Weekly Chat, Sunday, July 31, 2011

Cirrus: Murdoch scandal was huge here until the U.S. Congress  got its head stuck up its rear regarding our debt ceiling. The rest of the world could blow up tomrrow but our media wouldn't pay any attention.

dibnlib: Enjoy the chocs - and all for a good cause.

Lindybird: I agree re the fox; we had a story here not so long ago of a chimp raised as companion to a woman - it ended up literally ripping the face off her friend. Ghastly. All a bit misguided if you ask me.

Alan: Oh gee. What a rude sequence of events for your son-in-law.  Good he's okay, but not the weekend he was planning - and his intentions were so good!

Late here; daughter off to stay with friends for a few nights tomorrow; have a nice Sunday all.

Thanks for starting us off on a new week, Annette. August (!!!) tomorrow? Where is the year going?

I have been processing more of my travel pics. I wrote in my saga - "Thursday we visited Bayreuth for lunch, don't remember much about this."
Now with my photos, I remember a lot more about this town. First we had a photo stop outside the famed opera house. I didn't find this terribly exciting. Perhaps the flower display in park below the terrace was worth a snap.

Then on to city centre for 1½ hour lunch stop. Just about everything was closed for a holiday as it was Ascension Thursday. I had a cup of coffee and wandered into the castle church but didn't stay because the only other person was a beggar asking for money. When I pretended I didn't understand German, he mimed his need. Uneasy, I departed quickly. Pity because it was a pretty church and worth a longer look. On down the main wide street, hardly anyone around. Big beautiful building which I have now identified as the Altes Schloss. Just so I can do some name-dropping - this palace was built by the sister of King Frederick the Great. Down a narrow alley I could see spires and scaffolding. Yep, there's another church, this one all wrapped & scaffolded. At the far end of the main street was another wrapped church. I tried the door. It opened. A light & bright church. A man removing candles, etc from the altar. Again I was the only one to view. Don't know where the rest of the bus went. I wandered back towards the spot where we left the bus. And that was Bayreuth. I have learnt more from browsing the 'net to identify what I photo-ed!!!

New Blog from Richard.

Alan how awful for your son in law.  Hope he's ok now.

I suspect that fox will never be happy poor thing.

Trying quick replies while OH finishes washing up – I had to give up because of sore back.  Still quite hot; cloudy but bright.  Enjoyed RSPB Mersehead yesterday, going to Bugs in Gardens event at NTS Threave Gardens today – and hopefully finish by calling in on Threave Ospreys down at the Castle.

Annette – “elderly” just means cleaner is older than me – and she does an excellent job – used to clean for the health board before she “retired!”  Usual thanks for the new week.  Has daughter taken Oro to see her friend, or are you still on duty there?

Lindy – more lovely photos – especially your own Acer!

Cirrus – must be lovely to live near Westonbirt and have opportunities to visit in all seasons.

Dibnlib – great to “see” you again – I hope all is going well fro you.  Enjoy the new specs – and the chocs – congratulations on the win!!

Alan – sorry about SiL – must be very sore.  Good that you were there to have Hope for the night. Our Goldfinches still have three young ones needing help with feeding – others are growing up fast – seems to have been a good breeding year for them.  Our Sparrows have also had a good year – I think we are in an area where they aren’t declining – maybe thanks to our less advanced farming methods, as with more significant species such as Lapwing.

Lynette – pleased that Holiday Club ended on a good note – and you can now relax!

AQ – good that photos reminded you what you saw in Bayreuth – nice flower bed.

Must get hosed down to go out!

Thanks to Annette for starting us off on a new week (where does the time go? !).   Dull here, but dry and cloudy.

OG:  Sorry to hear that your back is still painful.

AQ:  Good to hear more about your hols, and lovely pics.

