U is for umbellifers

 

Cow parsley

There are some weeds which I rather like.  I do have my standards but there is something rather lovely about umbellifers standing near autumn hedges. 

Umbellifers?  They are plants with umbrella-shaped heads made up of dozens of tiny flowers.

Queen Anne's lace

Cow parsley is probably the one most of us recognise, although by autumn it has gone from its frothy white springtime self to something altogether more skeletal. The flower heads dry beautifully, catching the low autumn light and looking almost like tiny pieces of lace.  Wild carrot does much the same. Its flower heads flatten and curl inwards as they age, forming those curious little shapes sometimes called a ‘bird’s nest’.   And wild carrot has the lovely alternative name of Queen Anne’s lace. 

M is for mums

 No, not mothers:- chrysanthemums.  Gardeners often call them mums.   And I forgot to get some this year!

They are one of those plants which give a wonderful autumn burst of colour, along with sedums, Michaelmas daisies, dahlias and rudbeckias.  Summer doesn’t have it all her own way.  These flowers are the garden’s final burst of colour before winter takes over.

Many gardeners grow wonderful specimens to enter the local horticultural shows but mums aren’t necessarily demanding.   They simply get on with flowering while the rest of the garden is collapsing around them.

As the years go by, I find myself increasingly sympathetic to plants that bloom a little later in life. There is something rather appealing about having your best moment when everyone else has gone indoors.

Chrysanthemums come in all sorts of colours — yellow, bronze, red, pink, white and rather alarming shades that seem to have been invented by someone with a fluorescent paint box. They are wonderfully cheerful.

When the evenings are drawing in and summer already feels like something that happened somewhere else, mums provide a little reminder that there is still plenty of life and colour left in the year.

Orchids

Growing house plants has never been my best thing.  I don't buy them now as it seems very cruel to do so.  However, people who don't realise the extent of my "skill" with indoor vegetation sometimes give me plants.  I smile sweetly, say thank you, and wonder how long it will be before the gift hits the bin.  Animals are protected by law, fortunately plants aren't, or yours truly would have a criminal record.  

Jack's daughter gave me this one and I was confident it would soon be dead but instead it has flowered repeatedly.  Last year I decided to split it as the centre of the plant was no longer flowering and I thought it might benefit from repotting but before I could say "orchid compost", it surprised me and flowered prolifically.

A couple of years ago I was given this one and thought I couldn't be so lucky twice.  It flowered generously for several months then appeared to be on its way out, but no, I have the promise of flowers to come.  

Do you think my fingers might, at last, be turning green?  Just for orchids?

My tree in November

30th November is St Andrew's Day so I've decided on a vaguely Scottish theme and gone for thistles.  

According to Scottish tradition, the thistle became the national emblem after a surprise attack by Viking invaders.  One night, the Vikings tried to sneak up on a sleeping Scottish army and, to stay quiet, they went barefoot.   One of the invaders stepped on a thistle and cried out in pain, alerting the Scots who woke up, fought back, and won the battle.

You may be wondering why I've added roses, the English national flower.  Simple really.  I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and had my final birthday lunch yesterday.  One of the ladies brought me flowers, including roses.  But no thistles.

I have no idea!

 A couple of months ago I bought a courgette plant.  I asked Jack to plant it and before too long it flowered.  Jack was bemused by the fruits which started to appear but we left it to its own devices.  I kept looking but none seemed ready to pick.  

This evening while I was making my way around the raised vegetable bed something brushed against my leg.  A courgette.  At least two feet long! How on earth had I missed this!  And I have no idea what variety of courgette this is.  Can you help?  I think it is a grafted plant.  Fortunately I bought just one as it appears to be very prolific.

But while I was outside I also picked my first "big" tomato of the season.  I've been eating cherry tomatoes for several days but this is the first full size jobby of 2025.

And at least every other day I have picked a bunch of sweet peas.

