Long time - no post

I thought that when I retired I would be able to fit in all the things I wanted to do but life has turned out to be even busier than when I was working full-time. Since I last communicated on the blog I've completed the work I have to do for the first part of my studying with the Open University -OU - and I even managed to beat the deadline by a couple of days.

Sunday was very special - Beth and Clive announced their engagement a little while ago and so we had a celebration lunch with the happy couple and Clive's Mum and Dad. Because it was special we went to Weston Hall, the venue for A and RM's wedding blessing meal. We obviously had made an impression - we were remembered - and enquiries were made about A and RM.

The wanderer returns

It seems ages since I posted anything but I've been away from home pet sitting at Beth's home in the Wirral and I didn't have access to a computer.
The week before Beth's holiday with Clive the weather was very pleasant for the Autumn - quite warm and sunny - so we took advantage and gave the holly hedge a severe trim and now our garden is at least 5 feet wider than it was. Frank did the heavy work and I supervised. In a couple of years the hedge should be compact and provide a good home for the local bird life as long as I remember to feed and water the hedge regularly next Spring and Summer.

We came across several blackbird nests - its incredible to think that they are able to build the structure when they only have a beak to manoeuvre the materials.

Last year a neighbour wanted to get rid of a clump of Pampas grass so she burnt it to a stubble and then dug out clumps of root. She presented us with one such clump so I planted it in a large stoneware pot and this year for the first time it has produced its iconic plumes - except they are about a quarter of the size they will be when the plant matures. It's a wise move to keep this plant confined or it takes over the garden!

Now I am back home for a few days I will be busy catching up with my OU work - having met the deadlines for the first two pieces of work (they have to sent by computer so you can't blame the postal service for late delivery)I want to make sure that I continue this good habit.

Neighbours

Our next door neighbours, Peter and Dee, celebrate their golden wedding on Hallowe'en. Their children live in distant places so their celebrations took place during the long summer holidays. Today was the turn of friends, neighbours and nearby family. We were treated to a luncheon party at the Moat House, Acton Trussell, and sat down to a three course meal in a half timbered dining hall - very posh - we were spoilt! Thank you Peter and Dee.
Next weekend, they are travelling back to their honeymoon hotel in the Lake District, which is now rather expensive, but because the occasion is so special, the hotel are giving them favourable rates. I think the local press should get in on the act.

A fine day in Autumn

Being at home means I can take advantage of good weather days and Tuesday this week was such a day. I had arranged with Pearl, a colleague from many years ago, to meet on Cannock Chase and walk.


We met on the Commonwealth war cemetery car park situated in the middle of the Chase and started walking. We kept to paths and headed for the stepping stones a few miles ahead. Being so close to centres of population means that the Chase has thousands of visitors and can be crowded, but being a working day and well into Autumn we saw very few other people.


The signs of Autumn were all around and on this bright sunny day the colours were distinct. The Chase, an area of heathland, has gentle hills as well as moor like areas. We passed this lightly wooded hillside - tree growth is kept in check by rabbits and deers - Forestry Commision Rangers making sure that a balance is maintained.


Water collects in the valleys, small streams feeding shallow pools. We walked across the stepping stones through such a pool and started the return route. Although the temperature was supposed to be cool it felt gloriously warm - the walking helped to increase how warm we felt!


The fern on the hillsides prove that Autumn is well and truly here. In some parts of the Chase there is so much heather that the ground looks purple. The trees on the Chase are mainly deciduous, but there are great tracts of conifers planted by the Forestry Commission. We stayed away from those areas during this walk - they give the Chase quite a different feel.


The Chase is a very popular recreational area as well as the home to an array of wildlife. We didn't see any of the deer, although thare are several hundreds of them. They have the sense to keep out of sight during the day, but can be seen at the watery places in the evening. There was birdsong. There was also evidence that the Chase is a popular place for horse riding. I saw the evidence and thought of your blog B.
We had walked and talked for three hours by the time we got back to our cars, so we drove to a cafe, situated at another popular part of the Chase. We feasted on tea and scones to help revive our flagging energy levels. It was a very enjoyable day.

Goodbye to a colleague

Yesterday was the funeral of Pat Hemingsley, a colleague. Pat had battled with cancer for the past twenty-six years. In between treatments she lived life to the full and no-one would guess that she had been ill.
She had no relatives and so it was left to her friends to show their sorrow and appreciation on this day. The service was packed with former colleagues and friends, some had travelled thousands of miles to be there, many of the mourners had to stand around the edges of the room. There were tears but also admiration for this lovely lady.

The Tale of a Lawn

By definition a lawn is 'a piece of grass kept mown and smooth'. This isn't exactly the description that could apply to the grassy patches that are at the front and back of our home, and while I do not hanker after Wimbledon quality turf I would like there to be fewer weeds and much less moss. So now I am at home I have relieved Frank of the task of cutting the lawns and have taken their care upon myself.
A couple of birthdays ago, for a present I had a lawn spreader and two bags of lawn 'feed, weed and mosskill' granules. The opportunity to improve the quality of the grass was now at hand.
Having read the instructions carefully I made sure that when the granules were put into the spreader it was not standing on the grass. The spreader was standing on the patio and I decided it would be easier to fill with the granules if it was moved slightly. When it was moved there was a line of granules that had fallen through the holes at the base of the hopper. I checked that I had the spreader switched to the off position - just so. This should have rung alarm bells, but it didn't!
Having filled the spreader with the correct amount of granules I started to apply them, walking at the speed of one metre per second, as well as I could judge. I was careful to leave no gaps as I walked along , one spreader width at a time across the grass. The granules seemed to drop out at an uneven rate, but I thought that perhaps I was expecting too high a standard.
Half way through the job it decided to rain - not heavily - so I decided it best to finish what I had started. I moved to the edge of the grass nearest the patio and was about half way across when the bottom dropped out of the spreader, depositing the remaining granules in a heap and there seemed to be a lot of them - even though I had completed more than half of the area. Not to be deterred I turned the spreader upside down, refitted the spreader plate to the bottom of the hopper, and refilled it with the granules that were in a heap in one spot. They were not very co-operative clinging in their soggy state to the grass and it was obvious that this patch of lawn would definitely have no weeds or moss - or even grass - as the chemicals took effect.
Striding on, I had not got much further when the bottom dropped out of the spreader again - this time when I tried to fix it, the repair did not seem secure so I gave up using the spreader and gathering up the granules, now very soggy, I scattered them from a plastic trowel. I packed away the grass improvement pack and went inside the house.
The manufacturer had to be contacted and the inadequacies of the spreader communicated. I tried to find the company on line and decided to telephone about my experience. Having gone through a sequence of numbers to get through to the correct department I was directed to leave a message after the tone as all the helplines were busy, the assurance given that they would get back to me as soon as a helpline was available. After half an hour and no reply I decided to send an email. It was a long and detailed complaint and no sooner was the email sent than the phone rang. The telephone person was attentive and agreed that the spreader was faulty so he would post me some vouchers to buy a new spreader and some vouchers for grass seed to repair the dead patches that would undoubtedly result from the overdoses of lawn granules.
Within hours of applying the granules the lawn looks as though it has been a site of chemical warefare - it was much prettier when it was full of weeds and moss.
The job is not over. In about a fortnight's time the lawn will need to be raked to remove the dead moss. I shall continue to be busy in my quest to have a grassy lawn.


P.S. These are the last roses of summer - at least in my garden. And you might just spot fallen apples that keep the blackbirds fed and happy.

A good time was 'ad by all - erratum

Today I put in a link for the very first time - posted the blog - then checked the link and it doesnn't work because I made a spelling mistake in the web address. Oops!!

Try this instead to find out about Soweto Gospel Choir.

This one definitely works -you learn by your mistakes - hopefully.

A good time was 'ad by all

It's been a very busy week. In an effort to avoid mental deterioration I am indulging in some academic work.

I've attended the first session of an evening class at Walton High School. The course is called Science and Society - Looking at Contemporary Issues. It covers issues such as stem cell research, evolution, climate change etc. The same course is taken by the sixth formers and course tutor is Mr Hancock. He taught Physics to Andrew when he attended WHS.

The next day I went out with a group of my former colleagues. We went to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham to listen to Soweto Gospel choir. They enthralled the audience with their wonderful singing and their vibrant costumes. If you get the opportunity to go to one of their concerts it's worth the effort and expense ( personal opinion of course!)

At the weekend I went to an induction day for Open University students. This year I'll be tackling the beginner's course for Science. We were given lots of advice about distance learning and I managed to meet up with some of the people who have already completed this course and are ready to start on the first level Science course. OU students have left school some time ago and are now choosing to study for a degree in their spare time, so I wasn't surrounded by very youthful undergraduates. There will be more news about the joys of being an OU student as I get further into the course. I wasn't surprised to see that the arts and languages group and the management group had a lot more students attending their induction days. I think one complaint of the UK government is that not enough people want to study the Sciences.

Technology

I have decided since I am now at home all day and Frank works full time that I could take on the job of keeeping the grass cut. I don't like the electric mowers we have so Frank found out our very first mower - a Qualcast Panther Cylinder mower - and we've worked out that it is 35 years old. It's been buried in the depths of the garage and not used for many a year. After knocking off the cobwebs, to Frank's surprise and delight he found that it cuts better than the newer, and much more expensive electric mowers. He demonstrated how one uses a push mower and then I had a go at cutting the grass. His efforts looked a lot better than mine but he put that down to experience.

I think that my cutting skills will improve with practice. In the meantime I went inside and cooked the tea while Frank finished cutting the front 'lawn' and started on the back 'lawn'.

At sunset he couldn't see well enough to complete the job but the grass will wait for him till another day. This is the skyscape from the end of the road!

P.S. Leaf mould is very good for improving the texture of soil and this bag of leaf mould was spread at the base of one of the apple trees. It takes one to two years for leaves to break down into this rich looking mixture. This amount started as one bin bag full of autumn leaves and by the time it is ready to use it has reduced to about half a bucket. In another few decades I will have made enough leaf mould to put one layer over the borders, then I can start again.

The vegetable patch - 2

The British summer continues as it has most of this year!
Taking the opportunity to get out into the garden between showers, the work on the vegetable patch continues. The appearance of blue sky through the clouds gave hope that this day we would manage to make progress.

The blue polythene had proved not to be appropriate for the job of depriving the vegetation of light and the grass and weeds had thrived under cover. We left two bricks on the grass at the same time as we had put down the blue polythene and when we moved them they had been highly effective - this is what I had expected to see happening on the patch. We bought some weed suppressant fabric but to use it, first the weeds had to be cleared "preferably by use of systemic weed killer" then once in place the matting needed to be covered by a thick layer of bark mulch "to protect the fabric from the sunlight". We returned the matting to the shop.

We went to a builders merchants to buy some black polythene. Back home the under-gardener placed a double layer over the top of the blue polythene.

He had to beat the polythene into submission.

This is how the vegetable plot looks now complete with resplendent castlellations. In a few more weeks we shall peep under one of the corners and hope to see dying vegetation.

PS - Once upon a time, several years ago, I bought some bargain pansies from a greengrocers. Some were pale yellow and some were delicate purple. I put them in pots on the patio and left them alone. They continue to seed themselves in any available space and this year some have mixed colour petals! They did this all by themselves.

How to start your retirement

The first day of my retirement was marked by a visit to a garden centre with friends. We travelled to a famous rose growing establishment, David Austin Roses, and despite the grey skies and heavy showers of rain we managed to see all round the extensive rose gardens.

We were very happy because we were heading straight for the cafe where we enjoyed cakes and coffee and planned our route.

There were fresh roses on each table. I don't know the name of this one, but the perfume was very strong.

To get to the rose gardens you have to walk through the shop. It started to rain while we were in the shop and the rain was torrential so we browsed a while. This photo was taken from inside the shop.

On our next visit to the cafe we managed to get a seat by the windows and this rose was covered in raindrops so I photographed through the glass and hoped the picture would turn out. This time we did not order cake. The tea was served in bone china decorated with roses - very posh!

We didn't spend all our time in the cafe and the shop. The weather brightened up and we walked around the rose gardens and managed to buy a plant. This photo shows an elephant vine - the one we bought was small enough to get in the car.

There were peacocks roaming around the gardens but none of them had long tail feathers. Do peacocks have their tail feathers trimmed or where these young and not yet showing adult plumage?

The visit was worth the effort of the travel and we must have sniffed the perfume of hundreds of roses. We've decided which blooms we liked and maybe we'll return and buy some of our favourites and sample more cakes.

If you like looking at roses try www.davidaustinroses.com

The vegetable patch - 1

Although my retirement doesn't start until September 1st, I have spent some of the school summer holidays getting a vegetable patch underway. Because I like the garden borders I don't want to get rid of them so the vegetable patch is going to be taking up part of the 'lawn'. (The grass is so full of weeds and moss that it is not really good enough to have the title of lawn.)
Near the beginning of the holiday Frank laid out a rectangle of paving slabs while I supervised. The undulating surface of the grassy patch was highlighted by the rectangle of slabs. When we were satisfied that it didn't matter whether the plot was parallel to any particlar edge of the garden we then needed to think about clearing the grass and weeds.


Digging up turf and clearing from the soil of the roots of the many weeds that grow in with the grass is hard labour, and there are easier ways of doing this without resorting to chemicals. Depriving plants of light is one of the easier methods of clearing unwanted greenery - all it requires is something to cover the surface and patience. The sharp-eyed will notice the Frank made the patch longer before the area was covered with a polythene membrane usually used for damproofing in building. The edges were firmly kept in place by house bricks. It gave the garden a look of elegance - with a little imagination it could be thought of as an outdoor swimming pool.


A few weeks later - I am impatient to see how things are progressing under the cover so I persuaded to lift a corner and let me see the yellowing plants.

Oh!!
It looks as if the plants under the polythene enjoy the conditions so much that they are doing better than the plants that have been left exposed to the elements. Both grass and weeds are doing well.
Perhaps the blue polythene has not excluded the light very well but it has sheltered the area from the excessive rainfall of the last few weeks.

