In the Garden - July

A few years ago we lost most of our front hedge in the winter.  Conifers, Fuchsia and other plants were all killed off.  But one of the Fuchsias survived and has spread along the fence quite well while a white Buddleia that came (I think) from Daughter-who-loves-food as a tiny cutting is now ten feet tall and covered in flowers.

We need to find s home for this Columbine from Brian.

Various Clematis climb up the arbor.

Mock Orange.

D***ed Convolvulus (Bindweed) climbs everywhere but at least when it flowers it is pretty.

 Yellow and Orange Welsh Poppies are still out and will be for most of the year.

The hanging bags are still looking great.   You may recall they came last year from Friend-über-special because I couldn't get them in this country.  We have since discovered somewhere must sell them because there is a house on Rodney St, Liverpool, where Partner-who-loves-tea works, that has them oustide its door.  We filled ours wth Petunias and Violas.

 Roses are in bloom.

A new Sea Holly.

Campanula in the wall of the old fish pond.

Yellow Flag in the boggy bit.

The Goatsbeard is covered in bees.

Iris.

Sadly, all things must pass and we await some new flowers in August.

Wirral Historic Car Rally

 If you aren't bothered about old cars click the little x in the box in the top right corner of the screen and come back another day!!!

The Wirral Historic Car Rally came past the end of our road last week so I took my camera out and captured a few of them.   I had anticipated them trotting along at about fifteen miles an hour.  Led by a police car they managed to come along our 30 mph road at what looked to me more like 40 mph as they strove to catch up with their timetable.  In deference to the police I shall point out that I always over-estimate car speeds. :-)                

You may remember Richard Gardner’s 1907 Paterson 30 from a previouspost.

A Model T Ford from 1915.

A 1928 Rolls Royce 20 hp.

A Morris Oxford from the same year.

And a lovely little 1933 Austin 7.  

I can remember lots of those Austin 7s still being on the road in my day.  This one is from 1932.

 

Since Partner-who-loves-tea got a Hyundai the Merseyside Police force have followed suit. 

A 1936 Brough Superior owned by Nick Brough.

This superb 1948 Bentley Mark VI was one of my favourites.

The drivers and passengers were all enjoying the event as Peter Madge and his passenger in this 1948 Alvis show.

There were plenty more cars but as I recalled them all being on the road and had even driven a couple of them I shall save most of them for another day when the description ‘historic cars’ doesn’t make me feel so old!   There are a few exceptions though -

A Series 1 Land Rover with contemporary trailer from 1949.

 One of the most beautiful cars ever made – the MG TD from 1951.  And it is even the right colour because that was the colour of the Matchbox Series toy version I had as a child.  I used to play ‘The Archers’ radio programme with cars assigned to each of the characters.  John Tregorran was the lucky owner of this MG.

The girl he was in love with, Carol Grey, owned the more modern Austin Healey Sprite the model of which I bought as soon as it came out.

A 1954 Riley RME Cabriolet.

A 1962 Mark III Ford Zodiac.  We hired one for a holiday in the Lake District and I was delighted to feel so posh going around in a car with four headlights.

If GB or I didn’t pick them up and carry them home from Mrs Judson’s shop, Mr Judson delivered our groceries in this 1962 Morris Minor Traveller.

This is a 1963 Rover 110.  We had plenty of holidays in 'Uncle' Phil’s broadly similar Rover 90 which was its predecessor. 

My first car was an Austin Mini Countryman – Austin's version of this similar Morris Traveller from 1967.  I used to sleep in the back of mine while touring the Lake District or Scotland.   In those days I could park it next to a river or stream and wake up to the sound of water and birds at four a.m.  By breakfast time I would be by a mountain cairn looking down at the car in the valley.  

This Morris Minor Traveller from 1971 could get you wet when it rained.  So did my 1968 Mini Countryman because the floor leaked. If you went a long journey you made sure you packed a spare pair of socks and shoes to wear at journey’s end.  

And that is this journey’s end.

A Weakly Ramble

My Forgettory

It was originally my intention to post here a rather sarcastic note about the Alzheimer’s Society’s latest leaflet…

On the back it suggests

I thought that amusing...  However, I have this week had another sad reminder of how bad my memory is getting and how confused I am.  I won’t go into detail - all I want to say is how grovellingly sorry I am to Friend-über-special.  But she already knows that. 

My Health

I shan’t bore you – suffice it to say it has been

PostSecret

Do you ever visit PostSecret?    PostSecret is the largest advertisement-free Blog in the world.  Its Visitor Count to date is around 620,000,000 .  

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.  The address to send them to is

PostSecret, 13345 Copper Ridge Road, Germantown, MD 20874

I sometimes wish I had a good secret to send in but I can't think of one...  i.e. I can't think of one I would share!

Zinc

Did you know how essential Zinc is for the human body? Zinc deficiency is ranked as the 5th leading risk factor in causing disease, especially diarrhea and pneumonia in children, which can lead to high mortality rates in underdeveloped regions.  Zinc deficiency also leads to impaired cognitive function, behavioural problems, memory impairment and problems with spatial learning and neuronal atrophy.  I’m not sure about spatial learning (though I have problems with spatial perception) but I have all the other problems in that last sentence.  So it’s time to increase my Zinc intake.  If you want to learn more you can read about Zinc here.

Good sources of zinc include sea vegetables, basil, thyme, spinach, pumpkin seeds, yeast, beef, calves liver, crimini mushrooms, lamb, summer squash, asparagus, venison, chard, spinach, collard greens, miso, shrimp, maple syrup, broccoli, peas, yogurt, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and mustard greens.

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

This is one of  the paintings I have fallen for this week – 

 Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was an Italian Rococo painter of religious subjects and genre scenes.
Born: February 13, 1682, Venice, Italy
Died: April 28, 1754, Venice, Italy

Flappers

A collection of Edwardian photographs, depicting some of the hairstyles of the time, like the Low Pompadour; Hatpin Hair-style; Side-Swirls; Pompadour; and the Flapper. 

Did you know that the title ‘Flapper’ originally referred to teenage girls who wore their hair in a single plait which often terminated in a wide ribbon bow.  So the bobbed hairstyle we associate with the Flappers isn’t the one which gave them their name.

Time to flap my wings and be off to the shops…