Post Comment Love 13 - 15 September

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

We’ve spent most of this week in Glasgow - you may have spotted that if you’ve been following my Instagram stories - and so this post was written in advance. And the day our second peach blew off the tree overnight - it’s a beauty though, and I can’t resist sharing a photo of it here.

Somehow the spotlights reflecting in the countertop add something to the photo - I wonder if we’ll manage more than the three fruits next year. One fell off fairly early on and was rock hard, the second lasted a fair bit longer but then suffered from some rot (though the non-rotted side tasted good!) and then there’s this our final peach of the year. I’m hoping it tastes as good as it looks!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Walking East Stoke's lanes: July 2024

I’m still half chuckling about the newly tarmac-ed verges from my June update, but only half chuckling in despair more than anything. However, my July update is here - and later than usual, and for no good reason I can think of right now, other than it just never happened before now.

The hedgerows and verges were alive with colour as you’d expect from a summer month - I need to identify some of the plants I’ve included here, and while my phone suggests this might be lesser burdock, I’m not sure and I don’t trust what it’s telling me for the second photo at all. However both had great form and structure and the camera has captured these well.

It was great to walk alongside the crops whilst walking across the Red Gutter path, though I suspect they had some more growing to do after these photos was taken.

For the first time we walked further along the river to find the weir having heard of its existence on a local Facebook group - and it wasn’t that far from where we’d walked on previous outings, just along rather than up. It was suitably signposted and behind barbed wire, as it should be.

Retracing our steps, again we decided on another first for us as the weather was so good. Instead of heading up towards the Fosse Road we double backed on ourselves along the river path and past where the Red Gutter path brings us out. It looked as if we would be able to walk all the way along the river, up to Church Lane which is also one of our regular walks from home. And if we couldn’t then we’d turn back and work it out which of our usual routes we’d take if we needed to.

As it turned out we didn’t need to, though as we entered this wooded area we were less sure, but soon enough the path opened up into a field of golden crops.

The haw berries were already making their presence felt, alongside the poppies growing in the golden crops.

Next we walked past masses of these pretty and almost orchid-like flowers - it’s another one that I’m not sure I’m trusting my phone on, but the phone says it’s a Policeman’s Helmet, which is an invasive species. I’m not sure, but if you know I’d be pleased if you could share.

And then we were back at the end of Church Lane, the small wooden jetty which we’d first spotted last month was out of sight again, but now we know it’s there we knew where to look.

This view as we headed back to the village is one that never fails to make my heart sing, well in the dry weather anyway!

Thanks for joining me this month, I’ll be back to sharing the next instalment around the third week of the month, but in the meantime if you enjoyed this post you may also like some previous series where I revisit the same place - there’s my year in Greenwich Park and remember that time when I followed a tree?

Open studios, sculptures and a dingle dangle

Following on from my previous post on the Open Studios we visited this weekend, here’s more from the second studio, hosted by sculptor Mark Hodgson who opened his garden and invited us to wander around to view his amazing items, and they were amazing.

The spade heads were amusing, and a great way to ruse old garden tools and more. While they were fun, I can’t see them in my future garden plans, which I think MOH could be a little disappointed by, but I do see one or more of Mark’s scrap birds in those designs, so that’s a definite watch this space.

They are great fun, and involve great skill - but it was the birds that really caught my attention. I can imagine one (or maybe more) on the fence posts of the trellis around the heat pump. And maybe it’d keep the crows slightly at bay, who knows?!

ROBIN

HAWK

So don’t be surprised if one of these metal scrap birds appears at some point in the future!

And a dingle dangle

It’s always hard to leave these Open Studio events empty handed, but often it’s hard to choose just one thing! Here it was one of the dingle dangles made by Kate Sell, a mosaic and fused glass artist, and there were many to choose from. I opted for a tiny Christmas tree design in a gloriously sparkly green oblong and very tactile piece of glass. I’ve plans for it to be our new Christmas tree ornament of 2024, though at the moment can’t quite bring myself to store it in the garage with the other decorations - let’s just hope I remember it in a few months time!

I also left with a couple of Mark’s wife Amy’s succulents to add to those I brought home from Gardeners’ World Live earlier in the summer - I already know my next challenge will be how and where to store them overwinter. Amy’s advice was shelter and some cover, but that they wouldn’t like no light, so that rules the garage out - unless I can get MOH to put up a shelf or rig up some Heath Robinson solution in front of the windows on the door!

So two great visits, with plenty on display from a small number of local artists. Do look out for Open Studio events near where you live, or where you’re visiting, and do pop along I know it means the world to the artists, and they’re even more pleased if you are able to buy some of their work, now or in the future.