Jack tells me his his own garden isn't doing nearly as well as mine.  Tee hee.  Shame about that! 

But thank you, Jack, for doing such a great job with my garden.  A bacon butty awaits your attention.  And I know you have some brilliant leeks which you hope I will turn into soup for you.  

In disgrace

 I don't suppose it's a surprise to anyone that I am in disgrace with Jack.  He came yesterday.

His first complaint was that I haven't written anything on this blog for a month.  As you can see I have remedied that. 

Then he moaned about the number of plants I had acquired.  There were carrots, beetroot, rocket, tomatoes, mimulus, sweet peas, gazania, salvia, begonia, antirrhinum, geraniums and African marigolds.  So he sorted all of them.  Except the geraniums which I have been growing on and they are still a bit small.  

And anyway he added to the quantity by bringing me a daphne, a cotoneaster and something he couldn't remember the name of.  Fortunately I like surprises.  

He planted up my vegetable garden but we have plenty of room for other crops.  The "snake" is a porous hose.  It's the easiest way for me to water the garden.

He filled pots and beds so that I will have a glorious show in the summer.

And he went home with six portions of home-made soup and twelve savoury ducks.

He can't complain about that.  But he'll find something else.  

An evening out

 One of the churches where I occasionally take a service has a lovely fund raising evening each year when about fifteen ladies meet to make wreaths for our front doors.  Everyone takes greenery and bits and pieces to make the wreaths and delicious snacky bits to eat and the evening goes with a swing.  This is my effort.  

And they have a raffle included in the cost of the evening.  I had my second win of the week: a lovely flower arrangement!

O is for Orchid

 To give me a houseplant is to condemn it to death.  That is a simple truth.

Not mine but it could be!

A few years ago Jack's daughter and her husband asked me to help them re-affirm their marriage vows.   I had officiated at the original ceremony twenty years earlier.  All well and good.

But after the ceremony the happy couple gave me a thank you present.  Which was an orchid.  And knowing my "skill" with houseplants, Jack sniggered.  He knew he would be crowing soon.  

I took it home and googled "care of orchids" and I discovered it would like bright light but not direct sunlight.  So I put it on the bathroom window sill which is south facing but I thought the frosted glass would moderate the brightness of the sunshine.  And I waited for the poor thing to die.  

Roughly weekly I gave it a drink.  I found some drip feed made especially for orchids.  And I ignored any advice which Jack gave me.

I'm claiming crowing rights!

G is for Guests

It is such a joy to prepare a meal for friends!  When I was working I prepared many meals for friends and parishioners but these days almost every meal I cook is just for me.

Today my dear friend Bonnie came for lunch.  I found the first few sweet peas and arranged them in a pretty vase for the table.  I made some creamy mayonnaise and on the strength of that made coleslaw and a tangy potato salad.  That veggie box contained some lovely peppers which were splashed with olive oil and roasted.  Boiled eggs are always a treat for me so they came out too.  There was a mixed green salad, tomatoes, and soused cucumber.  And to top it all a salmon fillet each.  For pudding we had home made mango ice cream, freshly churned by me this morning.  

All food is best garnished with a large helping of love and laughter and we had both in plenty.

Ah, it is good to cook for guests!

A Host of Golden Daffodils

 Well, five of them!

I've been feeling a bit crafty again and I decided to make a spring wreath.  Just a simple one, with five daffodils.  Up-cycled fabric. a bit of felt and my glue gun combined with some sewing and I had this jobby.  I'm quite pleased with it.  I might even make a few more and offer them on Etsy.

That would be a new project!

Thank you

As in most beautiful towns it's the work of volunteers which makes Caistor such a lovely place to live in.  They've been busy these last few weeks and we have our customary floral displays.

The barber's shop

A tub in the market place

  

Outside the oldest house in Caistor

The trap in the churchyard

It's the same everywhere: volunteers make this a lovely land to live in.  Thank you to you all.

Early to bed and early to rise . . .

 . . . can be pretty boring!

