21st November 2010

21st November 2010.

Dear All,

Ben returned to Streatham on Monday in better weather than he arrived. Esther had a day in Cambridge with us on Monday before returning to Hutton in the evening. It is early for us to begin Christmas shopping but Esther acted like an enzyme – a stimulus to activate a dormant activity! We were also privileged to sample her personalised range of exclusive free range slug enhanced hens eggs.

Ben Departing for a Quick 75 miles

I left them in the afternoon for a conducted tour of the Folk Museum. This was started in 1935 to preserve mainly non University local history and artefacts. It is housed in an old pub at the bottom of Castle Hill and severely under funded.



Folk Museum Apple Peeler & Corer


Folk Museum Hat Making Kit

Next months Garden Column for “Over News” is, of course, on Brussels sprouts and is available as usual for syndication.
Tuesday was work, including a trip to our leek trial which is 2.3 miles off the beaten track in the middle of the fens. Part of the NIAB site (nearest the road) is being rapidly developed for housing and really is like working on a building site at present.


NIAB Site November 2010

After work I had my weekly Astronomy fix – this week on the outer gas giant planets and in the evening yet another Garden Club (5th in 5 weeks) at Swaffham Prior.
The map course on Wednesday covered “Using Geographic Information”.
Thursday’s walk was tough as it was muddy starting at Stansfield, 10.1 miles via Hawkedon, Scoles Gate, Purton Green and Denston. I was struggling a bit with gout like symptoms in knee and toe which has since settled in my ankle.


Approaching Stansfield

We have invested in a fruit cage for the garden so I have been clearing where it is planned to go. It was time to lift dahlias and gladiolas this week and plant a few lettuce in the greenhouse.
Fen Drayton Pits are deemed a great place to observe the starling murmerations at dusk but it has been rather foggy most evenings this week so it has spoilt it so far.


love

Mike & Kate