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.

 

Park and Garden

The last few days have been wild and windy here.  Plant pots, bird feeders, bits of fence, wheel barrows  and wheelie bins have been on various trips around the garden.  They are all safely back in their places - for now.

In the garden the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) have flowered. I love their bright blue colour. 

When I ordered bird nibbles on line I also treated myself to some Sweet Pea seeds.  They came with wool twine called Twool with which to tie the flowers and stems to the wigwam canes.

The seeds were planted a few days ago, there were ten in all and three of them are showing little shoots.

Also growing well are the little tomato shoots.  There are several varieties, all labelled, including Gardener's Delight, Tigrella and Mini Munch.

On Tuesday morning we walked down to the local park.  it was quite warm and sunny.  Spring hasn't quite sprung there yet but there were a few encouraging signs.

Blue Skies

Hellebore

Crocus

 

Daphne

 

 

I was also spotting things as we walked towards the park.

N

I liked all the chimneys on these houses.

A little cat hiding behind the railings in the park.

The gold tops of the railings were glinting in the sun.

The terraced houses above were built for pottery workers to live in, just as the public parks were built for their leisure.  There were lots of pottery factories in the area around here.  Many of which still stand others have been demolished.

 Writing this has reminded me that this Sunday is the final of   'The Great Pottery Throwdown' filmed at the nearby Gladstone Pottery Museum.  I've been enjoying watching this series as much if not more than the previous three which were filmed further North in the city at Middleport Pottery.  We've also been enjoying 'The Great British Dig' and 'Grayson Perry's Art Club.'  I've been enjoying the new series of 'Unforgotten' and am looking forward to the return of 'Line of Duty' next week.

Tomorrow I will have been writing this blog for sixteen years. It doesn't seem possible for it to have been that long ago - Monday 14th March 2005 - when I wrote my first post.

A Fossilist

Over the past couple of weeks I've read, not one but two articles about one of the women of the past I've always found fascinating.  I've written posts before about both Lyme Regis and Mary Anning. I hope you won't mind another one.

I've been following for some time the reports about the possibility of a statue of some sort to commemorate her life at Lyme.  It now looks as if this is going to happen.

As today is International Women's Day our paper was full of stories and articles on inspiring women and the mother and daughter who have campaigned for the statue are featured in one article. The statue will depict Mary Anning walking down to the beach followed by her faithful dog Tray.  Here is a - link - to more information.

Last week I also saw an article about new fifty pence pieces with depictions of the various species discovered by Mary Anning.    More information about the coins - here.

You can see from the books below which I have acquired over the years how she captures my imagination.

Bottom right is an extract frm the 1841 census showing Mary Anning aged 40 living in Lyme Regis with her mother Mary age 77.  They are both listed as fossilists.

Below are a few of the photos I took when we last visited Lyme in 2010.

The - Philpot Museum  - which is on the site of the Anning Family home and fossil shop.  It is named after it's builder Thomas E D Philpot, a nephew of the Philpot sisters who were fossil collectors around the same time as Mary Anning.   A new Mary Anning Wing was opened at the museum in July 2017.  An addition I'd like to visit when times permit. 

The parish church of St Michael the Archangel

The headstone of both Mary Anning and her brother Joseph Anning.

Inside the church

 

The Mary Anning window, paid for by members of The Geological Society in 1850.

 

All for now.  I'm finding it hard to find things to write about but I thought this was worthy of note today.

Into March

Although the title of this post is 'Into March' I'm going to write about the end of February, specifically the last two days.  The weather was beautiful, almost perfect for the time of year.  It certainly made us both feel more cheerful, more optimistic about the next few weeks without looking too far ahead.  It was just good to be able to get out into a fairly dry garden and take stock of what needs to be done.

The first thing I spotted was just one flower from the Winter Aconite that I thought had been lost.  It was  struggling to show it's bright yellow face under the Snowdrops.  I'm glad it is still there.

The heather was alive with the sound of bees, mostly small ones but also a couple of bumble bees too. Standing on the steps with heather on either side it was almost as loud as the buzzing in the air on a warm Summer's afternoon.

We saw both small and large Tortoishell butterflies, there must have been five or six of them flitting and fluttering as they landed and fed on the heather.

On Saurday there was one lone frog in the pond but it has now disappeared.  I hope the heron that visited one misty morning last week didn't come back  and take it.  I was hoping it might be joined by a few friends over the next week or two.

 

It's a long time since we've seen scenes like those above in the pond.
 

The squirrels are looking plump and well fed this one was on the fence between us and next door.

 

Inside felt cheerful too as the sun lit up the Spring flowers on the kitchen table.

Daffodils on top of the fossil cabinet in the conservatory window were also bright and cheerful in the sunshine.

 

Our overnight wildlife camera has shown us that we have a pair of foxes and it looks as if cubs may be imminent.  Also the badgers are back!  The pale one is the female, perhaps there will be some badger cubs too. 

 

 Their bustling 'get out of my way' attitude always makes me smile.

 

 
 

This, That and Recent Reading

I've finally been able to get out and walk around the garden.  It is still very wet and there are very few signs of Spring at the moment.  Some of the shrubs seem to be suffereing from excess water, not surprising after all the rain which followed the melting snow.

 Earlier in the week on a misty morning whilst the pond was still iced over a heron came down onto the garden to take a look at the corner where the ice had been broken up with an old screw driver so that wildlife could get in or out or drink from it.  It didn't find anything of interest and soon flew off over the gardens.  What strange birds they are, quite prehistoric in looks, it certainly frightened two of the cats who were exploring the garden.

 Every morning this week we've heard the sound of geese flying over the house and this morning on our way back from an early walk we both heard and saw them as they flew over the rooftops. Just three but you would have thought there were more from the sound they made.  On our walk we had spotted a woodpecker hammering away on one of the trees by the fishing pool, it stayed there for ages.  I didn't have a camera with me! 

Above a few  hopeful signs of Spring in the garden.

Below books I've been reading and also those read and to be read

 
 Over the last week or two I've read 'The Postscript Murders' by Elly Griffiths, 'A Song for the Dark Times' by Ian Rankin and 'Secrets on the Fens' by Joy Ellis all on my Kindle and all highly enjoyable.  I've got 'A Chelsea Concerto' by Frances Faviell to look forward to.

 Borrowed from the Library on e-books via the IPad (the library doesn't loan to Kindles) I've been reading 'Ferguson's Gang' by Polly Bagnall and Sally Beck in between and around those above.  I've yet to read 'Thursday Murder Club' by Richard Osman but I do know the story as I've been listening to it serialised and read by Haydn Gwynne on BBC Sounds.  I think it is still there if you are interested in it.

Even though February is a short month this year it has seemed unusually long.  I don't want to wish time away but a few slightly warmer, sunnier days would help banish the inertia that seems to have overtaken both of us in the last couple of weeks.  Here's hoping for slightly brighter days, they surely can't be that far away.

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. 

 

Five Things for the First Week in February

1. This week has been 'Tinnitus Week  2021' to raise awareness of this sometimes quite debilitating condition. 

 I can't remember when I last heard silence and I can't remember when I suddenly realised that my ears were making noises it just sort of crept up on me.  I'm guessing about six years ago now.  I thought at first it was high blood pressure but it didn't go away.  As I type this post I have what I can only describe as steaming/hissing kettles in my ears, when I go out and about it seems to reduce in scale but the worst aspect is the way loud noises make me anxious and sometimes tearful if they make me jump.  Generally I just 'get on with it' I can ignore it but sometimes it makes me feel fragile and unable to concentrate.  I have my first Covid 19 Vaccination on Monday, I expect the tinnitus will reach high peaks for a couple of days afterwards just as they do after my ordinary flu jabs.  I have to go to a Methodist Church for my jab it was either that or the Scout Hut.  How strange life is!

 

2. The new National Trust handbook arrived in the post early this week.

  I wonder if, when things get back to some kind of normal, we will be able to use it?  I hope so.  I've missed visiting our local National Trust places like Biddulph Grange, Little Moreton Hall and Shugborough.  As well as walks at non National Trust places like Trentham Gardens and Westport Lake.  Paul said to me the other day that he just wanted to visit somewhere interesting and sit drinking a coffee looking at a view, I agreed but also said I wanted to be able to visit a museum or historic house, I do miss being able to do that.

3. A New Be-Ro Book

We've had both of the two older books for years.  The larger one is dropping to pieces.  The blue one I bought from a Be-Ro stand in a supermarket over twenty years ago to replace the larger one,  but both still get used.  Many of the pages of both have been stuck together over the years and when separated parts of recipes have disapeared. It's a good job I know the most popular ones by heart.  I sent for the new one from the Be-Ro website.  It has the old favourites and some new recipes in it too.  The coffee and walnut cake recipe I use each November  to make a cake for a friend's birthday is still inside.  Recipes for Lavender Highlanders and Heart Shaped Lemon Puffs are new.  I'm looking forward to using it.

4. Reading

 I've enjoyed reading  'Down in the Valley' by Laurie Lee.  I loved his descriptions of the countryside of his childhood in the Slad Valley in Gloucestershire. 

 

" Just down here by the stream there used to be a gathering place for us kids from the village to come and play on Summer evenings.  This was where the sheep wash was, a stone bath, cut from stone and a stone bridge"

 

This reminded me of the Derbyshire village I grew up in and the sheep wash down the lane, past the vicarage, over a field and  just into the edge of the daffodil woods.  In the summer, during the long school holidays, we would sit on the stones chatting and laughing and dangling our bare feet in the water which ran in from the brook. 

 

Last week there was a piece on 'Winter Watch' about bird song being local to specific areas as the generations of birds mimicked each other.  We noticed when we first came here there was a particular set of notes that the same blackbirds sang year after year.  Laurie Lee wrote about this in the book.   He returned to the Slad Valley after twenty years away and when he woke on the first morning home he thought he heard a Gloucestershire blackbird, then realised he was in Gloucestershire.

 

"and then, when I was fully awake, I realised it was a Slad blackbird, it was a Gloucestershire blackbird. I had not heard it for twenty years but it was instantly recognisable because they mimic their fathers and mothers."

5. Snowdrops

 

February is the month for Snowdrops.  Last year just before lock down I bought a couple of snowdrop plants and a bright yellow winter aconite from the covered market in Leek.  We planted them togther in a large pot as we've never been able to get them to grow in our heavy clay soil.  The snowdrops have grown again this year and seem to have spread but there is no sign of the aconite which is a shame.  Both flowers remind me of the fact that last February we should have met with my cousin and his wife at Hopton Hall in Derbyshire.  It was heavy snow and the meeting was cancelled.  A month later lock down happened and my cousin had been diagnosed with cancer and undergoing surgery and chemotherapy as well as coping with the pandemic.  Unfortunately he has to undergo more treatment and things don't sound so good.  Snowdrops are I think for most of us a sign of hope so I've added some more photos from a previous visit below.

 

Hopton Hall, Derbyshire,  February 2018
 

 Take care everyone.