I'm an extreme lark.  I usually wake sometime around 4am and when I wake I really am totally awake.  In the summer I make myself stay in bed until at least 5am but in the summer I get up any time after 4am.  In some ways it's great.  I get loads done before most people are even conscious, but sometimes it feels as though I have to wait a very long time for the rest of the world to have its essential first cup of coffee.

This morning I was up at 4.05am, a time which many people think shouldn't exist.  I sorted my finances, did a few surveys, entered 189 competitions, answered my e mails and then thought about other things to do.  

I decided to go to Brigg.  In fact I was in Brigg by 7.30am.  A quick look around the fruit stall on the market and a visit to the hole-in-the-wall and I was ready for anything but the shops weren't open.  Hmm.  So I decided to go for a (trundle truck) ride along the tow path.

Even in the town centre bushes and wild flowers have been allowed to grow but the cut grass shows them to perfection. 

In the quiet morning I could see the beauty around me.  I felt this native elderflower was as gorgeous as any foreign rhododendron.

The wild roses are at their peak at the moment and this bush flowered generously.  

I thought this gentleman had a very good idea taking advantage of the picnic table as he enjoyed a flask of coffee,  

And I was still able to join the queue waiting for Lidl to open and eight.

And have a very nice snooze after my lunch.

Clem(atis)

I didn't save many plants which were already in this garden when I moved in.  The previous occupants had been a young family for whom the football posts had been more important than the flowers.  But near the back door there was a clematis and I'm happy to say that it is still there.

In my garden today

The garden when I was a child had lots of clematis, especially after 7th September 1965.  That was the date of my parents' Silver Wedding Anniversary and many of their friends gave clematis plants "for Clem and his mate".

Enjoying the garden over 65 years ago.

My Father was indeed Clem, so the pun (which had occurred to quite a lot of their friends at the same time) was appropriate.  Daddy erected trellises all over the garden and each year there was an abundance of colour.  

The first bloom the year is now full open.  Each day I am reminded of my lovely Father who played with me so often in the garden.  Thanks, Daddy.

Tasty joy

Some things about the pandemic have been awful and if you had Covid or you have lost someone you love, you have my sympathy.  My sympathy too if you have been separated from the people you love.

However, there have been some really good things happening this year and, for me, one the great things has been rediscovering some dishes which I don't often bother to cook.  Today when I came back from my walk I tried to think of something which I "fancied" for my breakfast and suddenly I thought of cheese omelette.

Oh, it was good!  I fried it in butter and just let the cheese melt on top of the eggs before I folded it and slid it on to my plate.  I had time to savour every mouthful.  There are still these lovely flowers on my table from Christmas and that's the only photograph I have because the omelette was far too good to delay eating while I found the camera!

Looking back at October

 Well, we are all going to have to adjust back into lockdown.  To be honest I didn't really come out of isolation very much.  I had two days out (Clumber Park and Gunby Hall) and a visit to Brigg, and I visited a couple of cousins but I have maintained my seclusion.  Jack has been, but not into the house.

But October was good.  The big event for me was my birthday.  Truth to tell I had expected a non-event but the event was suitably marked.  I had lots of flowers, always one of my favourite gifts.  I cooked a very special meal and indulged myself.

When Jack comes my quality of life rockets!  He has been doing all sorts of jobs and here is some of the evidence.  My flower borders and vegetable patch are all ready for the winter.  

And when I have my lunch today I will have lovely fresh vegetables.  Thanks to you, Jack, I can have birthdays all the year around!

Credit where credit is due!

You will have gathered over the past few months that Jack spends a fair amount of time chez moi.  He drinks a fair amount of tea, ticks me off and eats the home made goodies on offer but to be fair to him, he does lots of other things too.

This plant container started life as a water feature but for several years now it has stood near my front door with a floral display.  I think this year's display has been the best ever.   

He has made a new number for the front of my house, adorning it with butterflies.  This was at my request because I loathe trying to find a house when there is no clear number so it seems only fair that my house should be clearly labelled.

He's done loads in the back garden too (the veg patch is my best ever!) but I'll show you that another day.

Putting my house sign on the blog has reminded me that I've been wondering about the letter swaps.  That was a few months ago - how is everyone getting on?  

Loveliness!

 I haven't been into Caistor much recently as I have been avoiding people but this morning I decided to visit the weekly veg stall in the market place.

One thing hasn't changed in this extraordinary year - the army of volunteers has still managed to decorate our lovely town.  Some displays are now past their best but I thought these two, from the market place and the churchyard, were still worth a photo.

And I even brought loveliness home with me in the form of this mouth-watering collection of fruit and veg!

Random acts of kindness

I regret to say that once again I am not having a good week.  Sorry to burden you with this but that's how it is.

Once again I have electrical problems which are probably something to do with last  Sunday's storm.  I won't bother you with the details but suffice it to say that I've parked the freezer in the middle of the kitchen because I am so fed up with moving it to a working socket and putting it back every time there's a problem.  Yet another electrician is booked.  (Someone has already been to make sure all is safe but the on going problem has to be resolved.)

My other problem started well before the storm.  My broadband connection drops out repeatedly.  This means that I can't get my subscription channels on TV.   (I can still get Freeview)

But I've called this post Random Acts of Kindness.  I think that's one of the loveliest phrases to enter our language in recent years.  (Another is "paying it forward" - much better than feeling we need to pay back.)  Yesterday I was on the receiving end of such an act of kindness.  As you can see these mini daffs aren't quite out yet so I will continue to enjoy them for a while to come and then they will be planted in my garden. So much joy!

A joyful heritage

When I was a little girl my grandparents lived in this farmhouse deep in the Lincolnshire Wolds.  It looks very gracious, doesn't it, but looks can deceive!   I wrote about it several years ago starting with this post.

To the left of the view seen here there was a large copper beech tree, and under the tree there grew a rich profusion of snowdrops.  As a little girl I would pick bunch after bunch and you could not see from where I had plucked them.

My Mother dug up a few each year and took them back to the garden at home.  They spread wonderfully and when my parents left that house she again dug some up to plant in the new garden.  Later she moved again and repeated the ritual.  When I went to live at my Vicarage we again dug up a few of the snowdrops and planted them there.  You won't be surprised that when I left the Vicarage I brought some for my garden here.  In each place many were left but the transplanted ones spread in whatever garden they were taken to.  By my reckoning my Mother and I have been responsible for the snowdrop population in at least five gardens and in reality it has been far more than that.  

My present house is a modern(ish) bungalow about five miles from the lovely house in that photograph so my snowdrops have almost gone to their original home.  They flourish in my garden, hiding underground when summer comes but making their welcome appearance each January/February.

And today I fetched this little posy into the house.  Truly a joyful heritage.

How did that happen?

I'm sixty eight!  How did that happen?

I know when it happened - last Wednesday, 23rd October if you really want to know - but I can't believe I've been around for sixty eight years.

I'm having a super life.  I was, my Mother told me, a wonderful surprise as she had almost given up hope of a second child.  I was born into a loving family with just one sister but seemingly countless cousins.  I flourished at school (at least until the sixth form which I loathed) and also enjoyed out of school activities. 

I trained as a librarian and did Voluntary Service Overseas as a librarian in Nigeria, setting up school libraries in the former Biafra.  Maybe being in a motor cycle crash and needing medical repatriation wasn't a good idea though!

I worked in libraries in the UK for several years then joined the Civil Service for a few years before starting full time Christian ministry when I was thirty six. 

I was one of the first women to become priests in the Church of England and I worked in the C of E until I retired when I was fifty eight.

Life has not all been a bowl of cherries (what a boring thought!) but it has been good.

And somewhere along the line I have acquired wonderful friends who sent me all these flowers and more for my birthday!