Your Day (apart from gardening) - what took place? 2023

Oh my gosh @Logan !!!.....I'm not even thinking of Christmas yet, I want to enjoy and make the most of Summer first!!!

I know you seem to absolutely love it though and never get out of the xmas mode so well done. You're cake is done, next will undoubtedly be the mince pies that your hubs loves.

I never was one for baking ( cooking dinners yes.. only because they're a necessity) I'm thankful none of my lot have a sweet tooth. Got out of that one !

 

Thanks Upsydaisy, have to do the Christmas puddings and cake early but the mince pies will wait until December.

 

Yes I know they are best matured.....still wouldn't want to think about Christmas/ Winter.

 

I was about to nip out into the back garden - with a cuppa and a magazine - when I came across this:



He doesn't look very happy to me....

 

Neither would you with wig like that.

 

I'd been tidying the front garden since 8 o'clock this morning, but when my back started complaining and I couldn't be bothered to make anything for dinner ('lunch' for those of you who are posh!) I decided to go and have something in Joe's cafe in our local town.
There's an open air market there on Fridays and that's where I saw a new stall selling plants ... so I bought one
(If you want to know what it is you'll have to look at the 'latest purchase' thread )

 

Oh how dreadful, so sorry for you @clanless !
But do not despair, it'll be just fine. Move it away from the sun, give it a good chop and stop overfeeding. Some say that it'll do best when confined

 

He's not a happy bunny.

 

We often take bus 62 to the local shopping centre or to town, and have for years joked that we'd better not fall asleep or we'll wake up in Throckley where the route ends.

Then the idea struck, why not visit Throckley?

A quick googling told us that Throckley in fact is a quintessential colliery village right in the middle of Newcastle, there is a dene and even a small nature reserve- and with the £2 bus fare cap off we went.

It all started well, the bus journey was delightful once we left the familiar territory and travelled past cow pastures (ok, the town moor right behind the Newcastle city centre, but with real cows and not just look-mum-cows-in-city- kind, sort of cow-cows if you know what I mean. )

The entrance to the dene was easy to find, and the dene itself was marvellous as denes tend to be. The feeling of descending deep deep down into the bowels of the earth towards the stream is magical, and always just a bit muddy.





We walked happily with warm sunshine peeking through the foliage, following horse shoe marks and finding the gates to the nature reserve that was lovely. Stunning views over the river to Gateshead side, hot sun and some first drops of rain.

Then it started to drizzle. Then it started to rain. Then it started to rain for real. And then it started bucketing down.

Our outdoors gear is waterproof up to a point, and we discovered that point. A wise word of advise, do not wear a padded bra in adverse weather conditions.

A rather fast paced half an hour trek took us back to civilisation and a glass of wine plus some crisps in the pub (advertising live sports "100% legally from Sky and Amazon!!" ) restored our strength and we found the bus stop home.

Apparently, in Throckley one must select one's comforts. One bus stop had a shelter, the other one a bench.

Here's a fetching photo of North Walbottle bus stop in its Sunday best:


And a panoramic view across river Tyne (that's Gateshead on the wrong side of the river):



All in all, whereas the dene was lovely, the day out was perhaps just a tad less riveting experience than we had planned for.

Well, at least we have been to Throckley and know what's there (Sainsbury's and the pub) and learnt that it's advisable to always carry chocolate in one's handbag.

 

Chocolate and a light but effective waterproof? No, on second thoughts, you're right....

 

Enjoyed a lovely day out in Salisbury..just strolling around and having a nice lunch.

Loved these Roses in the park, I just had to take a pic of them.

 

Wow, love those roses Upsy. Pleased you had a nice day.

 

Thank you Vicky.

 

I took some rubbish to the tip and saw they've already changed the speed limit on the road through this village to 20 mph. It continues into the next village and in all covers about 4 miles.
All I saw was a long que of traffic crawling along and drivers being impatient and speeding to overtake each other - it's going to be more dangerous as far as I can see.

 

Today - sitting in the back garden reading a couple of novels - which is very unusual for me. Apart from text books I have only read a handful of novels - maybe 5 in all - although I have listened to quite a few audiobooks.

I came across an old copy of Harry Potter 3 hidden at the back of a corner unit - which my niece gave me some years ago - so thought that I would thumb through the pages whilst waiting for the tea to brew.

Yesterday, picked up a copy of No 10 by Sue Townsend - from the local charity shop - and am alternating between Potter and Townsend - a couple of chapters each time. Should have both wrapped up by mid next week. Maybe this is the key - moving from story to story to keep things interesting.

Weird or wot......