and was racing around our garden like a child in an adventure playground.  

The views across the valley from the steep meadow were wonderful.

The meadow was full of orchids 

Above are Greater Butterfly Orchids below an orchid we are not sure about. Marsh Orchid perhaps?

We also saw lots of little butterflies and moths

Skipper

Chimney sweeper moth

 It was cool and shady to linger awhile under the broad branches of the oak tree

It's good that I was feeling a lot better by the time of our next adventure which had been planned for some time and took us a bit further afield.  We have to plan our days around leaving a very elderly cat with back leg problems who needs lots of attention and medication twice a day.

We managed a round trip of six hours which was a little long to leave him but he coped.  I'll report on our visit in a future post but here is a little taster.

 

Mister Finch at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, two hours to get there, two hours there and two hours to get home but well worth the visit in such hot weather.

More of Mister Finch and two other wonderful exhibitions soon.

In the Garden

I mentioned in my last post that we had been busy putting up a new fence.

 The old one was falling apart and rotting in places.  It needed to be replaced.

I've never thought of us as trend setters but several neighbours have been to look at it and a couple of them are having the same fencing.

View from the front of the house.

You can see what remains of the old fencing leaning against the shed.  I loved the colour of it, I think it was called sea grass but I'm geting used to the new one.  

Meanwhile around the garden things are changing so fast.

 The peonies in the front garden are doing well this year.

Some of the petals are dropping off the blooms now though.

 French Marigolds

 Snap Dragons

 The Aquilegia and Geums are still flowering.  I've finally remembered that the Geum with the red flower is called Mrs Bradshaw.

 Lungwort brought by a friend from near Chesterfield when she visited last week.  Taken from her own garden.  I hope it survivesbecause I know that bees love it. It seems to be withstanding the transfer so far.

 I love the Tamarisk tree at this time of year.  It has been quite severely pruned but still looks healthy thank goodness.

The yellow rose is still always the first of the roses to flower.

In the green house the tomatoes and courgettes are coming along, ditto lettuce and beans.  Some of the courgettes have been planted outside in the raised beds.

It has been warm enough for both cats to snooze outside.  Max is quite fragile now and doesn't stray very far.

 Max by the pond watching the frogs

Chloe snoozing on the seat before we tackled the fence.

It has been warm enough to sit outside and certainly for strawberries and ice cream.  The ones above are from the supermarket but they are Staffordshire grown so quite local.

 It looks as if it won't be long before we will be picking our own.