Fishing in the Peter Pan park.

Today me, Holly and Eleanor went fishing in the boating lake of the Peter Pan Park. On the way Holly and Eleanor amused themselves with their fishing rods brandishing them around Scampy, saying 'Look I've caught a Scampi' or round a rock 'I've caught a rock fish'.

We got there, and there were quite a lot of other people there too, fishing. A row was narrowly averted when Eleanor had two fish and Holly had none, but soon things were back on track as the number of fishes in the ice cream tubs equalised. I took four ice cream tubs, I've got quite a number of them at home which I keep for any eventuality, and we needed them today as all our little buckets had been lost or broken.

As usually happens when we go fishing we were soon surrounded by a crowd of small boys, who haven't got any fishing rods themselves and like to muscle in on the action. I liked it when someone said 'I've got a fish' and everyone rushed over to have a look, even if it was the umpteenth fish caught. Soon the little would-be hunters had appropriated one of our fishing rods and were advising the girls on handling the fish 'Just, do it like this, it's not going to bite you.' Soon the emphasis was on size with 'Look I've got a massive one' 'There's a massive one over here' and it all got very competitive. Holly asked for her fishing rod back and I gave the boys two of my ice cream tubs instead. My main function was to follow the girls on their progress round the pond with the fish in the tubs to try and minimise the time the fish spent suspended in the nets.

The girls spent a lot of time naming their fishes, Splishy and Spashy being Eleanor's, and wrote the names on their tubs, with the added information that Eleanor's were best friends with Holly's. I have let them bring two home each, but they will be put back tomorrow. It took quite some time carrying them home and I suggested we put the tubs in some carrier bags which I had with me, but they must have thought of goldfish in plastic bags at the fair and were alarmed as they thought the bags might have some holes in, but I explained that what I meant was put the tubs in the carrier bags. After some discussion about whether all the water would slosh out and a few practices and putting the tubs squarely in the middle of the carrier bags so that they were properly balanced we managed to get them home safely.

Scamp spent a lot of time watching, trying to work out what was going on. He seemed to think that the water was being put in the tubs for his benefit (as sometimes I use the tubs for this purpose) and tried to drink out of them. Walking home he thought that the rods were giant sticks and was barking at me to throw them.

The girls have just come in and they have bought some fish food from the petshop for their fishes.

Flowers in my garden

These are the flowers in my garden, which is just an ordinary surburban garden, but which give me great pleasure.

First pic, my camera does not do justice to these flowers, which to the eye up close look like the finest lace. It makes me think about where the lace makers got their inspiration from, perhaps from nature. I cannot believe that somebody once sat down and started making intricate patterns in white thread because they had just thought of it. They make me think of Elizabethan ruffs and that painting by Vermeer.

Second pic, pink poppy. Makes me think of cornfields, and peasant skirts and wild abandon in the hay. I went for a country walk recently and a lot of the farmers round here have seemed to have abandoned chemical fertilisers and pesticides and the fields were full of poppies, which is certainly something I have rarely seen. May be it is in response to a demand for organic food. Natural flower-arranging with the contrast between the dry corn stalks and the vivid, soft, floaty shapes of the poppies.

The ferns are primeval and make me think of dinosaurs. I am sorry, but maybe I have been reading too many of my son's dinosaur books.

Without the flowers, in bud, the fourth plant looked a bit futuristic, like something you would find in a Star Trek garden. I quite liked it as it was but my husband said there was more to come. I still think it looks a bit planetary, because of its spherical shape, like a purple moon.

Firth pic, nasturtiums, cheap and cheerful. Bright orange colour which makes me think of cheap and cheerful things like plastic washing up bowls or cheap and cheerful packaging. They use that colour for a reason.

Gardens I pass

These are the gardens which I pass on my dogwalk.

First garden, they like sunflowers. I have never seen sunflowers put round a border like this, it is not usually considered to be a border filling plant. So what, they don't give a toss. If you find something you like stick with it.

Second pic. The retired gentleman always put on a display like this (which he makes himself)which the toddlers gather to look at on their way to Playgroup. This year it is Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. He stand there watering them (longer possibly than is necessary)throughout the day and likes to chat with the little groups gathered at the fence, which include a fair number of adults.

Third pic, a bit more sophisticated, a peaceful Zen Buddhist garden which has a statue of Buddha at the top of the circle.(Though it is not clear.) Well, it did have but now it is a Seven Dwarf. I used to like looking at the Buddha when I passed and had to double take one day when I saw Grumpy instead. When I asked the lady what had happened she said that the Buddha had been nicked and she had to replace it with one of the dwarves from her back garden. It can't have been a proper Buddhist who nicked it as surely stealing is against all their principles.

