Native Clematis

This is a California native clematis, Clematis lasiantha.

Rock Chick!

Aunt Lillian

Aged ninety-one and one third.

Meet Aunt Lillian - this photograph was taken yesterday morning.Unfortunately, her enjoyment of the Stones concert at Glastonbury has already faded,sunk under the surface, and is now less easy to access.

She barely remembered watching them. Such a shame.



I shall have to try playing some of their music next week,see whether it stimulates her memory.

If nothing else it will help me to whizz around the place

as I do her housework.

borrowed from allthingsroyal blogspot

When I left her she was happily pondering over what food would be served

on Thursday, when she will be taken out for a luncheon

with Age UK.

Her outfit is already hanging on the wardrobe door

and we have selected a colourful necklace

to go with it.

It is the highlight of her week.

She doesn't mind how long the journey takes,

in fact she loves being the first person on the mini-bus

because then she gets to enjoy seeing where

everyone else lives.

I wonder what would happen if the volunteer mini-bus driver

played some 'golden oldies' music..

x

Healey Nab, Chorley

Led by Mike. With Eddie, Gordon, Barry, Maureen and me. Excellent afternoon walk. Fine weather actually!5.4 miles. Around 580 feet of climbing.
We set off from Froom Street and cross the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. I've never seen it so far west before, but greet it like a long-lost friend all the same. A very quiet stretch of water this afternoon.




We have to cross the M61 - not quite so quiet. After a bit of road near new housing estates we turn off to our left coming close to a couple of ponds and then head gently uphill through Healey Wood.

When we get to the top, Eddie's a tad disappointed to find that the quarry he remembers is so overgrown that it's invisible. All the same he adds a ritual stone to the summit cairn.

I may be wrong, but Mike could be explaining where we're walking tomorrow! Or it could be Blackpool Tower!

View over Chorley, with Blackpool Tower in far distance - see below.

The cairn

We make our way down, across Heapey Fold Lane and east to meet Moor Road, past the end of Anglezarke Reservoir, which looks a bit low just here.

Just past the reservoir, we turn onto a track by Joan Meadow Wood, which takes us north then west to wards White Coppice.

Down from the heights - I nearly forgot - this is the magical cricket ground?

Froglet? Toadling?

White Coppice village

We skirt a village and outlying domestic animals - geese and goats.

Noisy critters

Not long until we reach the car and head back, hungry and ready to hit the local Wetherspoons for a meal along with Mike and Jan.



- ignore the long straight line at the end!

Snow Big Deal

It's a Snow Day in Austin - just these few inches of large fluffy flakes have sent the town into a tizzy and sent me to the photo archives... snow makes me nostalgic and it triggers my record-keeping instincts.
This is what we called snow in Illinois! I liked shoveling smaller snowfalls, but it was tough clearing 20" from our drive and walk in January 1999
Then we moved to our first house in Texas where this February 25, .. sifting was also called snow
We might have missed the few inches that fell in the middle of the night on February 14, .. but a 2AM phone call took us out on the roads...slushy snow, steep hills and road surfaces built for warm weather combined to give us an exciting ride
In December .. a thin layer covered the drive, grass and car - enough to make Sleetman a hit on Twitter!
Look fast and you might think you're looking at snow... look close and you'll see it was the destructive March 25, .. hail - resulting in billions over $160 Million dollars in damage (and a new roof for Annie & Philo).
Can the 16th largest city in the US can handle today's snowfall without too many problems? I sure hope so - want to enjoy these decorative February flakes without guilt

Here are 14 seconds of the fountain in the snow - listen for the birds!

Goodbye Teacup Header

As much as I loved my tea cup header, I felt that it was time for spring to show up, so I changed my header photo to apple blossoms. I took this image last year in our fruit orchard. This year the trees have already bloomed and leafed out. We've had an early spring. Good thing we didn't get a late killing frost. It would have wiped out all fruit for this year.
We have several varieties of apples and peaches, a fig tree, two pear trees, a plum tree (maybe two), and a row of blueberry bushes. And there's raspberries next to the blueberries.
Around the property we also have muscadine grapes, persimmons, blackberries, crabapples, a mulberry tree, and lots of pecan trees. We are blessed to live in a place where the growing season is almost year round. I'll try to remember that this summer when it's 102 degrees in the shade and 100% humidity!