24th February 2019

Dear All,

Mary-Ann, Andy, Amélie and Albert arrived Sunday evening and stayed until Friday lunch time before departing for Hutton and the “Cousins Weekend”.

On Monday we visited Church Farm, Stow Bardolph near Downham Market which had a fine selection of farm animals especially new born lambs and goats with a large play park. As it was half term we were not alone! Andy had to work a couple of days but found time to undertake some serious walks each day and on Tuesday Mary-Ann accompanied him on a stroll to Cambridge where they met up with Kate and the children at the Zoology museum. I attended the next session of “Wicken Fen” then caught up with them as well.

Wednesday we were at Shepreth Wildlife Park which had greatly improved since our last visit. They have a good collection of animals including Lynx, Fruit Bats, Red Panda, Mara, Coati, Capybara, Cayman, Macaque Monkeys, Meercats, Wallabys and Lemurs – al in pretty good conditions.

Mara

Red Panda

Meercat

Family Group!

It was Ely on Thursday checking out the river, market and a few shops. In the afternoon Grace came round to play with the children and they “helped” me in the garden planting peas and collecting grass from the first lawn cutting.

Garden Help!

I had a Garden Club talk at Offord in the evening and Friday our “Biography” subject was “Hannah Ardent” a German Jewish lady who was a philosopher and political theorist who wrote books on totalitarianism and the definitive biography of Adolf Eichmann.

Over wan an exciting cup semi-final on penalties yesterday to reach their second final this year.

Love

Mike & Kate

17th February 2019

Dear All,

On Monday we started at Addenbrooke’s where Kate had a breast cancer check which thankfully has proved negative. We visited Ken Elsom again while we were there then caught a bus to the Botanic Gardens as I needed to gather some information on Henslow their founder. The gardens looked magnificent with carpets of snowdrops, the winter garden full of colour and the Alpine house packed with spring flowers. They have recently built a raised path so that you can view the systematic beds more clearly.

Snowdrops at Station Road entrance

The Winter Garden

New Raised Path

In the evening I had the first garden club talk of the year at Downham Market which is an hour away but a large group with about 70 present.

Tuesday morning I pruned the autumn raspberries and planted a few potatoes in pots in the greenhouse before attending the 5^th instalment of “Wicken Fen”. This was the first of three lectures on “The Flora & Fauna”. There are actually over 9,000 different species of plants and animals there 70% of which are insects. This week was mainly on plants.

On Wednesday we potted about in the garden wiring up the new rambling rose, digging borders and collecting vegetables from the allotment. We also booked a walking holiday in Romania for early May.

The weather on Thursday was sunny throughout for our walk which started at Ardeley near Stevenage. The pub was part of a community farm with shop, camp site , walks and animals.

Blue Sky near Ardeley

On Friday it was my turn to present a biography and this year my choice was “John Steven Henslow”: brilliant academic, professor of mineralogy, botany, founder of Cambridge Botanic gardens, mentor of Darwin, vicar of Hicham, founder of Ipswich museum and instigator of coprolite mining for fertilizers. I am available to bore you at length should you wish!

John Steven Henslow

I managed two matches this weekend as Comberton were playing Linton under floodlights at Cambourne on Friday and Over beat Cottenham 3v0 in a feisty local derby yesterday.

We are expecting Mary-Ann, Andy and family tonight for half term week.

Love

Mike & Kate

10th February 2019

Dear All,

It is proving to be a rather chilly weekend as our boiler packed up on Friday and our maintenance man is signed off sick until Tuesday.

After our respective U3A classes on Tuesday we visited Ken Elsom – still recovering from his stroke in Addenbrookes. While he was having his blood pressure checked we wandered over the isle to talk to the old man in the bed opposite – it turned out to be Professor Sir Roy Calne who pioneered various organ transplant operations. He too had suffered a few strokes and was unhappy finding out what it was like to be an ordinary patient and not a celebrity! He has been working on diabetes and was interested that Kate had been as well and gave her his email address!

Our not very easy neighbours at no.21 planted a hornbeam hedge along the border between us, it is now 8ft tall and besides the shading effect I found roots 2 meters into my garden so I have buried a 2ft barrier made from cupboards salvaged from the Hove renovations. The soil was damp and heavy so it made me puff a little!

Hedge Barrier

Our Thursday walk was a new one starting at Little Wymondley near Hitchin. It was very windy and although OK was probably not worth the trek. Highlight was probably the snowdrop displays.

Little Wymondley

Snowdrops at Great Wymondley

Friday’s Biography subject this week was “Robert Fitzroy” who was the captain of the “Beagle” with Darwin on board and later started weather forecasts – hence Fitzroy the only sea area on the Shipping News named after a person and not an area.

Admiral Robert Fitzroy

I have been checking germinations and starting propagation including 12 varieties of tomatoes this week.

Love

Mike & Kate

3^rd February 2019

Dear All,

We have been down to Hove this week calling at Hutton on the way down to collect some of Mary-Ann’s baggage, which has been in Esther’s loft for 10 years or so. 3 Haddington Street is being severely remodelled especially the attic room and kitchen area so the family are currently in temporary quarters in sight of the sea. On Wednesday we walked along Hove seafront towards Port Slade in sunshine, but in bracing conditions, and were surprised to see five people swimming in the sea! Three of them were wearing gloves – which must have made a deal of difference!

3 Haddington Street

New Accommodation

New Accommodation !

The house frontage has also being painted so looks smart. We wondered what the weather and road conditions for the trip would be like, but both ways were OK.

Our Thursday walk started at Sawtry just off the A1 taking in Little Gidding and Steeple Gidding. It was initially frozen underfoot and with a frost and sunshine it looked very attractive. Towards the end the thaw meant we were not completely mud free!

Near Little Gidding

Monday started with a swim followed by a chapel Events planning committee then Moldova planning in the evening. We have booked the next trip for the first week of April, but need to collect a bit more cash.

I missed this week’s lesson on Wicken Fen to leave for Hutton and Hove in reasonable time, but “Biographies” topic on Friday was “Helen Muspratt” a local photographer in the 20^th century with communist sympathies, and especially close to Paul Robeson. She was a pioneer of the “Polarisation technique”.

 

Helen Muspratt      

Polarised Image

In the evening we were guests at the Day Centre Volunteers meal as a result of the fund raising quiz that we organise.

We had a Men’s Breakfast yesterday with a speaker from “Christians in Sport”. All local football fell foul of the weather, so Dave my usual fellow spectator watched the rugby on TV and played Table Tennis.

We were on the streets again last night and it was rather chilly! Which kept the footfall down and although there were a few fights we were not involved and had a fairly quiet night mainly talking to rough sleepers.

Love

Mike & Kate