Ah, I forgot to tell you last time that this week’s offering might be a bit thin – we’ve been away visiting friends on the south coast and then yesterday we had the Moreton Pinkney Garden Club Annual Show. So, be grateful for small mercies.
In spite of my reluctance to engage with anything in the village which might require any work, I have been involved this year as they are using an online entry system which has necessitated a bit of hand-holding and ICT support. There were a few trivial issues but, in the end, only two entries were received on paper – the rest were all completed online which cuts down the amount of work required by the committee. And, now that we’ve been through it once it should be even easier next time round.
Everyone in the village has been saying the same thing in the run up to the show – the weather has been so hot and dry that there’s nothing worth showing! Of course, it’s the same for everyone. Penny entered a number of fruit and vegetable classes as well as a couple of flower and roses classes. I entered just three this year – plums, cooking apples and pears. You can see that the categories I entered require a lot of work on my part!
And, much to our surprise, we actually won a few prizes. Amusingly, Penny and I both entered the plums (technically, stoned fruit) section. Both our entries were picked from the same tree and looked remarkably similar. Lo and behold, my entry won first prize and Penny’s was uncategorised. How is that possible? Of course, it’s not the winning that matters (to us, at least) – it’s just good fun taking part.
And, before you ask, since we got home only the day before the show, I did not have time to bake a sourdough loaf. So, there is a new holder of the sourdough trophy this year, our good friend and lovely neighbour Roger (who, as it happens, got started with my starter). Congratulations, Roger.
Our few days away were with friends who live near the south coast. It’s always a tonic to visit with them as there is always much laughter and amusement as well as the occasional nice meal. On Thursday we drove a few miles down the coast to visit Farleys House & Gallery, the former home of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, “Home of the Surrealists” which was very interesting. The house itself is not particularly striking but inside there are
brightly coloured walls, rambling corridors and generously proportioned oddly asymmetric rooms filled with a remarkable and eclectic collection of artworks, all of which provides the visitor with a glimpse into the remarkable lives of its former occupants Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.
Exactly the sort of place you might imagine two surrealists creating.
Penny and I fairly recently saw the film Lee which is (mainly) about her life as a wartime photographer. I was glad we had seen it before visiting the house so that we knew a bit about her life and story. The house is, indeed, cluttered with eclectic pieces of art including several sketches and paintings by Picasso who was a friend and occasional visitor.
A really nice day out!
Those of you who follow our Nick on Facebook will know that he is currently enduring a challenge on behalf of Cancer Research UK – he is doing 100 push-ups every day during the month of September. This is particularly poignant to us, of course, as Nick had a difficult and challenging “bout” with cancer which, thankfully, he came through with flying colours. And, most of you will remember that I too had my own encounter with cancer – last Friday was the 13th anniversary of the prostate surgery which left me cancer free. And, there are so many of our friends and family who have had their own brush with cancer, some of whom we’ve lost but so many are still with us thanks to the amazing work of the NHS and charities such as Cancer Research UK.
Many of you supported my modest fund-raising efforts all those years ago – all I did was sign up with Movember and stop shaving for a month. Not quite on the same level as 100 push-ups a day for a month but you all did contribute a tidy sum. If you’ve not already done so, I hope you will consider giving Nick some sponsorship – you can do so here. It would really mean a lot to me.
And, I think that’s it about it for this week! Seemingly no family birthdays this week – is that right? Apologies if I’ve missed anyone.
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg