the power of flowers

As you walk down through the winding streets of St Peter Port, you really become aware of the beautiful voluptuous hanging baskets that are every where.
Well this summer I have noticed another by-product of all this floral splenda.

They are self seeding!!!!

In the top half of Mansel Street there are violets popping out of the cracks in the pavement

and these surfina are everywhere

I love them, it shows just how tough flowers are.

So please mister road cleaner - weeding guy, leave them be so we can carry on enjoying our very

un-hanging baskets!

floorboard envy!

At the beginning of July we were up near Oxford for a wedding and had a bit of spare time to do some exploring in-between all the eating, drinking and dancing (go Jonathan!).

Its stunning country side, with the Chilton hill as a back drop, and lots of idyllic villages.

I think our favourite was Long Crendon, beautiful thatched cottages, lots of wattle and daub, and hollyhocks every where!  Most importantly for me it had the feeling of a proper community,

a post office, butchers, florist, tea shop, pubs etc. 

Definitely not a dormitory village.

But the highlight for me was finding the Courthouse,

they think it dates from the fourteenth century,

and it was purchased in 1900 for £400 by the National Trust,

making it one of the first buildings in their care. 

The upstairs, the old court room is open on selective days, and we were lucky.

There is a lovely local history exhibition, but what got me were the floor boards, they were stunning!

The shapes of the boards were all uneven, you could almost, see the shape of the trees they had come from, and the soft silky sheen to them, from thousands of feet over hundreds of years, I wanted to take off my shoes to feel them properly, but politeness prevailed.  These boards had character, life, beauty, every thing that their laminated distant cousins in my kitchen lack, I want those boards!!!!

anticipating a glorious glut!

Sorry for the pause in posting, its been a hectic few weeks, weddings, birthdays, funerals....

But I am here!

The other thing that has kept me from the computer has been the garden, Chris has been very busy on the terrace second from the top.  It was a patio with currant bushes down one side and rhubarb and apples down the other, slowly over the years we have been lifting the odd paving stone to make a veg bed.  Well this year we have gone #@$?!! it and we have lifted the lot! 

I say we, I should in all honesty say he, as my role was more supervisory.....

The whole terrace is now dedicated to veg,

we have four raised beds with bark chipping paths in between.

And vegetables coming out of our ears!  

Golden and candie striped beets, striped and globe courgettes, kalettes,

spinach beets, chard, lettuce, two types of pumkin, rocket, herb,

beans, peas, broad beans and borlottis.

Not to mention the soft fruit...

kalettes

borlottis

peas

broad beans

The toms in the hanging basket at the other end of the garden aren't doing badly either,

this year we have planted Tumblers (at the front of the photo) and Tumbling Toms,

the TTs are definitely better, as they are still flowering, so will have a longer crop.

Well my shopping bill has shrunk

and our consumption of veg dishes has risen,

we are getting very imaginative, green pancakes - using pureed beet leaves in the batter last week, and last night courgette and feta fritters, yum! 

But it doesn't look like we are the only ones enjoying feasting in the garden!!!!!

Horse shoe

I went down to the bathing pools for an early swim yesterday,

the water is warmer than average for this time of year, so it was lovely just

floating, swimming and chatting, so peaceful.

Then as I was heading to work, I thought I would show you the newly refurbished Horse shoe pool.

It was badly damaged in the storms of 2014

and recently through a lot of hard volunteer work has re-opened.

It is the secret pool out of the four Victorian Bathing Pools,

as you approach all you can see are the steps above,

you round the corner and you find this magical man made pool,

a marvel of Victorian engineering and craftsmanship.

It is the only one of the pools that is open to the sea so is very popular with

divers, kayakers, paddle boarders etc.  Its also Chris's favourite at the moment!

There is a lovely little shelter at the top with beautiful granite pillar supports, quite a lot of the machinery from the repairs are still there, I am sure it wont be for long.

The job isn't quite finished,

you can still see how they are underpinning the steps to strengthen them from tide and waves.

I like it when an artist signs his work, well deserved.

Not sure that this was one of the craftsmen?

I would have lovely to see the moment that this seagull accidently walked across wet cement!

The look on its face!!!!

Guernsey Light Infantry

I was having a cup of coffee in the garden on Sunday morning before going for a walk, the radio was on quietly in the kitchen, when one of the neighbours started up with some load music. 

Except on second thoughts, I don't think any of my neighbours are marching band fans.......(well I am, I love them, I blame my Dad!)....then I remembered that the island was commemorating the departure of the Guernsey Light Infantry to fight in the Great War exactly one hundred years ago. 

So we hurried out to catch up with them as they were heading down Fountain St. 

The parade was following their original route from Fort George, down through Trinity Square to Town Church and through town to the White Rock where there was a service of remembrance.

It seems that the parade was split into two parts, so you could properly hear the bands.

The first part featuring soldiers, veterans and a military band.

The second part (which we had caught up with) was the band of the Boys Brigade, re-enactors in authentic WW1 uniform and local school children,

many whose great, great, great grandfathers had been among the original soldiers. 

It was incredibly moving, especially as they rounded into Church Square,

the watching crowds started clapping.

Eyes were definitely moist, glad I had my sunglasses....

Think it was made even more moving for me as on Saturday I had been asked a question in the Gallery that really made me think about the human cost of WW1.

As this gentleman had walked up to St James he had passed the war memorial at the top of Smith Street. This was originally put up for WW1 and other wars have since been added. 

His question was this

There are an awful lot of names on your memorial, when I have visited ones in the UK ,they often list all who went to fight and then put a star next to those who didn't come home.  Is that the case for yours, or are those names all who died?  Because that seems an awful lot for a small island.   

Well I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I did double check with

The Fountain of All Knowledge, The Priaulx Library, and they confirmed what I thought.

Those four panels on the back wall are all those who died.

Its very humbling when you stop to have a proper look at it. 

They fought at Passchendaele, Cambrai and Lys.

Three hundred and twenty seven young men were killed.

Their moto was Diex Aix - God Help Us.

This derives from the battle cry used by the Duke of Normandy 1,000 years earlier.

Such brave men.