Saturday 9th March

Spring has been in the air today.  Warm sunshine, enough to only wear a T-shirt!  Yesterday was warm too.  I redid a third of a patio, and my knees told me I had done too much.  But after a good night’s sleep it was exciting to see it again, dry and clean this morning.  I took my fully loaded truck to the Clean Green Dumpsite and then put in the irrigation to the newly created beds.  It is looking good.  The crocus are in full bloom, and all around the base of the shrubs are very pretty.  the Helleborus and the mini daffodils are also blooming and my Spindle tree is sending out new leaves.

Hellebores are beautiful winter flowering perennials, blooming from January to May.  I cut the leathery basel leaves back to the ground in late fall early winter so I can appreciate the flowers fully.  New leaves grow with the flower stems.  They grow best in rich, well-drained soil but tolerate most soil conditions.  Large plants can be divided after blooming is finished.  Although they can be bothered by slugs and snails, it doesn’t seem to be a problems my plants suffer from.  But I do get aphids on my plants in the hot days of summer, which I spray off with the hose and sometimes black spot which can be treated according to the web site.

tete a tete daffodils

Crocus in the garden

Other late winter and early spring bloomers to enjoy in the garden.

Cyclaman

cyclaman

Pulmonaria or Lungwort

Pulmonaria or Lungwort growing in a quiet corner on a busy road in Bognor Regis, not yet above ground in Bellingham.  A pretty perennial that although a shade plant does better where there is enough sunlight to keep the mildew from its leaves.

The last plant profile today is Abeliophyllum distichum or white forsythia, which also comes in pink!  A deciduous shrub that blooms before the yellow forsythia.  It is native to a small central part of Korea, where in the wild it is near extinction.  It grows best in a full sun area with good moisture.  Mine grows on the west side of the house against the wall of the house for protection from the winter wind.  Prune after flowering to encourage new growth for next years flowers.

Abeliophyllum distichum

close up

close up of the pink variety

Home Again!

I am home again and thankful.  My cell phone is also happy to be home too.. has fully charged for the first time in three weeks and gave me a very happy blast on the alarm this morning.   It was a grueling flight, mainly due to my severely blocked nose and that I appeared to be invisible to the cabin crew!  They handed out drinks and meals on either side of me and passed me by quite a few times.  rather disconcerting!

It was pouring with rain when we landed and continued all the way home and into the night…Oh but it felt good to be home!

After a lovely hot bath wrapped in  Dr. Teal’s sooth and sleep lavender bubbles I slept for seven hours without disturbance and woke up at 5 a.m.  I am right back on schedule, no jet lag, thank goodness.  To complete my return, I will go pick up my little pooch this morning, I have missed him so much.  The sun, according to the Bellingham weather is due for a appearance in the next day or so which will also be a welcoming delight.

The Shard

Something spectacular for the last day in the UK!    We couldn’t have chosen a better day to go to The Shard.  The sun was shining filling the air with a touch of spring everywhere.  So what does anyone in a interesting place?  Yes, I took  pictures and here are a few to enjoy.

Tower of London

 

 

 

 

Tower Bridge

Looking towards the Thames Barrier

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Post Office Tower

 

 

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Saint Pauls Cathedral

 

The Millennium Bridge

Well there you are just a few of the landmarks seen from The Shard.  But I saved this one for last!

 

 

 

 

Where would think you were, if you opened a door, and this is what you saw?

The Janitor’s cupboard or the unisex toilets!  I was so surprised I walked out again and had to look at the door sign again!

Behind each door knob is a completely enclosed WC and washbasin.  Very clean too!

Tuesday 25th – Going back to my formative years!

It is still the 25th here in the not so warm or clear evening.  I am still amazed at the ability to do World transactions and conversations thousands of miles apart.  When I was a little girl growing up in the Caribbean, to make a phone call we had to go to the Cable and Wireless office in town, go into a small box and have a very fuzzy call to another Island.  It was something I only did once with my mother.  Any other contact was by letters which took an ordinary letter a week to ten days to reach the shores of England or 24 hours from St Vincent to Trinidad and then one had to wait for a reply and then the journey back!!  And I am not that old!!

A little bit about the place where I lived in my formative years.  The incredible resort of Youngs Island was just that, an islands with trees on it when I lived there.  Once I finally learned to swim I swam from the front right hand corner of the picture, the Aquatic club, to the Island, believing all the time that the water between the  the land and island was infested with Barracuda fish!  Why did I then swim over?  Because I wanted to.   As I made it safely I then went on to swim over to Rock Fort where there was a canon from WW11 at the top.  That is a whole other story!

Trinidad was an island I visited family in the summer.  The Asa Wright Nature Centre, established 3 years after I left the Islands was a place of wonderment for me as a young  child.  It was still the home of the austere Asa Wright back then but the incredible birds and mangos I still remember as well as the vampire bats!

Saturday 22nd February

It is strange being in two worlds at the same time.  Of course many of us do that in our dreams, but this feels different.  Yesterday here, I posted a birthday greeting to my Granddaughter, she is 17 wonderful years old!  hard to realize the time gone by.  But today while my computer still says it is the 22nd it is the 23rd and my brother in law’s birthday!

Outside is grey and chilly but no snow came.  I am grateful, although I secretly wished for some in the trees to take photos of.

My camera batteries are finally all recharged and as you can see from receiving this blog, I am set up with WFii!  A positive on the ugly WFii towers!  From the bedroom window here in Bognor Regis I can receive full service!

thatched cottage in Pagham

 

thatched roof details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bognor Regis  is a seaside resort town in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is 55.5 miles south-south-west of London, 24 miles west of Brighton, and 6 miles south-east of the city of Chichester, and has been the home of many of my family members for a long time.  It really hasn’t changed much in well over 20 years.

If interested you can check out the history of this originally small fishing town on the wikipedia site, and read why it changed from a fishing village to a Royal town!

typical large house

A church in Bognor Regis by the sea

 

Visit to Marlowe

This post is going backwards in time to Saturday 16th and my visit to my other brother James and his girlfriend just outside Marlowe.  It was a beautiful day and a lovely drive.  They live in a row of three houses and nothing less around except a couple of farms and lots and lots of woods with beautiful Beech trees.   We took a lovely walk through the woods to the local pub.

the pub where we had lunch

the village is used frequently for movie.  In the field behind the church was where the puppies were keep for 101 Dalmatians!

After lunch we went to the post office where we got tea and coffee and cookies and sat in a bay window overlooking the street where all those puppies raced over the bridge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked back through the Village and up the Hill and back through the woods to the house.  On the way we saw one of these tiny deer call Munjac deer

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Tessa feeding the birds fat balls!  She is starting up a wonderful, healthy business.  It is going global, please check out her web site. An expression of life 

Journey continued