I sold a T-shirt with the words “I love hedgehogs….they’re very tasty”. Well I thought it was a catchy slogan for the photograph I took of this little critter.
I love hedgehogs…they’re very tasty
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Time for sowing
I know I’m a bit late, but I’ve started sowing seeds in trays. I thought that with the threat of icy nights receding, I’d crack on. Some of the seed packets say sow direct into the soil. But, as I’m polluted with slugs and snails who can’t wait to get their grubby little chops on anything remotely green, I’m putting the seeds in trays, covered with cling film. The frond type plant in the centre is Chinese garlic chives, these are great in stirfry.
Seed trays
The currant bushes seem to have taken ok and I got quite a few gooseberries last year…their first year.
Last year I covered seedlings with plastic drink bottles, which promptly blew away. Anyhoo, I’ll give this a try and when they are ready to plant out I’ll decide what to do.
Packets of hopefulness
Thomas family tree
I’ve been doing some research into a branch of my family tree today and found information on one my father’s cousins. He had mentioned these twins who lived in the Birmingham area, Alfred and Bertie Richardson. All he knew was that Alfred was in France during the 2nd world war and ended up with a steel plate in his head. Bertie was killed in Cairo. Well, searching on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site I found information on which section in the army he was and when he died and where he was buried. They have a link to a site where you can request a photo of the headstone (£3.50 if you want it emailing) which I thought was’t much as a remembrance of someone who died a long way from home.
RICHARDSON, BERTRAM THOMAS
Rank: Serjeant
Service No: 1464523
Date of Death: 02/08/1941
Age: 21Regiment/Service: Royal Artillery
1 Lt. A.A. Regt.
Grave Reference K. 87.
Cemetery CAIRO WAR MEMORIAL CEMETERY
Additional Information:Son of Henry Joseph and Elizabeth Kempster Richardson, of Yardley, Birmingham.
I hope the cemetery is still being looked after in these troubled times.
Big bird
Beautiful crisp day and looking out of the window, I saw this heron chancing his arm in perching on the crows tree…they soon saw him off
A day out in Barrow in Furness
Tootled off to Barrow in Furness on the train today, via Lancaster, where we had a bit of a wait. There was a bit of banter with one of the guards after we mentioned a man had let his dog pee on another rail workers bag.
Barrow looks like there’s been a concerted effort to clean it up. There was hardly any litter about, flower beds looked well cared for and there were new building works going around and about. A statue to Emlyn Hughes the footballer, is one of the first things you see after coming out of the station
There are still some very beautiful buildings in the centre
The Duke of Edinburgh pub
The old Co-operative building
The old Technical School
and of course the Town Hall
Street art has been sympathetically placed in the town, with a nod to the industrial past
I wanted to take a photo of my old school, Alfred Barrow County Secondary School for Girls, but I was disappointed that it was not the same as I remember. Both my parents went to these schools as well. The boys section was still there but the girls part was not at all what I expected. It has now been all amalgamated into one school.
Girls section
Boys section
Finally, before our return train trip, we walked to the park, up the path to the cenotaph and down the steps to take a photo of the band stand. What a beautiful vista, with the bandstand, new cafe pavilion and boating lake with swans gliding by.
Just a Minute
Well, I’ve not been posting on here for such a long time…been busy on other things, anyway I’m back and while waiting to go out thought I’d watch “Just a minute” on BBC iplayer. I often listen to it on Radio 4 and find it amusing. This is the first time it’s been on the telly so I thought I’d give it a go. I don’t usually watch these game shows but with the credentials of Radio 4, it should be good….And it was, in fact I think the show is enhanced by seeing the contestants realise they’ve made a mistake. Just a Minute
Day out to Manchester
Well after all the trauma of the riots in Manchester, the city centre seemes to have got back to normal, apart from one or two boarded up windows. It’s been a long time since I was there, so was viewing it with fresh eyes. Travelled down on the train, which was pleasant enough and made straight for the Manchester Art Gallery in Mosley Street and after a delicious coffee and a not so fresh scone, we wandered round the exhibits. The static exhibitions were what you would expect from a city gallery and there were temporary exhibits which were interesting as well. Parts of Manchester’s industrial past was on display, one wall covered in black and white adverts
trade adverts
And I loved this photo of a day out for the workers
Workers day out
I love the pre-Raphaelites and there were few dotted around, this one of Rossetti’s “The Bower Meadow” is a favourite.
Bower Meadow
There is a Ford Maddox Brown exhibition next month which I’m thinking of going to, though it’s not free!
Once outside we made our way towards the Town Hall, me taking snaps as I went along.
Old and new in Manchester
I couldn’t get a great view of the front of the Town Hall because there was a load of scaffolding and staging, put there for a free gig for people to show how much they love Manchester. Albert was steadfast amongst the commotion
Albert memorial Manchester
We went inside the town hall, what a fantastic building it is, like a cathedral to municipality. Had a little wander round then had lunch in the cafe….great place, with leather chairs and a TV to watch the news. We had Lancashire hotpot with red cabbage, brought to us in little cast iron casserole dishes and at £4.75, what could be better. Appetites satiated, we toddled off to the Arndale Centre for a spot of shopping. One little girl was having a great time bouncing up and down on a wire.
Flying high in Manchester
We had a quick browse around the Royal Exchange theatre to see what was on then along by the Piccadilly Gardens, which isn’t really a garden but a series of upshooting water spouts for kids to run around in. Victoria was not amused
One is not amused
Meeting up at Lazonby Pool for Sally’s birthday
Aren’t friends great!! Not been up to Lazonby since the Thai curry night in February and it was like I’d never been away. The occasion was Sally Foster’s 50 birthday….there Sally, I’ve announced it to the whole world…you’re 50!! A barbecue, music and plenty of drink was laid on for all and there was a whole mix of ages there, which makes it much more fun. The pool was open for all to use, the kids love swimming under the stars and the adults went in as it got darker.
Stuart Harper did a sterling job cooking the burgers and sausages, Sandra and Chris enjoyed themselves mixing up vats of punch, yummy and various other ladies did a fantastic job of serving up the food and washing up afterwards. Of course there was the birthday cake at the end of the night…and it was huge!!
Waiting for everyone to turn up
Waiting for burgers
Go on, say sausages
Sally saying thank you
Mmmm cake
And then everyone went home……doesn’t it look pretty.
Everyone goes home
Sunday morning and a lovely refreshing swim…then bacon butties, toast and marmalade and ground coffee…all for £2.50!! One delighted woman cried….yippee Cocopops…I’ve not had those since I was a child!
Sunday swim and breakfast
::There was an advertising board announcing their forthcoming Hawaiian Night next Friday, sorry I won’t be there ::
Hawaiian Night at Lazonby Pool
Kite Festival at Morecambe
With the weather being beautiful, sunny and windy, it was the perfect day for the Morecambe Kite festival. There were crowds a plenty with the occasional drumming from a local band and the speakers warming up for the tribute bands outside the Platform. But the show was stolen by the kites. There were ordinary kites, a Wallace and Gromit kite, dragons and unicorns and flying cows, to name but a few::
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::Here’s some kitey things on Zazzle::
I’m looking forward to the sandcastle weekend on the 5th and 6th of August.
Zazzle and Redbubble sales this week
I’ve had a reasonable week this week on Sales from my Zazzle Store and 1 sale from Redbubble. If you’re not familiar with these strange words please pop along to the stores and have a look round them. The way they work is that you upload photos, art work, saying or whatever digital forms you want on to your part of the website and if anyone likes the look of them, they can request said photo etc to be printed onto T-shirts, mugs or a multitude of other products. You are then given commission (which you have set) and when, say $25 is reached they pay you, either via paypal or into your bank account. If your very good and spend most of your day promoting yourself you could possibly make a reasonable amount of money. If you’re like me, however, who only dabbles in it now and again…well it’s a nice little surprise every now and again. But once your image is on the site you don’t have to do anything else to it, so it’s just getting the ideas and inspiration at first that’s the hard work.
Anyway, this is what I’ve sold this week.
From my Zazzle Store
It’s because I’m ginger, isn’t it? card
Jellybabies on parade mousepad
Great Wave on a Speck ipad case
