Tags
art work, cimbidium orchid, common toadflax, Diary, family, great crested newt, music, perennial sow-thistle, pop-up picture, thank-you
I would like to say a big thank-you to all of you who responded so kindly to the news of my mother-in-law’s death. I was quite moved by all your comments and I have duly passed them on to Richard who also sends his thanks.
Chris and Richard cannot do anything now until probate is granted and that may not take place for some months as there is a queue. We will probably meet up with the family in Manchester as usual just before Christmas and have a meal together in memory of Joyce.
Richard is slowly getting used to being retired – a difficult thing to do after having worked continuously for many decades. He has taken possession of his new car, done a fair amount of work in the garden and he is taking turns with me driving Elinor to college.
Elinor is coming to the end of her first week back at college. She is finding it all quite challenging but so far has coped bravely with all the changes to her routine.
I am trying to get on with the back-log of household chores I should have been doing through the summer. I had had such plans, but somehow the time slipped away and I still have two freezers to defrost and lots of cupboards to sort out. Having two one-week holidays to prepare for and then get over is definitely more work than a two-week break!
When I moved my wheelie-bin full of rubbish from it’s spot near the house in order to take it to the end of the drive for emptying, I saw this creature had been hiding underneath. It obligingly waited while I ran into the house to collect my camera. Great Crested Newts are a protected species throughout Europe as they are becoming quite rare through loss of habitat. If this is a Great Crested ( or Great Northern or Warty) Newt, and I suspect that it is, we will have to be very careful how and when we do any pond maintenance.
I have been seeing a lot of these big shaggy flowers as I drive about the countryside. The flowers are about 4 or 5 cms across and are such a bright cheerful yellow – not a common colour at this time of year. They are large plants and can grow to about 2 metres in height.
This is a verge by the side of a fairly busy road on the way to Norwich. I saw a lot of these little yellow Toadflax last year but never managed to photograph them. I was determined to get a photograph of them this year and parked off the road and walked back to see this group, dodging fast-moving articulated lorries as I went.
I hope you agree with me that it was worth the trouble I took to get this photograph. I think these little flowers are really special. They are little yellow snapdragons and can grow to about 50 cms in height.
Before I finish I thought I’d let you know that I will be adding a little music now and then to my posts. It will be up to you if you choose to sample my choices; they will be quite varied and you may find something you like!
Thanks for visiting!
quietsolopursuits said:
It was very nice of the newt to wait until you had gotten your camera, as I’ve never seen that species before. The flowers are beautiful, thank you for risking life and limb to get the photos of the toadflax.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thanks Jerry! As soon as I moved the bin and saw something was underneath I just ran without really looking to see what it was. It was only when I looked at the photo (which isn’t very good as the light was poor at the time) I realised it wasn’t a lizard but a newt and then I noticed what a dark-coloured newt it was! I’m glad you liked the flowers 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jane said:
I googled newts to see if we have any in Australia and that’s when I discovered we do but they’ve “invaded” from Europe apparently. We’ve been able to have them in some pet shops but they’ve escaped. Lovely to see one in your garden. I hope they don’t die out. Yes, I think the pic of the Toadflax was worth the effort. Such a pretty plant flower. I love the snapdragon family. Your daughter’s artwork was very creative. I know how she feels about not wanting to cut up a book! Thanks for the music selection as well. I’ve been trying to work out how to do that with my blog. Have a lovely weekend, Clare. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jane. I hope they don’t die out too but I’m also quite reluctant to let any of the conservation bodies know we have them in our garden as we would have so many restrictions put on us in the way we garden. I have only just managed to work out how to do links and that is how I put the Youtube music in my post. I am a very late-comer to computing and find it very confusing at times! I hope you have a lovely weekend too Clare xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aggie said:
Yes, thanks for getting the toadflax… Elinor’s Red Riding Hood is so delightful, including the mountain boots that look like elfin dancing shoes… I’d never heard of Gus Viseur. Accordion and button box were common with the old timers where I grew up, and this recording takes it to a new level. Your music is a big hit with me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Aggie. I love accordion and button box music. I don’t know how folk musicians would get on without that instrument.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aggie said:
Are you familiar with Argentine tango and the bandoneon? If not, I will try to pick something for you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
I have heard a little Argentine tango but I don’t know anything about the bandoneon. I’d be very interested to hear what you pick. 🙂
LikeLike
Jill Weatherholt said:
I love Elinor’s Red Riding Hood…she’s very talented. The orchid is absolutely beautiful, Clare. Thanks for sharing your lovely photo and the music. We all need more music in our lives.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jill! Music is a real comfort to me – I don’t know what I’d do without it. I love your new gravatar photo!
