Good morning. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are. We’ve had a decent enough week, a bit of rain and “sunny intervals” as the weather people call it. We’ll take it.
With the decent weather, the garden is looking increasingly lovely. I know you are all bored with the photos of much the same thing week after week but it gives us great pleasure. (To be fair, Penny thoroughly enjoys the work she does in the garden. Me? I love looking at it, preferably from a sedentary position somewhere).
We have been enjoying Secret Garden narrated by David Attenborough who is, of course, all over the news just at the moment as he celebrated his 100th birthday last Friday. What a marvellous individual.
The Secret Garden is a series celebrating the wildlife with which we share our gardens. As always, there is some amazing photography of urban foxes, hedgehogs, otters, mice and other small rodents, etc. Each episode is filmed in a specific garden ranging from an old mill adjacent to a river in Oxfordshire, an urban garden in Bristol, a secluded house in a Welsh valley, a “wild” garden in the Lake District and one in the Western Highlands of Scotland. It’s not yet available apart from on iPlayer but I suspect it will stream somewhere for those of you who are outside the UK.
The episode in the Lake District featured, amongst other animals, the return of the swallows to this particular garden which, of course, resonated with us. In Byfield we had swallows who returned year after year. Here, in beautiful downtown Moreton Pinkney, we have house martins which are of the same family as swallows, the Hirundinidae family, nesting in our eaves. Although they crap all over the window sills and on any car parked in the front of the house, it is glorious to see them whizzing about and swooping up into their nests.
But, as the episode makes clear, both house martins and swallows are under increasing pressure and the house martins, in particular, are on the Red endangered list in the UK. And, Penny and I have noticed – there are many fewer swooping across our skies than there were even a few years ago. It would be devastating to lose them.
And speaking, as we were, of wildlife, Penny’s Tadpole Incubator suffered a break-in the other day. Penny went out to check on them as she does most mornings. Lifting the lid she spotted a newt with an enormous belly – it could hardly move, she said. Naturally, she stripped off her trousers and waded into the pond to remove it from the tadpole enclosure. Wasn’t difficult, apparently, as it was so stuffed. She extracted it and placed him/her over the fence near our neighbour’s pond (which is where they have come from). No doubt he/she will find its way back but, in the meantime, we have fortified the lid of the incubator which, we hope, will keep them out until the tadpoles are of a size to avoid being devoured.
Friday evening we had a fun outing – Texas Hold ‘em in the village hall. Adam and Ava joined us so we had the girls for an overnighter who were kindly looked after by a lovely girl from the village. We weren’t playing for real money, thankfully. Rather, everyone paid a modest entrance fee and all the proceeds from the evening were donated to a local charity.
It was great fun and I think everyone on our table won at least one hand. I did very well early on and had a stack of chips in front of me. Should have cashed in at that point as I proceeded to give them away hand after hand. Penny also raked in a stack but Ava almost came out the winner on our table on the last hand but sadly she was pipped by one of the other players.
I meant to include this last week when it would have been more topical. But I forgot. Whoever is responsible for King Charles’ speech to the US Congress and his gift of the bell to the President is a genius. He/she clearly needs a substantial pay raise.
You have to hand it to King Charles. By giving Trump the retired bell of one of their submarines (the bell-end) he made a statement.
Bellend (or bell-end) is a common, vulgar British slang term for the glans (head) of the penis. It is widely used as a derogatory insult to describe a man who is stupid, annoying, contemptible, or behaves like an idiot. It is considered a medium-strength, anatomically based insult.
Stephen Berkowitz
And then, in the speech to Congress he had the looney Maganutters jumping up and down like jacks in the box. At one point he declared how the United States had been founded on Christian values (pause, and wait for standing ovation) and “respect for all other faiths.” Oops! There they are standing and applauding enthusiastically as he turns their ovation into applause for the respect of other faiths.
As I say, whoever wrote that speech is a genius.
And finally, Happy Mother’s Day to all of you to whom it applies and especially to my mother. Where would we be without them?
And finally, finally, a very Happy Birthday to our Ben whose birthday is today. And also to my sister Sallie whose special day is tomorrow. And, while we’re at it to our dear friend Mary whose birthday is on Tuesday. Happy Birthday to you all!
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. And, hold your loved ones close.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg