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Diary – 2012 July
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DRAWING & PAINTING:
2 July 2012
Poppies are usually pillar-box red but these are definitely on the
orange side. There are some in nearby road that are the normal deep red.
This swan has appeared in Priory Gardens and I think it
must be a young one because it still has brownish marks. I am very pleased with
my photo of the wind blowing the willow trees, every time there was a gust all
the dangling leaves lifted up into the air quite high.
3 July
I was surprised to see a few late wallflowers, and I made
sure I had a good smell of them, as we won't see them again until next spring.
This is Maid of Kent rose that is growing over my fence and leaning on the shed.
It grows really fast and big, and needs a lot of cutting every now and then. It
is very thorny so I generally just choose which bits should come off and let
someone else do the actual snipping!
Blue Parrot is very pleased with these colourful Sparaxis
flowers. I think the bulbs must have been under-sized as the flowers are quite
small and should have been bigger. I will feed the plants all summer and maybe
next year they will do better. My feverfew plants seed themselves and
grow everywhere without me having to do any work. When one of the plants has
flowers with big middles and small petals, I always pull it out so that it
doesn't go to seed, because I want them all to have big white flowers. The
leaves are a bushy bright green and they brighten up the garden even before the
flowers come out.
4 July
We went to Welling this morning. I had a good time in the
sewing shop and really enjoyed all these reels of ribbons and flower sprigs. It
is very difficult to choose when there are so many. We didn't need any ribbon, but I was thinking very hard of an excuse to
buy some. Dino reminded me that we have a box of ribbon bits in the cupboard at
home, so maybe I could get a pinboard and put some of the pieces on it just to look at.
There are lots of pylons crossing Welling between the
houses, and I wonder if they interfere with the televisions and equipment in the
houses underneath. Maybe the pylons were put up before the houses were built. I
think I prefer trees, though.
This Jubilee banner in Sidcup high Street looks very
Christmassy because of the tinsel. The best shop in Sidcup is this cake shop
with the smiley buns. It's a good job I take my banana with me on shopping trips
to fight the hunger pangs!
I like this shop sign. I have read comets described as "big dirty balls of ice"
and so a dry cleaners is the best place to clean it up! This wall is made of
recycled lumps of brick and it would make a very nice quilt pattern to sew up,
especially for Brown Teddy as he likes variations of brown colours. It reminds
me of a map of a town, with big blocks for the buildings and white roads. If it
was a greeny colour it would look like a map of fields and hedgerows, which I
think is much more interesting because you could imagine what was growing in
each field - mainly apple and pear orchards, streawberries, raspberries, and a few
with potatoes and carrots. Some fields would need cows to provide the milk and
butter, and some with sheep for the wool. I would leave a few fields full of
wild flowers and have some beehives for honey.
5 July
This rainbow on my broom in the shed was a mystery until I
traced it back to a reflector fitted on one of the bike wheels. I just had time
to get my camera before the sun moved round.
6 July
These pigeons and ducks are obviously totally full of bread
and have to rest and sleep a bit before they go looking for more. We saw a big
vole run across the path and disappear into this hole in the base of the waste
bin. I have seen one before swimming in a corner of the pond, so I hope it
really is a water vole and not a small rat. Hurry up, pigeons, eat the leftovers
so the rats don't get it!
Amongst the ordinary mallard ducks, we saw this beautiful
ornamental duck. Of course, he got some extra bits of bread. The other ducks are
bigger than him, so I waited for him to swim a little way from the others, then
I threw his bits of bread in, so he got a chance to eat most of it before the
others came.
7 July
Today we decided to get the stairwell wallpaper off. I
started with the scraper at the bottom and edges, and Dino pulled the strips.
The paper had so much paint on, that it was very stiff and came off in one go.
Dino really enjoyed helping and using his strength to tug the bits off. We got
the job done really quickly. I am leaving someone else to go up the big ladder!
Later on we went shopping and in the Walnuts Shopping
Centre we saw a display by the Orpington
& District Model Railway Society. The best bit about
model trains is when you make a tunnel out of boxes and blankets, and then send
the train through. You have to have a big green sheet or blanket to make your
hills. Some shiny silver paper makes a good lake and river, and a long piece of
squeezed up clingfilm makes a gushing waterfall.
8 July
Here is our favourite sparrow, feeding number one baby and
then number two baby. The sparrows get very bold for bits of bread when they
have nestlings to feed.
11 July
It is was heavy thunderstorms most of the day, and I
enjoyed watching the heavy raindrops bouncing around on the nasturtium leaves.
It collected in the middle and then jumped around and slid off. In one of the
short sunny periods we went to the park. Someone had thrown down a lot of bird
seed and all the ducks and some doves were busy pecking at it. I walked past
very slowly and they didn't take much notice of me.
This triple rainbow over the countryside looked really
bright and huge. There is no time to waste in getting the camera out, because
the sun could go in at any moment.
12 July
I am really pleased with our Amaryllis plant. This was a
really good boot sale bargain, and we knew it would do well because the bulb had
two big buds coming out of it. This is the first bud with four flowers, and the
second bud is just coming up.
13 July
Dino was really pleased when I bought him these Dinosaur
Footprint rolls. He is having them with raspberry jam, but they are also very
good to have with soup because they pull into little bits for dipping in. Dino
says his favourite soup is Primordial Soup which was invented millions of years
ago and is the reason why dinosaurs grew so big and strong!
15 July
I just love these grassy paths at Pedham Place field, where
we go to the boot fair. They are best on a breezy day when the grasses and wild
flowers are all waving and swaying in the wind.
19 July
I have been waiting ages to get an Evening Primrose in my
garden, because this is my favourite yellow. Now that it is here, I hope it will
seed around so that we will have some every year. This is the path between the
fence and the fish pond and there is only just room for me to get past the
plants, even after we tied them up. They are climbing nasturtiums but they seem
to have climbed across the path instead of up the fence.
21 July
As last we have some ducklings in the park pond. They don't
mind swimming away from their Mum, as long as they can see her. They keep moving
around the pond and not staying in one place, so that they stay safe. They are
full of energy and swim quite fast.
The mother duck was making clucking noises to keep the
ducklings together. Eventually they swam to the other side of the pond to dabble
in the thick weed there. There are six ducklings in this family, and there is
another family of much bigger ducklings. These are the moorhen chicks standing
on one of the logs that are floating about the pond. Moorhens have red beaks,
and coots have white beaks.
Here is one of the rats that lives near the bridge. I think
he is too big to be a water vole. He likes
all the extra weed that has filled the ponds, because he can look around without
being seen. This crow spent ages pecking bits off of this hard crust. The ducks
could have told him how to soften it so that it goes down in just one or two
pieces!
After our time in the park, I noticed this bird pattern in
the fabric shop. It would be a good reminder of the park, apart from the flowery
chickens!
22 July
Today we collected four goldfish that the owner can't look
after any more. We used a deep bin with a lid for the very short car journey. We
we got home, we put some of our own pond water into the bin, so that the fish
would get used to it. The fish were very calm and after a while, we let them
swim out into our pond. I think it will take a while for them to explore all of
their new home, as it is a lot bigger and deeper than their old pond. They have
now got lots of new friends to play with and places to find snacks.
24 July
This is the Mallard duck family's favourite log for sitting
on, either for sleeping or to preen their feathers.
25 July
I always go into Homebase Garden Centre when I am passing,
to see what new things they have got in. I saw these serpents some time ago
amongst some plants, but here they are with the three bits altogether. They look
a bit like a worm or a millepede with the stripey pattern, and I think I would
prefer them to be smoother and greener!
The River Cray is nearby, so we walked home that way. The
waterfall is always interesting. It is so noisy that you can't always hear the
cars zooming past on the main road. Brown Teddy likes to read the notice boards,
to make sure he is not missing anything.
This part is normally short green grass, but with all the
wet weather over the summer it is now full of tall wild flowers and long grass.
These nettles are taller than a very tall person and this patch is definitely
not the place to run and play. You would get covered in stings.
As well as nettles, there are lots of very tall bramble
thickets, which I like because it feeds the birds and they can stay inside and
be safe from everything. Brown Teddy's favourite part is the bridge over the
river, but at the moment it needs repairing, so people cannot use it.
There is always lots of birdsong along the River walks, and
here is a thrush. It looks like a young one because the colours are quite pale.
It is easy to hear thrushes because they sit on the top branch of trees to sing,
but it is not easy to get a good picture of one. I like it when they visit my
garden because they eat snails!
This is the semi-wild riverside garden by the top part of
the river where the ducks like to stay. This blue plant is buddleia which is
also called Butterfly Bush. Brown Teddy likes the bindweed flowers. In a garden
it is a weed because it grows over other favourite plants, but the flowers are
very beautiful white trumpets. It can quickly cover up a fence or a tree stump.
27 July
The Mallard ducklings are now getting quite big and they
cannot all fit under Mum's feathers. The Tufted Duck has twelve babies, but we
could not get them all into one photo. They stayed away from the edges of the
pond as they are more shy.
We really enjoyed watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony.
My favourites were the floating rings all coming together, and the people
dressed as doves riding bicycles. We have a bike but we would definitely like
some extra wings like that, as long as they could really fly!
The shopping centre has flags and four television screens
so that people can catch up with sports and Olympics results, without having to
stay indoors. The shops prefer people to carry on buying things!
28 July
We took another walk along the river gardens. You can tell a tree has been
removed, because the ones next to it are all bald at the side. I wonder if the
greenery will grow back? This hidey hole at the bottom of a tree looks
interesting and is a good place for insects to hide in if it rains hard.
Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a very tiny door here with a doorbell
and a letter box!
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My favourite part of the river is where there are lots of
clean pebbles and the river weed all flowing down in long stripes. This crow was
not having a bath but he was trying to find some insects or worms in the shallow
water.
This type of cloud means the air is rising very quickly and
it will be stormy quite soon. The ducklings will be safe under Mum, if they can
all get in that is. Fortunately, ducks like water!
30 July
This is Birchwood boot sale, which I like because we can park the car very near
the stalls. That means I can go back and sit down while I wait for the others to
finish. It is a really good place to look at skies, because it is very wide and
open. I like a sky that has lots of things going on. Here are piles of cumulus
clouds at the bottom, very high wispy clouds in the top distance, and an
airplane vapour trail. I like it when the low clouds are travelling in a
different direction from the high clouds.
31 July
Here is our old Daddy Blackbird, with very messy feathers. He has been busy with
three broods of babies this year. He knows how to find food for all of them, and
has done a lot better that some of the tidier looking younger blackbirds. Maybe
now he will find some time to tidy up those feathers before the cold weather
comes! This copper water pot stays under the seat in the garden, so that shy
birds can get a drink in private. You have to be careful when sitting on the
seat not to drop anything like pencils through the gaps in the seat!
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
Where to report a lost or found teddy or
toy in
the UK:
https://www.facebook.com/LostboxTeddyBears
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