Just a few pics and catchup

Blackbird waiting on driveway hedge 'Come on hurry up the sultana dish is empty!

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No ghost trains on the Old Potts Line - but it is ghostly white



St Alkmunds Church in Shrewsbury




Click on the pic to spot the ball




Lone Walker- not me on this occasion!


I am posting a few pics of the snow for the blog - I have a gorgeous animated Christmas Card that was sent to me by Email - and I have tried all ways to post it to my blog - to no avail - if anyone reads this post and knows how to do it please tell me!
This week has been hectic my Dad is poorly and in hospital and I have been on the road or in the hospital most of the week - I have just had a phone call from the physios to say he will be in hospital until at least the 29th of December - so I am blogging to try and be normal and not to stress and so that I can be sunny and cheerful when I go back into the hospital.
My Christmas preparations are all on hold - the christmas cake is sitting in its cake tin in its marzipan jacket and the grandchildrens prezzies are unwrapped -I am taking deep breathes and soldiering on - pipes have been unfrozen and the heating is on so we are getting there!

Reality

What is reality - just a word or can it be broken down into several meanings - what does it signify to you - the Dictionary gives us - The sum of all that is real,absolute and unchangeable.

Reality brings us down to earth - the exact opposite to blogging - where we can escape to another world - pack up our troubles in our old kit bag as the saying goes.

Reality to me is the cold harsh need for domestic routines - family organisation and endless shopping trips.

Reality also can be counting our blessings for what we have - family - friends - etc - looking on the bright side - stealing those moments to do as we like - for everyone must have an escapism

My daily walks are important to me to recharge my batteries and increase my metabolism - as are the books on my shelves and the plants in my greenhouse and garden - and now I have to finish my blog British Gas have just rung to say they will be with me in approx 10 mins to complete our annual service on our combi boiler - unfortunately the stark reality is that we have a frozen pipe and to solve the problem - B has disconnected a pipe and we now have a bucket under the boiler in the airing cupboard - to catch the surplus water - I don't think that somehow we are going to pass the engineers tests with flying colours !

Blue Shadow Shot

Today as I walked I thought of Shadow Shot Sunday on Hey Harriet Blog - I am a little late for last Sunday but perhaps I could be early for next week Sunday - maybe?
I am not sure what I need to do -but anyway my first two shots are my shadow shots

My pictures are Blue Dog Shadows ( my best friend) and Sunlight Shadows taken on my walk through the woods and alongside the Rea Brook - which is part of the Shropshire Way.Today was cold but sunny - the snow was crisp to walk on and the sun streamed through the clouds and felt warm on my hair

Colour was the theme of the day, trees still carrying autumn leaves - burnished bronze - caught the sunlight and cast shadows as we walked through the snow.






Hurry up - put that camera back in your pocket?



Through the woods



I am still snow white






Reflections - or shadows?

Rea Brook and snow covered river bank


Blush red crab apples on the tree - a feast in the making for hungry birds



Berries showing so red against the blue sky



Rea Brook completely transformed today by snow frost and sunlight

Today 25th November

The weather here today in Shropshire has been very cold but sunny - we have escaped the snow for the moment but there was a heavy frost last night. I grabbed a few spare moments to take a walk and to take a few shots with my camera - I drank in the view across the park has I drove up the long driveway - large chesnuts - still with lots of leaves - stood tall and strong as they had for many a year - looking through the trees I could catch a glimpse of the Wrekin slumbering away in the background


Again as we began our walk the Wrekin was away there in the distance through the old pines.
'A cobbler one morning his way home was wending,
With a pretty good bagful of shoes wanting mending,
When he heard a great sound,
Which shook even the ground,
And ,on looking around,
He saw a great mound,
Or rather a mountain,which toward him came,
He at first thought his senses were having a game;
But as long as he gazed,
He was somewhat amazed
To findby a giant the mountain was carried'

Ingoldsby Legends



I love this stretch of the river - always it changes - it is never the same - all depending on the seasons - time of day - weather - how fast the river is flowing etc

Further on along the pathway - a glance down at the river showed a group of mallard - very colourful - swimming this way and that - squabbling between their selves

A little further on on the other side of the river a group of Canada geese stood ever watchful of me and my dog

The park stretched out in a panoramic view the other side of the river - I shall walk there another day - perhaps when I have warmer clothes on - the wind is biting today!

I carried on to complete the mile walk - I have never bothered to time myself on this one- I will try that on the next trip - but I always dilly dally on the way - so maybe that would be an impossible task.





I have tried to show in the pictures above - how the colours change as you walk through the wood - as the sunlight dapples through the leaves - casting shadows - giving a brilliant sheen to otherwise sombre woodland

We walked past the snowdrop parkland - and imagined that in approx 3 months - that this would be awash with a white carpet of snowdrops - bulbs lying dormant ready to push through the leafmould.
There were not many people walking in the park today - but many people were making their way to the walled gardens - it is always unbelievably warmer in there - and provides seating for visitors .
Has we came out into the reception area - I read the noticeboard - the Frost Fair is being held at the beginning of December I shall try and visit that one this year

As I came out of the parkland into Atcham - I pulled over - and walked over the old bridge across the River Severn - to catch a glimpse of the parish church of St Eatas

Letter of the Week

Fame at last - our pic of the rogue beetroot - mentioned in a previous blog has made the newspapers - actually The Garden News - and we have won a prize! - we are all well pleased - we are on page 30 - click on the text on the pic for more detail

Dear Diary

Today has not really gone to plan and now I am trying to climb out of the doldrums and am looking round for my next blog.
I have a stack of photo discs - records of past holidays - days out to remember and so I picked one at random and this is what came up.





