1 March 2017

February 2017



In between the wind and rain of February there have been some sunny days
and the geese made the most of the sunshine.











The geese still haven't got the idea that the water in the tin bath
is for drinking and not bathing
or perhaps it's me that's got it wrong !













Delicate, pink  blossom on the peach tree growing in the greenhouse










Malcolm  has been very busy pointing the inside of the barn,
a slow job but he is now on the home straight
and very soon I will have my own "Junie studio" to play in !! 









For all the Wilma fans out there.....





still looking cute and scruffy !
and I love her to bits !








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Verse of the Month


Now that spring is just around the corner our thoughts turn
to crops and growing and so this little verse seemed very timely;
written by a gentleman that Malcolm met in January on his visit to Devon.



To A Slug


Oh you slow and slimey slider,
I wonder, do you wish you were a spider,
Climbing, swinging, free as air,
Instead of being stuck down there?
And what's it like, what can you do,
When no-one says "I love you true"?
Is there another soul alive
That's not permitted to survive,
But poisoned, drowned, ground under foot,
Because your presence doesn't suit?
I wish you well and beg your pardon,
But go.... please go ....
to someone else's garden !


by Murray McGrath




thank you Murray,
every time I come across a slug I'll think of you .







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Book of the Month



"The One-Straw Revolution"

by Masanobu Fukuoka

ISBN :  978-1-59017-313-8




















This book may well have been book of the month on the blog
once before, but it is great !



His four basic principles are:
1. no cultivation, that is, no ploughing or turning of the soil
2. no chemical fertiliser or prepared compost
3.  no weeding by tillage or herbicides
and
4.  no dependence on chemicals


sounds good to me.







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February is the month of my birthday
and on my birthday I always think especially of my lovely Mum and Dad and also
of all those people who brought about my being here,
without whom I would never have existed.


I am very fortunate that I have some beautiful photographs
of some of my ancestors
and would like to share them with you.





My Mum and Dad in their courting days
strolling along Piccadilly, London









My Mum's Mum holding me in her arms
in her garden with the Anderson shelter, Dagenham, Essex











My Mum's grandmother











My Mum's father, relaxing with a cigarette















Mum's father seen here on the right, with his mother












The next photo is my favourite photograph of all time !!!!
and I have a poster-size copy of it hanging in our kitchen
and it makes me smile every day.




It is a photograph of my dear Dad in 1919, aged 2.
Yes, I know he's wearing a dress !











My father's father looking handsome in his uniform









The child on the right of this next photo is my father's mother
in 1888 with two of her many brothers and sisters













My Dad's grandparents in Devon










My Dad's great grandmother,
name and details unknown













The next photographs are just to make you laugh.....




me








and my curly-haired bruvver, whose birthday is also in February,
they don't dress them like this any more !!












Is it any wonder that I never learnt to ride a bike !!!











I did have a head start on my driving skills though












Our Mum always did like wrapping us up in crepe paper
at the holiday camps;
seen here as Sooty and Sweep I'm not sure that we liked it very much













This next photograph is my 2nd most favourite of all time.....





my big bother is four years older than me,
it seems that I used to eat most of his dinners as well as mine !




Quite frequently I can still be seen standing in this same position !






On that nostalgic note, we wish you a beautiful spring time,
here's to making happy memories,
remember to take lots of photographs



June and Malcolm
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