Notcutt Purchases

 

So this off Friday saw me and Dad pop over to Notcutts for some purple (plum) slate to finish off the area behind the garage. The had a reasonable deal on so off we went and as per usual I also got distracted by other garden pieces!

Bought the little Robin to sit on Mum's sewing machine to remind me that when Robin's are around it means a loved one is near. There's the slate in situ and now it's had some rain on it, its looking more like the rest of the plum slate over the other side of the garden. Handy as I still have a bag left to top up that area at some point.

Also got a couple of the Flutterby items, solar powered butterflies which twitch and hover around when there's enough sun on them. And my final purchase was a lovely pink and white fuchsia to go in the front garden - something that always reminds me of my Nan Alice who loved fuchsias and was always on the lookout for a colour combination she didn't already have!

All in all a good trip and I bought lunch for us whilst we were there to save cooking later.

Father's Day

 So the 18th June was Father's Day, a time to celebrate what a great Dad my 'bro and I have 💓

Darren et al came down to visit as usual and we had a meal out at The Oak in Walderslade Village. Lush food and good company.

Back to mine to sit briefly on the decking until rain stopped play - which didn't take long. Annoying after weeks of really good sunny days.

We retreated to indoors and spent the afternoon catching up and then more food. James & Julia headed off to his parents for a catch up, after a cooked breakfast with her Dad at Toby Carvery and then a shared dinner with us I'm surprised they had room for more food! Talk about everything coming at once!

Was good to see the boys, George towers over me, which lets face it isn't difficult but even so, where did those two little rascals go? They spend most of the time staring intently at phone screens, no idea what they watch although I suspect William was gaming. Definitely a different generation to some of us olds.

💓💓💓 HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD - WE LOVE YOU 💓💓💓

A Hot Weekend

 So the weather this weekend has turned uber warm, that constant ENE breeze has all but disappeared and left in it's wake a stifling warmth that we are ill prepared for - as usual.

So got this interesting little plant growing between the concrete slabs in the yard, pretty little flowers if a little hairy on the leaves. Google Lens'd it and it's a Vipers Bugloss, unsure if it's a seed grown from last year's summer flowers or not but it's pretty even if it might well be a weed?

In my efforts to have a go at this months camera club challenge - Guess What, I setup the DSLR kit lens on the M50 using the adapter but sadly found that for whatever reason the lens ceases to focus - just makes a weird buzzing sound. Tried it on the 77D too for comparison, the lens was fine the last time it was used (June 2020) and so even though I don't use it that often I'd rather not be without one. So looked on Amazon, where else, and bought a refurbished one with a year's warranty for £149. As this new lens was an STM version I needed to buy a new lens hood, they are never the same - that would be too easy!

These are some test images from the lens taken in the garden, really pleased with the lens, as an STM it focuses internally which is neater plus if I use it for video it should be silent, or as near to silent as it gets.

Sunday saw me, Julia and James wander around the Estate checking out the Yard Sale that was taking place in various houses in and around the Estate roads.

These are my purchases, a Galileo thermometer, a lovely ornate elephant and a Union Jack tealight bowl which will come in handy next time we have a Royal celebration. Always fancied a Galileo thermometer and a lady told us how they work as we were standing there looking at it and I also Googled the instructions too. It cleaned up really nice, just needed a good wipe over with some glass cleaner. My final purchase was a tube of little gold coloured bells for the metal tree that stands in the landing window at Christmas - definitely got red bells for it and think I bought silver too, but although I've looked in The Works for the gold bells I'm assuming they won't be back in store until nearer Christmas time again so these should be OK - just need to add some thread to hang them on the "branches".

All in all another good weekend although as usual the working week is just around the corner again. Oh how wonderful it will be to not be confined by the working week when I can finally retire...

Hurstwood Woods

 

So this Off Friday I took the TG-6 and Tedster along for a mooch around Hurstwood Woods for an hour or two.

Not a bad wander around and sat in the sun for a while with a squash and a milky-way. Lost my way up to the higher tier through the woods, thought it was the main steps up where there's a fork in the pathway but that leads up to the road so had to backtrack and it's the first set of steps. You can't easily get down onto the lower level along the far end, well for me anyway, without a trekking pole, or two, to help steady my footing so walked back the way I came and then back through the usual route.

This is one where I've utilised the soft focus setting on the TG-6 - quite like the somewhat ethereal effect although they usually need darkening down as it tends to set the exposure too high. Or maybe it's because I usually have the ISO set to 800? Might have to experiment next time!

The rest of the weekend was spent pottering about in the garden, trying to salvage the dahlias from being eaten by something. Cut up an old Vimto bottle and used it to pop over the top of the plant until I could get some slug pellets. Bloody snails or whatever keep nibbling at them. So far the one in the front garden and one from the back garden are MIA so gonna be a bit miffed if they don't grow. And got the first blooms out on the geraniums, the white ones have flowered. The "red?" is growing well but no buds as yet but hopefully soon?