To all my much-missed friends

9 Sep '07 3:15 am

Well, I seem to have become a real part-timer on this forum, I feel like I’m missing out on so much! I’ve been reading almost all of the posts by printing them out and reading them in the evenings, but having time to reply is something that doesn’t exist for me at the moment! I was sorry to hear about the fires in Greece though and my mind went to our Liza immediately; I seem to have missed some birthdays too, so if your birthday has been and gone recently, many (belated) happy returns!

I have just had a fortnight off work, just before hubby went back to school (he started again on the 3rd) and have been quite busy during that time. We went down to Devon for a few days to my parents’, meeting one of my brothers there too, and spent a lovely time at our favourite beach (one that I’ve been visiting since I was a year old) – we swam in the sea a couple of times, although hubby and bro’ started “ganging up” on me and splashing me loads – luckily I didn’t lose my contact lenses! – and, as they were acting like children, I decided I would too and went and complained to Mum – hee hee!! It was all just a bit of fun though and afterwards, we played some French Cricket – I’m not sure whether it’s actually French or if anyone here knows about this version, it may even just be a family thing, but basically one person stands in the middle of the others with a cricket bat protecting their legs (which represent the stumps). The others throw the ball (usually under-arm) and, if the batter hits it, he can turn to face the next bowler but, if he misses, he must keep his feet still and twist his body around to get the next ball. Runs are scored by passing the bat around your body between your two hands and you can be caught or bowled out (hitting the legs with the ball).

Anyway, enough of the lesson! We also spent some time enjoying Mum and Dad’s garden and I must admit to a little relief on finding that Mum’s veggies weren’t doing brilliantly, just like my own – more on this later – although the garden birds were wonderful, there was a big group of house sparrows almost constantly in the garden, a few robins, one of which was obviously a juvenile just getting his adult plumage as he looked a little scruffy, a couple of thrushes (mistle or song, I think, but not entirely sure) and some blue *. Mum told me that the robins love Wensleydale cheese and, to encourage them more, I should just sit in the garden more often and they’ll get used to my presence. What a lovely excuse to just sit and do not-a-lot!! Hee hee.

Unfortunately our camera is still in a strop and only works about 1 out of 10 times, so we didn’t bother even taking it with us. Consequently, we don’t have any photos I’m afraid. Sorry!

When we got back from Devon, we spent some days pottering about (lots of weeding, etc), went to my brothers’ house for a barbecue with some of their friends which turned out to be fantastic because my eldest brother’s fiancée asked me to be a bridesmaid for her (hooray!!!). We also went to the local agricultural show just over the county border in Lingfield, Surrey, which we’ve been to a couple of times before and absolutely loved. They have all sorts of stalls with lots of country-ish things from tractors to wellies and bulbs to paintings. We spent a few hours wandering around and I bought some hyacinth bulbs to go with the ones I planted last year and a lovely painting of a Westie terrier for my Mum’s birthday which is coming up. We also got some fantastic home-made fudge (which has all gone now!) and some new chairs for the garden – they’re sort of canvas with tubular steel frames and you can fold them up and put them away which is better than our old ones and I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time sitting on these chairs, watching the birds!

We watched a couple of the equestrian events which I particularly enjoyed – looking at the horsies – and had a look at all the classic cars on display (there were some really nice ones there too, my favourite being a 1950s Mercedes SL…something, think it was a 190 or something – gorgeous!).

The following day we visited a local wildlife centre which someone we know had recommended to us. Unfortunately when we got there, we weren’t hugely impressed. The thing is that, when the place had first opened, they’d obviously spent a lot of money on making the enclosures, etc, but it didn’t seem like they’d done anything since – it was all a little run-down and generally not nice I’m afraid. We saw a grass snake (which is supposed to be our largest and stockiest snake in Britain) which was really small and thin – you could see his spine which is not right, they’re supposed to be almost square-shaped, but he was more triangular. There were also a couple of wild cats which were very thin too, and a coal tit had got caught in an enclosure with red squirrels and couldn’t get out.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and some bits did seem to be quite good; they had quite a few birds of prey which looked healthy and happy, although they seemed to be homed with fowl of some kind which we thought was rather odd – wouldn’t the owl/kestrel/whatever try to kill it and if so, wouldn’t that be somewhat upsetting to anyone who might see it? I don’t know, perhaps I’m missing something, but the overall impression we got was that they were struggling, not necessarily for funds (entry was £7 each which we thought was rather steep but certainly wouldn’t begrudge if it was worth it!) but for knowledge; I don’t claim to know everything about caring for wildlife, but I do know a bit and hubby knows a lot more and neither of us were too impressed I have to say.

Anyway, moving on, we decided to go up to London on another day and do a bit of shopping. We went up to my favourite shop in London, Forbidden Planet, which sells memorabilia, models, games and (most importantly of all) books all relating to science fiction and fantasy, i.e. Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, etc. I bought a couple of books and hubby had a long look at their selection of comics but they didn’t have what he wanted unfortunately. We then wandered around, browsing through our favourite little shops, buying a few other things, and had a light lunch before heading back home with our purchases.

The garden’s doing ok at the moment, although everything is really late because of the non-summer we’ve had. My heather on the terrace is looking lovely, it’s sending out lots of little multi-branched stems and I’m wondering if you can propagate it using these (i.e. pin it down in a pot of compost and detach it from the main plant once it’s rooted). Unfortunately my tomatoes aren’t doing so well now, after their brilliant start – the stems are all going brown and sort-of mouldy and it’s spreading to the fruit now. I’ve had a couple of ripe tomatoes, and there are a few more ripening now, but nothing like the numbers I was hoping for! I think it’s because of the amount of rain we’ve had, I hope it’s nothing I’ve done or not done.

I’ve got loads of lavenders of all different types and sizes and the one flowering at the moment is the largest and I’ve been thinking about dividing it into two and placing them either side of the terrace where it leads onto the lawn, but I’m not sure if you can do this with lavender – does anyone out there know?

I also bough some small buddleias for the butterflies, one of which is flowering nicely at the moment. I’ve still got to choose places in the garden for them, I’m not too worried just yet as they’re still very young plants at the moment, but I had thought of putting a couple in the front garden as I’m keen to develop that part of my outdoor space as it’s just a patch of (not very good) lawn right now.

On their second-flushes right now are my sea pink in what I like to call my alpine garden and my New Dawn rose which I managed to get a half decent picture of this time (I borrowed the office camera and took all the photos below on Wednesday morning before work!). My sweet peas are still just about flowering, although they’ve slowed down a lot since my last essay on this forum(!), but my fuschia is stealing the show as it’s grown the most, it’s flowered the most and it’s pretty much doing everything perfectly – well done, fuschia! The cyclamen beneath my acer have woken up and I’ve also ordered some more online which I’m rather excited about receiving – I’m thinking of dotting them around with some new primroses which I bought so I’ll get a spring and autumn display from that area – what do you think?

Unfortunately my eryngium (sea holly) isn’t doing brilliantly – I’ve only got one flower spike and, since the leaves on the acer have come out, it’s not getting as much sun as I thought so the flower heads aren’t turning blue. Must rethink that one.

And, talking of the acer, he’s doing fantastically well as always, and I can’t help but notice the red tinge to his leaves, heralding autumn!

Some of you may possibly remember some unknown plants which I posted a little while ago. Well, one of them has now flowered and guess what? It’s my old clematis!! It seems that it must have seeded itself or something as this stem is about 10/12 feet away from the original, but I’ve compared photos of the flowers from a couple of years ago and it’s definitely the same one! Hurrah!

Lastly, we had our neighbours round a couple of weeks ago and they brought me this gorgeous moth orchid as a present. I’ve been hankering after an orchid for ages so this was a most inspired gift! I think it’s called a Limey, but unfortunately I can’t now find the web site where I found this out so I’m not entirely sure!

