This post includes the better photos I took at home during the first half of May.
I have a few miniature scented Tulips. I have no idea what they are called or even when I got them though I think they are about 18 years old. I had a selection of red, orange and yellow ones but all that’s left are the red ones.
These jonquils are tiny and the flowers bob about on their narrow stems like yellow butterflies. Each flower is only about 2 inches across.
The Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris ‘Alba’ )in my garden came out well after Easter this year. Not only was Easter early but the weather was cold and the flowers sensibly stayed as buds until the time was right.
I love this pretty pink Saxifrage!
Wild Cherry blossom (Prunus avium) with a visiting bee
Wild Cherry blossom. I like the green-bronze colour of the new leaves.
Pale yellow double Narcissus
Pear ‘Concorde’ blossom. This pear is supposed to be a dessert pear but by the time it is soft enough to eat it is already rotting in the centre. Perhaps our climate isn’t suitable for it? We harvest the pears before they have started to soften and we cook them or we prepare them for the freezer.
Pear blossom with a visiting Hoverfly. The lichen is doing quite well too with its orange fruiting bodies.
These are St. Mark’s-flies (Bibio marci) doing what flies do in the spring. The female is the upper fly and she has smoky-grey wings and a small head. The lower fly is the male and he has silvery wings and a larger head. Both sexes have spines on their front legs at the tip of the tibia. You can just see this on the female’s front leg. These flies fly weakly and slowly and dangle their legs as though the effort of flying is almost too much for them. They are called St. Mark’s-flies because they usually appear on or around St. Mark’s day which is April 25th. This photo was taken on 2nd May – it was a cold spring!
Lady’s-smock or Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) – a member of the cabbage family
New leaves on my variegated Pieris ‘Forest Flame’
Crabapple species blossom. Standing under this weeping tree I am almost over-powered by the scent of roses and the buzzing of bees.
These are the English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) I am trying to establish next to the weeping crabapple. I have put canes alongside them to remind us not to mow them until the seeds have set and the leaves have died. I am also hoping that the canes will stop the deer from trampling the plants.
A beautiful Common Dandelion ‘clock’ (Taraxacum officinale agg.)
Crabapple ‘Evereste’ blossom
Crabapple ‘Harry Baker’ blossom
Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea)
The Horse-chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) with its flower ‘candles’
Field Maple flowers (Acer campastre)
Common Hawthorn flower buds (Crataegus monogyna)
Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) (or as it is called here in Suffolk, Sheep’s Parsley) with a fly. I am very fond of Cow Parsley and the sight of masses of it in flower along the lanes makes me happy.
Here is another song that features a wonderful trombone solo and a fantastic brass riff too! This is a very old recording and it is also an uncommon arrangement for this song.
I have taken a number of photographs over the last few weeks but haven’t had the time to write any posts. Here are a few of the better pictures from April and earlier.
Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)
Back in January I was driving home from shopping when I saw this small group of five Red Deer making their way across a field towards the road. I had to slow down and then stop because I could see that they were not only made nervous by my car but their usual path was blocked by a fire someone had lit to get rid of brushwood. They eventually managed to cross the lane a little further along and then carried on their way. I took a photo of them through the car window and this is the result – heavily cropped. I had thought that I had missed them and it was only when I eventually looked carefully at the shot on my computer a few weeks ago I realised that they were there!
The Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) family wandering through the garden at the beginning of April.
This is such an untidy photo with the recycling bin out by the roadside and my former car in the way too. This is another photo taken through glass (the kitchen window this time – you can see a reflection in the bottom left corner of the picture). We haven’t seen the pheasants for a while now so I presume the females are busy on their nests.
We had a storm with heavy rain and then the sun came out. It all looked so bright and fresh, so I stood at the front door and took three photos, to the left, straight ahead and to the right.
A few days later I stood at the end of the drive and took this photo of the ditch that runs along the edge of the garden. We have daffodils growing all along its length. The lane runs parallel with the front of our property. You can also see my new car in this picture.
Pussy Willow / Goat Willow (Salix caprea)
Goat Willow in flower
Cowslips (Primula veris)
A stormy sky. A photo of our house (and the house next door) taken standing next to our big pond and looking across the corner of the field.
The summerhouse
A Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) looking for ants in the lawn
I was quite pleased with this photo as it showed all the different colours of its feathers, even the black and white spotted feathers under the wings. This is a female adult as the moustachial feathers are all black. The male has a crimson centre to the stripe.
A male Blackbird (Turdus merula) was also on the lawn looking for food.
White Dead-nettle (Lamium album)
Wild Cherry blossom (Prunus avium)
The first Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) flower in our garden this spring
There is nothing quite like the scent of Bluebells. They are wild hyacinths but don’t have the cloying scent of the garden variety. There is a sweet freshness that lifts the spirits and is irrevocably linked, to my mind, with birdsong, sunshine after rain and hope.
Greengage blossom (Prunus domestica ssp. italica). I hope we have some fruit this year.
Some of the Cowslips in our garden are orange and red.
Pendunculate / English Oak (Quercus robur). New leaves and flowers (catkins) appear at the same time.
Marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris). I found it impossible to photograph this bright yellow flower well.
More Marsh-marigold
New Horse-chestnut leaves and flower buds (Aesculus hippocastanum)
Beautiful new English Elm leaves (Ulmus procera). We have a number of small Elm trees in our garden. Sadly they will only live for a few years before they succumb to Dutch Elm disease.
Lords and Ladies / Jack-in-the-pulpit / Cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum). This plant has many names. Its arrowhead-shaped leaves are often dark spotted.
Snowy Mespil (Amelanchier canadensis) blossom
Blackthorn blossom (Prunus spinosa). This poor photo is the only image of this year’s blossom I managed to get.
A rainbow behind the trees
All these photos were taken in April and in my garden, except the first one.
I find I haven’t made a music selection for a while so this post’s choice is ‘Let’s Work Together’ by Canned Heat. Excellent lyrics, great tune and the best tempo ever!
Richard and I both enjoy folk music. We grew up singing folk songs at school and then we met when we were members of a choir that often included folk songs in it’s programmes. We also love watching folk dance, especially Morris dancing. I published a post last year about Halesworth’s Day of Dance which you can see here. This year we turned up to watch but were unable to get a programme so I can’t tell you the names of most of the groups we saw. Richard made a few short videos of most of the groups and I have included some of these in this post. The weather was better than last year – it was bright and mild and everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves.
Pedant’s Revolt dancing outside The Angel
The Hobby Horse from Golden Star Morris
Golden Star Morris chatting with the musicians from Chelmsford Ladies Morris in the Market Place
Some of the ladies from the belly dance group who were also taking part in the day of dance.
There was a trio of Mummers – Mad Moll and her husband Old Tom who had a visitation from the Devil.
Poor Old Tom is taken down to hell by the Devil but Mad Moll rescues him by using cunning and guile.
The Ukulele Band from the University of the Third Age who played while everyone was having a break for lunch.
We never discovered the name of this group of women dancers outside The White Hart.
Oxblood Molly teaching the women’s team a new dance
The drummer in this group has a crocodile head.
The last group I have included is another one of the few I know the name of.
Chelmsford Morris Ladies side dancing in the Market Place
As the title of this post states, this is about nothing in particular. Since Christmas we, as a family, have been nowhere and have done nothing except the usual chores of housework and shopping and driving – and in Elinor’s case, going to college. Richard has just returned from three nights away in Manchester staying with his brother and enjoyed a visit to a mining museum and a trip to Bury Market and the East Lancashire Railway. Elinor and I stayed at home.
A Hellebore flower
We have found the changeable weather a little trying but fortunately for us we haven’t had to deal with flooding, just lots of deep puddles and mud, mud and yet more mud! My car was half brown and half blue and the mud had oozed into the car round the doors, so just before he went away Richard hosed it down for me and restored it to its original blue-all-over colour.
Another Hellebore
The next two weeks will be very busy as we are beginning on our house renovations. The new garage doors were fitted today and most of the windows and doors in the house will be replaced next week. I am not looking forward to the disruption at all but when it is done the house will be warmer and more secure.
Snowdrop flower. Please excuse the horrible red finger!
One of my aunts died last Sunday 24th January and I will be travelling to Kent with my brother tomorrow for her funeral. Richard will be staying at home and will be driving Elinor to and from college. It will be good to see my cousins again despite the sad occasion. My aunt was my late father’s older sister and she was the last of Dad’s siblings. I have six first cousins on Dad’s side of the family and I am hoping to see most of them tomorrow. Andrew (my brother) and I will be meeting up with Francesca (my sister) when we get to the church.
Phalaenopsis Orchid
I am also going to visit Alice in Sheffield on the 12th of February and I will be watching her perform in another play, ‘And Then There Were None’ – an adaptation of the book by Agatha Christie.
Here is the trailer they have made for the play. I think you will be amused!
All my Christmas Cacti are re-flowering. Perhaps these are now Candlemas Cacti?
It is Candlemas today. We had a Eucharist service at Rumburgh on Sunday and celebrated the festival early. At Candlemas we remember three things; the presentation of the child Jesus, Jesus’ first entry into the temple and the Virgin Mary’s purification. Traditionally, candles are also blessed at Candlemas and Richard our priest gave us two new altar candles.
My choice of music today is Mozart’s Serenade for 13 Winds in B-flat major. My first introduction to this piece was when I was nearly 14 years of age and I was on a music course in the Austrian Tirol. I was lucky enough to be given the first (lead) clarinet part and I loved the whole experience – the great responsibility, the team-work, the music itself. I will never forget that feeling of euphoria as we played through the whole piece together! As soon as I hear the opening bars of music I am transported back in time to Austria, I am 13 years old and full of hope and excitement. This was my first ever trip abroad and I and a friend travelled there with our clarinet teacher and Kerry Camden the bassoonist who drove us from London all the way to the Tirol with a stop overnight in the Ardennes. I had a one-year passport and my parents had given me £15 spending money!
The Advent Crown that I helped assemble with its first candle burning. This photo was taken in our church at Rumburgh on Sunday morning.
Here we are in Advent again. I enjoy Advent – I like the quiet thoughtful aspect of the season. One tends to get caught up too easily in the rush and tear of Christmas preparations – the frenzy of shopping for gifts and preparing food. Advent is all about waiting patiently and being prepared – not for the arrival of friends and relatives or having enough food and drink to last through the holiday (though that has to be considered!) – but for the gift that God gave us, his son Jesus Christ. We also have to be prepared (as Maurice reminded us on Sunday morning) for the Second Coming; for the Day of Judgement. Have we been leading good Christian lives? Have we loved God with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds? Have we loved our neighbours as ourselves? Or, if we were suddenly asked to account for ourselves, would we be found wanting? I love the beautiful words of the Collect for Advent Sunday written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in the 16th century.
‘Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.’
The Advent Crown seen from a different angle.
Elinor and I made our own Advent Crown at home. I had a look in the garden for greenery to decorate it but could find hardly any. Our hedges have been cut and there weren’t any branches that hadn’t had all the best bits cut off. A lot of the ivy has gone from the garden this year as well. Fortunately, I visited Mum on Friday to deliver some shopping (which included candles for her Advent Crown) and while I was there she invited me to forage for useful evergreen in her garden.
Our Advent Crown
I have to provide two dozen mince pies for a carol service next Sunday evening. I have collected the ingredients for the shortcrust pastry and the filling and now I will have to find the time to bake them! This is the post from last year where I described how I make them.
The next few weeks are going to be quite busy and it will be hard to set aside enough time for quiet meditation and prayer.
Elinor breaks up from college at the end of next week and next Tuesday evening Richard and I will be attending a Parent’s Evening where we will meet her tutors. The pop-up design of Red-Riding-Hood and the Wolf she made at the beginning of term has been put on display in a gallery in Norwich. We must go to see it!
We have someone coming to see us tomorrow to discuss the replacement of our garage doors and we have the gas man coming to service our gas boiler on Friday. We believe that we need to replace the boiler quite soon and we will have to ask his advice. I will have to take my mother Christmas shopping soon – this will need to be carefully planned as she doesn’t have as much energy and strength as she thinks she has!
