A SURPRISE VISITOR!

A little while ago we noticed a baby plant growing in a pot of old, used compost which stood by the back door. This door opens into the garden, and there are 8 awkward steps down into the garden, which explains why the pot of used compost was still there!

We left it alone, and it grew and grew, and soon became obvious it was a sunflower. We didn't think it would get to bloom so late in the year, but now look at it!

I grant you it is not one of those giant sunflowers, but it is very pretty. The seed must have been dropped, either by a bird or one of us, as we feed the birds with mixed seed.

Talking of strange plants, in the winter we feed the Siskins and Redpoll on Nyjer seed, and every year we have a fine crop of Nyjer plants, although they never come to anything, as it is too cold here for blooming and setting seed.

But the birds seem to have disappeared this week. I don't know where they have gone, but I imagine there is such a lot of natural food, they don't need ours. It is strange though, last week the sparrows and various sorts of tits were fighting over the peanuts, but this week - zilch!

IT'S MARKET TIME AGAIN!

Today (Sunday) was the monthly Treacle Market in our Market Square and adjoining street. Sadly, the "real" antiques seem to have disappeared, but there are still a lot of stalls to search



there was a lot of pretty crockery on this stall, but I wondered if anyone ever used the traditional wicker hamper for picnics? They must have been terribly heavy - you wouldn't have wanted to carry them too far!




There were a couple of bookstalls, and I was very pleased to find a book illustrated by Charles Tunnicliffe. I love his drawings, painting and all artwork of his, and the black and white illustrations in this book, which is devoted to country matters, are delightful. The book is written by HE Bates, another old favourite of mine. Sadly both Charles Tunnicliffe and HE Bates are dead now.

There was one book I didn't buy - though I did wonder if there were any other sort of slugs other than terrestrial ones!




There was a stall with lovely coloured ribbons.......




........and one that was all sorts of bits and pieces. It actually was a very windy day, but you can't see it from the photographs.




On the next door stall there were some old bears and other animals.......





.........and a stall with all sorts of floaty scarves and things.





The food stalls were all together down a street leading off the Market Square. There were two bread stalls, both were loaded with really yummy-looking bread. I bought a loaf that I was promised was full of seeds and goodness!



There was also a stall selling Fungi. This was a new one for the market, and although there were plenty of "ordinary" mushrooms, there were boxes of mixed fungi, which I really wouldn't have liked to try without positively identifying them first! And then I might err on the side of caution and not eat them!




And lastly, in case you needed a sit down and a cup of tea or coffee, this maiden was there to direct you down the ginnel!

BUTTERFLIES

We have had more butterflies in our garden these last few days than we had the whole of last year! These two are Tortoiseshells, but we have also had Peacocks, Red Admirals, Spotted Wood, and of course, the usual Whites. At this time of the year they love our Sedum. We have two huge clumps of this, but they are getting a bit too big for their boots now and will have to be dug up and slimmed down!




This last is a dahlia I thought would never bloom! I planted it in a tub, and then put the tub in a space in the border where there was a gap, but it sulked for weeks, until this lovely orange bloom appeared.

Sorry this is a short blog - what with one thing and another, there doesn't seem to have been much time for writing blogs!

HEATHER TIME

I've been longing for ages to get up in the hills to see the heather. We finally made it on a lovely day last week.



First we called in at a reservoir I hadn't been to for at least 10 or 12 years. I was amazed at how much it had changed, and couldn't recognise where I used to walk! Trees had grown, and paths altered, and it looked a very strange place. I was also very surprised at how low the water is. Considering how much rain we have had this summer, I thought the reservoirs might be full!




Our destination was the Goyt Valley, and Errwood Reservoir. Again, the water was very low. If it gets any lower, the remaining bits of the village which was flooded to make the reservoir will be showing!




One of the little streams that feed the reservoir. Makes a lovely sound, rushing over the stones!




But there was definitely heather there. It looks so lovely against the grey stone.




And just to prove it really is heather - its here!




There are lovely places to stop and you can walk for miles from here, right across the moors. Not for me now, alas!




We drove through beautiful countryside. You can maybe get a peep from the window and see why I love it up here.

Unfortunately, the road we were on is a very dangerous road, with lots of bends and steep downhill bits. So we couldn't stop, and I had to peer past Mr.G to take it!

