Woodland anemones
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Posted:Mar 25, 2021 11:06 am
Last Updated:Jan 9, 2023 7:18 am 23448 Views
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This year we have tried to create a small woodland glade around the small deck in the front where we can sit out of the sun on hot afernoons, a perfect place for kaffee und kuchen (one of my excuses for getting Mrs J to bake).
We planted tiny corms of woodland anemones last year and the flowers are now one of my favourites. Seemingly so delicate but almost the first flowers out in the quite heavily shaded area. A couple of miniature cyclamen are also beginning to show some excellent colour and grape hyacinths are also beginning to flower. Cordylines provide contrasting forms of leaf in among the ferns.
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Spring is here - but I missed the crocuses.
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Posted:Mar 24, 2021 11:04 am
Last Updated:Mar 30, 2021 5:13 pm 23383 Views
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Spring is 'bursting out all over' as the early bulbs get into full flower. The snowdrops and crocuses have been and are mostly on the wane but the daffodils are looking bright and cheerful. One real bonus this year is a large of tiny new crocus plants (well over 20 my count) have appeared where I scattered seed from last years flowers. With blue, yellow, white and mauve/blue striped progenitors I can't wait to see what colour the new flowers will be.
The spring (woodland) anemones are really getting going but I took the pictures too late in the afternoon and they were closing up for the night - watch this space for some pictures of them in the morning.
The troughs and hanging baskets will be emptied out as soon as the bulbs have finished (the monks hood fritillaria have still to make their annual appearance) and all of these bulbs will find places in the garden as they are now getting to be quite large bunches and they need more space.
Picture 1 Salix discolor (pussy willow) have beautiful flowers and corkscrew effect branches.
Picture 2 Tall orange trumpetted narcissus with one intrepid pansy and the lone surviving crocus hiding behind the daffodil leaves.
Picture 3 Miniature daffodils with crreping Jenny which has overwintered and is now growing apace.
Picture 4 More miniature daffodils
Picture 5 The Hyacinth from last Christmas has two babies and is flowering a little later as it naturalises in the garde.
Picture 6 Although they look a bit untidy in the big tubs the mixed spring bulbs do add a welcome splash of colour.
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Sidney Powell tells a judge that no reasonable people would have believed her.
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Posted:Mar 24, 2021 9:32 am
Last Updated:Jan 9, 2023 7:15 am 22851 Views
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Is this the new default defence for right wing nut jobs?
No reasonable person would have believed the crap we fed them so those who swallowed the fictions hook line and sinker (and there are prominent ones on SFF) must have been morons believe , and even more moronic spread them so enthusiastically. Maybe we should call it the Tucker Carlson defence.
(lawyer? ) Sidney Powell told a judge that the lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems filed against her earlier this year should be dismissed because “no reasonable person” would believe that her well-publicized comments about an international plot against former President Donald Trump were “statements of fact.”
“They are repeatedly labelled ‘inherently improbable’ and even ‘impossible” the motion to dismiss continues. “Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support defendants’ position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them as claims that await testing the courts through the adversary process.”
Powell’s legal strategy for attempting to jettison a potentially billion-dollar tag over what came be known as the “Kraken” lawsuits, claims they are not actionable because they are protected statements of political opinion.
“Reasonable people understand that the ‘language of the political arena, like the language used in labor disputes … is often vituperative, abusive and inexact” her motion dismiss argues. It “ is likewise a ‘well recognized principle that political statements are inherently prone to exaggeration and hyperbole.
When Powell repeated her conspiracy theories on Fox News, Fox Business Network and The Epoch Times, her lawyers claim, she was just informing the public about the ideas that she was advancing in her lawsuits.
In other words Powell is saying; We fed complete lies to the knuckle draggers and the fact that they swallowed them whole just proves how ignorant our supporters are.
At least Hillary Cliton claimed that SOME of them made up a Basket of deplorables - not that they were all terminally stupid .
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A few pretty pictures with the question 'Why is remus such an insecure, miserable old fart? '
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Posted:Feb 6, 2021 8:33 am
Last Updated:Feb 9, 2021 5:22 am 20460 Views
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I rarely, if ever post personal blogs about other people but Hiram/Remus leaves me no choice as he will not let me read his blogs never mind comment on them so when he posts
"SAME APPLIES TO BOND IDS DAILY WALKS, GARDEN PICTURES ETC ALL CAN BE GAINED GOOGLING. ALL FAKE" (and heaven knows what in the main body of the blog as I cannot read it) then I have no recourse but to reply on here.
Hank - I know you have difficulty relating to the real world but you make yourself look utterly ridiculous when you post such petulant remarks. Believe what you wll but keep the bile to yourself, it only makes you look like a bitter and twisted person.It is not the most becoming of looks.
As they say in the south 'Bless your heart' or in the North 'Shut thi' trap'.
I will add a few random pictures for you from my camera , not Google lol
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Thundercliffe Grange
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Posted:Jan 27, 2021 3:46 pm
Last Updated:Jan 29, 2021 3:32 pm 20027 Views
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A brisk walk of about 25 minutes across the municipal golf course just up the road (Pictures 1 and 2) takes you to Thundercliffe Grange (Picture 3 and the aerial picture 4 which I did not take) and a further 35 minutes through the woods taking in part of the trans Pennine trail, completes a circular walk of about three and a half miles which just fits in the recommended maximum of one hour of exercise due to COVID restrictions.(Pictures 5 - 8 )
Thundercliffe Grange has a history which stretches back to the Middle Ages when it was a grange of Kirkstead Abbey and the monks carried out iron working on the site.
In Jacobean times the Earl of Effingham built a country house on the grounds (recently excavated by the local Archeaological society) but this was demolished and the present house was built in 1777 for the third Earl.
The house became a hospital for 'mentally invalid ladies' in late Victorian times and a home for mentally handicapped after WW2, taking in Thalidomide in the 1960's and finally closing in 1979.
The house was converted into a 'Co-Housing' development, rare in the UK, when it was bought by a group of friends in 1980. Originally the group of 6 -8 families were planning to buy a row of cottages or a large vicarage but the purchase of such a large house meant their plans had to be scaled up by a considerable measure.
Thundercliffe Grange is an unusual scheme.which gives the benefits of co-operative ownership but safeguards the individual's property rights.
The scheme is structured so that residents own the overall building and grounds collectively, but the flats are owned individually.
There are twelve self-contained dwellings of various sizes and configurations spread between the main house and wings and a separate annexe. The rooms in the ground floor of the main house have been retained for the use of all residents.
Two members of one of the choirs in which I sing are among the co-owners of the Grange and we are fortunate enough to be able to hold our Christmas parties in the magnificent surroundings of the communal rooms on the ground floor. Pictures (9 and 10)
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Grange Colliery walk
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Posted:Jan 17, 2021 11:48 am
Last Updated:Jan 18, 2021 4:19 pm 18797 Views
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In the woodland behind the Grange Colliey (picture 1) there are ten brass cast sculptures. The sculptures came from a workshop sculptor Marcela Livingston did with local . The ’s poet laureate Matt Black, sourced or wrote a poem/story for each sculpture from the 's ideas and the poems were inscribed on metal plaques beside each sulpture. Sadly the plaques have all been stolen.
I photographed 2 of the sculptures - Crow girl (picture 2) who had a hollow wooden leg and hid things that she stole down inside the hollow section and Yazier (picture 3) who is shown crouching down to examine a flower.
The colliery itself (picture 4 from about 1900 - not one of mine ) once employed 800 men and was worked for over 0 until 1963.
The pathway into the woodland follows the railway line (See viaduct picture 5 and pictures 6 +7 following the route) down a junction with the main line from Sheffield. I cut off before the now derelict station and followed the, at times very tricky, path round the golf course and back the colliery site -- now a set of playing fields with some lying snow (pictures 8, 9 +). The rapid snow melt over the last 36 hours has left a lot of quite deep mud and some very slippery sections on the hilly parts of the path.
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The sun is out, the sky is blue.
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Posted:Jan 15, 2021 5:39 am
Last Updated:Jan 18, 2021 4:21 pm 18066 Views
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Sharp frost overnight and the snow is now icy on top with a satisfying crunchy feel as you break through the crust. Ever since I was very young I have always loved 'first footing' in fresh snow and the open parkland across the street is an excellent place for a walk this morning.
The sun is shining brightly from a beautiful blue sky and that brightens up the views in all directions. The snow is sparkling white in the sunlight and the trees look like they have been decorated for Christmas (albeit a bit late).
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What a difference a day makes
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Posted:Jan 14, 2021 12:10 pm
Last Updated:Jan 15, 2021 9:31 am 17344 Views
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The snow has been falling steadily from just before sunrise and looks set for some time still.
It lends a magical beauty to the woodlands and open spaces just outside our front door so after clearing the drive and the street outside the house, a walk in the ever deepening snow was a must. We do not see enough snow and it does not stay long enough for us to get tired of it .
Some of the nooks and crannies in the woods really do look like fairy grottos and the wide open spaces in the park are so clean and white.
A good 4 - 5 km in the cold and the falling snow is an excellent way of working up an appetite. Some of the uphills were beginning to get quite 'testing' by the time I was making my way back in the ever decreasing light and the thickening fog.
Somehow twilight in the snow has much more of a feeling of light about it than twilight at any other time despite the thickly overcast skies. What little light there is seems to reflect off the snow.
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Winter walk 2
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Posted:Jan 13, 2021 3:03 am
Last Updated:Sep 16, 2021 1:03 pm 16431 Views
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With a freshly charged battery in my camera as it died rather early last time, I decided to do a similar walk through the local woodland to a nearby landmark - Keppels column.
The column was erected by the second Marquess Rockingham (twice Prime Minister of the UK) and was originally meant to mark the southern boundary of his lands - all of the land in the photographs belonged to the Rockingham family ( including Wentworth and Rockingham villages, which were named after them). Afer a politically motivated court martial against fellow Whig politician Admiral Augustus Keppel was defeated Rockingham decided to make the column a triumphal symbol and dedicated it to Keppel.
The column was never properly finished but there is an internal spiral staircase and you could climb to the top until about 1970. Since then cracks in the walls have been stabilised by steel bands and the tower is sealed off. As a listed building it cannot be demolished and has been gifted to the local council; something of a poison chalice I would think.
Wentworth church, one of the prettiest in the area, is visible in picture 2, as are Wentworh Castle in the far distance and the walls of Wentworth Woodhouse near the church. . The church will be the subject of a later blog I am sure.
Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the largest country houses in the UK with an impressive frontage and belonged to the Earls Fitzwilliam until donated to a trust in 1979. The trust is restoring the house in a massive project costing 30 million so far. We sang on the steps of the grand hall for their Christmas fair last year but were unable to repeat that this year unfortunately.
Wentworth Castle was built to rival Wentworth Woodhouse by Thomas Wentworth when his cousin Thomas Watson-Wentworth inherited the land and titles in 1695. Wentworth built the Castle to spite his cousin in a tale of bitter 18th century one upmanship.
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A walk in the (not) black forest
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Posted:Jan 9, 2021 7:50 am
Last Updated:Jan 9, 2023 7:17 am 17099 Views
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The Winter sun is beautiful after an overnight frost has cleared the air.
The woodland starts within 200m of our front door.
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