Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Weather

It’s hard to believe that a week ago (on Sunday) our modest little abode was completely surrounded by water (only the second time in 40+ years!)! Not very deep I grant you but deep enough to wet my feet when I attempted an expedition of a few yards (or metres in new money) to feed the waiting flock of bedraggled birds!

Rain! It didn't stop to rain! As my dear old dad would have imparted in his broad Shropshire accent, ‘It was running down the road just like water’! It poured, and how, all day! Late in the afternoon I sprinted (I use the word loosely!) down to the brook, a few yards (metres) down the road and was amazed to see, and hear, the water rushing along level with its banks! I then had to sprint back before the next deluge!

A Raging Torrent

Miraculously, by the next morning the roads were dry and the standing water from around the bungalow had evaporated into thin air, leaving us with a very soggy lawn!     

Little Furry Animals

Time is getting short for planting seeds! As they say, time and the growing season wait for no gardener! As I only have an unheated greenhouse the temperature whithin is entirely reliant on the whims and fancies of the weather beyond the glass! And, of late that has not been advantageous to the germination of tiny seeds. I usually plant runner beans in boxes ready to plant out in the garden at the beginning of June, when hopefully the danger of Old Jack Frost lurking about in the dead of night has passed. So, with that in mind I planted the said beans and left them in the greenhouse to sprout!

My favourite variety is Scarlet Emperor. I also planted, for the first time, White Emperor, a variety which has appealing white flowers, and when I opened the seed packet, white beans! The variety is obviously appealing to little furry animals too, as on my inspection a couple of days later, something had uprooted and nibbled the experimental beans! Even the sprinkling of clove oil over the compost didn’t prevent further displacement. (We have solved the uprooting of our pea crop problem by soaking the peas for an hour or two in water containing a spot of clove oil before planting! It probably reminds the mice of a trip to the dentist!)

May Day

The 1^st of May! Time to get yourself out of bed and wash your face in the morning dew and forever be beautiful! Or if getting up early doesn’t appeal to you go out and collect hawthorn blossom, which apparently has the same effect! Hawthorn is also called May, and is probably the May in the old proverb, ‘never cast a clout till May is out’. Or as my mum would have said, ‘you’re not leaving that vest off yet, you’ll catch your death of cold’!!

Weekend in Nottingham!

Being a country girl (bumpkin!) city life is pretty alien (and often quite scary) to me, but it is nice to experience ‘how the other half live’ from time to time. I have family who live in the Robin Hood County and this weekend I embarked on an annual visit! 

Kedleston Hall

On Saturday we visited Kedleston Hall (which is in the neighbouring county of Derbyshire). Kedleston Hall was the location for the film The Duchess. The building certainly had the ‘wow’ factor! Imagine waking up to those magnificent views and luxurious surroundings! I can always imagine myself in such a place! Scrubbing the blackened pots in the scullery with me little apron on!!

View from the Hall

Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx

Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers:St George's Day!

Water everywhere...

Rain, Rain Go Away

This week has seen dark skies over Leebotwood, and more rain than we’ve seen for months! The roadside ditch outside the garden gate has actually had water flowing along it! The powers that be are telling us that these rains will have no effect on their drought plans! The water must be going somewhere! In our case to the brook a few yards down the road!  

Devastation in the Garden

As if my rain induced confinement (it hasn’t even been warm in my refuge – the greenhouse!) isn’t enough I have had two garden catastrophes this week! (Waiting for the third!) Firstly my beautiful lilac tree is dying off! It is a particular disappointment as I grew it from seed and waited patiently for years to see it flower! Over the past three years it had gradually built up its flowering capacity and has been an absolute pleasure as its perfume pervaded the whole garden. Yesterday I discovered that half of my buddleia, which I also grew from seed, had snapped off! That’s probably partly due to my reluctance to ‘prune’ sufficiently. I like the ‘wild’ look!

Swifts, Ducks and Geese

Swifts were spotted over the garden earlier in the week and wild ducks were seen ‘quacking’ along above the brook. I suspect the swallows have given up and gone back to Africa, as the weather has taken a turn for the worse since they arrived! A couple of mornings this week I have seen and heard geese honking away as they flew in formation across a cloudy sky. And still my bird table is awash with twittering sparrows. I have reduced their feeding, but they still turn up about four in the afternoon for ‘tea’! The robin flies off with its beak full of goodies, so he’s obviously feeding a family somewhere.

St George

Last Monday, 23^rd April, was St George’s day! Patron saint of England! Slayer of dragons and rescuer of pretty ladies! Or so the legend would have us believe! But on further research I found that, although George was a real person, he was a Roman soldier born in Turkey, who probably never even came to England! And on even further research I found that William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was probably born on the 23^rd April and definitely died on that date so it seems to me that we should make Shakespeare our Patron Saint instead! We don’t even need to change the day! At least Old Will was English and a celebrated ‘bard’ to boot!!! Maybe we could even have a new ‘bank holiday’ in his honour! (That would make up for all the hours I had to study his writings at school! Hours of studying The Scottish Play in class followed by watching a performance of the aforesaid play in the chilly grounds of Ludlow Castle!) Only joking! Let's hear it for Mr Shakespeare!!

Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx   

Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers:April Showers!

St Mary's Lychgate, Leebotwood

Weather

What a week weather-wise! Early morning frosts, hazy sunshine, grey skies, rain bucketing down interlaced with hail stones…Typical April weather! And, it’s been cold, which has been more noticeable because of the lovely warm days we had a few weeks ago! And, what’s even more depressing, the weather bods are predicting the coldest May for 100 years! Can’t wait!

Red Kite over Leebotwood

Although we are used to seeing buzzards, the occasional sparrow hawk and kestrel hunting in the vicinity, the sight of a red kite in the skies over where I live was a very special sight indeed! In all the years I have resided here I have never seen one before. It is a distinctive bird of prey; it glides lazily and is easily distinguishable by its forked tail.

And as if this first sighting wasn’t enough, on the way home from Shrewsbury the next day, I spotted one even closer over the road between Bayston Hill and Dorrington on which we were travelling! (I suppose it could have been the same bird!)

The red kite was almost extinct in the UK at the beginning of the 20^th century, but is now often seen in the skies above the Longmynd, and apparently nested in the Shropshire Hills in 2008, the first time since 1865.

Shropshire Drought

Shropshire, together with other counties in Britain, has been declared a drought area! And will probably remain so up until Christmas possibly into 2013, so the powers that be inform us. On our food shopping expedition on Friday we crossed over the River Severn (by bridge before you conjure up a picture of me wading through!) and I was surprised how much higher the water was after our recent rains, although the river does have a long route over which to collect water on its way to the sea.  

The River Severn is Britain’s longest river, its source being on the slopes of Plynlimon, the Cambrian Mountains’ (in Wales) highest peak, it ambles its way over 200 miles to the Bristol Channel, passing through Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, on its way.

At the moment the ground is so hard that the precious rainfall is just running off instead of sinking in!

Counterfeit Stones

Yesterday evening we embarked on a trip to the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury to see one of my very favourite bands! The Counterfeit Stones! It’s always a good evening of rocking rhythm and sing-a-long! As the name implies the Theatre Severn sits directly on the bank of the River Severn overlooking the fairly new sculpture called Quantum Leap (dictionary definition…a sudden large increase or advance), which commemorates the birth of Shropshire’s Charles Darwin 200 years ago.

The sculpture, which to me looks like the segments of a huge spine (call me uncultured!) cost all of £350,000! In times of heavy rains the nearby car park quickly disappears under the flood water from the river. In spite of the week’s heavy downpours our car was still on dry land after the show!

Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx     

Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Clouds, Kestrels and Ken!

Sun, Frost and Rain!

Well, we’ve certainly had a mixed bag on the weather front this week! The sun has been warm, the frost has been keen and the rain very wet indeed! Not all at the same time obviously! We’ve had amazing ‘Simpson’ skies, beautiful blue dotted with fluffy cumulous clouds and the next minute grey and depressing. Three cheers for the Great British weather. Our main subject of conversation when nothing else is at hand! And of course we do need the rain!

Ken Dodd

The highlight of my week was a trip last evening to our local Theatre Severn to see the hilarious old-style comedian Ken Dodd! I say old-style as opposed to all the ‘alternative’ comedians who dominate today’s comedy scene. Dodd is 85 and has had a career of nearly 60 years. Imagine that, bringing laughter to people for all that time! What an achievement! We all need a good laugh; it’s the elixir of life!

This is the second time I have seen Ken live, and he is certainly value for money! The show started around 7.15 and we were ‘let out’ of the theatre at 12.15 having laughed the whole time he was on stage! Brilliant! It certainly gave the old ‘chuckle muscles’ a good workout!

One Swallow does not a Summer Make

This old proverb is apparently attributed to Erasmus in 1539. He said, ‘It is not one swalowe that bryngeth in somer. It is not one good qualitie that maketh a man good.’ Or woman if we’re being pedantic! But I would definitely agree with both those sentiments!

Two days ago I was slightly suspicious when my LTA said he’d seen two swallows (the first of the year! Plus it’s become a bit of an on-going challenge to see who sees the first evidence that summer is just around the corner! Pity we haven’t got something better to do I hear you mutter!), but yesterday I did actually see a swallow in the distance! But as the old proverb tells us it doesn’t mean summer is upon us, yet!

And high in the sky a kestrel hovered, while a raven croaked (I mean the noise it made, not that its life had come to a sudden end!) as it rose on a thermal against the blue sky with a couple of resident buzzards for company.

Spring has Sprung

On a walk along our lane the other day I was amazed at the number of wild flowers in evidence. There are masses of dandelions, all mirroring the sun with their cheerful facades, clusters of celandines with their pale yellowy green petals, tiny violets (self explanatory!), primroses, the inevitable cow parsley ( a favourite amongst the rabbit community), delicate wood anemones (or wooden enemies!) quaking in the breeze, and dainty wild strawberry flowers to name but a few of the 15 varieties which were obvious. (And I bet I won’t be able to find a single strawberry when they are ripe!) Mmm…the flavour is amazing, if you can find one! And the bluebells which are already in bud are apparently a month earlier than they should be!

Well, as always, thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx

Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Happy Easter!

And We Shall Have Snow!

What a weird week this has been! After days of beautiful almost summer-like weather it snowed! Temperatures plummeted and Wednesday morning saw a good covering in the valley and the hills were well and truly ‘white over’! And, what’s worse, after sitting outside last week in the warm sunshine, it was cold! I know the sun emits all sorts of rays which aren’t good for me, but its warmth and brightness also makes the person within feel much happier.

Apply Olive Oil and Sit Back!

Years ago, when I was young (yes I know it was a long time ago) it was common among sun-worshippers to apply olive oil to the parts to be ‘sun-tanned’ and sit or lie in the direct heat of old Sol. Then we just sizzled like a chip in the fryer! The sun didn’t seem as fierce in those days. Yeh, I know, it’s all to do with ‘global warming’! But, hasn’t Earth warmed up and cooled down alternatively ever since the ‘big bang’? Isn’t it all part of the ‘bigger picture’? In these enlightened days people don the Factor 50 for protection and to be honest I can’t tolerate as much heat as when I was young! It’s a case of sitting under the buddleias and watching the butterflies flutter in to feed. Can’t wait!

Flattened Flowers!

My daffodils, after months in coming to the flowering stage, have been flattened by the snow. It’s usually the March winds which put an end to the long awaited display! March winds have been absent this year. Swings and roundabouts!

Spud Planting

Yesterday was Good Friday! The day to plant your potatoes, or spuds, or if you’re a Proud Salopian, taters! King Edward used to be the preferred variety to plant by my dear old dad! A good ‘all-rounder’! Chips, mash, new, roasties, the old King Ed’ards couldn’t be beaten. There are still King Edwards available, but I suspect foul play somewhere along the development line, as they don’t induce the correct childhood memories of creamy mash!! Although they are still preferable to many.

The introduction of the King Edward potato coincided with the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. It is a ‘floury’ variety easily recognisable by the reddish splodges on the white skin.

Cadbury’s Easter Egg with Buttons!

Easter weekend brings childhood memories of a Cadbury’s Easter Egg, usually containing Cadbury’s Buttons. The meagre egg covered in purple foil and packaged in a cardboard outer casing (for ‘bigger’ effect!) had to last me for what seemed like forever! I can remember tiptoeing to the round oak table where the desired chocolate object sat amongst mother’s ornaments and as carefully and quietly as possible breaking a tiny bit off and replacing the paper. Trouble was, as all chocaholics know, one nibble isn’t enough and before long the egg was greatly reduced in volume. Then it was case of enduring mother’s wrath! Today kids have so many eggs! I was a chocaholic born too soon!

Thanks for your time!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx