Skip to main content

eclipses and other snippets

I am aware that I am being less reliable about posting on the blog - after 5 years the novelty is wearing off a bit and also it started as a vehicle to document my uni degree work - now finished... in the first instance this twice weekly recording was a requirement to fulfil a module and then it became quite a good way to evidence my work progress and share life in general - something I've never been shy of - its gained a few faithful followers and quite a few unexpected readers from time to time - and I will continue to add to it but maybe as my life has become a little bit more mundane and I don't really expect my exploits to entertain as many people - well to be honest I never did - it wont be quite so enthralling and as often 😂😂but its been a good way to keep in touch with quite a few distant folk who I miss having in my everyday life..... 

This week we shared another partial solar eclipse - the weather was just kind enough to allow us a reasonable view of the sun slowly being eaten into by the moon,  We had the right glasses courtesy of https://gostargazing.co.uk/  and Dr Fred had set up the colander,  his telescope with the right filter on and distributed eclipse glasses - We had tea and cake in the garden and a friend and a couple of neighbours joined us.  Its not the most spectacular eclipse experience but it is still pretty amazing to think the sun which is  so faraway is being slowly hidden by the moon which just by some freak of nature happens to be exactly the right distance between the sun and the earth to make this phenomena happen.   

It continues to be a joy to be in the garden - in spite of desperate prickly heat requiring antihistamines (told you - no entertainment value here) we are spending long days pottering about - the roses - replanted and nurtured are starting to flower.  The poppies have finally settled and have deigned to open and gloriously blowsy.  We have moved the increasingly large banana plants into the garden and they are loving it - we can almost see them growing!!!   The garden has come to life - it looks less formal than this time last year and there is a lot more colour - some of it added by us but some wee surprises emerging due to less trees and more light.  



Adamfrost the hedgehog and his pals are still very evident but they aren't eating enough slugs - the whole of my vege bar one plant were devoured overnight!!!!   plus all my dahlias grown from seed!!!! C'est la vie - wildlife gardening......   Dr  Fred is obsessed with having daisies everywhere so he lovingly cut the grass avoiding all flowering plants.....


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

RubyStarrs in Paris...

Finally we have made it to Paris.  It was a bit of a long travel day - we decided to come by train so we could experience the full glory of British Rail or whatever it's called now which actually delivered perfectly on time... and then the Eurostar which was incredibly disappointing!  All that beautiful St. Pancreas Station and the Eurostar is sited in the dungeon... overcrowded, dark, lousy facilitated space...  and then the train was an hour late it felt like a long time before we got any fresh air -  but eventually we wound up in gay Paree...  We navigated the metro and found our airbnb gaff.  A mere 70 steps to the fourth floor on a rather lovely winding wooden staircase to a very nice roof top flat which is comfortable and gives a view across a lovely Courtyard with some obviously much posher flats.  It's located really centrally about two minutes away from the Opera Garnier so a very good location for getting everywhere...

Funchal

So after three days at sea we finally hit Funchal in Madeira.  An escape from the ship, and I have to say it was very pleasant indeed.  First of all the weather is really splendid.  Especially when you know that everybody else in the UK is suffering grim storms and vile winds..  Over here it is between 22 and 25 degrees is really quite warm.    Funchal is a pretty city. It's built on a hill it with lots of lovely white houses with stunning red roofs.   In order to get the best of it we walked along the sea front until we got to the cable car and we took it up the hill.  It was a really good ride much longer than we imagined and it's quite weird because it goes right through the town -  completely over everybody's house...  So not only do you get a lovely vista of the bay but you can view the beautiful rooftops and get to look in everybody's gardens and to look at their picnic sets.. clean washing nice plants... scratty backyards.... We got off th

Another Day in Norway where our Trusty Traveller finds Tromsø, Trolls and Totally misses Aurora....

Tromsø - the most northern city on the planet...  Its quite a pretty little town with lots of wood fronted shops, but of course like everywhere like this, it is just one big tourist hive and every shop is selling 'indigenous' gifts- didthe Sami make aurora themed mugs and fridge magnets?  Nearest I'll get a polar bear (i hope) Although I have to say I did like the big stuffed polar bear and black bear and I am presuming that these are either not real (unlikely) or culled as they sometimes have to be.    But most of the stuff is just northern lights  tat or Troll tat.    Peer Gynt.. famous worldover To be fair the best bit of Tromsø for me was the Troll Museum!  We went to the art gallery which was quite interesting (see instagram account) but not astounding, but I always like to look at the local art.  We had a mooch around town in the snow and then we went to find the Trolls.  This museum was absolutely crazy daft...  it was totally dedi