It was a lovely day out - I really must get us out more!

If you want to see more of my photographs, on all sorts of subjects, go to my other blog

A NOT VERY SUNNY WALK ROUND THE PARK

It seems a long while since I took my camera into the Park. So although it was a very grey day, with rain threatening, I set off.



The first thing that caught my eye was the gnarled roots of the beech tree, and how the wet weather had made them really stand out. I was pleased to see that the grass was beginning to come through where they had squirted weed killer around the roots a month or so back. No, don't ask me why!




The early light through the willows and the reflections looked so calm and peaceful.




The two swans are still here, I am pleased to say but I couldn't persuade them to get into a more photogenic pose!




This Thing, for want of a better word, suddenly appeared by the skate park. No one knows what it is for. Those can't be seats, they are at an angle of 45 degrees. hardly a comfortable sitting position!




To my mind the red and yellow colour scheme this year looks a bit garish. It was quite nice before the salvias came out as there were some very dark reddish nicotinias, but they have finished now.




A small bed of antirrhinums are lovely - they are one of my favourite flowers.....




.......particularly the pure white ones against the very dark red.




Back just before it started raining, I love the way the water drops stay on the alchemilla leaves.




And my Echinaceas are doing well now I have managed to keep the slugs away in the Spring!

Its the last day of August today, should be Summer. But its cold and wet and feels more like October or even November! Don't know where our summer went!

BITS FROM THE GARDEN

Looking carefully where I went this afternoon I saw this tiny patch of moss on our stone wall. It had even sent baby outliers from it, presumably to colonise more wall!




And then I looked a few inches further on and there was another sort of moss, with moss "flowers".

It's amazing what you can see if you look down!




And I was very lucky to capture this visitor to my African Marigolds. I'm all for protecting and helping bees, and we never use insecticide in our garden.

Which probably explains why some things get eaten!

Speaking of looking and vision in particular, I was so fed up with not being able to see properly with what were supposed to be new glasses, with the latest prescription, even if the firm I went to had had to remedy a mistake by one of the opticians in the firm, that I took myself off to another firm, of independent, long-established opticians here. (The previous one was a "chain" firm, all rush and grab your money!)

To my total amazement, he said that I had been "over prescribed with prisms" and that I would be far more comfortable with 4 instead of 16, and my lenses would not be so heavy, etc. (For those of you who are lucky enough not to have to wear glasses, the prisms helped my eyes worked together. If I didn't have them, I would see double. As I tend to without glasses)

Well, I got my glasses, and do you know, he is dead right? I am far more comfortable, and can see better with these new ones, which I got yesterday. Not only that, this firm (if you pay to join an Eye Care Plan) will scan my eyes annually, and give me all sorts of other benefits as well. As my eyes are rather difficult, I was glad to pay the reasonable monthly charge and have my eyes looked after. I'm going for the scan on Wednesday.

ODDS AND ENDS

There were a few "curiosities" that we came across on our holiday.



This golden stag (or reindeer, I'm not sure) looked out from one of the old houses along the Bergen waterfront. There were other statues on some of the other houses, but it was raining VERY hard and I decided one photo was enough!







Looking down to avoid puddles, or rough ground, I saw these two drain covers. The first one is in Bergen, and ship represents the overseas trade that made it so prosperous, and the other one was in Stavanger, but I don't know what the story behind the two figures is.



Whilst struggling (on my part) and walking (on Mr.G's part) through Stavanger Old Town we came across the Canning Museum. It was very crowded and we didn't go in, but in the front part there were tins and tins of sardines, kippers and mackerel fillets on sale. Some were in ordinary oil, some in chilli sauce, or just plain tomato. Needless to say, I had to buy some. The kipper fillets were lovely, we had them with salad, but the sardines surprised me as they were teeny weeny little fish, packed in a criss cross fashion, not nearly as juicy as the ones we are used to. But nice though!




And lastly, and nothing to do with Norway, I saw this cot for sale in the flea market in Leek (Staffs). They were asking £95!! I think it must have been a hospital cot, probably back in Edwardian times, and I wondered how many little children had sat and cried in it over the years?

Do you ever wonder about the story things like that cot could tell us?