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 

A Bit of Rhubarb

The rhubarb seems to have grown so quickly through this month.  At the beginning of March there were just  a few signs of life in the rhubarb bed - now look at it.

I love the colour of the leaves and stems.

It was time to pick just a few stalks to use in the kitchen

To make the first rhubarb crumble of this year.  This means a big decision later on - shall we serve it with custard or ice-cream?

Meanwhile, back in the garden, yesterday I planted some new strawberry plants picked up at Aldi for £2.99 for six.  They are Elsanta variety and  I hope they will grow and produce fruit;  I love strawberries but only in the summer season.

I also bought two new lavender plants to replace the ones we have lost.  An English Lavender and a French one.

Also from Aldi a couple of bunches of bright cheerful tulips.  I usually choose pink, white or purple tulips so these orange and yellow ones are a colourful change.

Just an observation but over the last few days we have noticed lots of herring gulls flying over head and calling with their mournful cry day and night.  They woke me early yesterday morning.  Whilst working in the garden yesterday it sounded as if we had suddenly moved to somewhere near the sea - what a great thought!  I could almost hear the sounds of the sea and feel the sand between my toes.  Has anyone else noticed this?

Springtime Days

Haven't the last few days been incredibly wonderful?  We've spent so much time in the garden over the last couple of days trying to get jobs done I feel quite exhausted and ache quite a bit too!  Yesterday afternoon I gave the lawns their first cut of the season whilst Paul re-felted the shed roof.  They were both quite noisy jobs but I can tell you the sound the frogs were making in the pond was much louder.  Our next door neighbour took a break from mowing her lawn and popped through the gap in the hedge to have a peep because she could hear the frogs from their conservatory!!  You may remember my post of  14th March  well it seems as if 'H' from Little Sealed Packages is having the same problem according to her-  post - today the culprits in her case are crows not magpies but they have the same devastating effect.

Since last autumn we've been creating a gravel and slab path from the patio round to the pond and up towards the shed.  Yesterday we needed more gravel and weed control fabric so we set off towards a little nursery in Ireland's Cross where we have found some very reasonably priced pea gravel of which we can managed eight bags at a time in the back of the car.   As the nursery is near the village of Woore we decided to travel to the other side of the village first and have a walk around the gardens at Bridgemere Garden World. 

There was so much cheering spring colour in the gardens.

These gardens are lovely and free to walk around.

There is lots of work going on at Bridgemere within the garden centre and also the retail units. There is already a Hobbycraft, a Cotton Traders and an Edinburgh Woollen Mill but we noticed that there is going to be a Lakeland outlet soon, too.  Now that will be useful as we usually have to travel to Derby, Wilmslow or Shrewsbury to find a Lakeland shop.

As well as the  gravel we also bought a new Rosemary plant to replace the one we lost in the bad weather.  Next replacement purchase will be a bay as our bay tree is also a casualty of the bad weather.  Then we will replace the lavender plants we lost too.  It has been such a bad winter for losing plants we have had for years and years.  It has been hard to say goodbye to some of our old friends.

Meanwhile pondside the story of  the cycle of life goes on!

Biddulph Grange Garden

We've recently re-joined the National Trust.  We let our membership lapse a few years ago when we were having to live on a strict budget.  Things are a little easier now so we decided it was time to branch out again.  Our first visit was to our nearest National Trust property at Biddulph just north of the city.

Biddulph Grange is a Victorian garden created by James Bateman whose interest in science, botany and theology  led him to collect plants and fossils from all over the world and this is reflected in the design of the garden.  It was laid out between the years of 1841 and 1868 in a series of small gardens with a geographical theme.

You can wander though dark underground tunnels.  This one brings you out onto the glen a beautiful walk amongst tall trees like redwoods and monkey puzzles.

At the top of this walk is the Shelter house through which you can pass into the Egyptian Garden.

and from the upstairs you can look down onto the dahlia walk which is a riot of colour in high summer.  Just beyond the hedge is the mosaic parterre  and Mrs Bateman's garden.

There is a wonderful, twisting path through upturned tree roots  which brings you out onto the recently restored 'great wall of China'

This part of the garden is very popular with visitors as it twists and turns and keeps you guessing where it will go next.

Take this route along the wall and you will enter the Chinese themed garden, with its temple overlooking a tranquil pool full of huge goldfish.

The colourful bridge leads through to a small garden and round to the temple.

Below is the bust of a sacred water buffalo 

The large urn stands at the top of the Wellingtonia Avenue

below is part of the Italian style garden

The house itself isn't open to the public and has been turned into luxury living accommodation.

Above is the newly opened James Bateman geological gallery.  It is currently being restored so not yet finished but it was  fascinating to see how he had tried to piece together the aspects of geological time and fossil remains with his understanding of the biblical days of creation.

Also new since our last visit were a woodland walk with tactile activities for children and a kitchen garden complete with raised beds, composting area, scarecrow and beehive.  There is a shop and cafe and  picnicing is allowed outside the garden.  A great start to our year of National Trust visits!

So Cheerful

It was very overcast and grey as we made our way around the lake at Trentham this morning so we decided to visit the garden centre after our walk.

I always think that garden centres and nurseries are so cheerful at this time of year.

I think it is the colourful flowers coupled with the sense of excitement  at seeing all the things ready for the new season.

As well as the anticipation of planning what you can grow in your garden through the spring and summer.

There were so many lovely things offering inspiration.  I'm afraid that often we just look here and buy elsewhere as a lot of their goods, although very beautiful, are quite expensive.

I've just realised that I've been blogging for six years this week, my first post was written on 14th March 2005 and  I'd completely forgotten about it.  Last year I had a special give-away as I'd reached 5 years and 500 posts on 14th March.  This year's anniversary has passed me by but I may do something in the summer instead.  One thing I did do for the first time this week was meet up with a fellow blogger.  It was lovely to meet Louise from Ramblings of a Roachling who came to visit us after she'd been to an interview not far away. We chatted about many things including  how we were getting on with finding the subjects for this month's Photo Scavenger Hunt.  I am not doing as well this month as last but there is still a little time left to find those elusive items.

It's Murder on the Pond side!

Seven dead frogs in three days!  Even though the pond is heaving with frogs at the moment - I could hear them croaking from the bottom of the garden yesterday morning - seven is just too many to lose.  They had all received rather gruesome head injuries. 

I think we have a serial killer on our hands! So who is the culprit or 'perpetrator of the crime' as they seem to say nowadays?   

 Was it Miss Scarlett (played by Chloe) with the withering stare?  Hmm .... perhaps we should keep her under surveillance!

 Was it the Reverend Green (played by Max) with the sharp claw?  Maybe..... take him in for questioning!

Was it Mrs Peacock (played by Chico) with the cushion?   No, she has an alibi!

Was it Colonel Mustard (played by Midge) with the biting teeth!!?  He was my prime suspect, but.......

No it wasn't any of those

Caught, red- handed, Professor Plum (played by the Magpie) in the leylandii with the sharp, vicious beak!

I don't suppose that he/she will ever be brought to justice - poor old frogs!

With thanks and apologies to the makers/designers of Cluedo.

Thanks to everyone who left such kind comments on my last post.  My hand is back to normal, thank goodness, but now I can't get out of the washing up anymore!

Harumph!!

The week started off quite well.  The weather was good, washing was drying outside for the first time in ages and we'd managed to get things done in the garden.  By early Monday afternoon we were ready to have a walk around the lake at Trentham.  Just before we left home I went outside to bring the towels in off the line and stupidly left the back door open.  Next thing I knew one of the regular feline visitors to our garden, namely Midge, had got into the conservatory and was challenging one of our cats.  I scooped him up and took him outside - very gently I hasten to add - just as I was putting him down on the side lawn he turned his head and bit deep into my right hand.  Ouch! and Ouch! again. He went through the soft skin between my finger and thumb - I could see through the hole he'd made.  I washed it and applied Savlon and a plaster and off we went on our walk.  By the time we were halfway round my hand had swollen quite a bit and was hurting a lot.  As soon as we got home we rang the surgery and I was told to put a cold compress on it and to come to open surgery the next morning.  Next day my hand was red and tingling as well as swollen.  The doctor gave me a course of  strong antibiotics and I had to go back yesterday for a tetanus booster jab.  In the meantime, on Wednesday morning,  I had to go for an eye test and because I've had laser treatment on my right eye (I had a tear in the membranes at the back) I always have to have one of those tests where they put drops in your eyes to enlarge the pupils. So by yesterday evening I was so miserable with myself - sore swollen hand, aching arm after the jab and blurry eyes which bothered me in the light.

