First week of June

Another week passes - I really must make the effort this week to try and go out into the countryside for a walk although the weather doesn't look promising.

A few pictures first of garden flowers - apologies again as this post is going to be much the same as the previous ones!

The white peony in the herbaceous border is now flowering.

Canterbury Bells - we have white ones and blue ones.

Pot Marigold or Calendula

I am sure someone in the past has named this plant for me but yet again the name eludes me!
Edit - Thanks to Bovey Belle I now know this is Yellow Loosestrife

Mock Orange

Foxgloves

Red Valerian which always reminds me of holidays in Cornwall. I bought these plants hoping to attract Hummingbird Hawkmoths and in the past they have visited but not so far this year.

Geranium

I seem to have lost my "Ladybird" poppy but this white one has survived and now has buds.

Pale pink fuschia which forms a deciduous shrub rather than the plants of the red, maroon and pink variety.

A new hoverfly for the garden - Dark Wasp Hoverfly - Chrysotoxum festivum

Tree Bumble Bee on Water Avens

A few moths from when I put out the moth trap last week

Common Carpet

Edit Thanks to Edward Evans for correcting my id - this is Spruce Carpet

Straw Dot

Speckled Wood - the only butterfly species I have seen round the garden in the last week.

I've noticed bees on the beech hedge a lot recently and think they are searching for honeydew from aphids. This Tree Bumble Bee on a shrub in the back garden was doing a weird waggle dance and I think too it was eating honeydew.

B and D have been busy gardening - mainly vegetables. Tomato plants are now in pots and the remainder will go in hanging baskets where they did well last year. Runner Beans, courgettes and potatoes are planted and here we have some cabbages and swedes.

I forget to mention in my last post that sadly none of the Blue Tit chicks survived. As far as we could see only the female was visiting the nest so yet again it appears something happened to the male. She just could not seem to find enough food to feed them.




Blackberry Flowers

Broad-leaved Willowherb

Herb Robert

Cats Ear in the lawn - unfortunately no sign of the Fox and Cub seeds germinating.

The small area of woodland at the top of the garden is looking a trifle overgrown! Still it will be good for wildlife.

Recent Reading

This was the best Midsomer Murder Mystery so far.

I enjoyed this book a new author for me as it was "different". If you like reading about bees, badgers, scarecrows, walks in the countryside, witches knickers (you will have to read the book to find out what these are!), cats and eccentric families etc. etc. you may enjoy this book.

Baking

Gingerbread House and biscuits made with the left over dough.

Choc Chip Cookies made by E.

We have put the flowers we pressed from the garden earlier in the Spring in a book.

Journal - have more or less at the moment given up on the drawings!

D and I have gone through some more old family slides. These are Dad's from an Isle of Wight holiday in 1960 so I would have been 7/8.

Carisbrooke Castle

Osborne House

Whippingham Church

Winkle Street

Me in the sea at Shanklin. Can anyone else remember those awful swimming hats and bubble costumes we used to wear as children in the 1960's :(

Me and my brother at Blackgang Chine

Me and Gnomes also at Blackgang Chine

Mottistone Manor

The Arch in Freshwater Bay which has now collapsed into the sea.

St Agnes thatched church Freshwater

Yarmouth

Mom and me Shanklin Beach

My grandfather and me again at Shanklin

My mother, paternal grandparents and me at Shanklin.

Out of all the holidays when I was a child the Isle of Wight ones are the ones I remember most. I am pretty sure we visited in consecutive years staying in Shanklin and Ventnor. I was hoping we might get most of the slides done while D was on holiday but there are still dozens of boxes and to be honest going through one box a day is enough as Dad's are in metal boxes that he used to slot into a slide projector and we are having to remove the metal mount off each slide so that it will fit in the scanner :(




I am hopeful we may be able to go to the static caravan in Herefordshire in early July. The first visit though will need to be arranged as we still haven't got the keys for it and will need to "meet" the site owners to get keys, pass for the site etc. I shall be glad to go there if only to get rid of the boxes and bags full of kitchen and bed items that are still littering the house! In view of this I really have to start making the effort to go out walking more away from the house and garden.


I hope everyone is staying safe and well. Take care.



Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. Slides of Isle of Wight taken by my father - from memory he had a Koday Retinette 1A? camera.

Another Week

Another week of glorious weather and I've been stuck indoors or in the garden! I still haven't plucked up the courage to go for a walk outside the house and life is getting a trifle claustrophobic! Don't get me wrong I know I have a lot to be grateful for with a roof over my head, a garden and all of us at home but sometimes I have a bad week.


The Wildflower area is looking glorious this year. Sadly though I can't see any signs of Ox-eye Daisy or St John's Wort this year but perhaps they will still appear?

Yellow Rattle - much loved by bees!

Cuckoo spit is starting to appear. It is formed by the larva of a froghopper who ejects sap from its rear end to protect itself from predators!

Honeysuckle

Foxgloves are starting to flower - there are at least 7 plants around the arch on the second lawn and many others scattered throughout the garden.

Pyracantha flowers

Sowthistle seedhead

Bistort

After weeks Wall Pennywort seeds have germinated! I am going to have to transplant them into bigger pots at some stage which may well require some delicacy!

I put the moth trap out last Friday night.
Min temp was 9.6
A lot of moths escaped while I was trying to pot them but I did identify

Heart and Dart x 14

Brimstone Moth x 1 - no photo it was too lively a shame as they are pretty little yellow moths

Common Swift x 1 - not the best of photos the moths were all moving around too much and in fact I had to chase several round the kitchen.

Cinnabar x 2

Small Magpie x 1

A carpet I couldn't identify as it wouldn't open its wings!

Possible Common Pug? Pugs are difficult to identify - so many similar looking ones and this is not the best of pictures.

I did put the trap out last night before the weather goes cooler and possibly wetter but I'll write about the moths in the next post.



Baking

We tried two more recipes from Mary Berry's Fast Cakes

E made Peanut Butter Cookies and

I made Royal Ginger Squares which look a bit messy as I cut them before the icing had set!

When D and I went to Gladstone Pottery Museum last year he bought an oatcake mix and decided to try making some last weekend. They were delicious :)

I've been carrying on with the little Journal

The first Small Tortoiseshell of the year was seen earlier this week.

D is on holiday for a couple of weeks and we have re-commenced going through the boxes and boxes of slides we bought home from my mother's house. I think the box we did yesterday probably belonged to my grandfather.

A few of the slides were labelled and and a few places I recognised but I owe thanks to many on twitter who helped me identify some of the places. The slides are about 60 years old - and here are just a few of them.

Tintern Abbey

Monnow Bridge, Monmouth

Hereford Cathedral

My paternal father was born and lived in Hereford and, although he moved to Birmingham and then Kingsbury when he got married, we used to spend many days visiting Herefordshire.

Ledbury

The Dingle Shrewsbury

Weobley

Eardisland

Ludlow

My paternal grandmother came from Burford, near Tenbury Wells, and we often used to visit so she could place flowers on family graves. This is Burford Church.

When we can eventually go the caravan I will re-visit the church as it is only about 15 minutes away. B and I did once go years ago but I couldn't find the family graves! I will try again!

St Mary, Clumber Notts

Major Oak, Sherwood Forest

Trent Building, University of Nottingham

My grandparents did get about a lot! But when I was little we used to go out with them every Sunday (yes all 6 of us in one tiny A40 as Dad didn't have a car until I was about 11) visiting places of interest or just going into the countryside

The tall girl on the left is my cousin holding my brother's hand and I am on the right!

I hope everyone is staying safe and well. Take care.



First set of photos taken by me with Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera

Scanned slides taken I think by my grandfather although they could of course be my father's. I know Dad bought home my grandfather's slides when he passed away but unfortunately they were stored in the identical brown wooden boxes to my fathers! Now we are finally making progress going through them I am rather regretting that I didn't bring all the boxes home. Some were left in the garage and one of the wardrobes as I had got to the stage where I couldn't face bringing one more black plastic sack home!