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message 8901:
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Val
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May 11, 2024 07:38AM
Isn't that odd because I had a message from my younger daughter tonight asking if we'd seen the aurora australis? I didn't even know it was going to be visible on mainland Australia but she sent me a couple of photos she'd taken and they were pretty good. I doubt we'd have seen much as we have good street lighting. Apparently the place to see it was Tasmania.
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Ohhh WoW! ... the intensity of those stunning colours is amazing, Val! ;o>
Thanks for the tip Susie, but I’m at the opposite end of the country, in Andalucia. It will have to be a Norwegian cruise for me I’m afraid!
Oh Squirrels! ... I was thinking as I was writing that I bet Nocheese is going to be as far from Catalonia as it is possible to be while still being in Spain! ;o>Ahhh well! ... enjoy your holiday! ... x
My sister has recently bought a drone with a camera that can see all the light spectrums...and that thing recorded some fantastic images of the aurora borealis lights last night. You could see all whole colour range shimmering across the night's sky. She's going to send us some pics soon....i'll post some up when i get them..and if can remember how to post images on here! I haven't done that in some time!
Extraordinary and so beautiful, Val. Thanks!
No chance last night, far too much cloud cover. Just discovered one of the hardy geraniums has lost all its flower buds to a muntjac. They never touch the alkanet, to which they would be more than welcome. Alkanet was recommended by the RHS as a good native wild plant for gardens. It’s lovely to look at, bright blue flowers, but it’s also an invasive thug, impossible to get rid of once established. I emailed about it and got the usual expert’s brush off. If anyone ever offers it to you, don’t be tempted. Refuse! Ours was inherited with the garden and the first year I innocently left it in place. Big mistake, I now can’t get rid of it, it’s spread up the bank, among the brambles etc and unless it’s dealt with in conjunction with major earthworks to terrace the slope, removing it will just destabilise the hillside. Can’t face or afford it, so I have to live with it and keep it clear of the properly cultivated parts. Sorry to moan, just feeling discouraged this morning. Enjoy the day.
You have my deepest sympathies, Isabella ;o<We have a never-ending battle with Mares Tail that comes through from next door's garden and it resists all attempts on both sides of our hedge to kill it ... nothing works?! ... not even burning it off with a Blow Torch!
My Mum says she thinks Alkanet is a plant that hates an acidic soil so maybe you could try adding something to the soil after, once again, doing your very best to dig out as much of it as is possible, and see if that works?
x ! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO VAL ! x& EVERYONE ELSE WHO CELEBRATES THIS DAY TODAY ! ... x x x ...
I just saw this while on Facebook and had to share it! - LOL!!!I didn't see the Northern Lights I just like to be included 😁 ...
suzysunshine7 wrote: "I just saw this while on Facebook and had to share it! - LOL!!!I didn't see the Northern Lights I just like to be included 😁 ...
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😂
suzysunshine7 wrote: "I just saw this while on Facebook and had to share it! - LOL!!!I didn't see the Northern Lights I just like to be included 😁 ...
"
Magnificent! :D
Now we can all feel included and impress and dazzle our family and friends with such an outstanding picture! - LOL!!! ;o>
suzysunshine7 wrote: "I just saw this while on Facebook and had to share it! - LOL!!!I didn't see the Northern Lights I just like to be included 😁 ...
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Well,,,that's one way of 'seeing' it! 😂
! Happy World Bakery Day ! ;o> ...
I am 'celebrating' this wonderful day by having a Cheese Salad Baguette for lunch and I will also be enjoying a large piece of Lemon & Poppyseed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting after our evening meal ... ;o> ... ;o> ... ;o>
The Sun is shining brightly and the Sky is a beautiful shade of blue ... but unfortunately I am stuck on bed rest feeling like I am dying from the effects of the extra heat and now starting to experience my annual dread of the heatwaves to come as Summer arrives.However I am frequently being kept entertained by several Magpies who have been using an old TV aerial attached to the back wall of the house next door as a slightly bouncy metal perch to land on and then swoop off from down into the gardens below.
From where I rest on my bed I can see about 30cms of the very end of it when I look over to the furthest edge of my large bedroom window. I have two of my window panels slightly open and they often turn in curiosity to stare in at me when I call out greetings to them.