Today things don't seem quite as bad, my sight is restored, the swelling in my hand has gone down slightly and it isn't red anymore but my left arm still aches from the jab and I feel so useless and lethargic.  A day for taking it easy, I think! 

The Tapestry of Love

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton, p/bk, pub Headline Review, 2010 - ISBN 978 0 7553 4557 1
In my post of 17th February -link- I promised to write a review of this book, kindly sent to me by its author Rosy Thornton, so finally here it is.  I've really enjoyed reading it and didn't want to rush getting to the final page savouring all the descriptions of the French countryside and towns, but, as the saying goes 'all good things must come to an end' and now I feel slightly bereft.

The heroine of the story is Catherine Parkstone, a divorced mother of two grown up children, who leaves her home in England to live in a small hamlet in the Cevennes region of France in a house called Les Fenils (the Haylofts).  The story is of Catherine's first year in her new home; the changing seasons, the landscape, the farming community in her small hamlet and beyond are all beautifully described.  As Catherine works in her garden, talks to her bees, walks in the mountains, works on her burgeoning soft furnishing business and creates her tapestries so life goes on around her.  This is a gentle, thoughtful book and just as Catherine sews her tapestries the author weaves around her the story of the rural community, the density of French bureaucracy, her feelings for her intriguing neighbour Patrick and her connections to her own family at home.   The threads of life, love and loss, of friendship and of  family commitments  intertwine within the glorious landscape and fascinating community around Les Fenils.  For those of you who like a happy ending rest assured there is one!

Rosy Thornton's website

Parrot's Drumble

This post should really be entitled 'A Very Wet Walk at Parrot's Drumble' for that's what it was!  We'd been meaning to find this place for ages so on Saturday we decided to drive out towards Talke Pits, just north of Newcastle-under-Lyme,  thinking that if it did start to rain again we could divert to the Freeport Shopping outlet which isn't very far away - just the other side of the industrial estate close by.

It was quite easy to find following the instructions on the Wildlife Trust's website.  You have to park on the road opposite the industrial estate and walk down a lane for about a quarter of a mile before you actually reach the site.  This lane, which lies between the back of the factories and farmland was very wet and very muddy so if you go you do need wellies or strong, waterproof boots. I was quite bothered by the litter lying along the factory side of the path - it looks as though people working there have their lunch and then throw the wrappings and bottles over the fence!  Grr - I hate litter and it doesn't hurt anyone to pack it up and take it home or to the nearest litter bin!  Apologies for the small rant.

Parrot's Drumble is classed as one of the Wildlife Trust's finest ancient woodland nature reserves.  Although none of the trees in here are that old there have been trees on this area of land for over 400 years.

The water in the Valley Brook  is the strangest colour!  It is, apparently, discoloured by the iron-oxide which leeches out from nearby ancient mine workings.

This is quite a small reserve with a circular route which brings you back onto the lane you started from. There is no way you can lose your bearings which I sometimes do in woods!  By the time we reached the cover of the trees it had begun to rain again - very heavily indeed.  You may see some rain spots on some of my photos.  Trees within the reserve are oak, ash, hazel, birch, rowan, willow and alder.  It is said that  in early spring the sound of the dawn chorus here is amazing

I love the name Parrot's Drumble and it has always intrigued me when I've read about the place in local newspapers and magazines.  The name comes from the land's previous owners the Parrot family and the local term for a stream running through a wooded valley - a drumble.

I think that we should have perhaps waited a while longer to visit this place as it is at its best in late spring as the ground under the trees is covered by dog's mercury, wood anemone, yellow archangel and something known locally as 'town hall clock'. 

It is also known for its carpet of blue bells and you can already see evidence of this all over the woodland floor.  I think we will have to return in a couple of months to see them.

Edit Sat 5th March - I've added a link on the words 'town hall clock' for those people who asked what kind of plant it is.