THE BELLS ..... THE BELLS ..........

I guess we all have good things and bad things about where we live. One of the lovely things about where our house is, is that it's a stones throw away from the 600 year old C of E church, built between 1418-1448,  with evidence of an older church on the same site, dedicated to St John the Baptist. 

The bells ring out every Sunday and for every wedding { if the happy couple have paid for bells !!! } We also hear them a few evenings a week when they practice and they are rung whenever there is a significant celebration. 

I took the above little video at 9.45 a.m this morning, the bells calling people to the Holy Eucharist service { you have to have the volumne up high to hear the bells ! }. I know a bit about the church, not because we go but because our son was a choir boy there. I think I might have told you this but, when he was seven, he came out of school saying the choirmaster had visited asking boys if they would like to join the choir { it was all boys then but they have girls now } and he said he did !!! He went on to get his grades in singing, then a degree in music and now works in the music industry..... he was born with the music gene !

Our garden is going over now but it did look nice in the Spring and Summer !!! 

XXXX

ADVICE ? ..........

We have the above bench and, as much as I love the distressed look, it is so rusty now, which comes off on our clothes so, it needs painting. I have been told to paint it black, which makes it recede but I'm not so sure about that ..... I'm usually pretty confident with my choices but, this time, I'm not sure ..........

Our other painted bench is cream ....... should we go with cream again ....... or grey, or green or black or sky blue pink !!!

THOUGHTS PLEASE .

XXXX

photos via me

NATURE STUDY ..........

OK, well, this was going to be a post done on the new Blogger ! I went into the new Blogger & realised that you click on the red circle with a cross for a new post ..... all good so far. The page loaded and all there was was the first line. .... TITLE .......... publish etc. Nothing to click on to make a post. I've googled it but ..... nothing ! There was a tutorial on YouTube so I know what I should be seeing ! Anyone out there know why I've got nothing ? Would be very grateful for advice. I just knew this would happen to me !!! Maybe my time in Blogland is up !!!

ANYWAY .....

Look what was having lunch in our garden .....

..... a beautiful, golden beetle gobbling up our flowers ! 

After seeing the above, I was going to rush out and collect hundreds and make my fortune but I think mine is a different species !

Nevermind, we will have to make our fortune some other way !

Isn't he pretty ?

XXXX

A THORN BETWEEN TWO ROSES .....

My husband was cutting down some ferns and asked me to tell him how far to cut them ..... I went out into the garden with nothing on my feet but flip flops, no gardening gloves, nothing ..... I told him what he wanted to know then, I spotted the rose that goes over the arch so, ran in for some secateurs and a step ladder and started pruning ..........

Hands are now cut to ribbons !!!!! I always have to do everything straight away and can't be bothered to don the right equipment .....

I saved these three ..... the last of my Penny Lane rose for this year although, the St Swithin out in the front garden is blooming like mad ! 

Looooook !!!!!

 A thorn between my sister { right } and my cousin { left } .....

 This is us a few years previous ..... not in the same positions ..... my sister is the taller and older one { haha !!! } at the back, I'm on the left and my cousin on the right. 

 

Went to see The Good Liar ..... I enjoyed it even though it was a bit obvious and I'm not a Helen Mirren fan !!!!!

XXXX

images 1 - 7: via me, image 8: via google

CATKINS, CATS and QUIET ..........

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to write about. January is nearly always a quiet month. I have been doing all of the usual mundane, everyday things but, you all do the same so I'm sure that you don't want to hear about that.

I bought four of these hellebore's at Christmas as they are lovely to decorate the house with. Two of them have gone over so, I just braved the cold and planted them in the garden. When I was out there, I noticed  .....

..... these catkins on our hazel, swaying about in the chilly breeze. We have never had any catkins on it before so, hopefully, we will get some hazelnuts. 

Catkins .....cats ...... nice link ?!!!!

We have had three cats .....

Jaffa was our first cat ..... we got him by default as my friend had got two kittens from a friend whose cat had had kittens .... one for her and one for a neighbour. But, the neighbour decided she didn't want him and nor did anyone else so, we had him and he was a lovely cat.

Then, same friend went away to Greece for her Summer holiday. Her cat was about to have kittens so, she left cardboard boxes out all around her home and gave me the key to water her plants and to check on her cat. I turned up one day, no sign of the cat, no sign of kittens in any of the boxes ..... checked upstairs and she had had the kittens in the middle of my friends bed ..... five kittens and placenta everywhere !!!!! I had to take the duvet to the laundrette as it wouldn't fit in the washing machine ...... I got some very funny looks while I was stuffing the duvet, covered in blood and fluids into the machine { she did throw the duvet away in the end you'll be pleased to know !!! }

Anyway, I had to take five kittens and the mum home as I didn't want to leave them there all on their own. We looked after them for about six weeks as the vet said it wouldn't be fair to move them. The runt of the litter struggled and, we did our best, with hot water and hot water bottles but she died. In the end, we ended up with two of the litter .....

..... Dilly .....

..... and Woody .....

all lovely cats, but all gone now. 

XXXX

image 1: via pinterest , all other images via me

NOVEMBER COLOUR ..........

This post is a bit boring if you don't like gardening but I cannot believe how much colour we have in our garden at the moment and its November !!!

I planted these cyclamens about 25 years ago ..... I think that I bought a couple over the years as indoor plants and planted them out in the garden when they finished flowering indoors .....

..... a final bloom on our Hydrangea Annabelle .....

..... Hydrangea Smowball in it's Autumn coat ..... it's pure white in the Summer and changes to this deep red .....

..... Hydrangea Vanille Fraise ..... fading .....

..... Verbena .....

..... this is Parahebe ' Snow Clouds ' ...... it flowers from May pretty much into December ..... you really get your money's worth ! Just cut back after it's first flush is finished and back it comes .....

..... geranium ' Rozanne ' .....

..... Salvia ' Black and Bloom ' .....

..... and this euonymus was here when we moved in thirty odd years ago and this is the first year that I have seen these berries/fruits !!! .....

..... and this Blush Noisette rose is still flowering .....

..... and, finally { non gardeners will be pleased to know ! } my St. Swithun rose that flowers from May until December .....  That is the same rose .... it produces slightly different colours and forms of flowers ..... I really do like to get my moneys worth !!!

XXXX

..... AND THE REST IS RUST AND STARDUST .....

I think that you all know by now that I like a bit of rust in the garden ! My new acquisition is my rust crown and the plant of the moment is Muehlenbeckia.

Rusty old chair .....

Rusty arch and gates that we bought at Chelsea in 2012 at a very reasonable price which was a bit of a surprise !

Rusty old urn that we have had for ages .....

and a few rusty plant supports.

I did buy this bench, thinking it was distressed but painted and, when it arrived it was VERY rusty ..... I liked the look of it but, nobody wanted to sit on it and ruin their clothes so .....

..... we painted it ..... now it's stardust.

..... although it was a lovely sunny day today, the wind is blowing and Autumn is on it's way. 

image 1: via google, all other images via me

AFTER the RAIN ..... and a senior moment !!! ..........

This is our Kiftsgate rose scrambling through a tree ... the high winds and rain that we had the other day blew down a bough .....

SO .....

I put them in a jug .....

 Aren't they pretty ? .... and the fragrance is amazing.

Do you know what else I did ? After a little look around the garden, I noticed the greenfly were attacking the roses so, I thought that I would attack them back with the bug spray { over the years, I've tried Fairy liquid but it never works for me } I gave them all a light spray but instead of using the bug spray I had used weed killer !!! 

D'OH !!!!!!!!!

images 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5; via me, image 6: via google