What You Can Do With a Tree Stump

What can you do with a tree stump?

We had a 90’ Leylandii tree growing in our front garden. It was a kind of landmark when looking for our house. It was a beautiful tree with elegant branches spreading and curving upwards. It also kept sunlight from large chunks of the garden and neighbouring premises, plus the lower branch spread over the drive and prevented vans from backing up when delivering goods to the house. Eventually, we decided to have it cut down, never mind the expense. But we decided to keep an 8’ stump. We are glad we did.

At the bottom of the stump I planted two kinds of Ivies  — one with broad green leaves that has yellowish splashes of colour, and one with delightful variegated leaves. I also planted a Winter Jasmine, a Clematis and a highly scented, climbing rose with prolific clusters of creamy flowers. In a niche I planted a common fern. All have taken. The stump is heavy with delightful plants throughout the year. And where once was only shade and a few straggly weeds, we have Camellias and other shrubs. A poorly-growing Yew is now growing into a shapely tree, which we have to keep pruned. The photographs tell their own story!

Spring… Beauty and the Beast

It's nearly four weeks since I posted photographs of the garden. Spring had arrived and now it is blooming lovely. Some blossom is no more and others are replacing it in abundance. The Magnolia is always a graceful monument to the season and our many Camellia shrubs have never been better. The Azaleas are preparing to outdo the rest, with the Rhododendrons close behind. Plenty of other flowers and shrubs too are coming out, while others wait until later on to fully reveal their beauty.
And yet a beast lurks among my pretty maidens. In fact, a number of them. The hard-leafed evergreen plants — particularly Camellias and Rhododendrons (about 50 plants) — are becoming affected with sooty mould Cushion Scale. It is all over the garden. Something to do with climate change? Other bugs are less obvious. The lawn is mostly moss. So much needs doing. We can allow 'woodland' plants to grow among the shrubs, the more objectionable ones are weeded out. No problem there. But, unfortunately, we are not getting any younger to deal with all the work involved with the major 'beasts' . Decisions have to be made...

Spring Has Arrived!

We returned from a four night break (part of it visiting Derbyshire where we had our honeymoon 59 years ago) and found that spring had truly sprung in our garden!
While we were away we visited lovely places — Carsington Reservoir, Belper Riverside gardens, Buxton Park, Monsel Trail, Attenborough Nature Reserve, Wollaton Park, Chatsworth Garden Centre. Adding up the miles we did a fair bit of walking for a pair of wrinklies.

The weather could not have been better. Not too hot and not too bright. Now we are in bright sunshine, bad for my eyes but lovely to see everyone looking so cheerful. And it is really great to see our garden blossoming, even if we do have a serious problem with sooty mould to deal with!

A Lovely Day For a Funeral

A Lovely Day For a Funeral — a funeral for a lovely lady!

It is little more than a week ago that I was visiting this lady in hospital. And now I shall be attending her funeral. Will it be a bright celebration of a life well lived? I hope so, because although she will be greatly missed and many will be grieving, not least her adoring husband and family, this is a lady whose long life never grew dim — until her strength was fully exhausted.
The sun is shining brightly today. Snow is forecast for tomorrow, but we live each moment as it comes. I hope all present will sing out in joyful tones and the address reflect the pleasure my friend gave to so many people.
Funerals should be celebrations, too many are doleful reminders of ‘mortal toil’ and our ‘sinful state’. Yes, maybe they are good occasions to be reminded that life is short and to make the most of what is left to us and to use that time wisely, but every new morning is a precious gift not to be wasted. Life is NOW, yesterday has gone, tomorrow is unknown.

A Day Later…
A Celebration of the life of ‘ever young’ Margaret Faith Cottis (31st March — 25th January 2012).
AMAZING! The funeral could not have been arranged better, and a lot of people turned up at the Crem, and afterwards, to remember and celebrate a life well lived.
Entry — Bach, Air on the G String.
Words of Welcome and Introduction.
Thoughts of family members read by themselves or by the Pastor conducting the funeral — highly emotional, spilling out of love, thankfulness and grief, so right for the occasion.
Time of silent reflection.
Committal.
Music for exit — Gary Lombardo, Enjoy Yourself…

The curtains were left open so that we could view the coffin with the beautiful landscape picture painted on the side, a view not unlike where Faith and her husband used to sit together to look out over Morecambe bay. How fitting!

The reception room was filled with relatives and friends — including many bikers (Faith and her hubby were both avid bikers and campers) and pub quiz ‘mates’ well known to many. Lots of chatter and lots of eating, ending in a pub quiz! It was almost as if Faith was there putting down all the answers, for it is certain her general knowledge was incredible, even as she entered her eighties.

Certainly, it had been an emotional time in the Crem but it was all genuine. No hypocrisy or stress on ‘religion’ and yet it was also a spiritual occasion where peace and joy reigned supreme. And the time afterwards, so much part of the couple’s life and loves. Surely it was a day for Faith’s loved ones, especially her strength and stay — her devoted hubby — to remember with joy and thankfulness.

Yes, it had been a lovely day for a lovely funeral — the following day is marked with frozen snow and winter chill. But we can sit back and relax in warm memories that will remain with us for a long time.

Faith was always smiling or laughing. She could always see the funny side of most things in life!

The light of her life will always shine in the hearts and minds of those who loved her.