We have a trip up to Manchester planned for one weekend and I hope to visit my sister in Kent as well. She is a paramedic and is on stand-by from now until the 28th December and can’t visit us until after Christmas. There is another carol service on the 20th December and I will no doubt have to provide mince pies for that as well. Richard and I have tickets for a Carols by Candlelight Concert in Halesworth! Alice comes for Christmas and will arrive quite late on Christmas Eve and will need collecting from the station.
So what with all that and the usual round of our own chores to do we will be kept quite busy.
My point-and-shoot camera stopped working and we didn’t think there was much point in taking it to be repaired. A replacement probably costs what the repair would have cost – if it could have been repaired – so we ordered a replacement which arrived yesterday. Richard kindly said I could borrow his small camera while we waited for the replacement, but I never used it. There haven’t been many opportunities for photography during the past week and the camera only took a couple of days to arrive.
Acer leaves at the beginning of November
After a chilly week or so in October, the weather this month has been fairly warm for the time of year. We have also had a fair amount of rain. I have managed to do a little garden-tidying, though as usual, not as much as I need to do or as I would have liked! There may be a few more days this year when I can finish off the work so I am not too worried. We had a couple of storms with high winds last week which ripped most of the leaves from the trees and Saturday was cold with wintry showers.
Mahonia this November
Mahonia flowers
We had a gardener/landscaper and his assistant come to do a few jobs that Richard needed help with. Almost all our hedges have been cut and tidied by them and the front ditch has been strimmed. The hedges between us and our neighbours on either side of us have been left for now and will be done at a later date. Both of those hedges (like the front one) are on the far side of deep ditches which are fast filling with very cold water and are difficult to do.
Copper Beech at the beginning of November
Copper Beech in the sun in the middle of the month
Another job the gardener did was to dismantle our old summerhouse and extend the concrete pad on which it stood. When I say ‘dismantle’ I use the word quite loosely as all he did was lean on it and it fell down. With the winds that blew last week it probably would have fallen down without anyone’s help. Richard is still deciding which summerhouse to buy to replace the old one. We will be able to keep a few things in it that are needed for that end of the garden and Richard will be able to use it as a little home-from-home – a place to escape the hurly-burly of life in the house – a ‘shed’ with a view (of our big pond). I am sure a comfy chair and coffee-making apparatus will be making their way down the garden and the bell on the wall of the house will be put to good use when summoning him for meals!
Spindle berries beginning to split
Spindle berries
We got a couple of quotes from local replacement-window firms and have made our choice. The work to replace almost all the windows in the house, both garage doors and the back door and window in the garage will be done in January. I just know the weather will be freezing cold when the work’s done and I will have a miserable time of it! However, it will be worth it in the end as the house will eventually be considerably warmer and our heating bills will be much reduced.
The path round our big pond earlier this month while we still had some leaves on the trees
A new reed that has appeared next to our large pond this year
Richard spent a couple of days staying with an old friend in Manchester a few weeks ago. His friend had to retire early through ill health (heart attack) but is much better now and is enjoying not going to work. Richard came home after a very pleasant break much happier about his own retirement.
Lots of little bracket fungi found on a dead branch
Richard and I went to the Rectory coffee morning at the beginning of the month and enjoyed seeing all our friends from church. We came home with cakes, pains aux raisins, marmalade and a book – no prizes in the raffle this time. This month we also went to the Remembrance Sunday service at St James’ church which was quite moving. Representatives from all the villages in the benefice read out the names of all the people who lost their lives in some of the wars we have taken part in – the two World Wars as well as the Korean and the Boer Wars. The American airmen who lost their lives during WW2 and who were stationed at Flixton airfield were also mentioned.
Crabapple ‘Evereste’ covered in fruit . This photo also shows part of the front hedge and ditch before we had them both trimmed and tidied.
Alice came home the Saturday before last and stayed until the following Tuesday. This was only the second time she has been able to visit this year but we hope to see her at Christmas as well which will be fun! Mum came to lunch that Sunday and she enjoyed chatting with Alice and catching up with her news.
