Gijon, Spain - 18/19.12.16

Saw this in a restaurant window.

Yep, what ever that is,

it's on the menu.

Click on 'AWAY' on the left of the screen to see hols snaps.

CHRISTMAS ANGELS , Elvas, Portugal - 17.12.16

HOST OF ANGELS

Only when you least expect it, 

although when you most need it,

would you ever see a host of angels.

Merry Christmas

Click on ' Away' on the left of your screen for more info.

The Great Escape! 14.12.16

After the mountains, what could be nicer than 

SUN

SEA

and

PALM TREES

??

Click 'AWAY' to your left to take a look

Goodbye Kadampa - Wednesday 14.12.16

 

 This entrance will stay with me for ever, as it represents a  true welcome to anyone passing through its doors.

 No need to be a Buddhist, simply be yourself.

XX

The Bodhi Tree - Monday 12.12.16

Near an orange grove, in the Spanish mountains there grows a rare tree.

The Bodhi Tree - Bodhi religeosa.

It can grow to a great height and spread.

and with its' delicate leaves is rather lovely.

Why here?

Because this little tree is a direct descendant, by cuttings, of the very tree that Buddha was sitting under when he gained enlightenment.

And this centre was given a cutting 8 years ago.

Its' not a rare type of tree, rather this one's lineage is what makes it special.

Just saying.

Spain Here We Come! - Tue 6.12.16 - Mon 21.12.16

All because of Kerry our Buddhist friend.

I hold her entirely responsible for our current situation; in a Buddhist retreat in Spain. 

Click on 'Away' - on the LEFT of your screen for holiday diary and piccys.

Due to technical difficulties, this blog can't be added to anymore... without a huge struggle.

As a result, I am building a new site and will post a link to it, from here, soon.

In the meantime please feel free to look back at this, my old set of diaries, scribblings and thoughts.

 Keep checking here for details of my new diary.

Marseille

Taking Offence

Today an 11 year long boundary dispute with a neighbour came to an end.

Not me, you understand!

NO! 

NO!!

NO!!!

You may know who I'm talking about,

but if you don't,

you don't need to know.

For those of you who know what I'm on about,

Feast your eyes on this ....

ONE PERFECTLY FORMED

FENCE

: )

Click HERE for snaps of the police dealing with the potential breach of the peace etc.

Castle Donington? - Monday 18.5.15

Lovely view, huh

Trouble I have is that I'm not sure what this little bit of 

Ye Olde England

is called.

  As I didn't come to see this place, my lack of knowledge isn't surprising

I came here to see this!

Bright, Sunny Day- Sunday 17.5.15

MeWally shouted up the stairs to me that there was a rainbow on the floor.

I crawled out of bed, raced down to him, and there it was;

 a wedge of rainbow.

The hunt was on!

 Upstairs, on the exposed floor joist was another one.

Where were they coming from?????

Ah, yes, our block of glass, recently reorientated and now the 

CASTER OF RAINBOWS.

Here comes summer.

: )

Day 1: Nailsworth Festival - Saturday 16.5.15

It begins again;

our little,

local

FESTIVAL

: )

With wall to wall sunshine, artisan market stalls, a street pedestrianised, art exhibitions and free outdoor entertainment laid on all day, the crowds came out in their hundreds.

We've grabbed tickets to most events that are on this week.

I hope we can stay the course.

Vase of Flowers - Wednesday 13.5.15

Suddenly it arrives!!

PERFUME!!!!!


 First is the big, blousy Lilac tree. This one's a dark coloured variety and doesn't have as much smelly POW!!! as its' paler relative. It's a great look in an old house ... and a good aroma.


The other smellsation is the Lilly of the Valley. A small bunch, like this one can fill a room with a sensational perfume. Very good  in a bedroom or bathroom and, also if grown in a tub near your front door. 

Vase of Flowers - Wednesday 7.5.15

Deeper into the Spring now,

and the colours soften from the stark whites and acid colours of the early Spring bulbs to blues and creamy yellows.