If the windows were open any wider then I think they might try to come in as they seem to enjoy spending ages listening to and watching me while I wish them a good day and tell how beautiful and how clever they are ;o>
They’re very handsome birds, Suzy. We watch the crows on the houses opposite. They’re Victorian with big chimneys and the birds congregate there. Every so often, one will disappear for a few seconds into the chimney pot. We can’t work out why but guess that they must be after food, insects maybe? They mob the buzzards when they get too close, in spite of the difference in size.
Hiyah Isabella ... x ... I love the way they seem to be using the TV aerial as a diving board! It actually makes a bit of a boing noise when they land heavily and when they hurl them off with lots of excessive flapping down into the garden or across to a nearby tree ;o>
They turn and stare right at me with their heads cocked from one side to the other as though they are listening to and understanding every word - LOL! It is absolutely fascinating to watch them this close up and be able to come to distinguish them from each other.
Isabella wrote: "They’re very handsome birds, Suzy. We watch the crows on the houses opposite. They’re Victorian with big chimneys and the birds congregate there. Every so often, one will disappear for a few second..."It is possible they are attempting to nest build, Isabella. We thankfully have got caps now on our Chimney Pots as we have open fireplaces ... and as well as sometimes getting huge hailstones rattling all the way down the Chimney breast we would also get twigs coming down as well!
There is one bird in particular which likes to build their nest in Chimneys and that is the Jackdaw. They drop or push twigs down and they are so clever they will even bend the twig in the middle as they push it down the flue in the hope it may slowly open up and wedge itself into place. Then they will add another twig and another and so on. Often the twigs will fall and settle in the bend in the Chimney and they will keep being added until it is high enough to be seen and all sorts of other bits and pieces will get thrown down as well ... pieces of paper, plastic bags, grass, random bits of garden rubbish and even street litter!
Once they start trying to nest in this way they are unlikely to stop coming back again and again to keep doing this so it is the best option to cap off Chimney Pots ;o>
It might be a good idea to warn your neighbours that they will need a Chimney Sweep! ;o>
Well, we would but in three years we've never seen a soul at the house, no lights and the car has sat at the side looking more and more unloved. Others around here seem to think that the house is just left by the owner or they live out of sight at the back. It's quite big but not derelict, so we're not sure what is going on ...
Hmmm? ... perhaps someone reclusive (like me! ;o>) or empty and maybe inherited by family that have not been keen to come and do a house clearance with a view to selling it on?
Probably but it seems a waste if it is empty.
You reminded me of a favourite poem - The Jackdaw of Rheims:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hbj3...
I’d forgotten that poem Val! Probably haven’t heard it since I was T at school.
I've never come across that poem until now ... thanks Val! ;o>Not a Jackdaw, but the conversation and the poem suddenly reminded me of one of a favourite series of books by Joan Aiken that was read to me as a young child ... and was also featured on Jackanory and became a puppet show TV series in the early 90's ... Arabel's Raven
I read all of Arabel’s Raven to Helen at bedtime. She loved it.
I don't remember my Dad doing any special voices with Arabel's Raven but I do remember giggling away while listening to him doing all the different voices when reading Winnie-The-Pooh & The House at Pooh Corner ..."The more it snows (Tiddely pom) The more it goes (Tiddely pom)
The more it goes (Tiddely pom) On snowing
And nobody knows (Tiddely pom) How cold my toes (Tiddely pom)
How cold my toes (Tiddely pom) Are growing"
... ;o>
More children's book reminiscences:The Toad - came - home!
There was panic in the parlour and howling in the hall,
There was crying in the cowshed and shrieking in the stall,
When the Toad - came - home!
When the Toad - came - home!
There was smashing in of window and crashing in of door,
There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor,
When the Toad - came - home!
Bang! go the drums!
The trumpeters are tooting and the soldiers are saluting,
And the cannons they are shooting and the motorcars are hooting,
As the - Hero - comes!
Shout - Hoo - ray!
And let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud,
In honour of an animal of whom you're justly proud,
For it's Toad's - great - day!
Helen particularly liked the line, 'There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor.' Bedtime used to be such fun: The Hobbit, Meg and Mog, so many lovely stories.
The Wind in the Willows
My son's (40 next month) favourite was The Quangle Wangle's Hat with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury. I was lucky enough to meet her when I was working as a school librarian. She signed copies of Farmer Duck Hardcover 1996 (Author) Martin Waddell, Helen Oxenbury and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for me (the book, not a jigsaw as pictured here). The book that wins hands down with granddaughters aged 5 and 4 is The Tiger Who Came to Tea - I can recite it off by heart.
