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Diary – 2020 December
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 December
Here is the planet Venus which was very bright when I looked round the curtains just before dawn. I am thinking of it as my Christmas Star. The same evening the moon was very bright, so now I have a matching pair.
We decided to move this rambling rose to a better place. It was a cutting but had grown about 20 feet in a short time, twice as long as in the photo. It is now planted firmly in much better soil and is covering a bare part of the fence. I will train it right along and let it go as far as it wants, which will be a very very long way! This one is called Adelaide d'Orleans and it grows strongly with lots of very long stringy shoots. I think it would grow right down the garden if we let it. It is smothered in flowers in early summer.
5 December
This green stick is another climbing rose that we moved, which has also only been in the ground a short while. I had to put a big pot against it, in case a fox digs it up. We don't seem to get foxes now but I am taking no chances. Here we have spread out another climbing rose up the trellis, which had grown lots of shoots but they were flopping about low down. They will make a very good screen next summer. I can't remember the colour, but I think it might be a very small pink flower.
8 December
Just sometimes, a load of starlings come out of nowhere. They all like to take a bath at the same time. It was very noisy. They fly off to nearby chimney pots to get the warm air on them and preen. It's a good job I keep a spare old camera in the kitchen so I don't lose the opportunity to take a video of them.
At the same time these two collared doves decided to have a bath in the one further down the garden. They were the opposite of the starlings, very slow and gentle. They know it is safe because they usually drink here. I had to change all the water after all the baths, ready for the next birds drinking or bathing. We prefer a hot bathroom for our showers!
9 December
We went to Kelsey Park. It has two lakes with waterfalls, this is the lower one.
There has been a lot of rain. The geese were dibbling in the puddles and lots of seats were unusable!
I was amazed to see some daffodil shoots growing on the riverbank. This robin has plenty of natural food and was not interested in us.
We sat and had our snack overlooking the upper lake. My favourite mottled pigeon wandered by. Before long there were loads more pigeons.
We decided to play a game. We crumbled up the end crust from a loaf we had bought in the shops and placed it along this railing and on top of the plant stems. Then we sat down and started the video. It was very noisy, very flappy and soon every crumb was gone. Pigeons were standing on the backs of others, and there was some pecking going on between rivals.
By the top lake a lady was feeding the birds with bags of grain.
Up on the top bridge over the weir, someone was feeding the swans, but the gulls got the bits that the water swept away.
The crow was just watching everything, in case bit of bread was dropped. This tree has knobbly lumps and it looks like a climbing wall!
11 December
We saw this piling screw at Croydon Station. The man was banging the joint with a huge hammer. This is the Christmas tree at London Bridge.
I saw these square snowflakes in a shop window, I will definitely have to make some of those. We had our sandwiches on the train back to London Bridge.
At London Bridge we took a walk through Hays Galleria. I like a big wide tree with lots of depth to hide interesting things in. At the riverside is a modern mosaic showing the Old London Bridge. When it is a sunny day, I am coming back to get photos of the whole length, so I can join them together.
12 December
I saw this moth hibernating under my bathroom window. I wonder how long he will stay there. The Christmas tree is up and the lights are on, that is a start on things.
Blue Parrot has found the boxes of decorations. Here are all the bags of tinsel, in zippy bags so they don't get tangled.
Brown Teddy has got out the second box. It is full of document boxes and sandwich boxes of all our precious decorations. These are my favourites and they always go on first, in the very middle where they can dangle.
These are the next to go on, lovely glass ornaments from a long time ago. There is a lot to go on, and nothing gets left out.
13 December
This is the little fibre optic tree that sparkles as the motor turns the coloured disc in the base. I only put some little bells on this one, as it doesn't need much. Then we decorated the living room mirror with lights wound round, green and silver tinsel and the plastic holly leaves and berries at the top. Then I put on all nine cotton-wool robins. It is my favourite part of the decorations.
Here it is all finished.
We have a pretend battery candle that looks just like the real thing. The flame is a piece of plastic on a thin wire, so it wobbles with the magnet underneath. As it turns sideways, it is like a flame that changes its shape and size. It is amazing! I cleaned up this old lamp and I was very pleased that the flickering candle bulb still works.
Here is the tree all finished. Later on we watched a programme about an airport in Alaska and all the snow clearing. It was very Christmassy, but I am sure the people who live there have had enough of it!
14 December
This is the railway bridge that goes into Charing Cross Station, and the Christmas tree on the concourse. It was not very busy, compared to usual.
Trafalgar Square was very quiet. The fountain pools are closed for cleaning and maintenance. The Christmas crib scene is here again, but you have to see it from the top of the steps only. This is the National Gallery with the famous Norway Christmas tree in front.
We walked down The Mall and into Horse Guards Road. No horses today, just some rain starting. In St James's Park the beds are always very neat, even in winter.