Back to the drawing board.

A seasonal break

Frank and I decided to go for a short break last week and we took a leisurely journey through very pleasant countryside to arrive at Aberdovey, Mid Wales. We decided to go for a beach walk in the early evening. Arriving at the beach we found the sea higher than we've ever seen it before - to the top of the shingle - so there was no sand left to walk on, and it was rather cold and blustery for an August evening.

We admired the sunset and after about five minutes decided we were not kitted up for the wintery conditions. Perhaps the remnants of Hurricane Bill had travelled east.

The next day was wet and windy till dinnertime so we spent time browsing the local charity shops. In the evening we went for another beach walk. This time we went to Fairbourne , about fifteen miles north of Aberdovey. It was drier, and warmer than the day before, but still not warm enough to stay out for too long without the right kit.

















Looking to the south and the north of the beach where Andrew and Beth spent their childhood holidays. The weather was good sometimes!




The next day was warm and sunny all day so we stayed a day longer than we had planned.

In from the cold

I have re-discovered the email address and password that I use to post on this blog. Now all I need to do is keep them in a safe place so that I can access the facility when I have something to post!

Time flies every holiday

The week came and the week went and I've been back at work for three days now. The holiday effect soon wears off! The house didn't get any more TLC than usual but I managed to post on some birthday cards for A, a little belatedly. I was very impressed with the royal mail stamps that graced the envelope for its long journey to the USA. They were from the Charles Darwin commemorative issue and sported a magnificent Orang-utan. Just for good measure the package needed two of these stamps and I was sure A would be impressed at the beauty of these creatures. When we spoke, he hadn't even noticed the stamps - now he'll have to look up what he missed at www.royalmail.com


We (F and G) managed to take a trip to Wales. We chose the right day and the weather was mild, a sunny afternoon with hardly any breeze. The place was deserted so we enjoyed a few hours of peace and quiet, strolling along the sea wall at Fairbourne.

There would have been photographs but I'm still working on the skill of getting the photographs to upload!

The Holidays

Time off for good behaviour - it's half term so for one week I can do the things that I don't normally have time to do.
I went into the garden this morning and everywhere was so saturated that gardening would have been impractical. I think the house will get some TLC instead.

The east wind doth blow, And we shall have snow!

The weather forecasters have got it right. The snow and bitterly cold winds have brought the UK, or at least parts of it, to a grinding halt. Those who can, have made snowmen and enjoyed other snowy pastimes. Being forced to stay at home because my school has been closed for a couple of days I have been able to get through some of the backlog of paperwork that accompanies the job nowadays.

I did leave my desk to take a few photos of the snow.

I know it doesn't look anything like the amounts of snow that have covered other parts of the country, but it looks so pretty when it's dusting the trees in the garden.

Specially for B

Photographs of my garden can be selected to show it at its best - this is definitely not what RM and A saw when they viewed the garden by dim torchlight one freezing January evening. The plants are the sort that have taken to their habitat and thrive in spite of sporadic care - the sort of care that happens when I am on holiday.

A view of the back of the garden from the house - late summer - the lawn has a natural look! Frank says its green - what more do I want from a lawn?

This is the best of the apple trees - its totally organic and pest friendly. It must be about fifty years old and every year it produces a bumper crop of Bramley cooking apples. Every year we think that it is making its final effort. The apples are very good quality and non-squeamish neighbours and friends help us to get through them. The garden birds supplement their diet with the apples we leave lying on the grass.

The Stargazer Lilies - they didn't get staked this year so they're leaning against the trunk of one of the apple trees. Their heady scent dominates the garden for the few weeks they are in full bloom. These are reminiscent of RM's wedding bouquet.

Distant Rudbeckias framed by the branches of an apple tree.

When we returned home from the USA a friend
presented me with a penstemon - note its name.
She said 'I saw this and thought of you'
It was planted it with extra care - note the anti-slug defences. Maybe the plant is susceptible, maybe not!
Two views - close up and in situ.



This is definitely a stochastic corner with room for planted and self seeded - also the bird bath without water.

Springtime - one of the tidier borders because of the woodchip mulch.

April is apple blossom time - for a few weeks the garden looks very pretty.

I hope you enjoy the photographs. It does give a small idea of what the garden is like at the most colourful times of year and I think it does provide evidence of the non-manicured method of maintenance - time for that when I retire.

Time flies

We were making arrangements for months and enjoying the anticipation of A and RM's visit to the UK - a two yearly event! Now we are spending our last evening together and then , it's the airport run early tomorrow morning.
RM is tutoring in the art of sending a blog so this will be brief and selective - one or two photos of the main event.

Cutting the cake

Dancing the Light Fantastic

This may be the first installment - it depends how well I've taken on board the tuition.