Tags
daffodils, dotted border moth, ducks, early dog-violet, gardening, geese, greylags, hellebores, house sparrow, mallards, Mothering Sunday, Rip van Winkle daffodils, silver-lace primula, simnel cake, solar eclipse, Suffolk, viburnum bodnantense
Such a busy week I have had!
After a couple of problems were sorted out, Elinor’s week last week ended well. She spent Friday in London with her Art class visiting The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Natural History Museum and the Saatchi Gallery and had a wonderful time. She was able to rest as often as she needed to (she has scoliosis) and so therefore had hardly any back pain. She travelled by coach and, as many of her colleagues had never been to London before, the driver took them on a route that passed by many of the sights – they drove along the Embankment so they saw the Thames, Cleopatra’s Needle with the two Sphinx, then the Tower of London and the 2012 Olympic Stadium among others. I left her at the college at about 8.15 am and Richard collected her at 8.00 pm – so about twelve hours away from family – the longest time ever. I spent the day ironing.
Some more of my new Hellebores have begun flowering.
I was able to do a little gardening on Saturday. It was quite chilly but dry and I progressed quite well with the weeding I had started earlier in the week. Richard gave the lawn another mow and over the weekend he was able to finish cutting the leylandii hedge.
Sunday was Mothering Sunday and I had told Mum I would be taking her to church. I collected her and helped her put the Simnel Cake she had made carefully into the car. She had received a phone call from one of the ladies at church asking if she would be bringing a cake as usual and fortunately she had the ingredients ready in case they asked her. I took an elderly retired priest back home after the service then took Mum home too. I arranged with her that Richard would collect her at 6.00 pm as she was coming for a meal at our house. It had to be an evening meal as I hadn’t time to cook lunch and drive to church. I spent most of the afternoon preparing the food. Mum provided an apple pie and another Simnel Cake for us.
The temperature at the weekend was about 10 degrees C lower than the weekend before. The easterly wind dragged such a lot of cloud and mist in off the North Sea but not very much rain. I have had to water the pots and tubs as they are all drying out very quickly. Today the wind was veering round to the North, so a change – but not necessarily for the better!
Richard travelled to Lancaster in Lancashire on Monday for work and continued there until Wednesday. He is now staying with his brother in Manchester as he wanted to see him and his mother. She has been assessed at last and to our complete surprise she has been told that she is fit to leave the respite home she has been in for three months and go home. We know that she is not at all able to look after herself – she cannot stand up on her own anymore, let alone walk. She would need 24 hour care and she would need her home adapting even more than it is at the moment. Richard and his brother needed to discuss this new challenge together and with Mum-in-law. They are also going to visit a couple of nursing homes to see if they are suitable for their mother to live in. They have spent the day at York, visiting the National Railway Museum.
I had an appointment at the opticians on Tuesday and yet again failed to do well enough in one of the tests and have to go back again next week. Mum had another appointment at the eye clinic at Norwich hospital on Wednesday afternoon so I took her. Her appointment went well and we go back again in six weeks. I have done Mum’s shopping for her but it took three different trips.
Tomorrow morning we have a solar eclipse. We will be lucky to see anything of it because of the cloud cover. It may be possible to see it if the cloud thins early enough. I remember the last total solar eclipse 16 years ago. It was a bright, warm, sunny day and we all went out into the garden to witness it. What I remember most about it were the strange shadows – each leaf had two shadows and as it got darker it was such a strange twilight with the dimming sun above us and not on the horizon. As it got dark the birds stopped singing and the silence was eerie. I wonder what I will see tomorrow at 9.30 am? I will be just arriving home from taking Elinor to college.
Elinor has been invited to a party. One of her old school friends is holding an 18th birthday party tomorrow and Elinor thinks she would like to go. She may need collecting early but it will be so good for her even to go for a short time.
Thank-you for visiting!
thatssojacob said:
Yay, first comment! Sounds like a lovely time.
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clarepooley33 said:
Congratulations! Thank-you 🙂
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quietsolopursuits said:
It’s great to see the first signs of spring there, from the beautiful flowers to the ducks and geese. I also think that it would be cool to have both nesting on your own property and be able to watch the youngsters grow up each year.
It’s good to hear that things are going well food your daughter, but you must be extremely busy trying to keep up with everything going on in your life.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jerry. I hope the geese are luckier this year. In past years we have had up to nine goslings in the garden (you can imagine the mess!) but nothing last year or the year before. I have never yet found where the ducks nest but we always have some ducklings using the garden and ponds. Moorhens nest here too but we also have visiting cats, sparrowhawks, kestrels etc and I even saw a crow flying off with a moorhen chick a couple of years ago.