Upleadon Church Tuesday 5.5.15

Soon my current gardening assistant will be off to France for the summer and I'll be in need of a replacement.

I headed to Hartpury College and they agreed to place an ad on their notice board.

On the drive home, I got hopelessly lost .. as usual

and stumbled past this weird church..

I had to go back and take a closer look.

 This timber framed tower has to be unique! 

What a treat.

 And I have to say that I've NEVER seen a wooden framed window in a church.

NEVER.

Click on the link above, with its' Norman arch and Tudor tower, it's truly special.

I'm heading back there soon, so

WATCH THIS SPACE.

Cherry Tree - Bank Holiday Monday 4.5.15

Rather stupidly I arranged to begin my summer gardening schedule today.

I hadn't clocked the fact that today is a national holiday.

Not just any holiday, it's  

MAY DAY

This is the day that us workers could have a day off (Christmas day and May Day was your lot) and go to the fair to find a new employer and move jobs.

As we drove through a deserted Nailsworth, the sun shone bright and the Cherry blossom caught my eye.

 I pulled over and ran back to the tree that had begun to shed its petals.

 SWEET SERENDIPITY!

This very obliging woman strolled through and sat down. 

Did she choose her jacket especially for me?

Thank You Stranger.

: ) 

Vase of Flowers - 30.4.15

Only last week I was able to pick this vase of bulbs.


Now they're all over and the 

Cow Parsley is in flower which means that

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!

I have to admit that I've dug out the Cow Parsley plant as they're quite invasive and I have a very small garden! 

Why was I digging about in my garden?
Click HERE

Brittany - Friday - Monday 24-27.4.15

We've just spent a relaxing long weekend in Brittany and just for once it wasn't just MY hearing that was causing problems, it was the mis-understanding of staff at two different restaurants,

It was all caused by my dire French pronunciation.

Mess No. 1

We were in the Marie Stuart Pizza Parlour, Roscoff.

The main course had gone a bit squirrely, tho it was lush.

For dessert I ordered Flottante (Meringues floating in a sweet sauce)....

YUM 

I got......

Fondant!

A gooey chocolate pudding.....to us Brits.

It was sooooo wrong, it was Riiiiiiiight!!!!

Mess No. 2

The next morning we came across this little tea house, again it is in Roscoff.

So far, so normal.

And then I scoped this sign in their shop window,

"Oh YES!!", I thought, "Sea weed bread."

"I'LL HAVE ME SOME OF THAT."

I strode girlfully into the tiny shop followed by my two shadows,and asked in my very bestest French for some 

sea weed bread.

The guy taking my order looked a little puzzled and wrote down my order on the tiniest scrap of paper, then, scanning my companions, he asked, in his bestest French if that was "Everything."

"Yes", I replied, "That's all, thank you," In my very bestest French.

He looked confused and repeated his question and my order - 

VERY QUICKLY.

I repeated...."Yes, that's all, thank you."

He walked away from me and took the slip of paper to a young woman in the cafe area of the shop. I looked at MeWally and Gerry and said, "What's he doing? Do they keep their special loaves out the back?"

A pot of tea for one was made especially for me and carried to me, whilst our man behind the counter was clearly confused by my puzzlement.

She said, in her best English (yes, ENGLISH); "You Earl Grey tea."

"Ahhhh!!!!!," It all becomes clear.

The way I said Algues sounded to the cafe staff like Earl Grey. They pronounced them as: Alguz and algri.

We all had a laugh, and our little group ordered another couple of teas and we sat down for our tea for three.

And the sea weed bread?

THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY!

I must work harder at my French pronunciation.

: )

For more of our trip click HERE.

Prescott Hill Climb - Sunday 12.4.15

What a great day out this is!

We couldn't believe we'd never bothered to come here before:

it's local to us,

it's unusual,

it's sociable.

We'll definitely come back next year 

- unless we get a better offer!

