The last fortnight has been so busy with the preparations for Christmas and then the actual celebration, followed by getting things back to normal ready for the New Year that I find I have time for just one more post before the end of the year.
The UK is cold if not very snowy now - the water butts in the garden were full to the brims before the cold spell. Now they are full of ice and the lids are raised above the tops resting on the ice - it will need quite a thaw before we can start to use them.
I am not usually bothered about making New Year Resolutions - if something is worth changing it might as well be changed straight away - but I am resolving to post more often in 2011.
Its good to know what's going on in Miami, Washington DC and Homerville so I will try to add details of happenings in Stafford - more regularly.
Happy New Year
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What not to lose!
My address book is hiding - I know I used it in February 2010 - but I haven't seen it since writing out birthday cards early in the year. I suppose it's possible that I recycled it or even put it with the household waste - I've searched in all the obvious places and the not so obvious places but it remains stubbornly out of sight.
I've adopted a lined notebook and made a temporary replacement for the missing book but it is no substitute for the real thing. Writing Christmas cards is taking ages because I am having to ask relations and friends to send me addresses to fill in the gaps in knowledge. That works for most of the missing information but not all.
How do you let people know that you haven't forgotten them and that your reason for not sending a card is that you've lost their address?
When I have plenty of time I think I'll put that sort of information on the PC - it will be more difficult to lose that.
I've adopted a lined notebook and made a temporary replacement for the missing book but it is no substitute for the real thing. Writing Christmas cards is taking ages because I am having to ask relations and friends to send me addresses to fill in the gaps in knowledge. That works for most of the missing information but not all.
How do you let people know that you haven't forgotten them and that your reason for not sending a card is that you've lost their address?
When I have plenty of time I think I'll put that sort of information on the PC - it will be more difficult to lose that.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Winter
Season of fogs and biting frostiness - with apologies to John Keats.
A couple of days of milder weather and rain has melted a good deal of the snow that sprinkled over the Midlands, but now the bitterly cold weather has returned bringing with it harsh frosts and freezing over the remains of the snow. When the sky is clear, the frost sparkles.
The trees and shrubs look spectacular with a thick coating of frost.
If you look closely, you will spot a robin sheltering in the bushes, against the fence.
The water for the birds has to be replenished every day because the cold weather turns the water into icy blocks, and the blocks remain frozen.
Spiders webs are so easy to spot when they are covered with a layer of frost - there must be quite a few spiders inhabiting that particular hedge.
But of course, as soon as the temperature rises, the fog descends and the spikes of frost begin to melt from the plants.
A couple of days of milder weather and rain has melted a good deal of the snow that sprinkled over the Midlands, but now the bitterly cold weather has returned bringing with it harsh frosts and freezing over the remains of the snow. When the sky is clear, the frost sparkles.
The trees and shrubs look spectacular with a thick coating of frost.
If you look closely, you will spot a robin sheltering in the bushes, against the fence.
The water for the birds has to be replenished every day because the cold weather turns the water into icy blocks, and the blocks remain frozen.
Spiders webs are so easy to spot when they are covered with a layer of frost - there must be quite a few spiders inhabiting that particular hedge.
But of course, as soon as the temperature rises, the fog descends and the spikes of frost begin to melt from the plants.
Monday, December 6, 2010
First sightings
Sorry - no photographs this posting - I didn't have my camera handy.
On Saturday morning a woodpecker visited the suet slab bird feeder nearest the house. There was no mistaking the large beak and the red undercarriage. I don't think a woodpecker has visited our garden before but the weather is so bird unfriendly that I suppose he was having to search beyond his usual territory. He flew from the bird feeder onto the oak tree at the bottom of the garden and made his way up the trunk, beak at the ready, looking as though he would start pecking at any moment - visions of the tree crashing down - it is only about twenty years old so the trunk has quite a few years to go before its sturdy.
On Saturday night I went to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham for a concert given by the BPSO (British Police Symphony Orchestra). Symphony Hall is situated in an area of regeneration around the canal system and has become a very fashionable area. (The hub of canals, known as the Gas Street Basin, was originally built in the second half of the eighteenth century). Walking to the concert hall the canals were very icy and a group of mallards were swimming their way through a passage in the ice floes, single file, heading for clearer water.
The concert was called Proms Night Spectacular and the usual items of Proms music was played. One of the trumpeters in the orchestra just happens to be the bursar of the Primary school I retired from. We noticed that from early in the concert she was constantly having to adjust her trumpet. When the interval came, she walked towards our seats (we were in balcony seats at the side of the stage)and asked if anyone had a hair bobble. After rifling about in my handbag I produced the very same item and threw it down onto the stage. She was able to use it to make a temporary repair on her trumpet and complete her part in the concert.
I had the reputation of being a squirrel when I was teaching and of being able to find most things in my stockroom, often able to produce the quirky things that my colleagues requested. Rumour was that Lord Lucan and Shergar were hidden in the depths of the stockroom.
At the end of a thoroughly enjoyable concert, the journey back home was a slow affair. It had rained, there was no longer any ice left on the canal and no sign of the mallards. The slight rise in temperature meant that roads were now very wet and slippy and it was quite foggy so we took our time and made sure that we got home safely.
The BPSO is coming to Stafford in May - that concert is on our itinerary for next year.
On Saturday morning a woodpecker visited the suet slab bird feeder nearest the house. There was no mistaking the large beak and the red undercarriage. I don't think a woodpecker has visited our garden before but the weather is so bird unfriendly that I suppose he was having to search beyond his usual territory. He flew from the bird feeder onto the oak tree at the bottom of the garden and made his way up the trunk, beak at the ready, looking as though he would start pecking at any moment - visions of the tree crashing down - it is only about twenty years old so the trunk has quite a few years to go before its sturdy.
On Saturday night I went to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham for a concert given by the BPSO (British Police Symphony Orchestra). Symphony Hall is situated in an area of regeneration around the canal system and has become a very fashionable area. (The hub of canals, known as the Gas Street Basin, was originally built in the second half of the eighteenth century). Walking to the concert hall the canals were very icy and a group of mallards were swimming their way through a passage in the ice floes, single file, heading for clearer water.
The concert was called Proms Night Spectacular and the usual items of Proms music was played. One of the trumpeters in the orchestra just happens to be the bursar of the Primary school I retired from. We noticed that from early in the concert she was constantly having to adjust her trumpet. When the interval came, she walked towards our seats (we were in balcony seats at the side of the stage)and asked if anyone had a hair bobble. After rifling about in my handbag I produced the very same item and threw it down onto the stage. She was able to use it to make a temporary repair on her trumpet and complete her part in the concert.
I had the reputation of being a squirrel when I was teaching and of being able to find most things in my stockroom, often able to produce the quirky things that my colleagues requested. Rumour was that Lord Lucan and Shergar were hidden in the depths of the stockroom.
At the end of a thoroughly enjoyable concert, the journey back home was a slow affair. It had rained, there was no longer any ice left on the canal and no sign of the mallards. The slight rise in temperature meant that roads were now very wet and slippy and it was quite foggy so we took our time and made sure that we got home safely.
The BPSO is coming to Stafford in May - that concert is on our itinerary for next year.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Snowy weather
You might have seen news items that the UK is in the grip of arctic conditions. Fortunately, for those who live there, Stafford has had the merest sprinkling of snow, but it is so bitterly cold that most of the snow is staying put, even after several days.
Before the snow descended I tidied up the garden. The olive tree, now three or four years old and in its third pot, is getting too weighty to move easily so this year it has to survive outside. The sides of the large pot have been swathed in bubble wrap and a layer put around the top of the pot to prevent snow lying on the soil. The trunk and the crown seem to be surviving without any protection. ( Bubble wrap courtesy of Tesco - they recycle packaging so don't mind customers helping themselves)
The cooking apple tree has had an abundant harvest this year and many apples have been distributed to friends and neighbours. Unfortunately, the apples remaining on the tree have succumbed to the bitterly cold temperatures, and though they are securely holding onto the branches, looking pretty with snowy white tops, they are squishy soft - the birds will not mind.
One corner of the garden near the kitchen catches the sun for most of the day, so while the rest of the garden looks wintery, the strawberry planter, newly sporting winter pansies, adds colour to the scene.
Before the snow descended I tidied up the garden. The olive tree, now three or four years old and in its third pot, is getting too weighty to move easily so this year it has to survive outside. The sides of the large pot have been swathed in bubble wrap and a layer put around the top of the pot to prevent snow lying on the soil. The trunk and the crown seem to be surviving without any protection. ( Bubble wrap courtesy of Tesco - they recycle packaging so don't mind customers helping themselves)
The cooking apple tree has had an abundant harvest this year and many apples have been distributed to friends and neighbours. Unfortunately, the apples remaining on the tree have succumbed to the bitterly cold temperatures, and though they are securely holding onto the branches, looking pretty with snowy white tops, they are squishy soft - the birds will not mind.
One corner of the garden near the kitchen catches the sun for most of the day, so while the rest of the garden looks wintery, the strawberry planter, newly sporting winter pansies, adds colour to the scene.
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