Looking Back

 As the year draws to a close I thought I'd find a photo from each month this year to remember things we'd done and places we'd visited.  It was hard to choose which ones to use as there were so many.  I thought we'd had a quiet year this year with no long holidays and just two short breaks.  We seem to have pottered about quite a bit locally and within a day's reach.

January - Snow and a foxy visitor to the garden.

February - Snowdrops at Rode Hall, Cheshire.

March - Kingfishers nest building at the Wolseley Centre, Rugeley, Staffordshire

April -  Rhuddlan Castle, Denbighshire, Wales

 

May - Riding the trams at the Tramway Museum, Crich, Derbyshire.

June - Creswell Crags, Creswell, Derbyshire.

July - Boscobel House, nr Brewood, Staffordshire.

August - Sunflowers at Barlow, Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

September - Scallop Shell, Aldburgh, Suffolk

October - Fly Agaric toadstools at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent

November - Trent and Mersey Canal at Westport, Stoke-on-Trent

December - Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire.

Unusual visitors to our garden this year have included -

A pair of Mallards

 

 A Great Spotted Woodpecker

A ring-necked parakeet

and a Red Legged Partridge.

 

We only managed a couple of short breaks away this year as we had quite a bit of work done in the house through July and August.  In April we spent a few days in Rhuddlan in Wales and visited the castle there as well as visiting nearby St Asaph cathedral, Denbigh castle and the RSPB reserve near Conwy.  In September we went a bit further afield into Suffolk and visited Sutton Hoo, Woodbridge and Aldeburgh.
 

All for now.  Take care.

 

Scenes from Yesterday

We had a lovely day out in Shropshire yesterday and it is hard to believe in the rain of today what a glorious day it was.  The weather was perfect.  We visited two wonderful places quite close to each other namely Attingham Park and Wroxeter Roman City. I'll do a post about each of them later but here are just a few photos from Attingham Park which, for me, capture the spirit of the day.

Tortoiseshell butterfly on statice flowers in the walled garden

Young swallows waiting to be fed on the bean tunnel in the walled garden.  More photos  here

Display in the old cottages near the glasshouses in the walled garden

A young Jersey calf  in the pastures around the Mansion
 house

Tree- sculpture on the long walk between the courtyard stables and the walled garden

Outside the garden cottages

Apples in the orchard

French climbing beans - Blue Coco from the garden produce shop

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - June 2011

Here are my photos for the June Scavenger Hunt.   Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the PP for hosting the Scavenger Hunt and keeping us on our toes with her wonderful choice of topics.  Here is, I hope,  a -link- to other participating blogs.

A Childhood Memory

Buying a bucket, spade and fishing net when we got to the seaside and carrying them down to the beach where sand castles would be built with the bucket and spade and rock pools dipped with the net. 

A Farm Animal

One of the Highland Cattle at Wimpole Estate Home Farm, Cambridgeshire

A wheel trim
On a Bristol Fighter at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire

An Elephant
Carved wooden elephant in a shop window

Architectural Detail
Chimneys on the Precentor's House across the green from Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire

Cheese
from the cheese counter in the Red Lion Quarter, Spalding, Lincolnshire

Cutlery
On a table display in the Wedgwood Factory shop, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent

Night
On the outside looking in!

Something beginning with Z
Zinfandel wine - goes well with the cheese!

The view right outside your door
Back door that is - outside my front door which is actually on the side of the house is next door's brick wall which doesn't make for a very interesting photograph.

Something with your town's name on it

Of the six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Longton is the closest to where we live.  This is the sign for the Longton Interchange (bus station) near the Tesco, Argos and Next stores.  Behind you can see the railway station where trains run between Derby and Crewe stopping at all stations in Stoke along the way and behind the station an old, derelict pottery factory with its bottle oven and chimney.

Tree Branches

Photo Scavenger Hunt - March 2011

Here are my entries for the March Photo Scavenger Hunt.  I've found this month's topics to be particularly challenging but I've managed to get them all; two in the last couple of days

A Lion
In the Garden Centre at Trentham Gardens.

A Rainbow
No rainbows in the sky, no copies of D. H. Lawrence's 'The Rainbow' in the local book shops, no sightings of Bungle or Zippy so it was time to improvise!

Something Green

'Baking Days' in green by Spode in the Portmeirion factory shop, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent.  Spode is now owned by Portmeirion.

An Empty Chair

In James Bateman's Geology Gallery, Biddulph Grange Gardens, Staffordshire.

Something Sentimental

Cards sent to my mother by my father on her birthdays in 1936, her 20th birthday, 1937, her 21st birthday and 1938 her 22nd birthday.  They were married later that year.   All say 'to my darling Hilda, love you always, Harry'.  My father died in the autumn of 1955 not long after my 5th birthday.

Peeling Paint

I really struggled to find peeling paint!  This blue peeling paint is on a barn door at the Hungersheath farmshop and cafe near Ashley, on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border.

A Collection

Or just a small sample of my huge collection of theatre programmes.  I've saved them since I first started to visit the theatre in the early sixties. 

A Ring

The signet ring belonged to my maternal grandfather and his initials, AL - for Alexander Limb - are almost worn away.  I was three when he died in April 1954 of pneumoconiosis or miner's lung.  The ring lies inside his watch chain which was turned into a bracelet by my mum's sister, my Aunt Gladys, and left to me when she died in 1967. 

A Fancy Gate

Gate at the end of Lime Avenue, Biddulph Grange Gardens, Staffordshire

A Shadow

Of a small monkey puzzle tree in the Araucaria Parterre at Biddulph Grange Gardens, Staffordshire

Something Old as You

My first bear and my first panda - looking very much the worse for wear!

A Lamb

A new born lamb photographed at the lambing weekend at Reaseheath Agricultural College near Nantwich, Cheshire.  We saw this little one being born.

There are some photos on Flickr and I've added my photos there. I'll also keep adding links below to other blogs as I find them.

Poscards from the P.P.
Ungardened Moments
Life on the East Coast
Ramblings of a Roachling
Little Sealed Packages
Jumble and Jelly 
Louise@Home 
The Hen House 
Linden Grove 
Everyday Life 
What's in my Attic 
Ellen's 52 
Eagle Altitude
Jordie Girl 

Pancakes and a Tag

As it's Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day we had them for tea, drizzled with freshly squeezed orange juice. Mmm....

I've been tagged by Fern at Fern's Lakeland and I was asked to go to my photo album, choose my fourth photo folder and the fourth photo in - so here it is.

This is Apple Day, October 2004, at Ryton Organic Gardens in Warwickshire. It is a wonderful day out (as is their potato day) with orchards to visit, specialists to consult, apple based menus in the restaurant, trees to buy and apples to taste and buy. This is one of the tasting areas. I think this was taken by Paul as to the very right of the photo I recognise my fringe and my denim clad arm. Next to me, clutching her apple to be identified, is our friend Sue. There was an amazing array of different apple varieties and Sue bought a small tree which just fitted in our car so that we were able to get it home for her. I have to tag four other bloggers, I hope they don't mind, don't feel under any pressure to participate if you don't want to, anyway, here goes-

Pam at Southern Journeys
Teresa at Blueberries, Art and Life
Amanda at Pandy Potter Bears
Rosie at Under the Hedgerow

Here is another photo taken at Ryton on the same day -