The church of St Michael and All Angels
The sundial on St Michael’s wall
Some of the sheep in the field next to the church.
(The three photos above were all taken with my new camera. I think I will need to adjust the settings to get clearer pictures.)
Richard and I had been to the 9.30 Morning Prayer service at St Michael’s church the Sunday before last. Maurice, one of our Benefice Elders, took the service and spoke about St Edmund, Suffolk’s Patron Saint whose feast day is the 20th of November. I had been due to take Mum to her church that day but couldn’t because of lunch-cooking duties. Instead, I arranged to take Mum to church this Sunday just gone. It was very icy with snow still on the ground in the morning and we assumed that it would be as bad at Mum’s house and at Eye; Richard said he would drive us in his 4×4. Unfortunately for Richard, the further inland we got the less snow there was and he found that he needn’t have driven me and Mum after all! He had to sit through a High Church service at Eye church with bells, incense and a procession to boot, because he had been gallant. Richard doesn’t like High Church services – his Methodist upbringing revolts against them. I was brought up going to High Church services and I can worship anywhere really, but do prefer my own local church with my friends and Richard by my side. I think I’ll be left to drive Mum to church on my own as usual in future, whatever the weather!
These next photos were taken by Richard on his phone on Sunday morning.
View of the garden from the conservatory
The greenhouse seen from the conservatory
The garden on the south side of the house from the conservatory
I went out for the evening twice last week. On Tuesday evening I took Mum to a performance of the opera ‘Don Pasquale’ by Donizetti. It was performed by the Glyndebourne Touring Company at the Theatre Royal in Norwich. We loved it very much indeed. The singing, the costumes, the orchestra and the stage set were fabulous. A really enjoyable evening out only spoiled by a gale blowing and making driving and walking difficult – Mum was nearly blown over a couple of times and I had to hold onto her tightly. Clouds of leaves were swirling about in front of the car and bits of tree were falling onto the road all about us. As I drove along I was aware of loose branches swinging to and fro just above the car and hoped I could get out of the way before they fell. Fortunately I got my mother and myself safely to Norwich and then back home again.
Wild Rosehips in the hedge.
On Saturday night Richard and I went to see ‘Uncle Vanya’ by Chekhov performed by the Open Space Theatre Company at The Cut in Halesworth. We both enjoyed the play very much which was acted and directed well. On leaving the theatre we found it had started snowing and as Richard had left his hat in the car he got quite wet and cold on our brisk walk to the carpark. The snow was falling heavily as we left the town and Richard found it very difficult keeping to the road once we left the street-lights behind. Most of our lanes have deep ditches running along next to them and there is always the risk of driving into a ditch in the dark. We were glad to get home again and into the warm. The snow didn’t last long and by morning most of the roads and paths were mainly clear but icy.
All photos in this post were taken either in our house or in the garden except for the ones of St Michael’s church.
My musical choice is performed by Emeli Sandé and Jules Holland.
I saw these holly berries (Ilex aquifolium) in one of the carparks in Halesworth at the beginning of the month.
We have had a fair amount of cloud and rain this month and there was a week when the rest of the country was getting very pleasant weather while we in eastern East Anglia and also those in eastern Kent were having gloomy, wet weather with north-easterly winds. We have had a few slight frosts and some sunshine too – but not as much as we would have liked! For anyone who is interested in our weather here in the east of Britain – and why wouldn’t you be! – here is a link to the local BBC weather forecast.
Spindle berries (Euonymous europaeus) seen in our garden at the beginning of October
The leaf-colour has been very beautiful but I haven’t been able to get out often to take photos. The leaves are falling fast now and the recent heavy rain and windy weather have stripped many trees of their leaves altogether.
A beautiful Maple tree I saw on the way to my mother’s house on the 14th October.
As I stood admiring it it began to rain heavily, as you can see!
The rainbow that appeared at the same time.
I took a photo of the tree again on the way home later that day.
I was surprised to see some Hemp-agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) in flower in the ditch next to the maple tree. It usually flowers during late summer and all other Hemp-agrimony plants had already gone to seed.
