Flowers on my redcurrant bush, last year we had a 2 kilo crop of beautiful juicy redcurrants from one small bush, and we put enough in the freezer for Christmas dinner.
Category: TWENTYTEN Day by Day
I don’t know if you remember the very first blog on New Years’ Day the pear tree that was flowering in the freezing weather, well here it is again, in the sunshine this time. Looks like we may get a reasonable crop of pears this year.
Today is my big sisters’ birthday – so Happy Birthday Pat !
I know this is a very strange picture but I love my Hostas, I decided a few years ago to give up trying to grow them in the ground, because the slugs and snails love them more than me. I refuse to use chemicals in my garden so I have to grow them in pots now, I spotted today that they are just poking their noses out through the moss blanket that’s been keeping them warm during the winter.
My daffodils have been having a very long lie in this spring, I didn’t get any sign of them at all in March, but now better late than never, they are out and beautiful as always.
We were visiting Susie up at Presthaven Sands in Prestatyn today, I had a wonderful walk with the dog on a beach. It’s funny I’ve lived in this area for over 22 years but I don’t really know Prestatyn at all, I certainly didn’t realise what a wonderful stretch of beach there is.
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10th April 2010 – Violets
I spotted these little tiny violets hiding when I was hanging out the washing this morning, the garden is slowly waking up, and colours are appearing here and there.
Here is a picture of a relatively small “accidental tree” in my garden. We had a holiday in Northern France in October 2001, at the time my youngest son was almost 11 years old, and like most British boys, but not French ones it seems, very interested in conkers. He collected a huge amount of beautiful, shiny, plump rusty brown conkers and brought quite a few home with him. The following spring, finding a bag of conkers, lurking in his bedroom I threw them out into the back garden and ‘Voila’ three sprouted and produced baby French chestnut trees. This one is now around 8 foot tall with huge sticky leaf buds at the moment.
From blue skies yesterday to black skies today, a brisk walk today on Colwyn Bay beach. It wasn’t too bad, there was a little bit of blue sky and it only rained for a few minutes. I don’t care, and neither does the dog, I have been known to walk the dog on the beach during hailstorms, I just love spending time on the beach whatever the weather.
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7th April 2010 – Blue Skies
Took a trip up to Prestatyn to visit Susie today, the sun was shining and there was a real feeling of spring in the air at last.
Managed to get a couple of nice shots from the car on the way home, just look how clear the sky is, not a cloud in sight.
I discovered today that hazel trees have teeny tiny bright red flowers, I was really surprised when I saw them, I’ve had this tree for around 15 years and never noticed flowers before.
When we were hiding the eggs yesterday I noticed my Hellebore in full flower, a little late I think, it’s also know as the Christmas Rose.
It’s traditional in our house or rather garden, to hide little easter eggs around for the children to search for. Well the “children” are no longer children so we borrow some from next door. This year we also have my grand daughter joining in, well watching and wondering why there are so many people running around the garden.
Well the picture shows a yellow egg pretending to be an early tulip, a pink one masquerading as a camellia flower, and another sitting on a very large piece of natural driftwood sculpture acquired from the banks of the River Conwy a few years ago.
I nipped down to Llandulas, apparently it was flooded during the storms and I wanted to see if Dr Geeber’s pebble sculpture, I showed you the other week had survived. Unfortunately it hasn’t, but then I suppose this was inevitable and it illustrates the ephemeral nature of environmental art.
The local council had been repairing around the sea wall and had given the wooden edging a bright new coat of yellow paint, it stood out so beautifully against the blue of the sea and sky.
After the storms, we’ve got some welcome sunshine but it’s raining as well.
I spotted this beautiful rainbow while walking the dog in the rain on the beach.
That must have been one big storm, there are huge room size pieces of concrete, lay on the beach that have been brought down off the sea wall, near The Toad. There are holes as you can see in the actual Promenade, I saw this and another just as deep and wide, Rhos side of the pier and I think there are more on Old Colwyn side.
The Weather has turned really nasty over the last couple of days, the promenade at Colwyn Bay has suffered and Llandulas has been flooded apparently. I thought according to the old saying, March was supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb, not this year apparently. I will try to get some pictures of the Promenade as soon as I get down there, but these were taken in Llandudno in the middle of a hailstorm. It was good to see the new golden spire of the Oriel Mostyn doing what was intended, shining beautifully despite the horrible weather.
Paul was allowed home today – the first thing he wanted? McDonalds for a burger! Then sleep the rest of the way home. The sun which seemed to have been shining for the last two weeks disappeared but I got some nice shots through the rain soaked windows.
Well, First of all one doctor said Paul could come home today then, the next said he had to wait another day, at 18:30 his consultant said he could come home. Belongings were collected and bags packed, half an hour later they were unpacked again as the Pharmacy was shut and he couldn’t leave without medications and instructions from a pharmcist. One more night in a hospital bed!!
Anyway back to the picture below, I’m running out of things to take pictures of en route to Liverpool, so I’ve started picking on lorries on the M56.
The doctors are definitely talking about a release from captivity very soon may be even tomorrow. Paul can’t wait, and I think that we could all do with an end to the commuting back and forth, fingers crossed!
Here’s a couple of shots of reflections in some of the windows in Liverpool city centre.
Paul is feeling much better and has even been for a walk to the drinks machine and shop for chocolate. Only it seems the ward staff didn’t know about his adventure and he’s been grounded again, but there is talk of him coming home early in the week, so fingers crossed.
We managed a quick visit to the Tate this afternoon, weather had taken a turn for the worse but this place always cheers me up.
The doctors have decided to fit Paul with a pacemaker today because his heart has been beating slower than it should be. This was another op but this time with local anaesthetic , and at least his heart will be regulated from now on, the other good news is that after having it fitted Paul was moved to a ward. This meant that daddy was able to have a special little visitor tonight and this made him smile for the whole of visiting.
This is a shot of the wheel over on Albert Dock, Ewart and I went over to see what’s new, think we might call at the Tate before Paul comes home.
Curved building and curved steps, they just seemed to fit each other comfortably somehow and make a pleasant image.
I’m sort of bored with the shots from the M56 and A55 so I’ve started taking strange shapes and buildings in Liverpool city centre.
Paul is a lot better today – off the ventilator and talking a little more, he wants to know when he can get on to the ordinary ward so that he can see the baby.
We are travelling up and down to Liverpool, it’s about an hour and a half journey time and we are sharing the driving, today I was able to catch this storm out at sea. I love the colours that seem to appear only when the sky is slate grey.
Unfortunately Paul has spent the last 24 hours back on the ventilator to give his lungs some help, hopefully a days sleep will also help his body recover.
We drove through an area of Liverpool called Edgehill today, there appears to be streets and streets of buildings empty and boarded up. I believe from the signs around that this is part of a regeneration scheme, and they are due to be demolished. I can’t really see how these wonderful, large victorian buildings can be replaced with something better, but time will tell. The boards that have been used are fun though, in fact I’m sure that is a picture of my friend, Kurt, in the small window on the blue house.
As I said yesterday Paul asked for photographs to be taken and he asked me to put one up here. He is being very brave, his heart is working fine according to the Docs but he has a problem with his breathing at the moment, hence the oxygen. He would really love to see the baby but she is not allowed in the critical care unit and this is bothering him most at the moment, but it won’t be long.
Not too bad a nights’ sleep, for a Friday night in Liverpool town centre, although there was a group of very happy Irish girls over for a stag weekend. It was a very grey morning and the huge Anglican Cathedral was hiding its head in the clouds.
Paul is in POCCU (Post Operative Critical Care Unit) he’s very tired, this was to be expected, but the Doctors appear to be happy with him and he even asked us to take pictures.
Paul was first down this morning at 8:00 and we were told he wouldn’t be out of theatre till about 18:00. It was a very long 10 hours, but we were told we could go in and see him around half nine at night and that everything had gone well. Anyway the three of us, sorry four of us, Louise, Ewart, myself and Lily-Jane decided to stay in the Formula One, at Albert Dock in Liverpool, City Centre. Grand-dad got the bunk-bed much to the amazement of the baby in the double with me and Lou, she kept forgetting he was there.
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18th March 2010 – D-Day
Well D Day – that is deliver Paul to Hospital day – Travelled to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Broadgreen – Operation first thing Friday. This is a view of the Runcorn/Widnes Bridge, I think we’ll be crossing this a few times this next week.
These are a couple of views of a pebble sculpture that has been created at Llandulas Beach. They have been created by a man who is walking around the coast of Britain, he calls himself Dr Geeber, he started in Brighton and has so far walked over 1400 miles. He is a recovering addict, he’s homeless but doesn’t claim benefits, surviving on donations and living in his one man tent. He set himself a challenge to finish this walk, and create pebble sculptures whenever he finds a decent pebble beach. This sculpture shows a red dragon chasing a boat out to sea. I hope he completes this walk and enjoys our beautiful coastline at the same time. Don’t know how long it will last but it’s worth a quick look.
I can understand how people can lose gloves, and hats and maybe even jackets or jumpers, but how do people not notice that they have only one shoe on their feet. Possibly the little one who lost this shoe was in a pushchair so would have an excuse but I keep seeing adult shoes scattered about, I’ll have to try and get some shots.
