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Diary – 2019 June
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
6 June
This oriental poppy flower just pops open suddenly when no-one is looking. It then opened right up in the warm sun. I have to be quick getting photos, as they do not last long.
The campanula has spread over the steps and into the cracks everywhere. It saves me having to weed the cracks!
We have had lots of honey bees drinking at the bird bath and flying to and fro from their nest somewhere.
Dino decided to smell the roses and inspect the apples that are growing. Dino likes fresh air and gardens and is looking forward to eating some of the apples.
Today we went to Sydenham. Someone has built their fence around the tree branch and made a very good and neat job of it. We went to Sydenham Wells Park.
This Canada goose has decided the weeds on the outside taste better.
Nearby is Crystal Palace Park. These grand steps used to lead up to the Crystal Palace. This is Joseph Paxton who designed the Crystal Palace.
There are lots of sports facilities in the middle of the park, and here some schools are having a big sports day. There was lots of shouting and cheering going on. This is a new cafe and it has two enormous paintings of Ringneck Parakeets inside where the stairs are. They look quite threatening at that size, like big dinosaurs!
I like this bike rack, with the circles made to look like trees. There were a lot of lazy pigeons lounging around, they are obviously well fed.
These are two pterodactyls that we had not noticed before. Where all this greenery is around the dinosaurs there should be open water. I hope someone clears it soon and the water level increases.
Whenever I see these leaning trees with broken branches, I think the dinosaurs did it!
We went to Penge Station, where they have several of these lovely tubs of flowers. We took the train to Rotherhithe to see the Thames, before going to London Bridge and then home.
9 June
Today we went to Carter's Steam Funfair at Walthamstow. We always like to see this fair when it is in London. This little children's roundabout is hand cranked.
My favourite is the Gallopers, and not just because one of the horses is called Teddy! It has a little steam engine powering it, and an organ playing the music.
Dodgems have been going for a long time, and they are always popular. The whip is a really fast ride, and each car can whip sideways if the occupants press the pedal. It is very noisy as it rumbles around on the steel surface at high speed.
I like to admire the artwork, which is all very beautiful and in bright colours.
14 June
We went to an exhibition of magic and conjuring books, in a London University
library in central London. The books explain how the tricks were done.
Afterwards we sat by the river Thames to have our sandwiches. We like to
sit on these seats, with sphinxes at the ends and middle. They are on
raised platforms to give a better view over the riverside wall.
15 June
Today we went to Highgate Fair In The Square. This wonderful old organ
was playing, and the back was open so we could see the punched card
going through. There were stacks of folded strips with the music name
written on the side.
Lots of food and sweets stalls everywhere, and lots of stuff for sale.
In the middle a brass band was playing and in front of them people
sitting at tables eating and drinking.
These bee girls obviously belong to the stall that has the display of
real bees. Their tall hairstyles are called "beehive" which was popular in
the 1960's.
This is the sheep roadshow trailer. We saw the demonstration last year
so we did not wait around for it this time.
After that we went on to Alexandra Palace a bus ride away. On the lower
part of the surrounding grass verges were long rows of wild flowers. I
am going to do the same next year, and get a packet of mixed seeds with
the poppies and cornflowers, and find a corner where I can have a display
like this.
Round the back of Ally Pally are some woods and this is the Go Ape
location, with treetop walkways and ropes between the trees that children can climb
around, with a tether on them all the way for safety. This is the final
zip slide at the end. We sat by the lake for our sandwiches and watched
the pedalo boats, in the shape of swans, green dragons and pink
flamingoes.
18 June
Today we went to Upminster. I like to see the different train seat
patterns and this is a new one to me, a smart purply blue. There are lots of
different patterns on different trains. After looking round the shops, we went into Clockhouse Gardens, a
very small park with a pond. We sat here for our
snack but there were too many goose and duck feathers blowing around,
which we did not want to land on our sandwiches!
We went round the back and found another seat. There were loads of Canada geese with their
young ones. Under the trees is a small area of wood carvings, with
mushroom shaped seats and various animals.
I like this owl and cat, they are very well done. Brown Teddy found this
wooden carved seat made to look like a stack of books on their sides. It
is a story telling area and the person with the story book would sit on
this big seat.
I am very sorry to say the pond is muddy and lifeless, and
there isn't any pond weed for the ducks to eat. It was a very hot dry
day and there was not even enough grass for the geese to eat, it was all
pecked away to almost nothing, just leaving lots of daisies. I wanted to
empty this pond and refill it with good water! Too many geese and their
droppings, so unfortunately the pond is trashed.
20 June
No frogspawn this year, which is unusual, but I have seen one or two little frogs around, so maybe there was a little bit of spawn under the plants where I couldn't see. We are wondering if having the stream of bubbles too near their corner had put them off this time. We will have to move it further away for next year.
21 June
Today we went to Horniman Gardens. I like this bug hotel, it is quite
large and a good use of old pallets. The seats are carved with animal
figures.
The theme of this square garden this year is Lego blocks. There are sundials
everywhere, all numbered, so visitors can go on a sundial trail to see
them all.
These are red hot pokers, and I am told they are very lifelike. We don't
have a fire or pokers in our house! I like paths that go round corners,
as it is interesting to see what surprise comes next.
The gardens are on top of a hill. This bandstand looks out westwards over the view
of central London in the distance. The spike is The Shard at London
Bridge.
More sundials. The second one you can stand on and your shadow tells the
time. There are different stones for different months, so you stand
further away in winter when the shadow is longer.
Nearby we saw this iron velociraptor dinosaur charging through the
bushes, surround by the plants that dinosaurs would have eaten. I don't
think this dinosaur was going to eat plants, though, as he is a vicious
hunter looking for the ones that are eating the plants!
There is an area with huge musical instruments installed for the
children. Yet another sundial.
Afterwards we went through Sydenham Hill Wood. This is a bridge
over what used to be a railway line. Brown Teddy said he wished it was
still there, so he could stay a long time and watch the trains.
I like these gates, they stop large items like bikes being brought into
the woods.
At last, a good picture of the mock ruins with no-one climbing on it.
When I see broken things I want to mend them, but that would defeat the
purpose of this setup.
The end of this old tree branch looks just like folder paper in a book.
This is where the old track led to, a tunnel which is now blocked off.
This piece of old tree trunk has been carved into a stag beetle.
22 June
Today went to Carters Fair again, this time on Peckham Rye Common.
After that we went into the gardens. At the end of the pergola is a
fountain with blue water. The blue means something has been added to
sanitise the water.
There are little streams running through the park, from the River Peck.
Brown Teddy didn't find anything interesting inside this old tree trunk,
but it is still worth a look, just in case!
27 June
This is the rose garden at Hampton Court Palace. We took loads of
photos.
We walked along Barge Walk by the riverside, and it is about one and a
half hours walk to get to Kingston. Lots of the houses have their
gardens right down to the riverside. I was amazed to see the Queen's row
barge Gloriana moored at the end of one garden.
We found a seat and I watched the boats go by. First you hear them
coming and then they r chug past this gap in the trees. Blue Parrot was
more interested in the contents of the sandwich box.
At Kingston there were lots of swans around where people were having
their snacks by the riverside. This is the view from Kingston Bridge. We
got the train home from Kingston.
29 June
Today was very hot indeed. We went to Swanley Park and it was a long hot
walk from the railway station. On the far side is a children's area with playground
and paddling pool. It was hard work going round as it was so hot. We
were glad to get in the shade of the trees for part of the walk round.
These little putting greens look like fun. There is a miniature railway
that runs round the park. We had our sandwiches in the shade. We were
very glad there was a bus stop right outside the park, so we avoided
having to do that hot walk again.
30 June
These are my goldfish. We sat by pond, pulled back the
netting and threw in little bits of bread. You can see they are moving
fast by their curved shapes. You can see the air tubes that feed the
bubble stones, two green tubes on the right for this end, and two
transparent ones that go round to the other end of the pond.
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
Where to report a lost or found teddy or toy https://whiteboomerang.com
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