A day to remember - the Santa Train at Llangollen - 3 grandchildren in toe - one a teenager determined not to be left out!. the day was made all the more exciting for us all -(we are all big kids at heart I think!)- because Thomas the Tank Engine was in town!
Llangollen is an incredibly beautiful little town with the River Dee scuttling through its centre. I have not yet been to the Eisteddfod - this is held annually - around July - it is on our to do list - perhaps this next year.


The above pic is a shot of the Victorian Weston Super Mare pier - this was taken before the fire - it has now been renovated - and reopened in October this year at a cost of 39 million pounds!




During our break at Weston Super Mare we spent some time in Glastonbury - so much to see and take in - the abbey is awe inspiring and there is so much history and legend everywhere you look - we were there pretty much all day but we did not climb up to the Tor - another visit is called for I think - if you click on the postcard above you can read about the Glastonbury Thorn - and also I have included a link -
http://www.britainexpress.comMyths/Glastonbury.htm

We visited Gloucester Cathedral on the way back - it is huge - the cloisters were used in the Harry Potter films - the above picture is of the Blue Glass window in the South Ambulatory Chapel - it is a modern window by Tom Denney 1993 - I think it is very beautiful

The School Run

Yesterday I was thinking back to my school days in the fifties and also to my fathers' schooldays in the 1920's - and comparing how the terminology above had changed in meaning.

These days my young grandsons sometimes walk the short distance to school - but more often than not they are dropped off by their mother in the Zafera on her way to work,and my grand daughter makes her way to college in her little Corsa.

How times have changed - my school mornings were very different , a two and half mile hike down the lanes and fields - wellies on - with my friend Janet and her brother Charles - we were no more than 7-8 - no fear then of abductions - we used to run - walk - and squabble all the way to school as kids do.

My father had to take a longer route as a child 3-4 miles with his brothers and friends - he tells tales of shortcuts across the fields - through hedges and fights on the way - and being told off if his boots were dirty - and of course the cane was used liberally in those days.

Some 30 years on I went to that same school - there were approx 30 -35 pupils - two teachers and two school rooms - called the little room and the big room!

Mrs Evans was the head teacher - always as I remember she wore navy blue - black laced up blocked high heeled boots and hair silver grey tied back in a large tight bun - she was very strict but a fair lady.You know the thing I remember most vividly were her spelling tests - one every morning without fail - a star on your book if you had no mistakes.

Where am I on the pic above - second row up - 4th from the right with a pinafore on and a bow in my hair - my friend Janet is seated at the front first on the right

My Saturday - what did you do?

Well Saturday started off for me - much the same as any other - usual daily things - shopping to do - check on elderly father to see that he was ok - and then a few moments grabbed for self.
The autumn woods were splendid - the old oak trees - caught the sunlight on their trunks making them almost translucent- the younger saplings - a blaze of colour waving in the breeze.
I gazed down on the old disused railway line as I crossed the bridge - the line is now grown over with elder and hawthorn - but the ghost train I am sure still steams up here on frosty moonlit nights


A buzzard called overhead and a squirrel scuttled through the stacked up leaves.


Later on Saturday a visit was made to Shrewsbury - main purpose of the day was a visit to the Christmas Card Charity shop in St Marys Church.
What a fantastic backdrop to the busy stalls.
St Marys is renown for its stained glass windows and carved oak roof and is also said to have the third highest steeple in Britain.
We browsed around a while drinking in the serenity - and then out again into the hustle and bustle of the town.
Soon the Christmas lights will be switched on - Shrewsbury does it well - but I also like Chester at this time of year - I will tell you all about it if I visit

A gift on the door step

Exchange of knowhow by well experienced gardening folk down the local pub - resulted in my gift on the doorstep - two well grown auriculas easy peasy to grow apparently - I have yet to succeed - I bought mine this year from Jersey Plants as plugs - but I was so pleased to receive these beautiful plants and shall carefully look after them.

A lot has been happening during the past two weeks both in the garden and the allotment . Whilst we were away on the Scilly Isles - I bought lots of different plants and bulbs.
Two very large Bella Donna lily bulbs - and a Nerine Lily bought for just a £1 - into a honesty box on our St Marys walk around - these are now all planted up in pots.


Special purchase at the Eden Project Acacia Dealabata has settled in and looking healthy - fingers crossed



Down the allotment the allotment gardener has been tidying up - and has pulled giant beetroot from the plot - albeit to tough to eat! - but great for a guess the weight for charity - at the local pub - interesting project underway at the allotment to produce a scarecrow lookalike - seen at the Eden Project on the Allotments of the World





In the green house Species Streptocarpus Concord and Caulescens are still flowering these are two of my favourites and a Christmas Cacti I think it is pale pink has huge buds waiting to burst open



I have dug my dahlias up and these will be dusted with sulphur when they have dried out - I was so surprised because I set 3 tubers in the Spring - which I bought from the League of Friends at the Hospital - Bishop of Llandaff was the name of the one - a really deep red - and now they have produced all these tubers - of course I dont know which is which!


Just look at the allotment gardeners sweet peas - they are doing really well - trick is to keep them away from the mice - if there are any - hopefully not - but of course if word gets out - who knows!



Primula Johanna bought at the Malvern Show has been put in the cold greenhouse to prevent it damping off - if the weather is to wet - which of course it will be!

The colours of the Acer Palmatum Shaina in the border are such a gorgeous shade and the holly tree is covered in berries - downside is the weeds continue to flourish and leaves are everywhere waiting to be swept up



Finally I have put the gnomes to bed in the greenhouse