2019 - rule213.com

August 2019 Photo Roundup

Click for a larger imageDidn't do much in August, apart from start writing a new book and enjoy the glorious weather.

Bought even more plants for our tiny but lovely garden. Watering everything takes about half an hour. I love it.

It was grandson Ted's first birthday so there was a family get-together at Belton House, a very popular National Trust property near Grantham. Must be our third or fourth visit.

Missed Daniel's stag because of a poorly car - probably just as well, judging from the photos. He and Lucie get married in September.

The photo shows my dear friend John and me at High Hay Bridge in around 1978. There was a gathering for his funeral,

July 2019 Picture Roundup

Let the summer holidays begin!

We had a weekend in Cambridgeshire, mid-month.

Saw our sons and partners for a day out in Cambridge Botanic Garden. I used to take my classes there from Ely on the train every summer, splitting the day between there and the Cambridge Buddhist Centre. Perfectly do-able.

At the beginning of the holiday we had to say goodbye to Jack, our dear rescue moggie, who admittedly was pretty ancient. He was a dear, very affectionate but very much his own man.

The garden burgeons. I must stop buying more plants as there is now hardly room to get the car in.

Off to Scotand at the end of the month. One new discovery was Cambo Walled Garden. It's near St Andrews in deepest Fife and has to be probably the best walled garden I've ever visited. the photos appear in a separate posting.

June 2019 Picture Roundup

Ah, midsummer - don'tcha love it?

Quite a rainy month, but then less watering needed in the garden.

It turned hot towards the end of the month. I think our hottest day peaked at around 29°C.

A couple of garden visits, the first to the Pure Land Buddhist Garden. It is located by the mighty River Trent in North Clifton, near Newark.

May 2019 Picture Roundup

To Scotland for the half term break.

Had fun on the Fife coast then went across to Glasgow to see the magnificent House for an Art Lover.

I don't know why we've never been in the past, since the place has been there since the 1970s; anyhoo, it was a treat for this Charles Rennie Mackintosh fan.

That's about it. So, have a poem. It is by Muriel Stuart.

HERE in a quiet and dusty room they lie,
Faded as crumbled stone and shifting sand,
Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless, dry -
Meadows and gardens running through my hand.

Dead that shall quicken at the voice of spring,
Sleepers to wake beneath June’s tempest kiss;
Though birds pass over, unremembering,
And no bee find here roses that were his.

In this brown husk a dale of hawthorn dreams;
A cedar in this narrow cell is thrust
That shall drink deeply at a century’s streams;
These lilies shall make summer on my dust.

Here in their safe and simple house of death,
Sealed in their shells, a million roses leap;
Here I can stir a garden with my breath,
And in my hand a forest lies asleep.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-seed-shop-by-muriel-stuart

The Seed Shop

HERE in a quiet and dusty room they lie,
Faded as crumbled stone and shifting sand,
Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless, dry -

April 2019 Picture Roundup

It's warming up!

We had some days out and a 2-day mini-break in the Cotswolds, staying in a swanky place called The Lakes by Yoo.

Our accommodation was called The Barnhouse.

Apparently, the interior was designed by Kate Moss and it would have cost us £2000 per night if we hadn't won it in some online competieion.

We visited Gunby Hall again on a lovely afternoon when the bees were buzzing and everywhere looked fresh and springlike. Didn't see the cat this time.

Chapel St Leonard is a hamlet about halfway between Mablethorpe and Skeggie. They have built a kind of visitor centre/observation point there, where it's possible to get a very decent sandwich.

March 2019 Picture Roundup

A quiet month. Spring is slowly getting here.

Some bits of the garden are beginning to wake up. Time will tell how many plants didn't make it through the winter.

Had friends Jeff and Graham to stay for a couple of nights.

I drove us up to attend dear friend Roger's memorial service in his home village of Armathwaite in Cumbria. Goodbye, Rog.

I whiled away a couple of weekends making a front cover for the book I completed six months ago, provisonally titled 'The Best Things in Life are Friends'.

It was quite an involved process but I wanted to include as many salient aspects of the book as possible. In the photo are Tom, Jess and Katie's feet.

Alan is taking the photo and is holding it in the larger picture, sitting on the sofa at the rubish tip.

I have done nothing with the book because I still don't feel it is finished. The start is too slow although once it picks up speed, about a third of the way through, it zips along nicely.

February 2019 Picture Roundup

The kind weather continued through February. Hardly any frost and lots of sunshine.

We had a day out at Normanby Hall during the half term holidays. It was mild enough to eat lunch in the courtyard - a treat.

We had a family gathering at our favourite spot, the very convenient Blue Cow Inn.at South Witham. Smashing roast Sunday lunch, followed by a walk at Easton Walled Garden.

The weather was perfect, the snowdrops and daffodils looked great and we had a lovely time with grandson Ted, who is six months old now.

Soon be spring. Can't wait to get started in the garden.

January 2019 Picture Roundup

The weather continues to be not-very-wintry.

Wrapped up warm, walking on the beach is a joy.

Lovely low, winter sunshine, decent waves and full tides.

This is what summer-only visitors never get to see. It's just for us locals.

On the 21st there was a total eclipse of the moon - I caught the tail end at about 5.30 in the morning. Very eerie to watch.