LikeLike
Gallivanta said:
Help! The wolf looks so wicked but Red Riding Hood seems to have the situation under control. It’s great you and Richard can share the driving now. Interesting that probate takes so long. Not sure how long it takes here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Ann. I wish I’d said something about probate before because we got a message from the solicitor today to say that it has been granted much earlier than she originally thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gallivanta said:
That’s wonderful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thom Hickey said:
Thanks clare. A lovely series of eye catching and heart warming images. Looking forward to your music choices. Regards Thom.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Thom!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Julie said:
Your music choice made me smile Clare, we had my father in laws funeral this week, the Eulogy read by my husband talked a lot about my Father In laws dodgy dancing, I could imagine him dancing to your music! Elinor is very talented, I love the illustrations. And toadflax is a wonderful little wildflower, I have only seen one plant so far this year, it was worth the effort to get a photograph.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Julie. I am glad you have got through the funeral okay. I’m glad the music made you smile 🙂 I have never seen so much toadflax as this year – it is everywhere. I thought at first there wasn’t any within walking distance of our house but on my return from photographing the toadflax I saw some in the verge outside a friend’s house a mile away!
LikeLiked by 1 person
New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
I’m glad your husband’s retirement is giving you a break from all that driving, at least.
I used to do a lot of artwork too so I can imagine how much work your daughter put into that piece. I didn’t know Little Red Riding Hood got along so well with the big bad wolf!
I like yellow toadflax too, and it always seems to grow alongside roads here just as It does there.
Nice orchid, and the newt was quite a find! Coincidentally, I was looking up newts in England for a blog reader and found that you have 4 of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Allen. Yes we have four newts – the Common Newt, the Palmate Newt and the Great Crested Newt are all natives and the Alpine Newt is an introduced one. I wonder why toadflax likes roadsides?
LikeLike
New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Some plants prefer growing in soil that has been disturbed and apparently toadflax is one of them. Blue toadflax does the same thing here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
I thought you might be able to tell me! Thank-you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
tootlepedal said:
The toadflax is gorgeous and well worth any risk. I enjoyed the music too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Tom.
LikeLike
Lavinia Ross said:
The photos are beautiful Clare, as always. Rick’s mother has qualified for home Hospice now, so we will have more help now. We now have a nighttime caregiver on occasion, which will allow me to get a little more sleep.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
This is such good news! There comes a time when you just can’t give the care that’s needed no matter how hard you try. If you can get more rest that will make such a difference. Best wishes, Clare xx
LikeLike
Lavinia Ross said:
And the music is beautiful. Thank you for including that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
I’m glad you liked it!
LikeLike
greytabby1 said:
Hi Clare! Beautiful collection of lovely photos. Your daughters artwork is very special. So sorry, too about your father in law. I have only just started following so I don’t know all the circumstances but losing a family member is always so sad.
❤️ Kate
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Kate! It was my mother-in-law who died and it wasn’t really unexpected but still a shock. We had just travelled north to spend a week in the Peak District from where we were going to be able to visit her easily so at least we were able to help my brother-in-law with some of the immediate duties. Clare x
LikeLike
Cynthia Reyes said:
Another great visit with you, Clare. I’m glad that Elinor perseveres — such lovely ‘storytelling’ artwork — despite the challenges.
And that Richard can now help you with the driving. What a humongous amount of driving you did last year.
Now, you brave girl, you: divide an orchid into 6? I can barely keep the things alive. Do you just gently pry the roots apart or cut them, or what?
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Cynthia! I’m not sure that I’ll ever bother re-potting an orchid again as it has taken so long for just one of them to flower! I had to break the pot it was in as it was so pot-bound. I tried to pry the roots apart but that didn’t work as they were too fragile. I used a knife and cut it into six pieces making sure that there were a couple of leafless back bulbs to each section. I removed all the dead and old roots and then re-potted. I now know that I should have made the new plants bigger and should have retained 3 or 4 back bulbs for each one. This is probably why most of them haven’t flowered yet. They are happiest when pot-bound apparently!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Charlotte Hoather said:
Loved all your photos, Elinors design was a fab idea, does she do book illustrations as part of her course I follow some great illustrator blogs she might like to look at arihoma.com.
Loved the video it reminded me of Paris and where I first trained in Altrincham a guy there played this lots on his accordion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! Elinor doesn’t do book illustrations on the one-year course she is on at the moment but she hopes to go onto a graphic design course next year which includes book illustration. She hopes to illustrate books and draw cartoon stories as a career eventually. I will let her know about arihoma! I’m pleased you liked Gus Viseur! Clare x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Advent | A Suffolk Lane