Fourth pic a Chinese garden. Not a good pic this as it is quite secluded and I had to hold my camera over the fence to get it. Then I worried about the ethics of taking pictures of people's gardens, it's a bit of a cheek. The bloke who was watering the garden in the last pic agreed and asked for fifty quid copyright. Said that flowers this year (and he should know) have bloomed for longer and more spectacularly because of all the rains.

Allotments

These are the allotments where I walk the dogs. Scamp is always appreciative of the visit as there is always plenty of manure in which to roll and to end up as smelly as possible and raise his street cred with the other dogs.

I like allotments because they are utilitarian gardens and I like the contrast between the utilitarian grey shapes of the huts and fences and the softness and colour of the vegetation, which always seems to end up taking over, except in the most carefully tended plots. Nature will always prevail. Some of the allotments are spectacularly weedy with giant hybrid monster weeds, but I have chosen pics which are really rather beautiful, and which rival many a garden.

The first pic I asked permission of the allotment holders (who kindly gave it) to take it as it seemed such a perfect English scene, a couple gardening with clouds billowing overhead and the gentleman sporting a straw hat. Actually the lady said she agreed and wished she had brought her camera with her so I hope they find this blog as per instructions!

Second pic like a secret garden found among the rows of tended vegetable allotments, with pergola and slightly overgrown. Different flowers from spring when it was full of foxgloves.

Third and fifth pics look like somebody's prize blooms and look a splendid sight en masse. The manure has certainly been doing its job.

Fourth pic, that Russian Vine has transformed that shed roof into leafy thatch. Notice how it is billowing over the sides. They need to take action now or the shed will shortly disappear. Me and Scamp took the liberty of walking up one of the aisles to see this and again somebody has made it into a little garden with chairs to sit on and a collection of hanging mirrors to catch the light.

An educational visit for Scamp as he was playing on the field with Ash, a Border terrier, who is the daughter of the Border terrier which won Crufts a few years ago. I hope some of the class rubbed off.

Some corners of my house

Here are some corners of my house, in response to a request from Sweet Irene.

Firstly my Indian themed dining room.

Secondly our fire place. We live in a 1930s terrace and when we moved in this fireplace was the original 1930s one which was a dark mahogany, quite dark and forbidding. We have always wanted a pine fireplace so Mark painted it with pine coloured paint. If you look you can see that he has even put in the knots in the wood, which is a nice touch. So it is a rather strange hybrid, a 1930s pine fireplace. On it (the grey shape) you can see Eleanor's vase which she made out of clay and coloured aquarium stones at Brownies for Mother's Day. Quite heavy this, and you have to take care not to knock it off.

Thirdly my impressionist lampshade, as I like the colour effects of the impressionist school of painting and wanted it on my lampshade.

Because I don't like cooking and my kitchen is small and dark and wanted to make being in it the most positive experience I could make it I tried to think of the most positive experience I could think of and came up with a Mediterranean theme. The colours of the walls are contrasting oranges (quite pleased with the combination of colours here) as orange is the colour of celebration and life. Note the border with vines and grapes. I put three little terracotta pots on the window sill to complement the theme, but two have been knocked off.

Our Roman Baths. Mark made the mosiac and I put on a mosiac border of sea creatures. Again it is a 1930s bathroom, as you can tell by the tiles. The bath is very narrow and coffin shaped, but environmentally friendly as it does not take much water. You have to be very slim to use it, as maybe they were in the 30s, due to rationing.

MG Car Rally

I have included in this post a pic for France's 2 Things Challenge, though my entry is very loosely based on the theme and perhaps is rather stretching the point too far. The entry is the second pic, which has a green classic MG whose motor Mark says contains oil and if you look very closely at the picnic box you will see that it contains a bottle of drinking water.

We went to this classic car rally in Platley Bridge. It was a classic English scene with beautiful old MGs polished and gleaming in the sunshine and people picnicing on the grass.

There is Mark and Scamp looking at a tool stall. Mark is fascinated by this sort of thing. I myself less so, though I can see a sort of beauty in a row of spanners laid out according to size. with a very small size variation between each one. I also liked the special brushes that you could buy to clean in between the spokes on the wheels of the very old MGs. These are people who take their MGs very seriously, and indeed they are works of art, though of the engineered variety.

Some of my Van Gogh Sunflower things, for Sweet Irene

I said to Sweet Irene that I don't like Van Gogh's Sunflowers, but on reflection I think I probably do.
It was me that chose these things in my house.