Last Post

 The title which has just popped into my head seems appropriate for Remembrance Day. 

I’ve decided to retire this blog. Here’s why. 

Mainly it’s because I have noticed some strange activity. Most of my posts are read, or opened and not read, by less than 100 people. This does not bother me in the slightest - it’s mostly for me, family and friends. But the last one has had over 3,000 viewings during the month of September. What’s going on? I can’t imagine why my ramblings about the garden etc would be of interest to any commercial venture or dodgy organisation. Anyway, it has spooked me. Perhaps someone is trying to steal my identity or something like that. So I am off to Substack where I intend to write more serious posts about writing and reading. I’m not posting a link but will email loyal followers - you know who you are. And whoever/whatever you are suddenly stalking me, please go away!

I also have found my posts have become a bit repetitive. Another series of photographs snowdrops, primroses, dog roses, dahlias and holly wreaths and another year passes. I started this blog in 2012 when my daughter was still at school and now she is a primary school teacher. Time flies.

Another reason I have been putting off writing this post is because I have to report sad news. We made a very tough decision at the end of the summer. I have written before about our lovely dog Alfie (pictured above) who suffered from epilepsy. His condition had deteriorated over the past year so that the quality of his life (and ours) was severely affected. On the vet’s advice we decided to let him go. This was back at the end of August. He was only four years old and physically strong. Looking at him running across Chester racecourse where we often walk, you wouldn’t have thought there was anything wrong. But the frequency and intensity of his seizures had increased to the level that there was no option. It was so sad to say goodbye to him. I got off lightly - it was Paul who was with him. I stroked his lovely velvety ears for the last time the morning before I set off on holiday with Kate and it was that week that Paul took him - he wanted to do it that way. 

Nothing much else to report - couple of trips. Palma with Kate, Seville/Cadiz with my sister Diane. I’ll do summary in photographs. 

I loved the Gaudi windows in Palma cathedral. Reminded me of kaleidoscope patterns

Evenings were the best - eating tapas and drinking sangria.

It was blazing hot in Palma so we took shelter in an art gallery one day  I loved this version of the Velazquez Las Meninas painting set in a 1970s home.


Seville 

Me on one of tiled alcoves of Plaza D’Espana, Seville. There were huge numbers of noisy green parakeets fly in between in the trees in the park. 

Seville Cathedral. We climbed the bell tower and hadn’t much energy left to look around.

We took a day trip to Cordoba by train - a bit of rain that day and cooler after that which suited me.

We avoided the crowds inside the Alcázar place and spent most of our time visiting the gardens

We stopped off in Jerez for a sherry tour complete with tasting

Cadiz was quieter than Seville and cooler. Until the cruise passengers descend for the day. 

There was a fabulous market in Cádiz

Summer

 

I seem to have dropped from monthly blog posts to one per season. This is what I have been doing:.. 

Dealing with Drought

I spent most of the summer at home and in the garden. It has been the sunniest summer for many years, hot frequently and very dry. We have had hardly any rain - any showers forecast have missed us. As a result the garden has suffered and I have spent a lot of time watering. The water butts are empty now so I’m resorting to tipping the washing up water onto thirsty plants. There’s no hose pipe ban in our area surprisingly but I don’t feel comfortable spraying water around wastefully so I just use a watering can for the droopy hydrangeas and other unhappy looking plants. It has been a lovely summer nevertheless - I’ve enjoyed eating outside in the evening sunshine, 

Swapping Books

A new independent bookshop has opened nearby. It’s called Books on the Wall as it’s on the Chester City  Walls just by Northgate. The owner Kate chooses her books carefully focussing on indie publishers and local writers. There’s a cafe too. I love it and have resolved to buy all new books from there. I also love our secondhand bookshop, Amblognus Books, run by the very knowledgable Sally who often delves into her back room to find me exactly the book I was looking for. These two have got together to host a monthly book swap event. You turn up, talk about a book you’ve read purchased from one of the stores and then swap it for another one you like the sound of which someone else has brought. It’s great fun - interesting variation on the usual bookclub format.

Visiting Stratford-on-Avon

I last went to Stratford around about 1989 when I took a school party to see a production - it was probably Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet, the usual GCSE choices. I can’t remember much about the trip apart from the minibus breaking down. This time I went with an ex-English teacher friend to see a play at The Swan Theatre, not a Shakespeare one, but The Constant Wife by Somerset Maugham, a very entertaining and slick production. We also did the whole touristy thing of visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. An enjoyable couple of days doing something the rest of the family wouldn’t be terribly keen on.

Doing an Austenathon

The same friend persuaded me to join a group who have resolved to read/reread all the books by Jane Austen as it’s 250 years since her birth. We have a whole year to do it - good job as too much JA at once is tiresome. I’ve read Lady Susan which I knew nothing about. It was quite amusing - mostly written in letter form  - there’s a word for this which I can’t spell. I couldn’t help admiring the way Lady Susan was so unapologetically badly behaved. Quite a character. On Sense and Sensibility now and I am finding both Marianne and Elinor irritating. Will take a break for a month or so after this. There are other books to read. I’m going on holiday to Palma tomorrow for a few days with Kate before she goes back to school and she has recommended The Safekeep. 

That’s it for now. Will do a book post soon.

Gardening Leave

April

April

April

April

April

 

May 

June

This is my first post since February. Where have I been? Well mostly in the garden. It’s been a busy spring of sowing, planting, weeding and weeding some more. Now that the garden has reached its full summer peak, the pace has slowed a little so I’m catching up. Here’s a round up of my spring:

1. A trip to Ireland back in April.

I travelled with a friend who’d never been to the North and we stayed for a couple of days in a holiday home not far from my home village of Ballyronan. She saw the country at its best - the sun shone the whole time we were there. We went to the Seamus Heaney HomePlace and did the exhibition - she’d been an English teacher too and was keen to do this. And we followed the OpenGround trail visiting locations where the poems were set. Some of these very familiar to me like the site of the bombed out Magherafelt bus station. My favourite which I’d never visited was a walk along The Strand at Lough Beg on a beautiful still sunlit evening. I love that poem - a very sad one about Heaney’s cousin who was the victim of a sectarian shooting in the 1970s. 

We also went to Belfast and did touristy things there such as going on the hop on/off tour bus and visiting parts of the city I had never seen despite living there when I did my teacher training. These were generally no go areas back then but now the murals on both sides of the Peace Wall are tourist attractions. We also went to the Palm House and the Tropical Ravine at the Botanic Gardens and honestly they are magnificent. Just as impressive as Kew which I also visited recently and completely free to enter. We had a drink in The Crown and then caught the train to Lisburn from the swanky new Grand Central Station. My friend was astounded that it was the first train I have ever taken in NI - no railway at all where I’m from - we travelled everywhere by bus. Met my sister in Lisburn and spent the evening with her. 

2. A visit to The Chelsea Flower Show. 

I’ve watched the TV coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show for the last couple of years and so was keen when another sister Diane, the one who lives near Brighton suggested going. The big draw was seeing Monty Don’s ‘Dog Garden’ and as I’ve said before I am a big Monty fan. Sadly neither Monty nor his dogs were there on the day we visited but we did see the garden. The lawn looked a bit scruffy yet nowhere near as bad as mine which has got many bare patches and some holes the puppy has dug. As you can see from the photograph, there are three of us there. This is because Pamela, my youngest sister, had a hospitality ticket to the show. While we had only purchased afternoon tickets - and they were pricey enough - she had a free invite through work and had spent the day being wined and dined. By the time we caught up with her she’d had quite a lot of champagne. I loved Chelsea especially the floral marquee - the David Austin Rose strand was spectacular. The show gardens were all very different in how they were designed but I thought the planting was quite similar in many - a lot of foxgloves and some of them looked a bit weedy with buttercups etc. The on-trend plant seems to be Geum TotallyTangerine especially when paired with a blue salvia. I decided to copy this - see below. 

Monty’s Dog Garden

My on-trend planting

8

My Dog Garden complete with dog and patchy lawn.

3. A visit to Kew Gardens 

Kate came to meet me in London after the flower show as it was half term for her. On the Saturday afternoon we went to see Les Miserables. London was heaving with tourists, especially around the theatre area. The production was very slick and impressive - I’ve only ever seen a school version. Then we headed out to Kew where we’d booked an Airbnb for a couple of nights. It was actually a ‘garden room’ at the back of a house in a quiet street - well quiet except the noise of the aircraft heading for Heathrow. Lovely little place and it was good to be away from the crowds in central London. The  visit to Kew was originally planned for my birthday four years ago and had to be cancelled because it was forecast to reach 40C that day. That Sunday was perfect - sunny and not too hot and it was really beautiful. My favourite garden was behind Kew Palace - I think it is called Queen Charlotte’s garden. It was quieter than other parts and full of roses. We explored the Palace too. Kate seemed to know quite a lot about it, not entirely because of her history degree - more from watching Bridgerton. 

Kew Palace

4. Writing

I’ve not been writing any blog posts but I have been writing. I now have 80,000 words on my story. Now I just need to write the ending. 

Winter Sun and Winter Storm

 

Last week I escaped the miserable January weather and went to Tenerife with my sister for a few days.  This is the first time I have experienced a ‘Winter Sun’ holiday and the first time I have ever been to Tenerife. I always been a bit snobby about holidays to popular destinations, preferring to delude myself that I am a traveller rather than a tourist.  Costa Adeje, where we stayed was an entirely purpose built resort with zero evidence of local culture.  But oh it was bliss.  Temperatures of 21-23, ideal for me, a comfortable room and nothing to do but lounge around by one of the pools reading. It was a ‘spa’ hotel so there was one of those bubbly pool things. I liked that as it was warmer than the main ones so I left Sylvia to swim up and down seriously with her nose clip on while I took it easy in the bubbly bit. 

There’s a brick walkway along the seafront and landscaped ‘gardens’ with palm trees and neat rocky beds with huge cacti. The coastline is rocky - the first day we were there was breezy and there were huge waves crashing in - it reminded me of Portstewart I where we used to go to the seaside in NI. The sand on the beaches is dark though - nearly black in some parts - as Tenerife is a volcanic island. Turning left from the hotel on our first day, we explored the attractions along the promenade, windowshopping and browsing in the upmarket shops near the hotel. As we walked on there were more restaurants and bars catering for UK tourists with large screens showing Premier League football matches (just what I wanted to escape) and those places where you put your feet in a tank of little fish which eat away the dead skin. Yuck!  And a huge ‘Irish’ bar called Waxy O’Shea’s which seemed to be a popular attraction.  And young men selling fake designer handbags laid out in neat rows on the pavement.  Amongst all of this there were one or two really nice restaurants - our favourite was one called The Moon. Another day we turned right from the hotel and walked along the coastal path to La Caleta, supposedly a fishing village but in fact just more up market hotels and restaurants that offered similar food as the ones to the left but with white tablecloths, better views and extortionate prices. 

Us in the hotel’s rooftop ‘Sunset’ bar.  

)

Complimentary liqueur in The Moon served on a tiny glass

 Meanwhile at home a storm was brewing. At breakfast we met someone from Co Down who recognised Sylvia - she tests her children’s eyes. Their flight home on Friday had been cancelled. All dayThursday there were red alerts for Ireland  - schools closing, everything closing - even Tesco. Good job too - the storm was fierce on Friday morning there. Four of the huge Leylandii in front of Sylvia’s house were uprooted, blocking the entrance to her drive and smashing the fence. No one was at home - her husband also away on skiing holiday.  They returned home on Sunday to chaos and a cold, dark house - no power.  Last I heard they still had no electricity and she was showering at the leisure centre.  Luckily local farmers have cleared the trees - they’d be waiting a long time for the council on their little back road. And the good news is that Rossi, their semi-wild cat with even more than nine lives, survived the storm. 

Here in Chester we got off lightly - it was just a bit windy.  I’m back home now to cold, rain and mud. Cheering myself up with Spring flowers. 

 

Another year begins

My Wreath - quite proud of it.

Tried a different design this year using purple berries and rosemary from the garden

Days are already getting longer and sun rising earlier

Happy New Year! Another one. I read an article in the Observer last week about perception of time and how it seems to speed up as you get older so that Christmas comes round more quickly every year.  It does seem like that to me.  Apparently the trick to making time slow down is to avoid routine and constantly have new experiences.  Easier said than done when doggies need walking every day and the only break with routine is choosing a different muddy location to in which walk them. 

After the excitement of last year’s Christmas - a big family gathering - we had a quieter time at home this year. Just Paul, Kate and me and the dogs on Christmas Day with her boyfriend joining us a couple of days later.  We did the usual stuff: eating too much, present opening, TV. Kate and I cooked dinner giving Paul a break.  And I made a Paul Hollywood’s Chocolate Roulade which turned out really well and didn’t even crack. It was very rich though. Next time I’ll use more raspberries and less cream. It looked just like this - honestly.  I wish I’d remembered to take a photo of mine. 

All over now - I took down the decorations yesterday. It’s a bit grim here today. Snow fell overnight and it’s now raining turning it to slush.  There’s nothing much to do and football on the TV again, only marginally better than darts. But we’ve lit the fire and I’m sitting on the sofa planning some new experiences to slow 2025 down. 

November

Last few blooms rescued from the garden

Only Cyclamen survived the frosts

Seed heads are pretty too

And there’s always the houseplants

November has been generally dull. Here are a few things I have been doing to cheer me up during this, my least favourite month  of year.

Watching films

I went by myself to the cinema in Storyhouse to see Small Things Like These with Cillian Murphy who also produced it. It’s the film of the short novel by Claire Keegan and it was excellent as is the novel. Someone I know from writing group grew up in Tuam in Co Galway and remembers children from the Bon Secours convent home coming to his school. He recognised very well the way the local community turned a blind eye to how children were mistreated there, because no one dared challenge the church. This film wasn’t about Tuam and it isn’t a true story but is based on real events. And scarily set in the 1980 which doesn’t seem that long ago to me. 

I didn’t go to the cinema to see ‘Joy’, another recent film. Luckily it was released on Netflix fairly swiftly so we watched last weekend - all of us including Kate.  It tells the story of IVF with a focus on Jean Purdy, the embryologist who is less well known than Steptoe and Edwards.  Another excellent cast with Bill Nighy who I love as Steptoe. This film has a particular significance for us as without the work of these pioneers Kate would not exist. About 26 years ago we were getting ready for a final cycle of IVF after three failed attempts. I wasn’t expecting it to succeed and was amazed when it did. We went to Bourn Hall, the clinic in Cambridgeshire which was set up by Edwards and Steptoe. So we have a lot to thank them for. It was a good film - I liked the way it portrayed the couples desperate for a child. Remember that so well. Spent some time reliving my experience of it all by rereading diary entries of that time and sharing them with Kate. 

Suzanna Clarke at Women’s Prize Event 

I am trying to get used to the idea of going to films and plays by myself.  Lots of other friends do it but I tend to feel a bit self conscious and lonely. And I like talking about whatever I see afterwards.  Paul would go with me but we are in the unfortunate situation of being unable to leave the house at the same time unless we take the dogs with us - Alfie cannot be left unsupervised because of his epilepsy. 

Anyway I did go to this interview with the writer of ‘Piranesi’ in Storyhouse by myself.  I even asked a question.  It was very good so I’m glad I made the effort. Although quite a reserved person, she spoke very eloquently about her writing. And I got her to sign my copy of ‘Piranesi’.

Lizzie the Musical

On a damp Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago Kate and I took the tram to a little theatre not far from Piccadilly station in Manchester.  We saw a very loud production of a musical based on the story of Lizzie Borden, a young woman accused of murdering her father and stepmother in nineteenth century Massachusetts.  It was similar in style to Six the Musical which Kate loves with an all female cast and a live band. Here’s a clip. Lizzie the Musical Good fun though my ears were ringing when we came out. 

Wild Weaving

Last weekend I signed up for a Wild Weaving workshop.  I am not skilled at craft activities and did require my teacher’s assistance with my little basket pictured below.  It is very little and a bit wonky as I kept getting my blanket stitch wrong and changing the direction of my working.  An entertaining way to spend a morning nevertheless.

My little basket on a coaster

Apart from these distractions life has been uneventful with usual damp dog walks, bit of clearing up in the garden and too much time doing what I am doing now, watching Paul watching football. Lara the puppy likes to follow the ball on the TV, attempting to eat it.

Reading Round Up

 

There are still a few roses in bloom

Some variety of nettle I think. Good ground cover

My Beauty Berry shrub looks spectacular this year

Some dahlias holding on

And a final flush of flowers from the Salvia Hotlipa

One cosmos survived the autumn wind and rain 

I love my Passionflower 

Only one of the Nerine Bowdeni Bulbs has flowered.

Beautiful autumn colour on the Acer.

It has been a quiet month so a good opportunity to add a books post.  It’s nearly a year since my last one so I’ll do a summary of what I have read since then.  I don’t keep terribly good records and compiled this with the help of my library checkout history.  I’ll use the marks out of 10 method so I don’t have to write about them all. 

Classics

I’ve read a few purchased cheaply for the Kindle. 

Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse 8,  Mrs Dalloway 8. 

Discussed in earlier post.  

Charlotte Brontë Villette 9 I read this on my trip to Brussels. I’d always thought that Villette was a girls’ name. Turns out it’s the name Bronte used for Brussels and that some of this novel is based on her experiences.  I love the character of the vain teacher Paul Emanuel. 

Charles Dickens ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ 9  I especially loved its portrayal of the French Revolution and the sinister knitting women.

‘Cold Comfort Farm’ Stella Gibbons 6  It’s supposed to be a comic classic. I found the heroine,  Flora, smug and irritating. 

Historical Fiction

Elizabeth MacNeal ‘The Doll Factory’ 7  Had been highly recommended. Didn’t love it though the ending was dramatic.

Stacey Hall ‘The Familiars’7; About the Pendle Witches.  The title is misleading as the story isn’t really about the familiar spirits. 

 Zadie Smith ‘The Fraud’ 5  I had high hopes for this but in the end did not finish it. Ashamed to say I found it boring. Maybe too highbrow for me these days.

Bookclub

Viktoria Lloyd-Barker ‘All the Little Bird Hearts’ 8. I liked this story about a toxic friendship between the narrator who is on the autism spectrum and her new neighbour.

 J. G. Farrell ‘Troubles’  8 A reread for me of this book set in a decaying  country house hotel in the 1920s. Well written and an insight into life at that time for a privileged section of the population.  The decay of the house is a metaphor for the decline in their way of life. 

Suzanna Clarke ‘Piranesi’ 10 Reread. I have written before about how much I love this book. Chose it when it was my turn at Bookclub and I was pleased when most people liked it. The writer is coming to speak at the local theatre soon about her new book. I hope it matches up. 

Raynor Winn ‘The Salt Path’ 6 Reread. Only skimmed.  True story of couple who have become homeless walking a coastal path.  Got a bit repetitive I thought and I didn’t like the writer’s style.

Bruce Chatwin ‘On Black Hill’  8  An affectionate portrayal of twin brothers who live on a farm on the Welsh border.  Covers many years and is better at the beginning.  Thought it drifted a little at the end.

Crime Fiction etc.

I like a fairly undemanding page turner for plane and train journeys and so have read a few of these this year. Best was:

Liz Nugent ‘Strange Sally Diamond’ 10 I loved this.  Probably best described as a psychological thriller with a great central character.  Reminded me Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine.’  Trigger warning though as contains scenes about child abuse. 

Liz Nugent ‘Skin Deep’  6 An earlier book. Not as good as Sally Diamond. 

Gillian Flynn ‘Dark Places’ 7.  By the writer of ‘Gone Girl’.  Got me through a plane journey. Ok

Simon McCleave ‘The Chester Killings’ 5 Local writer who has churned out a whole series of these undemanding reads each set in a different location around here or North Wales.  Kind of travel guide meets detective story. Not for me. 

Others

‘Birnam Wood’ Eleanor Catton 7  Set in New Zealand so read it when I went there. Named after group of eco-warriors  who cultivate neglected land - so like the wood in ‘Macbeth’  what is growing ‘moves’  Has an ecological/mystery message.   Disappointing ending. 

‘You Are Here’ David Nichols 7. By the writer of ‘One Day’.  Vaguely entertaining and humorous but ultimately predictable romance between awkward 40 year olds.  His books a bit samey.

Colm Toibin ‘Long Island’ 9 A continuation of the story of Eilish, the heroine of his earlier novel ‘Brooklyn’.  I liked this a lot but was disappointed with the ending. 

Niall Williams ‘This is Happiness’ 8 Gentle story about the coming of electricity to a village in the west of Ireland.  I wanted to like it more as Niall was the tutor of the course in Greece I attended in September.  The writing is beautiful but the pace was a bit slow for me. 

Audiobooks

I keep trying and ‘borrow’ these from the library but they are always ‘returned’ before I finish.   I got part of the way through Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture’ on a long car journey.  Somehow either fall asleep and then don’t know where I am up to or just stop listening unintentionally and get lost in my own thoughts. The experience is not the same as reading from print.  I have a friend who now consumes all her fiction in this way. (That was the word she used) It wasn’t the book - I liked it and will borrow a print copy. I wish I could get into audiobooks - easier on the eye and neck too. 

I am currently reading Paul Murray’s ‘The Bee Sting’ which I note I said I was about to read about a year ago.  I had to wait for my Paul to finish and it took him forever.  It is very long - I am about half way and liked it more at the beginning than I do now. But very readable. 

That’s it for now.  I have counted up and have read 21 books in just under a year.  So it’s about two a month. Not a terribly impressive total.  I don’t set targets though. Makes no sense when books vary so much in length and complexity. And reading is for pleasure and not something which you do because you should like exercise classes or number of steps taken.