weather

by

A Hot Day in June

Its hard to settle on sultry days like this.
Too hot to sit in that high sun,
yet, afraid to sit in the shade
else we may miss the longed for treat.

Clothing sticks to our damp creamed skin,
and our out of shape straw hats,
dragged hastily from the back of the cupboard,
pattern our faces.

We freeze our drinks and lick them lustily,
or glug at cold beers holding the cans
to our cheeks
to better feel the chill.

The jealous bees slake their thirsts,
sipping delicately from the bath
while the birds are watchful
from the shade of the trees.

By late afternoon all is adroop.
The roses nod in appreciation
as the spray of the hose rescues them
from certain desiccation.

Saving water, the brittle lawn
doesn’t share that magic shower
for who knows how long this
spell will last?

 

by

25th April 2017

For goodness sake, it’s April
And yet the wind is wickedly shaking
The blossom from the cherry
So that it blankets the ground
In pink petal snow 

It’s April and on Sunday
We sat in the garden in the sun
Drinking chilled wine, yet
Just two days later
My cheeks are pinched red
From the cold 

All hail, its April
Ice crystals hit the window panes
The dog growls at them
Indignant at their intrusion
But then a flashy rainbow
Signals spring

 

by

Loving it

Hmm…I’m not sure what to write today. I feel as if I haven’t written anything ‘proper’ on here for ages, so guess I should try and come up with something.

I could talk about the weather.  It’s unusually hot here in England at the mo’.  In fact, it was reported that yesterday was the hottest July day ever recorded, and yes, it was a scorcher. You’d think the end had come the way it’s all over the news and media. Personally, I like a bit of hot weather, and know it will be short lived and we’ll suffer for it with full on thunder storms and rain for at least a week afterwards, so not getting over-excited. Nuff said.

I’m stuck at home at the moment, ‘cos my husband’s car is in ‘hospital’ having broken down on his way to work on Monday, and he’s had to pinch my car this week.  In some ways it’s been good. For instance, I haven’t been able to get to the gym (hooray, at last an excuse!!), I’ve been able to spend time watering the thirsty garden (ooh…it’s thirsty Thursday.. perhaps I should have written about my trials and tribulations with the hose….) and enjoy the sun, and best of all, I’ve been able to spend more hours than I should watching the tennis from Wimbledon on my TV.

As you know, I’m not what you might call sporty, but I do love Wimbledon fortnight.

When I was young I always thought it was very staid and a bit, well, anal – stuck in the mud, old-fashioned even. Not to mention it’s stupid scoring (I know, that’s just tennis, but I wanted to make a nod to my heading…see I thought about it!) But then I watched the likes of Nastase and McEnroe ruffle Wimbledon’s grass, and shake it all up a bit.  Lots of people may say that they ruined the game with their outbursts, and I would agree the outbursts were rude and unsportsmanlike, but oh, it was great to see sportsmen with such emotional commitment, and humanity. It raised the crowd to a jeering mass, instead of the usual polite clapometers. It injected life into the prim and dusty arena.

Now, the partisan crowd can be embarrassing – OMG… do you remember all the sad old years and pitiful cries of ‘Come on Tim’, but at least they’re fully engaged. And on the whole they will cheer on the underdog from whatever corner of the globe they come from. They recognise the good, and encourage the erm, less good.

Personally, I really enjoyed watching Hewitts ‘Fanatics’ and they’re choreographed chanting the other day. Amazingly they managed to get the majority of the rest of the spectators chanting along with them as if the whole court was filled with Aussies!  Sadly, despite that noisy backing, Hewitt was knocked out and we won’t be seeing him at Wimbledon ever again.

Of course, the first week is full of one-sided mismatches, and you have to feel sorry for some of the players, like poor old Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil, who has come up against top ten players in the first round for the last three years (he was knocked out by Nadal on Tuesday). But nonetheless I’ll watch as many matches as I can spare the time for (but goodness me, don’t they go on forever sometimes – one match = another three hours of my life gone!).

Even the women’s matches are more exciting these days.  I remember when the commentary on women’s matches consisted mainly of which designer they were wearing (‘Miss Jean-King is wearing a dress and matching frilly knickers by Ted Tingling‘). But these days, the clothes barely get a mention whichever beautiful, strong, fierce player is on court.

I have to be honest here too… I do enjoy some of it’s uptightness.  I like the all whites rule, it is very peculiar to me to watch other tournaments where that doesn’t apply, they all look a bit scruffy! I like seeing the sharp eyed linespeople squeezed into those horrible prissy outfits, and the sweet ball folk scuttling around or standing statue still in military order even while holding an umbrella over a sweaty player’s head for five minutes. Bless!  And the strawberries and pimms, that, well obvs, I have to join in with at home.

So I’m looking forward to next week, when it will really get gladiatorial, with the big guns battling it out. I’ll be glued.

But wait…oh no… I’ll have my car back. Eeek…I’m going to have to start living real life again. Shopping, gyming, IT grouping, housework (noooooo, I know I do not need a car to do housework, but it just puts me out of sorts. OK?).

Oh well, I suppose Wimbledon will be rained off by then 😉

by

My world this Wednesday

  • The campaign for the General Election has officially started in England this week. You could say election fever has gripped the nation, but it’s the sort of fever that makes you want to tuck up in bed with the covers over your head.  The campaign so far (and I’m sure it will continue thus) seems to be a succession of party leaders sniping and making snide remarks about each other.  No one in the country has a clue who will come out on top, and it certainly looks like it’s going to be another hung parliament.  I’m just praying that the disgraceful UKIP don’t get a look-in on any coalition.
    —————————————————————————————————————————-
  • Yesterday,I joined the gym. No, I didn’t think I would either, but apart from their beautiful pool being just soooo inviting, I’ve been feeling generally blobby and lacking in energy, which I put down to being just a teeny bit heavier than I was this time last year. I keep reminding myself that I’m carrying the equivalent of several bags of sugar around with me all the time, and that’s why I’m feeling tired.
    I’m taking my first class today, Yogalates, which is the evil son of Yoga and Pilates.  I’m a little nervous – will all the others be young and fit? Will it be a bit too punishing for me? Will I make an absolute berk of myself (I usually do…should be used to it by now)?  I expect I’ll live through it either way, and I’m looking forward to a good swim and perhaps, a relaxing steam, afterwards.
    ——————————————————————————————————————————–
  • I’ve been trying to tidy up the garden, but it’s so bloomin’ windy, it blows my eyes to the back of my head every time I venture out. It’s been like this for days now.  At the moment the sun is out and through the window it looks quite tempting, but having just got back from walking the dog, I know that that fierce wind bites right through to your bones. Nope, I’m just going to stay here in the warm and look through the window at all the new weeds popping up and thumbing their noses at me.
    ———————————————————————————————————————————-
  • Lunching with a friend tomorrow. We are ‘ladies wot lunch’.  We don’t see each other often, but when we do we like to catch up over a glass of wine and some yummy food.  This is one of the great pleasures of retirement!  I can’t eat too much though, as I have my regular yoga class in the afternoon.  This is another reason I would like to lose a couple of inches from my waist…a spare tyre does get in the way of a good deep forward bend a bit!
    ———————————————————————————————————————————-
  • Easter weekend is coming up. The weekend of chocolate.  I remember when I was little, on Easter Sunday we used to get chocolate eggs in pretty boxes, or wrapped in fancy cellophane.  Now all the eggs seem to come with some chocolate bar or other, in boxes that are basically, just a bit more garish advertising.

    Of course these days chocolate is the only thing that springs to mind for many people when Easter is mentioned.  We should however, spare a thought to it’s origins.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not religious at all, and don’t believe in all that stuff, but it doesn’t hurt to be a little generous to those who do now and again.  At the very least we should take the opportunity to remind ourselves that such barbarism as crucifixion should not be allowed to take place anywhere in the world here in the 21st Century.  As I was, I am sure you will be shocked, though not surprised, when you hear that yes,some terrorists groups still find it acceptable retribution. You may guess who. Whoever wins that General Election, we must hope that, together with all the other world leaders, they intensify their efforts to stamp this out. Soon.

by

Whats the weather like Wednesday

Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to let me know what their part of the sky was doing this time last week.  It seems that pretty much everyone was having better weather than we were here in my neck of the woods (North Nottinghamshire, England.  Robin Hood country!)

Today has been a different story.  It’s been absolutely gloriously sunny and pretty warm considering it’s very nearly November.  I’ve had a great day visiting my daughter in Leeds, about an hours drive from me, and having a wander around lovely Roundhay Park. Hard to believe it’s in a city isn’t it?

IMG_1016 IMG_1018 IMG_1025 IMG_1029

by

Weather Wednesday

I’m always really thrilled when I look at my stats and find people from so far and wide have been peeking at my blog. It’s really exciting to know that my dumb words are filtering out to the four corners, and I was thinking that I’d really like to know a little bit more about what it’s like where you are.  So I’m going to start with the weather (I am English after all!).  You’re on my new Today page, so it would be great if you would just pop a comment in the comments box below telling me where you are and what it’s like outside your window today.

Here’s my starter:

I live in a village, just outside a small market town which lies about 35 miles North of Nottingham (where Robin Hood came from, actually I’m only a couple of miles away from Sherwood Forest!), England.  After the left overs of hurricane Gonzalo passed our way yesterday, causing high winds which had me chasing after the chairs in the garden in torrential rain, there are blue skies overhead this morning and the trees are still.  It’s really chilly though, probably the coldest day of Autumn so far, I don’t have a thermometer around, but I think it’s probably no more than 7 degrees-ish brrr… Winter approaches.

I’m excited to hear about your world, so I do hope you have time to drop me a line.  I’ll let you know what the results are next Wednesday!

ta!

 

by

Well, I am English…

We are known here in England for talking about the weather.  A lot. Well, there’s so much weather to talk about. It’s perpetual change.  Today has been beautiful.  The sky an uninterrupted blue, and the sun warmer than it should be for mid-November.  We have been out in the garden most of he day.   Well, it was a case of having to be really…

Last night the rain hammered on the windows, and a 60mph wind howled.  So much that it brought one of our old trees down.  To be fair, it was a pretty dead tree and we had talked about taking it out at some time, but it felt like an enormous job – it was a big old tree.  We never knew what type it was.  Just a big old tree.

We heard the crash, and when we went out in the dark, and wind, and rain, we saw that it had landed in my beloved pond.

My pond is my pride and joy.  We fuss over it endlessly – checking the filter, clearing out the waterfall-y bit, scooping out leaves that get blown in despite it being permanently covered by a net to stop the Herons.  Having started with seventeen fish, we now have around 65, although many of the original seventeen did get distressingly gobbled up by said Herons.

Since I was so worried about the fish, we spent an hour or so in the rain heaving the heavy fallen trunk and branches out onto the grass.  It was a filthy job, in filthy weather.  This morning, on inspection, the fish were all fine and still begging for food, so no harm done, and we had to set about the exhausting task of breaking up and disposing of all that dead wood.   Thank goodness it was sunny.

It has to be said that English weather, on the whole, despite it’s changeable nature, is pretty tame.  We rarely have hurricanes, or earthquakes.  Though of course, they do occur from time to time. I will never forget the Hurricane in 1987 which brought winds of nearly 100mph leaving me and my six month old twins with no electricity for over a week, and stranded in our home as the roads were impassable.

Since we have moved North we have felt the earth, not quake exactly, but shiver, twice, the only noticeable indication being the rattling of hangers in the wardrobe.

We’ve been lucky.  Some folk’s homes in the south are flooded today, and at least one person lost their life to the storms last night.  And of course, we can never forget the appalling devastation that happen’s in other countries as a result of fierce forces of nature.

They say we are due for high winds and rain over the coming weekend, but at least, here in England, we know that it will pass, and before long, we’ll be blessed with winter sun again.

Keep safe.