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Diary – 2020 July
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 July
It was impossible to miss these bright red field poppies in a "wild" bed in the park.
2 July
This is the fishes' favourite sunny corner. The green shading material gives them some privacy until the ivy grows up to make an edging.
We were in the greenhouse, watching the very heavy rain pounding the roof glass, and later on there was a very bright triple rainbow.
4 July
These lovely buddleia bushes are on a footpath that we use to get to the shops. You can smell them before you get to them. At the park pond, all the ducks were tails in the air, eating the weed down below.
6 July
Another interesting woodland walk, and some trees are marked to show the trail. These are rowan berries, rather early in the year for berries though, because of all the warm weather we have had since April.
There are still some muddy patches from all the heavy rain, but they are shrinking. This narrow path had brambles either side, so it was arms in and get through quickly.
We came to some fields beyond the main woodland, and we could hear the sheep bleating in the distance.
This is a culvert for the main stream that runs through the woodland, and further down, we found another lightning struck tree. We crossed the little bridge.
This is the bridge over the railway.
Another bridge, and the park notice board which tells us all about the Purple Emperor butterfly which is doing well here.
9 July
Magpie trying to have a bath. It would have been better to get right in! Earlier he had a drink from the big pot saucer.
10 July
This fungus is on a big tree in one of the parks. It looks just like white rolls with a light brown crust just out of the oven.
On to the other park, and the central beds are full of marigolds. This wisteria on the long pergola is flowering very well this year, and lots of them are low enough to get a good close up photo.
The geese and their fast-growing young ones were all settled in a private area beyond the muddy bit, so not many people go down there!
14 July
This is our old kitchen roof, which we found a leak in. The roofer took off the old stuff, and now the boards are all clean and ready for a new felt layer.
17 July
Time to refurbish some old wooden airers. The two part airer was just painted, but the three part one had to have new cloth hinges before painting. We used some really sturdy pieces of curtain header tape, which will last forever, and new nails to replace the rusty ones.
19 July
This is the saucer bath beside the greenhouse. While we were sitting inside, the robin had a really thorough soaking bath. He likes it this birdbath because it is not out in the open and he feels safer. After the rain, I just love to see the beads of water on the nasturtium leaves.
20 July
We went on another woodland walk. It was very pleasant walking in the shade.
Back out in the open we got quite hot in the sun. This little stream is coming out of a tunnel. On the other side of the path is this big field of dry grasses.
We walked along the very shady river path. This part you can go down onto a little beach, but more muddy than sandy. Everything was cool and fresh down here.
This looks like an old iron fence or gate post. We have a good time guessing what all the holes, screws and other shapes were for. This tree was struck by lightning some time ago, the trunk is now all decayed and falling into crumbs and dust.
Brown Teddy was trying to count the rings on this sawn tree base. This tree has fallen over with its roots up in the air.
We came to a big hidden marshy pond. It was very quiet and cool. The pond was smooth as a mirror.
Here is where the pond has a tiny overflow outlet. Another sawn tree, but Brown Teddy said there were too many rings to count.
22 July
We saw this bee walking about on the lawn. After a while he was still there, so we knew he was in trouble. We got him onto a lid with some leaves. We gave him a tissue soaked in sugary water, and he drank and sucked some off with his tiny curled tongue. After a while, we put him on another flowery plant and eventually he walked off and flew away.
There is a lot of fence that needs painting. We used to sand it down, but nowadays, it just has a quick brush to get the webs off and then lots of paint slopped on. If there is any mossy bit, the paint on that will peel off next year and then we can repaint again to cover the patches. Much easier than fussing around with the wire brush!
25 July
We have set up a webcam so we can see the garden from upstairs.
Two ways to have a bath - pigeon One soaking in a tub and pigeon Two letting the rain shower get under his wings.
26 July
We took a walk by the stream. I had to take a lot of photos of the splashing water to get one that was in focus. You can almost hear it gushing out of the outlet.
I just love these thistle for their mauve colour. The cabbage white butterfly is refuelling on a dandelion.
These are convolvulus flowers. They used to be called "granny pop out of bed" because when you pinch the base of the trumpet, the white flower pops off from the stem. Lots of blackberries lining the stream edge here.
This is our regular robin, sitting near the kitchen window.
This collared dove spent ages deciding when it would be safe to come down. A quick look around, a quick drink and then he fluttered off.
28 July
The fish like to swim through the bubbles from the air stones.
30 July
This weird effect is the sun shining on the little silver plastic collar that goes round the copper radiator pipe at floor level in the bathroom. Here I have cut down one of my potted seedling apple trees which was covered in a fluffy bug infestation. It was doing very badly, so it had to go.
Time to sort out the seeds we have collected. Someone blows off the dust and little bits of chaff, and I have a little container to get the main seeds in. Eventually they will go in little paper envelopes that I will make. Brown Teddy sorted the Honesty seeds. You have to rub the seed case, the two sides come off, releasing the brown seeds, and that leaves just one piece of translucent seed case on the stem, which we keep for a while as a decoration.
Here is the Honesty seed case with the sun shining through.
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 in
the UK:
https://www.facebook.com/LostboxTeddyBears
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