The fountain made us feel a little chilly today! Someone was feeding the water birds, one young swan and a big crowd of black coots.
Further on there was a load of pigeons and ring necked parakeets. They are very tame and were sitting on people, eating seeds or bits of apple.
This parrot carried on eating even though the man was walking around. Another one made himself very comfortable on someone's shoulder and here he is getting a peanut in its shell. We stayed quite a while watching all the parrots.
We walked on some more. This black swan is very smart, I hope there is another one somewhere to keep him company. At the end of the park we could see the roof of Buckingham Palace. This is the top of the Victoria Monument which stands in front of the palace grounds. The rain was increasing all the time.
We walked back through the park, and the rain just got heavier and heavier. It was running like rivers off the grass, over the paths and into the lake. Just outside the park is this memorial corner, the giant stone ball is covered in peace dove figures.
Lots of the doorways have these very old boot scrapers, from Victorian days and before, when the streets were thick with mud and rubbish. Here is a guard and his horse, on duty in front of Horse Guards Parade. You can guess what had to be scraped off people's boots before they went into houses in those old days, before the motor car!
Back in Trafalgar Square, we saw this big LED Hanukkah decoration. In a bookshop I saw this traditional tissue decoration. I made one a bit like this once with tissue paper and dots of glue but it was not very neat. I like how you can fold it shut and open again to a big ball. A long time ago we used to have Christmas cards like this, with a tissue bell, decoration or Santa that opened out as you opened the card.
19 December
I have made some Christmas snowflake doilies to put my Christmas scenery on. The trees kept falling over and now I can stick them to the paper. this one is on my page Art Christmas/Snowflake.
Brown Teddy's favourite is this little bear in an armchair with his present. We are all wondering what is inside the present, and Brown Teddy is guessing it is a jigsaw puzzle, because it is wide and flat.
I just discovered this battery candle which was forgotten at the back of the cupboard. The flame is plastic and the body is a liquid full of glitter. There is a little wheel at the bottom that spins and makes the glitter swirl. The colour keeps changing and the red one is my favourite, as it makes us feel warm when the rain is pelting the window on a cold evening.
21 December
A very wet and misty morning, the pond netting is usually invisible but today looks like a coating of snow, but it is just water drops on every square.
Santa is riding the tinsel at the bottom of the mirror frame this year. He started out on an iced Christmas cake many years ago.
22 December
Our robin has found a favourite regular singing perch in the hawthorn tree. We stood for five minutes in total, getting his warbly song on video.
24 December
The Christmas hat is all ready, covered in battery lights. We might have to wear it together, as it is a bit big for us!
25 December
Christmas morning dawn, slightly frost but looks like it is going to be sunny, at least at first.
We have the Christmas lights on all day today, even when it is daylight. The wood pigeons got extra bird pellets today, here they are flying away when they saw us come up to the window with the camera.
Everything is ready in the pots and bowls, ready nice and early. Brown Teddy wanted us to make some chocolate custard. We put in the chocolate pieces and continued cooking over a low heat, but it has turned out a little lumpy. We will have it cold on our hot Christmas pudding, and all the lumps will be eaten anyway!
These are going to be hot snowflakes when the mince pies go in the microwave. The Yorkshire Puddings turned out well, although just a little too brown on top.
Dino had his eye on the roast potatoes and said he was glad it was a big plateful. Here he is having his extra large helping of Christmas pudding, mince pie, lemon mousse and chocolate custard. The candle is a battery one, we don't have flames around the place.
Unlike Dino, Yellow Parrot is not sure he can eat all this. After Christmas dinner, we watched the film A Christmas Carol. Here is Scrooge out in the cold snow meeting the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come. I am glad we were all in the warm!
We watched the Queen a bit later than usual. We all love Her Majesty and we were so glad to see the wonderful Major Tom as well.
Here are all the Rupert books that were in the presents, a new one and several very old ones. I have made Christmas stars out of kitchen roll paper for the table. Brown Teddy and I lounged in the carpet with our battery candles and read our books.
We nearly fell asleep watching the colour changing lights with the polystyrene sparkly doves swinging around.
31 December
It is very cold and frosty today. The nasturtiums have finally collapsed but I found a lovely primrose by the end of the pond doing very well in a sheltered little corner.
We have begun to put out the foam "lily leaves" that the fish like to have in winter to hide under. Just a few at a time until they get used to them being there. They were all white with frost this morning. The fish are all lurking on the bottom of the pond.
This lovely goldfinch came down to the birdbath for a drink. Someone broke the ice and refilled it early this morning, while Brown Teddy and I were still in bed.
Later on we had a visit from this Redwing, who had a rummage in the leaves and found some worms or insects to eat. The starling had a poke about in the lawn, which I don't think is frozen hard just yet, so I hope he found something.
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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