Isabella wrote: "Helen particularly liked the line, 'There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor.' Bedtime used to be such fun: The Hobbit, Meg and Mog, so many lovely stories..."Awww, what wonderful memories of such innocent and happy times, Isabella ... x x x
I had never picked up on that particular line before but I certainly can see why Helen liked it so much ... it is so beautifully written and creates an amazing picture ;o>
Still struggling to understand this ... but today I watched a large Crow jauntily hop across the back lawn and pick up a piece of Apple I had cut up and thrown out for the Birds. Then he/she half hopped half flew over to the Bird Bath and perched on the side so the Apple could be dunked in the water before being eaten ... ? ! !I am left mystified as to why the non-stop pouring rain that flooded the lawn almost covering the Apple pieces wasn't considered to be wet enough ... LOL!!! ;o>
Val,I read Farmer Duck to the beasties yesterday.you are right the tiger who came to tea is lovely.
Our favourite - wisteria (in back garden) was never so beautiful before.Put couple photos on my profile.
Wow! ... that's beautiful, Post ;o>
Gorgeous. I love wisteria, we had it on the front of our last house but I don’t think there’s any way to grow it in the new place, unless I try the dwarf version in a pot.
suzysunshine7 wrote: "! HALLELUJAH ! ... I finally managed to get back into my Goodreads account again!!!Hundreds of Log In refusals and endless Password changes over the last few months were driving me crazy until I ..."
Mmmm I seem to be back in too. I used to sign in with Fbook, but they removed that. Just found an email in my junk folder, and her I am.
Weird, isn't it? ... it reminded me of how Amazon used to mess around with things on their Forums until they finally decided to come clean and politely tell us all that we had outstayed our welcome and it was high time for us to leave! ... (laughs)I was made to change my original Password so many times I lost count ... and still couldn't get in! Then I decided after so many weeks to try my original Password one last sad and final time ... and I was back in again! ;o>
I came across some beautiful artwork today created using A.I. This is one is called ... 'Meet Me In The Middle' by Finn PRO @Finnagin ...
I am having a bit of a difficult time at the moment for so many reasons that I really don't want to talk about outside of the endless thoughts swirling around in my own head ... but guess what happened yesterday?!!A wonderful Facebook friend living near Kyiv who is so tragically going through all the worst kinds of absolute hell in her life right now suddenly decided that she wanted to send me a gift! ... yes me!!! ... living right here in the safety and comfort and peace of the UK! ... ! ;oO
And so I am currently sat here in the garden listening to the birds singing and watching the butterflies fluttering past while quietly drinking my favourite extra strong Kenyan Tea from a beautiful Mug that she bought in a Coffee Shop with money that she really cannot afford to be spending on anyone else and feeling completely overwhelmed by this truly incredible gesture of friendship and kindness ... x
And I have a box in my room that contains lots of little thoughtful treats including a large box of some very fancy looking Chocolates that are exclusively made in Kyiv, a packet of her own favourite brand of biscuits, two pretty little Dino Egg Bath Bombs from her youngest son(!), some unique wartime in Ukraine Postage Stamps, a pair of socks with the word Ukraine embroidered on them, and a large Ukraine heart of flowers decal that can be ironed onto a t-shirt and worn with pride.
Yana, my very dear friend, as always I make a very low bow to you.
I hope and pray and wish for so many things for you that there are simply not enough words to express ... but most of all I wish with all my heart and soul for peaceful skies again and evermore over your beautiful country ... x x x
A shining light in a dark world, Suzy. Wonderful to hear, bless everyone who is trying to keep the brightness alive in spite of human folly
I felt I had to post something on here about the truly remarkable character and spirit of Facebook friends in Ukraine. For so many their daily life is just so unbearably hard all the time and I simply can't get my head around my friend deciding to do this! ... xApparently it took her many hours of patiently standing in line at a Post Office over half an hour's taxi drive from her home village and also being told many times that it was not possible to send anything to the UK until she finally found a way to manage to do this!
I am always in absolute awe of her sheer resourcefulness and persistence and also of her incredibly caring and selfless acts of kindness.
That is just wonderful, Suzy. Treasure your friendship.
Amazon exiles
Books mentioned in this topic
Ten Poems about Snow (other topics)And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems (other topics)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea (other topics)
The Quangle Wangle's Hat (other topics)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Christina Rossetti (other topics)John Keats (other topics)
Joan Aiken (other topics)
