Tuesday 31st March 2009

And the moral of this story is...

if you hear the sound of running water don’t just check it out once. Check it twice.


I could hear running water last night but when I checked it seemed to be coming from the drain in the doctor’s back yard. This morning I found it wasn’t. It was coming from the hose in the back garden which I had inadvertently put on when filling a watering can yesterday. As a result I have a very flooded back garden and have wasted a lot of water. Oops.

Monday 30th March 2009

Jo and I are still enjoying cataloguing her jewellery and also the family pieces that have come down to us through Mum and Uncle Eric.


This beautiful silver locket, with matching earrings, has a picture of my Great Grandfather in it - Thomas Robert Spencer (1846-1890).

Sunday 29th March 2009

It was beautifully sunny today and Jo and I spent a fair bit of time in the conservatory sorting through jewellery and chatting.


We did two crosswords - Jo reading out the clues while I embroidered.

Saturday 28th March 2009

Jo and I went into Heswall this morning and ended up having lunch at Roses Tea Rooms.


We haven't eaten there for a long time. When they first opened we thought Andreas was very friendly and would do well. The staff remain friendly and they are doing well - so popular that we were extremely fortunate to get a seat. There are lots of homemade foods and even gluten-free options.

Friday 27th March 2009

I am reading a fascinating book about gems at the moment (about which I shall blog in due course).


So today I was inspired to photograph some of Jo's jewellery. I think blokes get a pretty rough deal where gems and jewellery are concerned. I should love to wear some of the more attractive pieces that Jo has got but they wouldn't really suit a bloke in his fifties!

Thursday 26th March 2009

Ugh. Bad day. Mostly spent in bed. But I did have to get up for the postman.


He was delivering a book. I collect hardback editions of Terry Pratchett and this was the latest Ebay contribution - Wyrd Sisters. Fortunately the Terry Pratchett shelf is above the bed so it didn't take much effort putting it away.

Wednesday 25th March 2009

It's gale force wind at the moment


- so the wind chimes are tinkling away like mad.

Tuesday 24th March 2009

I can hardly believe how fortunate we have been with the weather this month. After a horrid day yesterday we are back to sunshine and blue skies with fluffy white cumulus.


The flowers are coming out so fast now in the garden that it is hard to keep up with photographing them. This delicately shaded tulip was my favourite of today.

Monday 23rd March 2009

I had a walk around the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool this morning while waiting for Jo - who had a client in her Rodney Street premises - so we could go shopping for Richard's 21st birthday present, a new television.


No matter how many times I visit it the cathedral fails to inspire any great love in me. It is too vast, too cold, too dark and too lacking in atmosphere. This is the Lady Chapel which was the first part to be built and is the part I like best.

Sunday 22nd March 2009

After a beautiful week the weather broke today - but not before I had managed to plant a load of bulbs and corms. I also sowed some vegetable seeds.


In the past the garden has tended to lack colour in the late summer. Hopefully this year it will be different!

Saturday 21st March 2009

Jo took me to some garden centres today. We manged to spend a fortune that we don't have. Oops! Apart from plants we bought some Mother's Day presents and a 65th birthday present for a friend in the crystal shop which is part of one of the nurseries.


We went into the pet shop attached to another nursery for the uninspiring purchase of a cat litter scoop. We didn't get one but we did spend ages going 'Oooh' and 'Aaah' at the aquaria. I think if we won the lottery the first thing I would do to celebrate would be buy a big tank. Well, perhaps not quite the first thing!

Friday 20th March 2009

Another sunny day and after a morning of pottering in the garden, I went with Jo when she took Richard over to Liverpool.


Along Edge Lane, where the houses have been compulsorily purchased for road widening at the end of the motorway, all the boarded up houses were painted last year as part of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture celebrations.
 

Thursday 19th March 2009

At this time of year every flower that opens is a new joy.
 

Wednesday 18th March 2009

There is a cherry on the Pensby Road that comes out a couple of weeks before all the others. It’s flowers started opening yesterday and today most of them are hanging down like a bridal bouquet for an early spring wedding with the first Bumble Bees.

Tuesday 17th March 2009

Another morning of gardening today. I was accompanied for some of the time by a female Blackbird; taking advantage of any worms I dug up.

Monday 16th March 2009

The lawns had their first cut of the year yesterday and today. (I say lawns but actually they are just fairly small patches of grass, moss and other weeds. It's amazing how good you can make sonmething like that look with the camera.)

Sunday 15th March 2009

A bitterly cold walk down Gills Lane let me watch the sun rise at 6.30 this morning.

Saturday 14th March 2009

There are some days when it is just so good to be alive.


Manchester United 1 - Liverpool FC 4

Friday 13th March 2009

I should really post a photo of Richard and Jo every month as well as one of me.


Jo probably won't let me - unless I just show a different set of socks each month. So here is Rich - he'll bear it, if not exactly grin!

Thursday 12th March 2009

Another day of sunshine after rain and even the tulips are coming out.

Wednesday 11th March 2009

It told the truth!

Tuesday 10th March 2009

The ponds are full of Smooth Newts at the moment. Most of them seem to be female - perhaps the males arrive at the ponds later. The young ones are there all winter round but the adults usually disappear in the autumn.

Monday 9th March 2009

It is that time of year when one just cannot resist going out into the garden and photographing the flowers. Logical though we know it is, there is the never ending wonder of finding that each Spring brings new life to the garden again.


As well as lots of full size daffodils and narcissi in the garden we have some clumps of miniature ones like these peeping out in odd corners under the trees and shrubs.

Sunday 8th March 2009

Back to normal.


The decorating of the study is finished.

Saturday 7th March 2009

The birds are singing their little hearts out as if to remind Spring it should be on its way on this sunny but frosty morning.


This fellow was in the Ash tree and then on the doctor’s surgery roof for ages. I didn’t recognise its song and against the light it was hard to make out what it was. It had a warbler’s bill, a finch’s tail and its plumage seemed fairly nondescript.

Friday 6th March 2009

The Crocuses outside the library are at their best now.

Thursday 5th March 2009

Spring is on its way.


The Primroses are beginning to look really good.

Wednesday 4th March 2009

A lovely surprise,
Right out of the blue;
A card from a friend
Saying 'Thinking of You'.



Thanks, Shea!

Tuesday 3rd March 2009

They said it was non-drip!

Monday 2nd March 2009

It seems strange to see the sunshine coming through one of the study windows outlined on a study wall. That never happened with the old tartan wallpaper.


One coat of paint down - only another two or three to go...

Sunday 1st March 2009

This is my photo of me for the month.


Fortunately you cannot really see me very well. I was playing with the reflector out of an old projector. What's that quote about small things and small minds?

Saturday 28th February 2009

Let battle commence.


Richard giving a hand with the wallpaper stripping in the study. The moral of this whole exercise has been - 'Never insult wallpaper'. It will get its own back. I think whoever put it on used superglue. Add that to a waterprooof surface and it is a right sod to get off.

Friday 27th February 2009

I have some strange seeds in my camera pouch. They were obviously collected last autumn. Probably down in Exeter when I was staying at Helen and Ian’s. The problem is – I haven’t a clue what they are.


As a result I don’t know what conditions they should have spent the winter in or how best to grow them. I’m sure that sitting in a camera pouch was not the way the tree or shrub designed them to spend their winter days. I shall just have to plant them and see what happens.