Anyway, that’s about all the news I’ve got right now, but I’m going to try really hard to keep up with things from now on! Don’t tell anyone, but I’m looking into a change of career anyway – I’m thinking about training up to be a Primary School teacher, which will mean studying for a degree and then the teacher training proper and will take a few years, but I’m going to apply to become a Teaching Assistant while I’m studying which will get me into the school environment and also mean much shorter working hours (NOT the main reason I’m doing this, but a lovely bonus!) to do all the essays, etc I’ll have to do!

Have a great rest-of-weekend everyone and I’ll be back on Monday.

Lots of love,
Bambi
X

PS Just after having finished writing this, hubby called to say that we are now the proud parents of 15 baby snakes!!!! Hurrah! Don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but basically, about 3 months ago, two of our snakes, Mrs Hudson (who is now officially confirmed as a female, for those of you who may remember the saga!) and Sherlock (who was sold to us as a female but turned out to be a male!) mated and Mrs Hudson then laid 25 eggs. We’ve been incubating them ever since and apparently they’re all hatching today!! We had a few infertile ones and there are still some which haven’t hatched, but hubby says we’ve got 15 baby snakes so far, so I can’t wait to get home and see them!! Must remember to borrow the office camera again and I’ll keep you all posted.

9 Sep '07 3:18 am

...to continue from the last post.

9 Sep '07 8:16 am

What a delightful chatty letter,Bambi-exactly as an old friend writes.
We have been wondering if you are OK.A change of career will be a lot of hard work,but best wishes for your ambition.
Lavender grow easily from cuttings,even if a branch is drooping on the ground it will take root.
Thanks for all the news-does one congratulate on producing baby snakes?I'm not sure about that !
Dixie,

9 Sep '07 9:26 pm

I have already read your lovely text twice, in previous visits here, but I was not in my writing/replying mood... Yesterday. Your photos are splendid!! The ones I managed to admire; because, on the first part of your post, only the photo no15 I can see,the lovely cyclamens; the others are like not being uploaded , they have simply an x sign on an empty little space. Well, I have not any informatic knowledge, and I cannot explain it...

But HOW I enjoyed your narrative part!! All the details of it, like the one of having fun at the beach!!Thank you for the joy my heart felt!

The plants/flowers in your lovely captures are SO very beautiful!! Your Orchids at your kitchen window, having the light behind, are so adorable!! The cyclamens are SO pretty! I think some of mine are already in bloom , too, I had seen them the last time... It is some time now I haven't been in my garden...And your blue Clematis, so elegant and healthy!

Dearest young lady, just be happy and creative like now !! I was so happy to see you again!

10 Sep '07 4:29 am

What a wonderful, newsy post dear Bambi. It was wonderful to catch up with all you have been up to in your absence from the Forum. Congratulations on your baby snakes too. Maybe you can post a photo of them soon.

I too enjoyed the photos you posted, except for the ones that wouldn't upload for some reason. Keep us posted about your idea for a new career. Sounds very ambitious, but I think you would be a wonderful teacher.

12 Sep '07 3:06 am

Dearest Dixie, Liza and Faith,

Thank you so much for your lovely words - they mean so much to me!

I don't know what's gone wrong with those photos as they're not loading up properly for me either. Unfortunately we've been having problems with our internet connection the past couple of days (v frustrating, seeing as I promised to be back on Monday and introduce you all to our snake hatchlings!), and I don't know if it'll take it if I try to upload them again, but I'll give it a go...

Hmm, it doesn't seem too happy I'm afraid, I even resized the photos so they were smaller but it's just taking ages. So sorry about this, but maybe I'll try again tomorrow - I have lots more photos to share and more to tell you all, so I hope it's better by then!

13 Sep '07 2:24 am

Right, let's try this again, shall we?

Hurrah, seems to have worked! For those who think I'm going barmy (and you'd be right! Wink

), these are the photos which failed to upload properly the other day!

14 Sep '07 2:35 am

Well, Autumn is definitely setting in with chilly, misty mornings and longer shadows, and it seems that I have more plants in bloom than at any other time this year, or perhaps it’s my imagination! Either way, I thought I’d share these little beauties with you all.

