Phew! One group of guests leave and another arrive – it’s all go in beautiful downtown Moreton Pinkney.
As I wrote last time, we sent Jordan and Olivia on their way and they eventually made it to Prague. We had just about enough time to wash and change the sheets before welcoming my lovely sister Sallie and her husband Rod. Before then, however, we had the minor matter of taking Annabelle and a friend up to London to see the musical Beetlejuice.
This was our Christmas present to Annabelle. She chose to see Beetlejuice out of everything that was on offer and invited her friend Liana to come with us.
And, it was great. The cast were excellent – so much energy and enthusiasm. The choreography was terrific and the nearly three hours just flew past. The girls say they had a good time so I guess we’ll have to take their word for it.
Sunday evening we collected Sallie and Rod from Birmingham airport. They’d spent a few weeks in Switzerland and kindly included us as a stop along their way home.
Monday, I took them for a reprise of the In Bloom exhibition at the Ashmolean. They enjoyed it and I got even more out of it the second time through. Having “done” the exhibition we scurried home for a quick visit with Adam and Juju who popped over to say “hi” to Sallie and Rod.
Tuesday morning we all piled into the car (Daisy included) and made our way to Mrs Brown’s Garden near Bedford. This is a private garden which someone in the village had recommended as perhaps worth a Garden Club visit. So, Penny and the rest of us trundled down the motorway to inspect it.
It was terrific.
The visit was highly enjoyable, made even more so by a chance encounter with some old friends. Julian and Ellen Pagliaro were at Warwick University with Penny all those years ago. They too became teachers and live in Bedford. It seems they’ve visited Mrs Brown’s Garden several times in the past and our mutual decisions to visit that day is one of those lovely fortuitous encounters, all the more enjoyable for being so unexpected.
I think the garden passed the Head Gardener’s inspection and will feature as a Garden Club destination next year.
And, our evening was made complete with a visit from Nick and Annabelle, similarly keen to say hello to Sallie & Rod.
And, speaking of gardens, yesterday was our annual village garden “competition.” A number of villagers open their gardens for inspection and a couple of neutral, non-MortonPinknians carry out the judging. In the late afternoon/early evening all those who entered have an opportunity to wander around the “competing” gardens and meet up at the end for a glass or seven of wine and a genial chinwag. Good fun and an opportunity to visit a number of gardens that perhaps one doesn’t get to see that often.
Astonishingly, Penelope’s Garden did not take home a prize this year. Even the thriving frog nursery did not get a mention! We wuz robbed! Time to resurrect this statement from one of our loyal followers:
And finally, what a weekend of sport! Oh my goodness. We’ve got Wimbledon going on, and yesterday was the start of le Tour de France. Obviously, there’s the World Cup as well and a new rugby competition – the Rugby Nations Championship – started yesterday. And then, of course, there’s always baseball! Enjoy.
And finally, finally, Penelope released her “froglets” into the pond this week. Out of their newt-resistant enclosure and into the big, wide world of the pond. So far, so good – there are a considerable number so Penny’s protection of them seems to have been successful. They are very tiny but very cute. Hopefully they are quick enough to evade any newts which might still be hanging around and hopefully they will think of this as home and visit in the spring to start the process again.
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