Positive thought Number One

There may be snow on the beach (again!) but spring will eventually arrive.

A dry squib

Yesterday evening the Dover area was damp, very damp, but the Olympic Torch arrived nevertheless.  It went into the Channel Tunnel, it went for a short ride on a tall ship, and it ended up at Dover Castle for a firework display.  It was a shame it was so damp.  Some people noticed the lights over the castle and thought it was a thunderstorm.

In spite of the weather forecasters spreading doom and gloom, today dawned bright and sunny so the crowds gathered for the next leg of the torch relay.  Outside my window, near enough.

In spite of trying, I couldn't ignore them so I had to join them.  I got a good spot by the side of the road.  I waited.

The police came by.  I waited.

I looked at the flags.

One dog had had enough.

The police came by again.  At this point the police had been past at least six times.  I'm sparing you some of the detail.

Then we had the bus.  It either did several circuits or there were several buses.

I'll have to skip some more or it will take all night.  After a whole fleet of assorted yellow/orange buses and cars passed by, we got The Sponsors.  We had Coca Cola, Samsung and Lloyds TSB, all very loud and cheery.

And we waited.

And talked amongst ourselves.

Then there were more police, more yellow/orange vehicles and suddenly ....

 ... a runner.  I blinked and almost missed her.  Who the other runners were, I've no idea.  They appeared from time to time between the vehicles.

So then we all went home, most of us.

Some forgot where they were going...

And others, well the air was full of the promise of bacon.... sausages.... eggs....

In spite of myself, I enjoyed the morning. 

Wild flowers in the woods

I do enjoy walking but it does take a special effort to go "for a walk" rather than just walking somewhere I need to go.  I am easily put off by a poor weather forecast.  So I decided to join a walking group to spur me on. 

My first walk with them turned out to be the last of the winter walks so it was longer than usual, a good half hour longer than the 1 to 1.5 hours they advertised.  They went through the rhubarb fields.  I have never seen a rhubarb field before, but there it was.  Full of rhubarb.  I hadn't thought to carry my camera along but decided I would for the next walk.

It was a beautifully warm and sunny day, unseasonally warm.  I waved goodbye to my companions and assured them I'd be there the following week as long as it didn't snow.  Guess what?  Fortunately the 6 inches of snow that fell in Scotland didn't get too far south but rain was in the forecast.

My second walk turned out to coincide with the appearance of the windflowers in one of the local woods.  So it was longer than usual, a good half hour longer.  But this time I did have the camera.

In spite of the dry weather we've had all winter, the woods were full of wild flowers and greenery. 

Wood anemones, also known as windflowers or thimbleweed have half inch diameter flowers and form spreading carpets of growth in suitable shady conditions.  They die back completely in the summer.  They are nothing like their brightly coloured cultivated cousins, but have their own special charm. 

 Of course there were primroses too, one of my favourites.

And violets.

I was surprised that the leader of the walk happily pointed out the celandine.  When I had a garden I spent years attempting to get rid of it as it attempted a take over.  I eventually came to terms with it when I heard a radio programme suggest that the best way of dealing with it was to "learn to love your celandine".   I kept muttering that to myself every spring as I pulled it up by the handful.

There was quite a bit more to see in the woods, including some evidence of World War II, surprising in what seemed like an out of the way place.  I'll be back again though, to check that out along with the bluebells which should be in full bloom before the end of the month.
 

Some mothers do have 'em

Aren't they beautiful?

The annual muddle of Mothers' Day is upon us.  Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK and it wasn't forgotten.  This is not so easy for offspring who live in France because there, the Fête des Mères will be on 29 May, along with a few other countries.  Most of the rest opt for 8 May.

Public service announcement (because it's one of the most frequent searches coming to this blog).

Mothers' Days 2011 (sorry, Norway and Romania, I'm late)


Norway: 13 February 2011

Romania: 8 March 2011

United Kingdom: 3 April 2011

Denmark: 1 May 2011
Portugal: 1 May 2011

Austria: 8 May 2011
Belgium: 8 May 2011
Brazil: 8 May 2011
China: 8 May 2011
Germany: 8 May 2011
Greece: 8 May 2011
Italy: 8 May 2011
Netherlands: 8 May 2011
Spain: 8 May 2011
Switzerland: 8 May 2011
Ukraine: 8 May 2011
USA: 8 May 2011

France: 29 May 2011
Morocco: 29 May 2011
Sweden: 29 May 2011
Tunisia: 29 May 2011

Luxemburg: 5 June 2011

Russia: 27 November 2011

No doubt someone will want to standardise the date but I rather like the diversity, not least because I stand a chance of having a double celebration.

Free

I was intending to have a free week this time but as I was walking along the sea front into town it occurred to me that there are so many things we take for granted, purely because they are free.

This pub in particular always has a superb display of hanging baskets and window boxes, but many houses along the way do the same. A free flower show.

A little further along you can have a free time check, and even a free history lesson.  Originally the ball on top of the tower would rise half way up the pole five minutes before 1:00pm.  At precisely 1:00 it dropped so that ships off shore would have accurate time. Nowadays it drops every hour for the entertainment of visitors. 

The Time Ball Tower was once a semaphore tower to relay messages along the coast in the effort to suppress smuggling activities.  Before that it was a telegraph tower used to realy messages between the Admiralty in London, and Deal. 

Walking along the beach I came across what must be an example of free text messaging.

Further up the beach at this time of year many of the plants that colonise the beach are thriving and coming into flower.  The seakale above is one of the first plants to colonise shingle beaches.  It is edible but you aren't allowed take it from the beaches.  Several of the plants on the beach are quite rare.  A free botany lesson.

Finally, the beach provides its own free flower show, again with species that are specific to this type of area.

If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt and discover how other players interpret "Free", pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more. 

Purple

I struggled to find anything purple this week.  I was surprised.  You'd think some of the palaces and châteaux would have yielded a little purple but either it wasn't there or I avoided it.  Looking through my archives has become unwieldy, now that I have so many photos, but then I discovered a clever tool in Picasa - you can search on a colour!  How clever!

I would have to argue with some of Picasa's choices, (I really have no idea why a picture of my face should be included!), but on the whole they've set me off in the direction of flowers.  Not especially exciting, but by now I was ready to accept anything.  Then I started to wonder where purple starts and red or blue ends.....

Multi-coloured aubretia

So many different shades, some of which could be called purple.

Lavender in the sun

In fact Picasa didn't label this as purple but I like the way the sun was shining only on the taller flowers and left the rest in the shade. "Lavender's blue dilly, dilly" but it looks purple to me.

Lilac

A lilac flower. Is lilac purple? Picasa thinks so.

A cardoon or artichoke thistle

Another of Picasa's choices that I might have left out, but beggars can't be choosers.

Aquilegia, columbine, or granny's bonnets

Finally agreement. This definitely is a purple, I'm sure of it.


If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt and discover how colour blind I am compared with other players, pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more. 

Fresh

Fresh water

Fresh growth

Fresh as a daisy

And yellow daisies are fresh too!

The thirsty earth soaks up the rain,
And drinks, and gapes for drink again;
The plants suck in the earth, and are
With constant drinking fresh and fair.

–Abraham Cowley (1618–1667), Anacreon

If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt, and find other other players, pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more.

Three

Everything comes in threes, or so they say.  Not when you're looking for photos to illustrate it, they don't.  But enough do, and there is something very satisfying to the eye about a group of three.  That of course should mean that I post three photos, so I'll start off with one from Bourges Cathedral.

These are three stained glass windows from the cathedral.  Most of the windows date from about 1215.

I can never resist the gulls on the beach.  "When shall we three meet again?  In thunder, lightning or in rain?"

And finally, three flowers on the pot plant I bought the other day.  I'm sure I should know the name of the plant, but I don't.

Three photos with nothing to link them other than the number three, this week's theme.  If you'd like to join in the PhotoHunt, and find other other players, pay a visit to TNchick's site where you can find out more.

Hanging on

The summer flower displays are still stunning here in France, in spite of many signs of autumn around.