My little “wild” geranium (so called because I found it growing in the lawn and have no idea how it got there!) is looking great – it seems to be enjoying its new home – and the cyclamen are just gorgeous, I love ‘em, I love ‘em!! I can’t wait until the ones I ordered arrive. The sweet pea pictured below is one of the Heirloom Mixed varieties, but the picture doesn’t do it justice really – it’s a velvety, deep burgundy colour which hasn’t come out very well unfortunately; I’ve also taken a couple more photos of my rose, whose flowers are opening a little more each day and their scent gets stronger each time I have a sniff! The French Marigolds are just starting to open up, a bit late for protecting my tomatoes from whitefly but nevermind, eh? They’re still gorgeous and I’m definitely going to use them again next year.

I also got a bit arty-farty and took a couple of photos of the seed pods on my acer. I think they’re really pretty and they are almost exactly the colour that the leaves will turn later in the year, so it’s quite a nice little tie-in there!

Mostly at the moment, I’m just keeping up with the weeding, but I did spend about an hour on Sunday (including a couple of short breaks to rest my arm!) taking down a small tree next to my compost bin which was turning into a real nuisance – I’m sure it’s a Triffidus Pain-in-the-Neckii!! I stupidly didn’t take any photos, but basically, it had a trunk which was about 6 or 7 feet high and around 3 or 4 inches diameter at the thickest point and that was pretty much it last winter, but this year it sprouted about a hundred new branches, several of which grew to about 10 or 12 feet (no exaggeration!) and attacked me every time I went to put something in the compost! So, I decided enough was enough and I cut off the branches and then sawed up the trunk in sections and now it’s just a little stump which I’ll dig out at another time (mustn’t overdo things, you know!!).

There are a couple of shots of my own gardening cat, Wooster, next, who seems to spend all her time trying to distract me by rubbing herself against my legs and crying at me – she’s such an attention-seeker!

I’ve also posted below some piccies of our snake hatchlings. They were born on Saturday morning and I was snapping away at them on Saturday evening after work and Sunday morning. They’re just so tiny and cute! It was really funny trying to get photos of them all in the plastic pot (photos entitled Box of Hatchlings) as they all kept trying to get out! We had the pot inside another, larger, tub which they couldn’t get out of (the sides are too high and steep) so they were perfectly safe, but it was a constant battle of putting one back in while another five were escaping!! Hee hee! It’s so lovely seeing such precious new life, but of course, nature can be cruel sometimes and we had another little baby who we originally thought had died inside his egg but on Sunday afternoon, we saw him move and were delighted that he’d survived. Unfortunately, once he had come out, we realised that his spine was all twisted, he couldn’t straighten his tail out and so he couldn’t move properly. I know it’s horrible to say and to hear, but he’d also suffered a prolapse and some of his organs were sticking out of his body. We talked about what we should do and decided the kindest thing would be to put him down. I’m not going to describe how we did this as it’s upsetting but it was quick and he didn’t suffer. We named the little fellow Kinky because of his twisted spine, and I’m going to bury him in the garden with all my beloved plants.

It’s a hard lesson to learn, but a valuable one I think, that this is the reason why some animals have so many young – because they’re not all meant to survive, just like not all seeds are meant to germinate.

14 Sep '07 2:41 am

More photos...

14 Sep '07 5:49 pm

Hi, dear Bambi! You're missed much too! I tried posting a reply last midnight but just wouldn't upload for the umpteen times I persevered! Rolling Eyes

So, I'm here again now to try and hope this will succeed! Thanks for updating us on your interesting activities, a wonderful read indeed! Enjoyed too all the fabulous shots of your gorgeous flowers and cute little hatchlings, amazing to see such lovely patterns already displayed on their skin so early in life! Love the pics of the acer seed pods, so pretty in color and shape, like cherry boomerangs! Do post your lovely acer tree when covered with autumnal trees, I'd really love that!
I see wonderful results in your gardening endeavours and getting 15 new babies is simply awesome, congratulations! And you did right with Kinky, my tender and kind-hearted friend!
Wishing you the very best in your new career switch, you'll make a truly fine teacher, Bambi! Smile

To all my much-missed friends

Hello, me again!

More Photos...

catch up

Lovely , sweet Bambi!!

Wow, talk about making up for lost time!