We were all cheered up yesterday by the second (this year) Royal Wedding:  Zara and her rugger player husband looked very happy, and were lucky enough to have a sunny day for their Scottish wedding.  It seemed to be a nice family type of affair, so very different from the big Bash earlier in the year - I did wonder if they took advice from Princess Anne, who had a similar (2nd) wedding in Scotland herself and managed to make it fairly private and intimate. Lots of very smart dresses & hats, and of course Kate looked wonderful - she is obviously becoming a style icon.  Good Luck to the happy couple.   I did so admire Princess Anne for insisting that her children had as much of a normal upbringing as possible, and they are probably a lot happier for it.

Here are more of my pics from the Flower Show:

First, a 'Football Club Garden'  - there were several on this theme as a special thing this year:

This is to represent Anfield, the Liverpool ground - The waving grasses on the terrace are supposed to represent the crowds watching the match! - and they were waving, so it was quite effective!  Also there are balls of box on the ground, and a zig-zag of pebbles to represent the path of the ball across the pitch.  A lot of fun.

This one is of a much more traditional type garden than most of the displays - the designer, who was there, told me that it was the most popular with the crowds, but that the RHS would not give him a Gold Medal because it was 'too dated' - he got a Silver Gilt Medal.

-- I could only get a half of the garden into the picture as there were so many people crowded around it.

Next, a pretty display by a pond manufacturer: To the left of the garden there is a pretty waterfall trickling down

Have a nice Sunday!

OG:   Just read the end of yesterday's Blog - Sorry to hear that there is some damage, in your B. in law's case. Do hope he can recover.

Afternoon already !  Beautiful sunny day. Yesterday was quite hot. My back recovered so what did I do - we went to Aylesford Priory to help with their gardening from 10am until 5pm. I just ache this morning.  Catching up now, with all yesterday's posts

Linda, Thank you so much for the Autumn acer photographs. They are so beautiful and colourful. Good to see that there was a traditional garden at Tatton. It is lovely to see the other show gardens, but I often feel that some are so wierd that most people just couldn't take any ideas away to use in their own gardens.

OG, So sorry that it is not good news about your BiL but they will not have the full picture yet. I hope it is not as bad as it sounds.

Diane, There is no point upsetting yourself about what governments are doing. There have been so many times when I have been raging about political decisions that have been made over the years, it is a wonder I havn't had a heart attack. I have a friend,( who always voted for Labour,) along with thousands of others, lost all his superanuation, through a Gordon Brown underhand decision with pension funds, when the Labour party had no opposition. I could go on for pages on here, but seeing this man still having to work, after he thought he had secured his  financial retirement with his own money, which he had worked hard for, is a constant reminder to us. No 'fairness and justice' for him or all those like him.

Cirrus, Do say Hello to Trish from me please. Life has been so hard for her.

Dibnlib, Are there any chocolates left ? Well done on winning them.

Alan, Sorry to hear about your son-in-law's accident. I would think he is still feeling very sore and not just with his shoulder. It must have been quite a fall.

Lynette, Good to hear that your ' Kids Week' was a success. It makes all your work so worthwhile.

Tiger, Good to hear that S2 had a successful operation and all appears well.

Annette, You now have time to get back to your own routine for a few days and maybe even time to snooze in your hammock.

Off to have some lunch and relax today.

Afternoon all,

Linda : Thanks for the themed gardens pic. Not sure about the Liverpool FC one though, it takes a bit of imagination.

OG : Looking forward to your report on Threave ospreys. I hope you enjoy your visit.

AQ : Thanks for your further description of your holiday and the very colourful pic.

Diane: Hard to imagine the US government being unable to pay their bills. I also understand some government employees wont get their wages if they dont sort it out by tuesday.

Thanks to everyone else for their chat :

Son in law is much better now although heavily strapped up and on painkillers. The bruising is still coming out so looks worse than it actually is.

We went to Barnwell CP and saw the kingfisher again. Managed to get a pic but not great. One of these days I will get a clear one: