Wednesday, February 28, 2018

1,2,3,4,5,.........


February has come and gone - how did we fill 28 days and find no time to post?

1. We visited Biddulph Grange (cheat - last day in January) to go for a snowdrop walk.  We did find a few snowdrops, but the weather was unkind and it started to snow shortly after we arrived.  We shall be going for another snowdrop walk, weather permitting, in a few days time and hope to see a carpet of snowdrops.






























2. On the Sunday  nearest to A's birthday we put flowers in church as a celebration of his birth.  One vase is placed near the altar, one vase is placed in the entrance and another vase is placed in a front window so that they can be seen as people approach church. (We do the same when it is B's birthday).  At the end of the day the flowers are distributed to members of the congregation who are ill or unable to attend services due to age and infirmity.






3. On the day of A's birthday we put a candle and a vase of flowers by his photograph.  The candle is kept lit for 24 hours. F and B take a day off work and we go for a meal and then a walk.  This year we took a walk by Blithfield Reservoir, near Abbots Bromley.  The water levels were higher than usual because we have had more than the usual amount of rainfall for the last couple of months.  It was muddy underfoot and the sky was overcast so we did not walk for as long as usual.



4. Beth has adopted a new budgie, a rescue budgie from the RSPCA. It was found in Manchester   but transferred to the wildlife hospital where B did a year's work experience as part of her University work. Bruce was the last surviving of B's budgies, all rescue birds, and it seemed he was in need for the company.  So Barney has come to join him - and his cage full of mirrors and bird toys.  So far, they seem to have taken to each other.

Bruce is blue and Barney is green and quite young
B was also asked if she could release a hedgehog into our garden as it was fit for going back into the wild.  Our garden has an area at the back that is left to itself and provides good cover for the garden wildlife.  Our garden connects with our neighbours' gardens so there is plenty of room to roam.  B found out her hedgehog box, filled it with straw and put it down at the back of the garden, with food and water left nearby.



The following day, it seemed as though the hedgehog had stayed in the box overnight and the food had not been touched.  When B took the lid off the box, there was no hedgehog to be seen.  She had obviously gone on walkabout and perhaps found another hedgehog or a place more to her liking.




5. F and I got to concerts at Keele University.  We  travel about twenty miles to the venue and occasionally have a meal before the concert.  In January, we listened to the K'Antu ensemble who held their performance at the New Vic theatre a few miles from Keele. Their performance  consisted of early music from Europe and around the world and extracts of their music can be found on YouTube.  We preceded the performance by eating in the theatre restaurant - an extravagance, but enjoyable.
We have been to two more concerts at the University so far in February, Kabantu playing a mixture of folk, jazz and classical from around the world, again excerpts of their performances are on YouTube; and the  National Youth Jazz Orchestra, this links to a performance on YouTube.  They may be youthful, but they are very talented performers.
Tonight, F and I are going to a performance by the Fitzroy Quartet, Chamber music, so it will be in complete contrast to the concerts we have attended this year.  All we need is for the weather to remain kind tonight - the country is being ravaged by weather from Siberia.  We are just not used to coping with these sort of fierce conditions in the UK