Richard and I have been sharing driving Elinor to and from college and I have been feeling much less tired than I did when I was doing all the driving. The month has had its fair share of hospital, doctors’ surgery, optician and dentist visits. Every week this month one of us (at least!) has had an appointment or has had to take someone (my mother) to an appointment.
I mentioned to Richard that I had seen a beautiful Guelder-rose (Viburnum opulus) on my way to my mother’s house (yet again!) so he kindly photographed it for me with his phone when he walked past it on a breezy morning later in the week.
He photographed it from the other side too
He also photographed a Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Elinor has had her half-term holiday this week. She has worked very hard during her first half-term and has had quite a lot of homework to do during this week. She has enjoyed the course so far and her tutors are very pleased with her and the standard of her work. This bodes very well. She is also working hard to overcome her anxiety and also the sleep-phobia that has returned to plague her nights.
Raindrops caught in a spider’s web
A Witch-hazel leaf. All the rest of the tree’s leaves were a buttery yellow but the leaves on the new shoots went red.
This Cricket, a female Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) I believe, was sun-bathing while sitting on a yellow Witch-hazel leaf.
Alice seems well and is enjoying her new job but wishes she was able to work longer hours. She has to have her PhD thesis printed before she can take part in her graduation ceremony so is trying to save up enough money to get it done. She is coming home for the weekend in a fortnight and I am looking forward to it very much. To see her in action discussing horror films please watch the video on the following link.
Fine trees on a fine day. The churchyard of St Mary’s church in Halesworth. Whenever I see this wall I remember the times I have held one or other of my daughters’ hands when they were little as they balanced all the way along it. It used to take ages! Alice was especially keen.
Richard and I are starting to compile the list of improvements and repairs we need to do to the house and garden. One of the first jobs will be to replace most of the windows and we hope to get this done before Christmas. We are also getting a gardener/landscaper to clear and dig out the front ditch which has become overgrown and blocked. We have asked him to cut the hedges too. This will be done in a fortnight’s time.
I found these ladybirds sheltering in my Rosemary bush next to the front door. I think they were hoping to hibernate there. We have since had some very wet weather and they are no longer there.
Last winter we had no ladybirds hibernating in the corner of the window in our bedroom. This year, when we hope to replace the windows in a few weeks time, the ladybirds are back! I will have to think of a way of gently moving them before the windows are removed. I don’t know if they will be as interested in the new poly-carbonate windows we are to have, as they are in the old wooden ones with ladybird pheromones on!
Last Sunday we went out for lunch to The Sir Alfred Munnings in Mendham. (I don’t know what the black shadows are top right and bottom left of the photo).
The artist Sir Alfred Munnings was born in Mendham in 1878 and this restaurant and bar was re-named after him.
Mendham is a very pretty village just a few miles from where we live.
Mendham church is quite large and well looked after. I couldn’t get far enough away from it to get the whole of the church in one photo.
Mendham church
Sunset
And another!
Here is one of my favourite songs – ‘Ola Ta Diskola’ (All the Difficulties) by Anastasia Moutsatsou.
Richard and I hardly ever go out in the evening but this week we managed to go out twice! At the end of October each year the Halesworth Arts Festival takes place in The Cut, an old maltings that has been converted into an entertainment venue. The Cut takes its name from the lane it is in – New Cut – which refers to new cuts made to the river when a lock was built in the 18th century and the River Blyth was made navigable from Southwold on the coast to Halesworth.
The Cut
Last Sunday night we went to listen to a poetry reading by Brian Patten who made his name in the 60’s with the publication of the ‘Mersey Sound‘ anthology. (The other two poets featured in this anthology were Adrian Henri and Roger McGough). We enjoyed the evening very much. Patten not only read many of his favourite poems but spoke about why and when he wrote them. When I was in my very early 20’s and living in Liverpool I went to hear Roger McGough at a ‘Pubs and Pints’ event. A nice re-connection, I thought.
We discovered Brian Patten had known and read with many other famous poets apart from Henri and McGough; Robert Graves, Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith, Pablo Neruda, Allen Ginsberg, Laurie Lee and Robert Lowell. He had shared a house with Brian Eno and had been friends with among many others, Keith Moon and Neil Innes. Neil Innes was in the audience and joined him in a few reminiscenses.
