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Diary – 2014 June
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 June
Time to refurbish the old cast iron garden bench that Auntie gave us years ago. There were lots of layers of
paint and I watched while someone put on the paint stripper into the last
little gaps. After the stripper was cleaned off, we scrubbed it with the wire brush and painted
on the
red oxide primer.
All the new wood has been cut and numbered, as the holes vary a bit, and I am
trying it all out before spraying the end sections in a bright blue, to match
the other one that we did last year. It will definitely match because it is the
same can of paint!
We have been digging up some weedy bits of the lawn and I am storing the pieces
of replacement new turf on a shady path beside the pond, which now looks like a
mown grass path. Our bold blackbird friend is delighted to inspect progress at intervals, and clear
the worms away!
3 June
Here is a coot family in the park. Coots have white fronts to their
heads.
5 June
Our friendly resident baby robin is getting used to following us round
the garden or coming near to where someone is sitting. He waits a little
while before making for the crumbs, just to check everything is safe.
Later on we had a birthday dinner and used up some left over Christmas
crackers. The jokes were too awful to remember but we did wear the paper
hats.
6 June
This lovely big oriental poppy only flowers for a short time, so lots I
take lots of photos as each new one comes out. This is my best one yet.
I just love doorways leading to something interesting. This one in the
park is looking down to the rose garden. The ornamental duck was sitting
very still, but he probably won't stay very long in the park.
7 June
I got up really early for a drink, and here are the dawn sunrays seen
from my kitchen window. At the end of the day these strange clouds were
lit up by the setting sun. I think they look like stick insects.
We are repapering the living room walls today, over the top of the
existing paper. First I had to cut some bubbly bits and wet them so that
they would lie flat. This fireplace hole looks quite scary inside, and
is probably full of old soot from years and years ago. There used to be
a gas fire here but now the hole is just covered with a ventilation
grille.
I enjoyed mixing the paste and pasting the paper. I used this old pink
teeshirt to smooth down around the windows. It all dried very quickly,
as the weather was hot and sunny.
9 June
Here are the coots again, on their nest in the middle of the park pond.
The babies are quite big. They are very safe out in the middle, but if
it rains they will have to get under their mum in a hurry.
10 June
These are moorhens, who have red faces. They and their chicks are a lot
smaller than the coots.
13 June
We went through the park very early and most of the ducks were sitting
around asleep. It is best to keep walking, as if anyone stops they think
some bread is coming their way. This huge young rook and his friend
landed on my lawn and then sat on the greenhouse. We had to make a lot
of noise to shoo them away, as they might eat our birds and fish. I like
them to stay in the park where they belong! As well as cawing, they were
making some very rattly noises, like a pingpong ball in a jar!
14 June
These are the Red Arrows airplanes in formation, from the Biggin Hill
Air Fair. They whizzed past our house but it took some time to get the
camera on and zoomed in, so there is no detail.
15 June
We went to a Fun Day in the park during the afternoon. I am glad to say
the sun came out eventually.
The cakes were disappearing fast, but I did not see anyone eating these
huge lollipops!
Here is the Soak The Scout stand, where someone has to throw the ball to
hit the lever at the side, making the container of water fall on the
scout. It's a good job the weather was very warm! This bucket game has
been going for years, so I am told, and the balls always bounce back out
again.
I spied this very valuable painting of the Mona Lisa on the bric-a-brac
stall. I wonder how it got there and did they get lots of millions of
pounds for it? Last of all was the Irish dancing, which the girls did
very expertly and the audience cheered loudly at the end of each dance.
16 June
This is the garden centre entrance and I just wish my front garden
looked more like this. In one of the example gardens is this very old
original lawnmower, although the modern ones of this design are not much
different, just less rusty!
I always visit the aquarium area to see all the fishes. If there are a
lot of fish that means a better chance of getting more of them in the
photo. This spotty fish is holding onto the glass with his sucking
mouth.
You can buy this wreck for an aquarium but I think I would prefer to
just have plants. In the clothing store part, I noticed these
transparent Wellington boots. You would have to make sure your socks did
not have any holes and that they were two the same colour!
As soon as we come in the front door, there is a sparrow waiting on the
windowsill in the hopes of being noticed,
for some crumbs. I just managed to get a picture of him as he flew back
to the bushes.
17 June
These baby sparrows are having a bath in the water running off the lawn,
where I had been watering some new grass seeds.
21 June
These sparrows are eating up all the grass seed on the surface, but I
have buried most of it, so there is still plenty to come up. They are
well camouflaged with their stripy feathers.
22 June
At last a solution to the curtains always blowing in. I found some lead
curtain weights in the drawer, and now the curtain just sways a little
bit!
Here is the garden seat that I was refurbishing at the beginning of the
month. It is just next to the greenhouse, for the days when it is too
hot to sit inside and I have picked out the flower shapes in gold paint.
Now I am on seat number three, which will go on the shady path beside
the fishpond. Here I am bending a strip of metal in the vice, to make it
into curves like the seat, that will go down the middle of the back to
stop the wooden slats from bending. Someone has got a lot of cushions to
make for all these seats!
Here is our baby robin and at last he is getting some red breast
feathers. In the evening, a whole flock of starlings descended on the
lawn and about 12 are trying to have a bath all at the same time. You
will just have to imagine all the squawking that was going on, as well
as all the splashing and the sound of wet wings taking off.
25 June
These mares tail clouds streaked right across the sky from one horizon
to the other. The air currents must be curling round up there. There
were some airplane trails as well, but they were quite small in
comparison.
26 June
The third and last garden bench is now finished, with new wood and a
light spraying of metallic green paint. I painted the lion's head in
gold, so he stands out. It is time to clear the paving between the fence
and the pond, so that we can put the bench there and sit and watch the
fish. There is a lot of bindweed to get rid of, and other woody plants
all tangled up. I might need some help! I want to be able to see the
water at my feet, and feed the fish bits of bread.
More lawn patches filled with grass seed. I think the birds will be
pecking this as well, but it is the buried seeds that will grow, and the
birds are welcome to the bits on top, which would die anyway in the hot
sun if they sprouted.
28 June
Lots of rain today, but I like the fresh damp air. I will not need to
water the pots just yet! Later on, there was a double rainbow over the
back garden, and it is always a lot brighter in real life than in a
photo. At the front of the house was the other half, making a complete
semicircle of rainbow.
29 June
Walking home from the boot sale, we went past a golfing centre that has
an adventure playground for children. This Triceratops dinosaur was
waving his head all the time. Back home our lawn became dinner table for
loads of starlings, and I just managed to get a picture of them all
taking off. Even when they fly off, it is not long before they are back
again, making a lot of noise.
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