Flaming June

Well, not so flaming June or 'something else must have happened'. Something else must have happened for there to have only been four visits this month. Probably rain, although we did have some of the hottest weather of the year so far. Something else must have happened but I can't remember what.

The first batch of photos records the state of the allotment at the start of the month. I have to say that it is the best that we have seen it in a long time. My potatoes have really taken off. I did my usual bean frame work and I was keen that the few strawberries that were forming were protected from the birds and clean from the dirt of the soil. This paid dividends and the crop was better than my expectations.

Our allotment ends just beyond the short fruit trees planted among the strawberries with two rows of berries beyond. Behind me are the shed and greenhouse.

Another occupier of my time was the fitting of IKEA wardrobes for our friends, Paul and Mary.

Due to lack of time our first outing of the month was just an afternoon at Calke Abbey. This time it was just a visit to the grounds. The gardens there keep to the theme of 'repair not renovate'. The building is full of stuff and the walled gardens are a mixture of formal, informal and stuff. But there is some colourful stuff. 

The building seems to float in a sea of meadow stuff.

Then came the real treat. We had been directed to a hide at the end of the car park. There were a few wows.

Greater spotted woodpecker

Green finch

Gold finch

 Our next visit was to Ashford-on-the-Water. This is on the A6 just through Bakewell. The object of the visit was the 'well dressing'. It has a few less wells than the big one at Tissington. We arrived in time to park on the street outside the church.

Not only was it a well dressing but it was also a flower festival in the church and a scarecrow competition. Irene said that she had never seen so many flowers in a church. The theme was 'Creation'. Here are some examples.

What is God reading on His rest day?

It was coffee time so I asked a passing person for directions to a coffee shop and he gave me directions and we entered the tiny premises with many others. While we sat our helpful gentleman entered. He worked at the shop. Later we found cheaper community run places around the village.

The village was not large and we soon visited all the well dressings and spotted some odd scarecrows.

 Sadly we were visiting towards the end of the week. The colours were fading and the clay cracking.

In the village hall we looked over a display of the previous well dressings. In 1956 when the vicar restarted the pagan tradition all the wells had Biblical themes but over the years this has grown less. Last year there was a dressing commemorating '30 years of the Disney Channel'. There was no Biblical content this year.

For lunch we took ourselves over the bridge to sit by the River Wye which was shallow and very clear.

 From there we walked across the A6 and up a side road. At the start of our walk there was a strange sign.

It was a steep walk to the top of the hill but it was worth it for the view across the meadow to the river below.

Before leaving we had to pay another visit to the church to see an unusual object. The picture and its explanation is below.

 My next June entry needs a blog of its own.

My Word

My word is it that long since I wrote a blog entry. I think that it is a combination of being a Facebook user and having not picked up the camera for sometime. I suppose that my blog has become more of a photo journal than a wordy tome.

I shall now try to pick up where I left off to the best of my ability.

It has been a long, hard winter with few photo opportunities. However, there have been times when the snow has provides a picturesque covering.

Snow-capped teasels

Snow on Stapleford Hill

Snow on Bramcote Hill (Only blue and black are used)

Following complaints from most of the family, the 8th of January saw the arrival of a new modem and a new router, with four ports and a wireless point, from Virgin Media. This also included the installation of an attenuator. The system runs well now. During that same week I was to take an exercise test. (In May I get the results.)

On the 31st January I had a pleasant day giving Iona a birthday present from us. We gave her 4 pieces of 4x2 chip board, lengths of 2x1, an the Intercity train and track.

Iona Receives Intercity Carriage

The following Thursday I attended the funeral of Beryl who we have known for a long time. By the time of the funeral Irene and I had become much more a part of the Haven church and Beryl and her family have been known to us for almost 13 years.

On the 14th Jan we visited the Ilkeston Methodist Church that Lawrence and Jan had become a part of. We had lunch with them and a view of the new kitchen.

On Monday I spent the day with Tim and the girls in the construction of the railway. It was a happy and successful day.

Iona controls the Intercity

Decorating Joe's room got seriously under way.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I held my last ever parent's evenings.

On the 13th March we had a rare Saturday when we not able visit Nan and the weather was spring like. Purple crocuses and white snow drops made a carpet around the Attenborough rectory and a robin did its usual pose.

By the 16th March Joe's room was complete. The final touch was the new carpet and then we braved IKEA and bought a desk exactly the same as the one Sally bought for the room we used in Australia.

Even before mum completed her last day of teaching on 26th work on the allotment was in full swing by the 22nd. The beds had been organised and the work of preparing them was going on.

By this time I had dug the majority of the potato bed, but it remained too cold until after Easter to plant the three rows of earlies (Epicure).

During the cold weather there had been a good opportunity to develop the railway. This was to next wave was to be about setting boundaries and laying footpaths. The church is an exception where time was given to completing the grounds by adding graves and a wedding party.

At this time the Rector has a drive and a car. To the large house a garage cum workshop has been added and the wedding party can be seen posing between the lytch gate and the church. The minister's house keeper is standing by the gate between the rectory and the church yard, anxious that the dinner will not go cold.

The 26th March was the very end of our teaching careers. Mum came home loaded with cards, plants, chocolates and the gratitude of everyone at Jubilee House Christian School.

We celebrated the end by going to the dances on Friday night and Saturday night.

On Tuesday the audiologists decided that I should have a second hearing aid.

On good Friday it was the 'March of Witness' in Stapleford for us whilst our friend Lawrence played a Roman soldier in the Ilkeston event.

On Saturday we had a trip to York to bring Joe back for Easter. On Easter Sunday neither of the boys were up so the Easter table was left for later.

The church meeting was bitter-sweet as we were told of the death of Hugh. We have known them for 13 years and over the last two years mum has been a weekly help to Margaret and Hugh.

On Friday 9th April it was a sunny day and my friend Bob and I went for a walk and lunch at Attenborough. The pictures show two different aspects of the place.

On Saturday we took Joe back to York and bought a car load of things home.

Joni left for St Andrews on Sunday with Fiona. We expect a return an overnight stay very soon before he returns for his last few weeks in Keele.

Finally we return to Iona and Izzie's layout. I took more track down making it possible to have two loops to include a bridge taking one loop over another.

Before leaving Milton Keynes we had a brief walk, in the cold wind, to the local park with Iona and Izzie.