29th June 2014

29th June 2014.

Dear All,

It was Lea valley walk no.3 this week from Hartford to Hatfield. Even though it is a decent journey to get there the walks are worthwhile and new to us. Only a few of the group actually choose to travel so far, the rest organise a more local walk.

Hartford

Hartford Castle

 Lea Valley Path

It has been another week of activity at the cemetery as I strimmed all the overgrown graves on Wednesday and in the heat it proved an excellent way of shedding a few pounds, as it took over 4 hours. We had a skip delivered on Friday for a work day on Saturday to remove the old concrete path. This has been an ongoing project for a few years as various plans have come and gone, due to expense, so we decided to remove it ourselves and replace the concrete with grass. This was largely based on a sample digging where the concrete level was judged to be quite thin and no serious problem for a bunch of serious minded labourers (even if we were all over 60!). However the lessons of the West African Groundnut Scheme had not been sufficiently well learnt (sampling should represent the whole area not one corner) and further digging revealed 6” or more of concrete necessitating further plans. Plan F was to remove only loose material and get a quote for tarmac!

Tea Break

I spoke at a garden club at Wickhambrook, south of Newmarket on Monday night, I try not to do too many in the summer, but I owed then one as I postponed a talk to go the Dolomites a few years back.

The garden is fairly prolific at present so this week we have harvested potatoes, lettuce, salad onions, radish, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, shallots, peas, mange tout, broad beans, courgettes, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, red, white and pink currants and a cherry. Most of this has kept Kate very busy.

Love

Mike & Kate

22nd June 2014

22nd June 2014.

Dear All,

Well the “Cousins Reunion” planned for Friday did not go quite as planned as Dave and Jen dropped out due to a misunderstanding about the date and John and Muriel decided at the last minute that they were not well enough to travel. As Gwen and Rob were not planning to fly from Guernsey this time it was a question of quality and not quantity! However we had an excellent meal at “The Old Crown”, Girton and then returned to Over for a walk round the Fen and tea with serious conversation in between.

I was at Wisley on Thursday to view trials of Coriander, Dill, Iceberg Lettuce, carrots, garlic and Beefsteak tomatoes. As is typical of the RHS in recent years some trials were good, some poor and some inbetween. The M25 was fairly constipated and it took me 3 hours to get there and 2.5 to get home.

RHS Vegetable Panel

Iceberg Lettuce trial

WW1 Commemoration Garden

Kate joined the usual Thursday walk this week at Howletts End between Saffron Walden and Thaxted – always an attractive part of the country.

I had an appointment at Addenbrookes re gout and arthritis on Wednesday so Kate travelled to Hove on Tuesday evening on the train for the first time. It seemed to go OK despite some disruption at Victoria. She took Amélie to a soft play area where seemed happiest dribbling a football. Is that genetics or the influence of the World Cup?

We actually won a chapel cricket match this week which was a reward for persistence as I had to make about 40 phone calls to assemble the team.

The Cemetery Committee decreed that a small lavender border should be planted to enhance the area where ashes are entered so I had the task of digging and planting the area which had been enriched with broken glass containers and other debris from surrounding graves.

Yesterday was Swavesey Festival and I had the honour of judging the Fruit & Vegetable show. As they have opened up a new allotment field there were several entries including 21 lots of new potatoes and a plethora of strawberries.

Strawberries

Love

Mike & Kate

15th June 2014.

Dear All,

As mentioned last week we have been entertaining participants to our U3A “Just Vegetating” course this week: 5 for Sunday lunch, 6 Friday lunchtime and another yesterday. The weather was kind and they were very appreciative but it is a strain keeping the garden weed free!

Overwintered onions were harvested this week and look promising. Our elderly neighbour has a spectacular plant flowering which she claims to be of unknown provenance. It turns out to be a Dragon Lily but she has no idea where it came from and hasn’t seen it flower before.

Dragon Lily

Onion Harvest

Serious Pest Protection

Greengage 

Red Currants

Gooseberries 

  

    Cherries

Fruit crops are mostly looking promising at this stage.

I have been tiling this week round the new sink we have had fitted in the “compact toilet” ex pantry downstairs.

 Tiling

Kate and I led the Thursday short walk starting at Great Eversden and skirting the Wimpole Estate.

Wimpole Estate

Chapel affairs nearly every night this week: Monday cricket v Cambridge Police. We came 2^nd and noticed that we are mostly at least a year older!

Tuesday was Groups, Wednesday a cemetery trustees meeting, Friday Holiday club planning.

On Tuesday ex employees were invited back to NIAB to catch up with developments and judge how well the current business can support the Pension Scheme! They are trying very hard and have diversified in a number of directions to spread the risks.

Mary-Ann is in Germany this weekend, Ben starts his assault on the “Tour de France” course and Esther is planning to come up to greet her aged parent on Fathers Day.

Love

Mike & Kate

8th June 2014.

Dear All,

We have had outings to Hove and London this week. Wednesday was a bit gloomy so we opted for an indoor activity and visited Brighton Pavilion. It was well worth a visit and remains in good condition – even if the domes do not quite match Istanbul!

Amélie was in good form and remains a cheerful soul currently fascinated by woodlice.

  

Brighton Pavillion

On Friday we had tickets for “Bring Up the Bodies” at the Aldwych Theatre. We spent the morning in the National Gallery, Covent Garden and the Embankment Gardens before meeting up with Ben outside Somerset House for a pre theatre meal and tour of Kings College. The play was excellent and unusually for London, not completely full.

 National Gallery

Trafalgar Square

Kings College Chapel

My foot has been playing up this week so I did not walk but Kate completed the 2^nd stage of the Lea Valley walk from Harpenden to Mill Green, Hatfield and was enthusiastic about some of the scenery.

We have experienced some trouble with the solar panels due to a fault with the inverter, but a replacement has been delivered from Germany and installed under warrantee.

At the end of our U3A “Just Vegetating” course participants asked to visit our garden. We offered them a date (next Friday) but typically only about a third could make that day so Kate has offered a couple of alternatives and equally typical some can make one and not the other so it looks as though we will be entertaining on three occasions – starting with today.

Cricket was cancelled again yesterday due to a morning downpour making three of the first six games rained off. Chapel cricket should start Monday against Cambridge Police.

Love

Mike & Kate

1^st June 2014.

Dear All,

We were very impressed with the bits of Turkey that we saw. Modern Western Turkey is a bit like a construction site with new buildings going up everywhere and the crops we drove past seemed to be very well grown. Our guide was excellent – an old chap who is due to retire later this year, but he was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

We started in Istanbul with a heavy first day: underground water cistern, hippodrome, blue mosque, Hagia Sophia, Monastery of Chora and the Grand Bazaar! We did not linger long at the Grand Bazaar – thousands of shops selling similar merchandise – how they all make a living beats me.

Istanbul Basilica Water Cistern

Blue Mosque

Aya Sophia

Monastery of Chora

The Grand Bazaar

On the second day we toured the Topkapi Palace especially the Harem and Treasury then took a cable car to overlook the city and Golden Horn. A quick look round the Spice Market and then a boat trip up the Bosphorus.

Topkapi Palace

We left Istanbul early on Thursday to travel to Gallipoli visiting the Anzac and British memorials – the whole peninsula is now a war memorial. We stayed that night in Canakkale, thankfully with a swimming pool as it was now quite warm.

Gallipoli British Memorial

Friday was Troy, nine cities built sequentially on the same site, followed by lunch in a small hill village. This was our best glimpse of non tourist Turkey and we were shown round the mosque by the Imam even though we were in shorts etc. We stayed the night at Ayvalik. Saturday began at Pergamum and included the statutory visit to the carpet factory ending at a very large hotel on the Aegean at Kusadasi.

Wooden Horse of Troy

Pergamum

Ephesus was perhaps the historical highlight as the ruins are extensive and in reasonable condition with some restoration – especially the Library of Celsus.  This was followed by a visit to the Turkish Delight emporium and another village visit to Sirince. This village had understood the meaning of modern tourism and capitalism and run with it! We flew back from Izmir to Istanbul then back to Heathrow.

Ephesus, Library of Celsus

We were part of a large group (35) and although there were a few oddities most were very friendly and added to the experience. We especially befriended a couple from Bexhill on Sea and it turned out that his daughter is an actress, Sarah Hadland, who appears on Miranda as her diminutive side kick. The weather was wall to wall sunshine hitting the mid 30s by the end. I spent the week wondering whether my garden would be scorched only to find it nearly waterlogged on our return!

We returned Monday and I was surprised to find I had a Garden Club talk at Barton Mills on Tuesday! Lots of gardening to catch up – new potatoes, carrots, broad beans and strawberries this week. The cricket square needed some attention but we managed to get the game on yesterday despite being a bit soggy. Both teams have started well and are unbeaten after three games.

On Thursday we started the Lea Valley walk in Luton covering 11.5 miles to Harpenden.

Love

Mike & Kate