Something for the Weekend

I've had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. I visited my mum in her new care home in Devon staying with my sister, Carolyn, on the hottest bank holiday on record. As if Devonshire sunshine wasn't enough, the nursing home grounds were being used for a big party!

The live music, 1500+ people, a jug of Pimms and sunshine made for a fun afternoon.

My mum's room was very close to the stage so the music was incredibly loud but she enjoyed it and it didn't go on late into the evening. By the next day it was all cleared and there was little evidence of what had gone on the day before.

Before the party we went for a long walk along the Tarka Trail beside the tidal estuary of the River Taw.

Lovely scenery and interesting rock formations as well as lots of seabirds to look at - mostly gulls, oyster catchers and a curlew. We walked back past a lovely field of corn and sunflowers.

And an amazing field planted up with flowers for wildlife. Beautiful.

Both evenings we ate our meal in Carolyn and Paul's lovely garden.

They have a raised bed with veggies and I am envious of their nasturtiums which we must try growing on the allotment again next year.

The evening didn't exactly get cold but it was fun having the fire and watching the bats fly around us and the dark sky above North Devon was so clear that I saw two satellites (not the International Space Station). I've only seen them in Tenerife before.

Paul put his telescope up on the clearest night and we saw Saturn! Amazing to see it 'live' after seeing so many pictures of it. And, using his strong binoculars, we saw two of Jupiter's moons - another first for me, very exciting!

Then on my final day we took my mum out and, along with lots of other people, we watched The Legendary Grand Tour Mini rally as it drove past the manor - apparently the mini is 60 years old this year.

We think there were about 300 minis, decorated and tooting their horns.

My mum's hat blew off and went under a mini :-D Luckily it went between the wheels and survived' causing much amusement to onlookers :-)

But then I had to drive home. Luckily the journey home only took 3 hours, not the 5 hours it took to get there - the M5 was slightly less busy. Devon is so green compared to Berkshire; I couldn't resist stopping to take a photo of the stunning scenery.

And I do like to see windmills.

Today I planted up the cuttings from their beautiful buddleja which attracted so many butterflies in their garden - I hope they survive and we get more than just white butterflies on the allotment over the next few years..

Divine Comedy provide the song title.

In the Night Garden

It was my birthday yesterday - such a beautiful hot, sunny day, just how I remember most of my birthdays. I love being a July baby!

We had a late night on the allotment to watch bats, stars and enjoy a bottle of wine. The swifts and swallows entertained us for an hour or so before sunset at 9:20. They were swooping so low over the bean poles.

The pigeons and a distant peacock(!) were the last birds to go to sleep and then the moths and bats came out. Our bat detector provided the evidence that there were more bats around than we actually saw, probably mostly the common pipistrelle.

It's nice taking night photos - you don't notice the bugs till you get home!

The stars and planets were shining brightly in the clear sky. Jupiter was, as usual, the first to be visible. The star app on my phone showed that it's just below the Leo constellation - I prefer to have Leo as my star sign, though I am on the cusp of Cancer - I'd rather be a lion than a crab :-)  Mars and Saturn were really visible as part of a triangle to the South of the allotments.

The night-scented stock provided us with a highly fragranced evening and the moths were enjoying them as much as we were. 

There's a moth on the photo above ...

  We walked home to the sound of hooting owls. Aah, I love Summer!

Macrame by my sister

Return to Grey

It has been very grey and wet since our lovely day on Tuesday - there had been 17mm of rainfall and temperature has gone from 13° to a low of 2° and it was 6° while we were at the site today. However, it's from tomorrow that it's going to get really cold again - apparently...

We were pleased to see our grape hyacinths (free bulbs planted on 13th Jan) have started flowering, so they should provide a bit of colour on the plot quite soon.

This is the photo I forgot to take last week - our path between strawberry plot and tomato pots area.

We weren't actually working our plot today. We had to do some HAHA (Hungerford Allotment Holders Association) stuff. There are a few empty plots on site which the committee (and other volunteers) are going to rotavate after some glyphosphate weed killer is applied.

Personally, we (Jamie and me) are not keen on rotavating; it kills worms and can encourage certain weeds to propagate. Having said that, some of the plots are in a bad state and we aren't convinced that a new plotholder would get very far with them without some assistance. Particularly as, at present, we're still not able to say that we've got the site beyond next April... still awaiting agreement between Hungerford Town Council and the Landlord - REALLY WISH THEY'D SORT IT!!

As an aside, after our recent failed star-gazing session, there's a chance to see the Pan-STARRS comet this weekend- with the naked eye. Got to be worth a look if the weather plays ball... I remember Halley's Comet 15 years ago and it was interesting to see an unusual object when you're so used to seeing the stars that are always there!

Asteroids and Meteors

After the amazing footage of the meteorite falling in Russia this morning I'd been looking forward to seeing the DA14 asteroid this evening from the well-placed allotment site.

Russia, not Hungerford

We took our flask of coffee, binoculars, camera, sky map and star map Android app along with a little rum and settled in the container at about 7:30 ready for the start of the 'show' at 7:50.
It was a fabulous night for star gazing. Lovely and clear with a newish moon not causing too much light. The DA14 asteroid passed between Earth and some satellites but it's only small so not visible to human eye without at least binoculars.

DA14 asteroid image

The moon looked great through the binoculars and Jupiter was shining brightly. Sadly, finding the planned location of the asteroid wasn't as simple as that. My hands were shaking so much with the chill that I could barely make out the stars of the plough constellation through the binoculars. So, tracking down the star M94 and the asteroid near that was an impossible task!
So, we returned home fairly quickly, just as clouds began to cover the sky. Never mind, we'll stick to going out for the perseids in August when it's warmer and easier to spot!