Neil Innes? He is the minstrel in this clip.
He is the singer here
My father who was a cabinet maker, once did some work for Neil Innes in the 70’s when Innes was living in Lewisham. My father had no idea who Innes was and felt sorry for him and so undercharged for the work. ‘His jeans were split at the knees and he was obviously short of money’ said Dad. I think we were the ones who were short of money – always. My mother explained who Dad had worked for.
The other performance Richard and I attended was a concert by the ‘Aquarelle Guitar Quartet’. I don’t think I could describe them better than the blurb in the programme so please click on the link to read it and see the programme of music they played. There is also a recording of them playing.
The programme included classical – old and modern, jazz, folk and film music. I loved ‘Opals’ by Philip Houghton who is Australian and uses the Australian landscape as inspiration. ‘Folia’ by the American composer Ian Krouse was amazing.
The four young men, who had met when they were at the Royal Northern College of Music, were charming, amusing and very talented and I would urge you to see them in concert if they play anywhere near where you live.
We visited yet another of our local beaches on a very windy, cool afternoon recently. We only stayed on the beach for a short while because the wind was so biting; Elinor and I both got earache.
The mist in the distance is sea-spray.
The waves were quite rough but the tide was going out.
Foam was left on the sand and was blowing about.
This little fish must have come too close to the shore.
This Grove Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) attached to its bit of bracken was swinging about in the wind.
My ID guide suggests that the Grove Snail “is used to demonstrate the survival of the fittest in evolution, because Thrushes eat the snails which are least well camouflaged against their environment.”
The Heather (Calluna vulgaris) was past its best but the Dwarf Gorse (Ulex minor) was looking wonderful
Another sunset.
In a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the bright yellow of the Perennial Sow-thistle was not common at this time of year. I will have to eat my words because most of the flowers I have seen since then have been yellow!
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) seen on the roadside between Linstead Magna and the village of Linstead Parva *(see below)
The Tansy has very aromatic leaves and the little button flowerheads are made up of disc florets only.
The genus name ‘Tanecetum’ and the name Tansy are both derived from the Greek word for immortality. The plant was believed to give eternal life to the drinker of an infusion made from it.
Tansy used to be used as a flavouring in food until fairly recently. Egg dishes especially, were enhanced by the use of finely chopped tansy leaves. Tansy was also used as an alternative to expensive imported spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon and Tansy Cake at Easter was very popular. Because of the strength of its scent, Tansy was also used as a repellent, keeping mice from corn and flies from meat.
Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
Close to where I photographed the Tansy I found this hedge of Dogwood. It was covered in large black berries – the largest I have ever seen on a Dogwood – and most of the leaves had turned a beautiful red. Dogwood leaves are usually a much darker, duller maroon in Autumn.
What also surprised me about these Dogwood bushes was seeing flowers in bloom at the same time as the berries and the red leaves.
It isn’t easy to see them in this photo so I cropped it.
One of the flower-heads is in the centre of this picture. The couple of weeks of warm and sunny weather we have had recently had fooled the bush into thinking it was spring again.
Richard and I have been working in the garden, getting it ready for winter. I only seem able to get out there a couple of days a week but I have managed to get quite a lot done. One of my jobs has been tidying behind the garden shed and round the back of the greenhouse. Behind the shed was rank with weeds, mainly stinging nettles, which I was able to pull out fairly easily as the soil is quite damp there. I had stored lots of pots and tubs full of spring bulbs behind the greenhouse so these have come back out to be smartened up and got ready for next spring. I discovered other flowerpots that should have been emptied and cleaned ages ago.
This pot was covered with liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. It has little green cups on the leaf-like structures (thallus). Do you see the baby snail?
We have a lot of fungus all over the grass in our garden. Nothing exciting or colourful, just brown and cream-coloured toadstools. These had been nibbled by something.
Two other unidentified types of fungi.
I have had this Hibiscus for about 26 years. It was a gift from my ex-mother-in-law who brought this with her when she came to see us when Alice was a tiny girl.