Carole Nash wont be getting my custom - until they drop their sexist, misogynistic promotional style that I thought had died out in the UK. With so may women taking part on the day and taking the trouble to ride their bikes to the event, you'd think that this company might make an effort to attract their custom. 

Still, on the up side, a bonkers range of bikes were taken up the wiggly hill (!) by their happy owners, much to the delight of us onlookers.

It seemed that anyone could ride up the hill on any bike. It didn't appear to be a race. Proceeds were for the Blood Bikes. 

No need to be a biker, it's a proper British day out. 

For a few more shots of the day, click HERE.

Vase of Flowers - 7.4.15

I think I've gone a little overboard on the flower front.

This arrangement took me ages to put together, dwarlings.

This bit of Japonica is a proper splash of spring. Sadly the flowering current was a bit of a disaster as it made the room smell of cats pee; welcome to my home!

As for the top of the fridge, what could be nicer than a spray of primroses? 

All rather nice.

Hare Hunters - Sunday 5.4.15

We spent today on foot, hoping to spot Hares boxing.

We saw one Hare, crouching low in a distant field (the Hare was crouching, not us) - no photo - despite traipsing 10 miles ((15kl).

The local farmer bumped into us as we mooched about ... off piste. Oops. He was fine about our error, even though it's against the law to deviate from public footpaths, in fact he never mentioned it. He did say that the Hare population, where we were chatting, had grown massively in recent years. However, since last year the numbers have plummeted because of the actions of Hare coursers; another illegal activity.  

All this illegal activity and nobody arrested.

Ho-Hum

Dead Funny - Thursday 9.4.15

I've  seen Bog Bodies on the TV; 

the long time dead, preserved in peat bogs for hundreds, even thousands of years, 

but I never expected to see my own version,

 in my own garden, 

yesterday morning!

AGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

What a sight to wake up to:

MUMMIES CURSE!

 It had looked perfectly normal for the whole winter, until those pesky badgers decided they wanted the fleece for their bedding. By the time they had finished half the plants inside were snapped off at their bases and the bottom of the fleece was in tatters.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG 

: )

Manly Cake - 27-28.3 15

Nice Cake.

Icing's a bit SHAKEY though.

Luckily the cake didn't BYRNE.

LOL

(Biker pun)

Thanks to Graham and Ali n Rich for the beds and hospitality. You're all fab hosts.

Click HERE for a few more shots.

Severn Bore - Sunday 22.3.15

I know we've seen this local event before, but as a result of the eclipse, the expected Spring Tide was due to spring up way higher than usual today.

 There was a good turnout on and off the water.

Paul and lad went for a ride too, but were upstream of us, so no shots of their heroics.

Shame.

Good to spend time with  everyone over brekky at the Severn Bore pub afterwards though.

Eclipse - Friday 20.3.15

We had a go at recording the near (80%)

TOTAL ECLIPSE of the SUN 

earlier today.

 Binoculars were pretty good,

 as you can see.

We had 2 small, but perfectly formed images.

Through the camera, more tricky as we couldn't look through the view finder and we don't have a screen view.

OK result.  Out of focus, and tricky getting a decent light reading too. 

Ho-Hum

Maybe next time I'll have more luck - November 2050 - the next good one here in the UK.

Hope I'm still alive at 95!

Louies Jumper - Sunday 15.3.15

Louie needed a striped jumper.

IMO

It's his Grand Ma's fault.

She started it.

She knitted him a truly lovely stripy hat.

I'm simply following in her wake; matelow style

 : )

My own pattern, knitted up in a nice Marino yarn.
Nothing is too good for this young fella.

What I need now is the photo of him, mum, and dad in their striped finery.

Watch this space.

A Walk From Long Down to Cam Peak - Sunday 15.3.15

The title says it all really.

A local walk around the village MeWally was born in.

For me a stunning area with masses of prehistoric earthworks, burial mounds and hill forts.

For him, a stunning playground, teaming with childhood memories of him and his free range brothers wreaking havoc in a sleepy Cotswold community.

Either way it was dull, windy and freezing which mad our eyes water.