Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 26 August 2018

LINDA - I wasn't an NHS baby as my birthday is earlier in the year, so I was born in a private nursing home!  Hoist man is coming over on Thursday - late morning, as the company is based in Newcastle, so a two hour drive to get here.  Enjoyed your latest garden pictures - but I do sometimes wonder whether some of the strange gardens end up as they are just to be different, with no real purpose!

AQ -it is a very typical example of Scottish humour! Very dry humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves. It is exactly the sort of thing that one hears up here in the Highlands most years.

LINDY - lovely pics! I especially like the woodpecker and the thistles from the first group. I haven't yet looked properly at the last ones. Congrats on the birthday - I have been going backwards since the big 70.

OG/LINDY - I was born at home, certainly wouldn't be allowed these days as my Mum was 37, first baby and had fluid retention in the last months. Goodness knows what her BP would have been. I still have my Birth Book, the letters and telegrams of congratulation and the Doctor's signature. I think he earned whatever they had to pay him! I weighed 9lbs which was quite a size in those days.

OG- sorry that J is feeling unwell. Do you think that he just felt very anxious and was afraid of having a panic attack at school?

Oh dear - all this age talk makes me feel like a mere baby at 68! 25th WA August next year

9lbs is certainly quite a bonny baby, Heather!  My sons were both just under that and I was told that they were big!

The new neighbour next door has been moving in, today. We are pleased not to have an empty house next to us, once again. I have hopes that we will "get on" as she seemed very nice.

More pics, whilst I have ten minutes to come on and post them:

There were a few knitted and croche'd items standing around, amongst them this enormous, colourful wheelbarrow.

One of the town exhibits:  a seaside & fishing town, now I forget which one!

Ah!  now I can see that it was Immingham! The sea was very blue!

I knew that you would all love this - I adored it.  He is made from metal leaves and flowers.

In close up you can see that his mane is made of old horseshoes - so clever.

This is his friend, who is made from chains, some rusty. (and a baby one, too!) Needless to say, it was a blacksmiths stall where you could ask them to make just about anything.  At a price.....

Another garden, giving new meaning to the term "flowerbed"  We often find these smaller gardens more interesting than the large exhibits.  There were very few large ones this year, anyway.

This was a "hot" one, supposed to attract the bees.

Another view of the same one.  Its certainly rich in colour.

Pretty!

Another view of the same one:  I met the man who had built it, as he was standing by, and had chance to congratulate him on his lovely planting scheme. The wall at the end is clever because its vertical but makes the path look longer.

Not sure about this jungle.

I was totally besotted with this ornamental gate!

I took a close up picture of it, so that I can have one made just like it when I win the lottery, LOL!  The woman standing beside me couldn't tear herself away, either.

Another 'proper' garden full of colour and so small, it was a wonder they could fit in a greenhouse.

LINDA - glad you are optimistic about the new neighbour; young woman opposite was pulling weeds yesterday, and answered when OH called hello across the road - promising start compared with her next door!  More lovely photos - loved the chain "coo"!  It is amazing how much the designers can fit into some of the small gardens!  A couple of dry days, so watering checks have resumed here!