I am very busy and tired. My daughter is really getting on so much better but she still has regular anxiety attacks which un-nerve her and I have to be very careful how I treat her and mind what I say in case I make the situation worse. What with her, my mother and worrying about my husband, my other daughter and my brother there hasn’t been much time for relaxation recently!
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Gallivanta said:
The hellebores are beautiful. My solitary hellebore has been sulking for years; no flowers at all. I haven’t been coping very well with family complexities but you seem to be managing admirably. I am glad Elinor is wanting to go to the birthday party. Thinking of you experiencing the solar eclipse. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Ann. I am hoping for the best with these hellebores. I put them in last February/ March time and have waited a whole year to see the flowers. I got a selection from a nursery rather than all the same. In a former garden they did very well and spread and seeded all over the place. We’ll see what they do here. I lost one or two of them last summer, I don’t know why.
I had thought you were possibly struggling after your post a month ago and you have been in my thoughts. I have managed to keep going but I am very tired. I have so many niggling medical complaints and am not having much help from my medical centre unfortunately. No energy to complain! The solar eclipse happened but we had such thick cloud I couldn’t see anything here. We only had 85% eclipse so it just got very gloomy then brightened up. Infuriatingly, the sun is shining now!
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Gallivanta said:
The hellebores were so beautiful I thought you must have had them for years.
And, yes, no energy to complain sums it up well. As for those niggles…grrrr. I had minor back surgery many years ago which left me with weakness in my left leg. There’s no pain but always compensating for that weakness makes other parts of the body incredibly stiff and tight. Which is not helpful at all. Wish I had a live-in massage therapist. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Wouldn’t that be wonderful! My husband damaged his knee very badly when he was 13 and since then he has favoured the other leg which is now shorter than the damaged one!
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Gallivanta said:
Oh I love Simnel Cake. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Yes, one of my favourites. In fact, I love anything with almonds/marzipane.
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Gallivanta said:
I haven’t had a Simnel cake in years but I do use almond flour in a lot of my baking.
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chiaradiack said:
Cake and flowers, a lovely post!
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Aggie said:
I second that! And glad to hear Elinor’s good news.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you, Aggie!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much!
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
We’ve had some cool weather here too so all the plants are waiting for some warmth. It’s nice to see your daffodils, hellebores and primroses. It shouldn’t be too much longer for us.
It sounds like your daughter is doing well, and I’m sure that must put your mind at ease somewhat. I hope she will still be able to see friends once school ends.
I wonder if you could get any photos of the eclipse without damaging your eyesight. I’m not sure how you’d go about it. Maybe a mirror would come in handy. I’ve heard that we won’t see it here, which is just as well because we’re going to be cloudy all weekend.
I hope you find some time to get some rest. It sounds like you need to take a day off!
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clarepooley33 said:
Oh yes! I do need a day off desperately! We had the eclipse this morning but we were swathed in thick cloud here and I got ne’er a sight of it 😦 It got gloomier and gloomier and then it was all over and it got lighter and THEN… the clouds lifted and the sun came out! A number of people managed to get really good photographs of it as I saw earlier on the evening news programme. I am on my own this evening. My husband is still away staying with his brother and my daughter is at a party! Absolutely amazing! I will get a message from her later asking me to go out to collect her. I hope I can find the place in the dark as it is way off my beaten track.
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tootlepedal said:
Those are charming daffodils. I have never seen one before.
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clarepooley33 said:
I wish I knew what the ones in the first photo are called. They were here when we moved in.
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colorpencil2014 said:
A post full of stories, beautiful photos…what a delight. A little jealous of Elinor having an art class at the V&A…but I was happy for her that her health stayed in good order!
And oh that Magical Cake…what fun! The viburnum looks so delicate and Springlike…Have a lovely Sunday, Johanna
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Johanna, and the same to you ❤
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Christy Birmingham said:
The hellebores are pretty! And cake,,, mmmm 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Christy! The cake was very delicious. I hope you are well. Best wishes, Clare 🙂
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Jane Thorne said:
Clare, your blog is a loving amble through your life. It is a delight to visit and I love your flower photographs, especially your hellebores and ‘Rip Van Winkle’ daffodils…marvelous. Hugs Xx
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much Jane 🙂 xx
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