I love these double flowers – the peach petals have dark crimson bases.
Richard has a new Chrysanthemum flower
My Geraniums are still flowering
I like this pretty Viola
Three different Michaelmas Daisies
Salvia
The three ages of Astrantia
Elderberries from the bush at the end of the drive.
Acorn This is the first time in years that these acorns aren’t affected by Knopper galls.
This is a photo I took last year of Knopper gall damage on acorns
‘Conker’
Ash ‘keys’
The trees in our lane
Our Silver Birch is changing colour
Birch leaves
I pruned our Pyracantha recently
We not only had a lot of aphid damage to our apple trees in the spring and early summer but the apples on this tree are now being eaten by Moorhens! It is odd seeing water birds wobbling about in the trees gulping down our apples as fast as they can.
We are getting a little tired of next-door’s free-range chickens in our garden all day. They kick about in the flower beds and damage seedlings; they peck off flowers and generally make a mess of the paths, beds and compost heaps in the garden. We have spoken to our neighbours about it a few times but they don’t appear to have any intention of keeping their chickens on their own land. They have a constant supply of chicks too.
Linstead Magna (large/greater Linstead) is now a small collection of houses and farm buildings. The church no longer exists but I spoke to someone some years ago who remembered the church and used to attend it. For more information about this church see here.
Linstead Parva (small/lesser Linstead) is a pleasant little village with a pretty church. In spring the churchyard is covered in snowdrops and other spring flowers.
This post and the next will have assorted photographs of things I have seen. I’ll also mention briefly a few things I have done. The photos are inserted in chronological order as I can’t think of anything better!
Toadstools on the lawn at the surgery.
A couple of weeks ago I had to attend the doctor’s surgery a few times in one week. I collected my medication, I had my usual monthly blood test with a test for cholesterol which meant fasting from 10 pm the evening before, and I had my flu injection. All on different days. I noticed these toadstools after my blood test but unfortunately I had left my camera in the car. The following morning I took these photos after my flu jab.
These are Shaggy Inkcaps (Coprinus comatus) also known as Lawyer’s Wig and unfortunately most of them are past their best.
The early morning light made it difficult to photograph them and they had deteriorated significantly overnight.
The white fungi are emerging Inkcaps but I can’t identify the dark brown mushrooms.
Some of you may remember that our parcels box was taken over by Great Tits in the spring and we had to seal it shut so that the birds were not disturbed. I believe the brood was successful. Richard dismantled the box last week as it was rotting and we had a look at the nest inside.
Great Tit (Parus major) nest.
We looked closely at what had been used. Please click on each photo to get a description of the materials used.
Dried grass and lots and lots of moss
Bits and pieces of anything soft. I recognise lint/fluff from two of my pullovers here.
Sheep’s wool
Feathers
The work that went into constructing this nest is astounding.
This is a Common Toad (Bufo bufo) that I saw crossing our drive. Fortunately it took it’s time and I was able to run indoors and fetch my camera before it disappeared.
Common Toad
Autumn colour. A Field Maple (Acer campestre)
Last week was a week of sunny warm days and cool nights. The trees and plants began to show autumnal tints.
Elder (Sambucus nigra) leaves have turned pink
A wonderful sunset seen from the back of our house
A ‘picture-wing’ fly. Possibly from the Herina group.
This little fly was in our kitchen some nights ago. I took this photo when it landed on the window blind. It was only a few millimetres in length.
Richard and I noticed posters up in Halesworth announcing the Herring Festival. This is to take place in The Cut, the centre for the arts in the town. The herring industry has been in decline for some time and Richard and I wondered what went on at the festival (not ever having gone). We remembered this……
I haven’t been able to attend our local churches very often recently. I have been taking my mother to her church once a fortnight to enable me to go to church with Richard every other week. We took Elinor to the morning service at Norwich Cathedral a couple of weeks ago as she enjoys these services. The Cathedral was preparing to hold a number of services to commemorate the life of Edith Cavell.
My music choice for this post is one of my favourite arias sung by my favourite mezzo-soprano, the late, great Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
A Suffolk Lane 