A typical ramble

The Garden in Spring

The Primulas are all out.

And a variety of  Daffodils are scattered around the whole garden.

The birds are singing or, in the case of this Starling, burbling.  Starlings nest in one of our chimney pots.  They are going to get a surprise in a few days when our builder, Brendan, goes up there to do some repair work!

Hyacinth

Forsythia

Japanese Maple

When I was tiny one of the first tree buds about which I learned was the Horse Chestnut with its sticky bud scales.

The Cherry is beginning to flower.

Song Thrush

When I was young Song Thrushes were common.  You could pretty guarantee you would see one every day at my Mum and Dad’s house in suburban Liverpool.  Now they are so rare that I’ve only seen a couple in the last ten years. On a trip into North Wales Jo spotted this one which was kind enough to pose with a mouth full of worms but I didn’t get a very good shot – my fault entirely.

Loose Leaf Notes
I have mentioned Colleen Redman's blog before as one worth visiting.   In her latest posting from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia she wrote this brilliant line.

"Your words unhook the dress of my mind. "

That is so evocative it will live with me for a long time.

 Willow - Heswall

Sometimes we go to Willow tea rooms and our visit to Gladstone's Library reminded me that they have a quote from Gladstone on their wall. 

Excuse me...

I need to go to the loo.   How's this for a great 'Gents' sign.

Our first Moth

Our first moth of the year appeared a few days ago – a Hebrew Character.  Few people realise how attractive all those species of ‘little brown moths’ are.

 Annabel

“How come you are allowed outside and I’m not,” she asks.

A quote from a Nicci French novel...

"The only faces that look more haggard than mine, especially first thing in the morning, have been dug out of a peat bog after two thousand years of mummification."

A Trip to Gladstone’s Library

William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898), was a British Liberal politician. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times (1868–74, 1880–85, February–July 1886 and 1892–94); more than any other person.He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister; he resigned for the final time when he was 84 years old.  Gladstone is consistently ranked as one of Britain's greatest Prime Ministers.  Few politicians have achieved as many lasting reforms as Gladstone. He was a pragmatic political leader with an incessant concern with history, literature, the classical world and theological dispute and was a voracious reader.

Gladstone was born in Rodney Street, Liverpool, in a house directly opposite the office of Partner-who-loves-tea.

Gladstone lived in the village of Hawarden in North Wales, a few miles from Chester. He was eager to make his personal library accessible to others and with this in mind founded Gladstone’s Library in 1889, donating 32,000 of his own collection. After his death the library became the national memorial to ‘the grand old man’.

Today it serves as a residential library and meeting place dedicated to dialogue, debate and learning. It forms a hub of social interaction with 26 bedrooms, a varied programme of courses and events, conference rooms and free daily tours.

Formerly known as St Deiniol’s Library, Gladstone’s Library is run as a charity. 

We had a brief tour inside one of the rooms.

A folding wooden book rest.

In my last post you saw some of my pens. Here in a display case were some rather more memorable ones – those used by Gladstone.

If you are ever near Hawarden it is well worth a visit.

Catching up

Poorly

“John, have you been ill?”

“I hope so!”

“How do you mean, ‘You hope so’?”

“Because if that last three weeks was being well, life’s not worth living…”

That’s all that need be said about the norovirus and its decision to visit me.

It has left me with hot flushes and dizziness – “Welcome to being a 48 year old woman,” said Friend-über-special. 

Clearing clutter

We are having a go at clearing some clutter and that has involved taking everything out of the dressers in the dining room.  Annabel decided to help.

“Excuse me but you mustn’t play with plastic bags.”

“You were warned!!”

“Oi, no need to pull tongues”

Mac displays his guilt free conscience – either that or he is a good actor.

In the Garden

After my three weeks in bed I have at last had a walk around the garden.  The primroses and primulas look good and the cowslips are out.

I enjoy finding where the cowslips have seeded themselves each year.  Today it was in a crack between patio pavings.  

Dragon

I have forgotten what we named this dragon when we got him around 20 years ago but he has been packed away for years.  Today he came out of retirement and was used for burning incense again. He can look quite impressive at times.

Writing a letter

I pushed my laptop back on the disk and got my pens and inks out to write to Claire who recently sent me a letter written with a dipping pen.  I had a go with dipping pens but the number of splotches outweighed the number of words so I finished with fountain pen.  It was good to use one again.

I seem to have caught up for the moment so cheerio and have a good week-end.

Partial Eclipse - 20th March 2015

I decided to walk into Heswall on Friday morning when the eclipse was due.  If the weather were clear there could have been a good view across the fields on the way.    The weather was not clear when I set off at 8.45 - just as the moon started its trip across the sun.

By the time I got into Heswall at 9.25 the clouds were thinning ever so slightly and one could just about tell there was something strange happening.

From then on I spent a quarter of an hour sitting on a wall in Heswall and Hey Presto.  Just as the eclipse reached its peak the clouds thinned enough to see it perfectly.

The best eclipse I have ever seen.