A Few Daffodils

It's amazing how one bunch of daffodils from the local Co-op can cheer up a kitchen window when it is cold and bleak outside.

I've been 'under the weather' and 'in the wars' - aren't these old sayings great for summing things up - this week.  I felt ill for two days after my Covid vaccination on Monday.  It started with a tight chest, bad headache and pain across my back between the shoulder blades.  I still have a sore and red arm. Apparently it is good to have a reaction as apparently it shows your immune system is working well.   Mmm....  far better to have some side effects from the vaccine than have the virus itself though and I'm grateful to have received it.

There have been some strange and wonderful skies recently, it's like looking at other worlds sometimes.

 

Yesterday we went for a walk as I was fed up with being indoors and I stupidly slipped on ice and fell flat on my back, I've hurt my elbows, shoulders and neck, luckily my head was well protected by both woolly hat and the hood of my winter coat.  I haven't had a headache or dizzy spells so I'm assuming I'm okay although I ache all over today so am staying warm indoors. 

 

A photo from the walk.  You can see how icy it is.

  

Take care everyone and have a good weekend. 

 

Into August

August already.  Days just fly by even though we are not doing a quarter of the things we would normally do with them. 

The weather has gone from cool to hot over the last few days.  There have been blustery winds throughout but the skies have been wonderful.

Above and below daytime skies on Thursday

Up amongst the clouds were at least twenty herring gulls, whirling, swooping calling with their evocative seaside sound.  I think many of them have probably never seen the sea.  That seems a great shame.

Above and below skies around 9p.m. on Friday with just a light rumble of thunder in the air and a few gentle spots of rain not enough to dampen anything.

There were also the sounds of people's voices from beyond the fences and hedges enjoying their gardens and the crackle and pop of fireworks could also be heard  in the distance.

On Wednesday we ventured to Waitrose which was very quiet, everyone wearing masks and respecting each other's space, the staff were well protected by screens and visors as well as masks.  All very strange but comforting too.  I was able to wear one the the masks sent to us by a good friend who has been making them over the last few weeks for friends and family.  We received them the day before they became mandatory and they are very comfortable to wear.  I wouldn't want to wear a mask for too long though but an hour or so was easily coped with.

A few posts ago I told you about the wheat that had grown in the garden and how we had harvested it and left it to dry.  We had hoped to grind it with stones but this rather romantic notion wasn't practical for various reasons so the grains were ground in the chopper and some French T55 flour added to make enough dough for four little rolls.

Lastly as I'm missing visiting places of historic interest I've been looking at places on line and have enjoyed some virtual tours of houses and gardens and church buildings too.  I was taken with one tour I found via The Friends of Friendless Churches.  I'll put a link below.

Mundon St Mary's - the film is made by Lincoln Conservation.

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend.

Monday Miscellany

Last week was a strange, drifting kind of week with nothing much happening. There were so many things I should have been doing but for some reason I felt disinclined to do anything. We did manage to tidy up the garden a bit, of course since the clear up, the grass areas are covered in leaves again, the top paths near the pond are under water which is a nuisance.  They always are at this time of year and no matter how we try we can't seem to get the drainage right.  The black cat near the bird bath isn't one of ours, he lives across the road but seems to like our garden and is very friendly, he rubs around my legs whilst I'm pegging out the washing and likes to be tickled behind the ears.  Both of our cats are nearly 20 years old and don't go out in the garden as often as they used to.

We did have a lovely walk around Trentham last week, one side of the lake was closed so we walked along one edge and then up around the very top of the gardens.  The autumnal colours were wonderful.

I took the photos below on Bonfire Night (5th November) just as the sun was setting and the light fading.

They were taken about three or four minutes apart.

The change in the colour and texture of the sky in such a short time was amazing.

Evening Sky

The sky on Saturday evening was stunning!  I couldn't resit taking my camera into the garden to see what I could capture before it disappeared as darkness fell.

 It looked as if the sky was on fire

 Of course darkness heralded another round of fireworks

 Which lit up the sky in quite a different way

But of course, by that time, I was indoors where it was warm, blinds closed, planning where we would walk the next day.

Silver, gold and a few good books

Evening skies earlier this week.......

saying farewell to the golden sun

then welcome to the silver moon

A Quick Book Review

 

I just wanted to mention three books I read towards the end of last year.   Written by Miss Anna Dean they feature amateur 'solver of puzzles and myseries'  Miss Dido Kent.  Set in the very early 19th century in 1805/6 and half written in the form of letters to her twin sister Eliza as Dido writes down all her thoughts, suspicions and conclusions on what ever is going through her mind as she searches for the root of the problem.  When I picked the books up in 'The Works' I took a risk buying them, even thought they were only 3 for £5, but I'm so glad I did.   If you enjoy Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer or Agatha Christie's Miss Marple then I'm sure you will enjoy the enquiries and investigations of Miss Dido Kent.

November Skies

Although I've been getting up and going to work in the dark for the last couple of weeks I'm usually home about an hour before dusk and this week I've been sky watching.

The colours are spectacular and ever changing. In fact, they change so quickly that by the time I've run upstairs, grabbed a camera and got out into the garden they are completely different but still very beautiful.

I love to watch them change from pale gold, to soft pink and then turn more vividly intense before the sun finally disappears and the early evening darkness makes an appearance.

I think this is one of the most wonderful shows nature offers us and we can watch, for free, from our own back gardens.

Sky and Flight

This is the cloudy sky above Berry Hill fields on Sunday afternoon. We were walking on this area, which is not very far from where we live, and I was trying, not very successfully, to photograph a skylark. The black dot in the photo below is in fact a skylark as it was hovering in the sky, singing to it's full lung capacity, before making it's swift, almost vertical descent to the ground. The little birds were all around us.

Berry Hill fields is an interesting site an area, only two miles from the city centre, which has always, until fairly recently, been farmed. There are also the remains of coal mines and brickworks but the most interesting feature, gradually uncovered by recent archaeological digs, is a13th/14th century moated manor house. Below is the site as it is now.

Still with the theme of flight, today is the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Air Force. To commemorate this at 1p.m. today there will be a flypast over London by the Red arrows, amongst others, and one by the Battle of Britain flight over the RAF Museum at Hendon. Below is photo I took recently of the Spitfire in the Reginald Mitchell gallery at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hanley. Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, was a local man and much is made of him in the city.

Another local hero who served in the RAF during the second world war is football legend Sir Stanley Matthews. Known as the 'Wizard of Dribble' he was born 1915 in Hanley where there is a statue in his honour. When he died in 2000, an estimated 10,000 people lined the streets to watch his funeral procession pass by. He was my father's football hero so it was a great pleasure one day at work to pick up the phone and to hear a lovely voice saying 'Hello, Stanley Matthews here, I wonder if you can help me?' I did help him, quickly and efficiently, as he rang off he said 'Thanks, dear, you've saved my life.'