Flowers that speak of warmer days — flowering NOW in January!

We have a large garden full of shrubs and trees with lawns that speak more of weeds than grass (even if mowed and kept neat!)At this time of year it is often covered in snow but today it is sunny and not too cold to be outside. I always marvel how we see things, such as flowers, that are small and partly hidden by the vastness of greenery. It is these little gems that I have been photographing today just to remind me of the blessings we enjoy all the year round. Maybe in a few weeks time we will have a blanket of snow. Such is our English weather!

A Winter's Day at Aldingham. (CUMBRIA)

While I visit the nursing home at Aldingham (I have written about that on my Wrinkly Writers blog) my hubby who drives me there, sits reading in the car. Last week he took these photographs of the waves beating on the shore. We certainly have had some wild weather lately!

Gillian Brock — Lost, found. and lost again…

Gillian, in centre, explaining something to her Aunt Phyllis

Gillian talking to her cousin Linda. Both photos taken
when Gillian was here in England four years ago.

Gillian Brock —

Lost to us when a child, found and now lost again… my dear niece, Gillian.

Among the Christmas cards arriving through the letterbox last week we had a letter from a lady saying that my niece Gillian had died on August 17^th. The neighbour is opening Gillian’s mail so as to find friends and relatives who are unlikely to have heard about the death. We had put a Christmas letter in with Gillian’s card. I rang the lady who had given us the news. She told me that Gillian had not been seen out the day of her death, unusual because she took her dog out regularly. The police were called because only the dog could be heard inside the house. Not wanting to break in and destroy the door and locks, the fire brigade was called and they got in through the roof. Gillian, fully dressed, was found on the floor — dead.

Gillian had been planning her 60^th birthday. Not old by today’s standards.

I have been informing Gillian’s relatives on my side of the family.
I googled ‘Gillian Brock Died August 17^th Australia’ and straight away I was in a position to find more information about those in the UK who knew about her death. A web site called Heaven Address had messages, ‘flowers’ and such, displaying the names of those who sent them. I added my tribute and uploaded a photograph of Gillian talking to a cousin and her aunts — Phyllis and Gladys. It had been taken when Gillian visited here in 2007.

I wrote above here, ‘lost to us when a child’ and this needs explaining.

I am the youngest of six children. My brother Jack (Gillian's father) was the eldest. He was in the Air Force and met his wife Peggy when she was in the ATS. The first we (at home) heard of her, and of the marriage, was when he brought Peggy home (I think it was around 1948). I was still at the art school, two of my sisters were married and had homes of their own, the other sister, aged seventeen, worked in a factory and we shared a room at home. My other brother was at the local university and lived at home. My dad, struggling to keep on his feet due to a crippling disease, was not a well man. My mum had cleaning jobs to bring in a few pennies.

The housing shortage was much worse than it is today, after all, we had just been through WW2 and everything was still rationed — houses were no exception. The newly-weds took over the front room. They had both left the forces. I seem to remember Peggy was soon pregnant.

I liked Peggy but my mum thought she made the most of her pregnancy and led an idle life. My mum had never had the luxury of taking things easy at any time of her life and, I think, rather resented having an extra workload, especially after the baby was born. Looking at things from Peggy’s angle, it could be that she did not want to interfere with my mum’s running of the house. Washday was particularly stressful  — no electric ‘helpers’ in those days, at least not in homes like ours. I do remember Peggy making us all some lovely tomato sandwiches. Mum had her fast-moving routines from getting up after five in the morning, lighting the fire for hot water and starting the day’s chores. Everybody had a cooked breakfast in spite of rationing.

Crunch time came when Jack came home from work one day to find the baby had no clean nappies. I think Peggy was drying a wet one in front of the fire. Peggy evidently complained that Mum said she couldn’t wash them because there was no hot water, or some such. Jack complained to my mum in the presence of my dad. Dad was not pleased with my mum (he could be pretty horrid to my mum when the mood took him) but Mum was annoyed with Peggy. Mum had not told Peggy she could not use the water, only not to wash the nappies in the bathroom at that time because it took the water from downstairs. Likely she wanted Peggy to wait until mum had finished washing and mangling the family wash. Anyway, the result was that mum raced to Jack and Peggy’s room, collected all the nappies and washed them in the kitchen sink. Not so long after this, a van arrived and Jack, Peggy and baby went off with all their baggage without any sort of warning. Jack had been quite close to Dad, joking together and both of them smoking and enjoying a drink. My mum did none of those things. I rather think he always blamed my mum for Jack's swift departure without a goodbye.

They were now living in a cottage that went with Jack’s new job (running a garage) in another county some miles away. I, along with the others, must have kept in touch because I recall visiting their home so they could meet my husband-to-be. We went on our motorbike and took sandwiches for our tea. I feel sure that they were pleased to see us. Jack took us into the parlour and called to Peggy, ‘Come and see who’s picnicking in our front room.’ We met their lovely family — Jacky, Dennis and Gillian.

They all went off to Australia on an assisted passage. We wrote to their new address but I did not have a reply. When my dad died, my mum sent a telegram but still no reply. They moved and, with no address, we could no longer be in touch.

I used to pray there would be a reconciliation before my mother died, but it did not happen. I tried googling Jack’s full name adding ‘Australia’. To my surprise something came up — an announcement of his death. His wife’s maiden name was mentioned so there could be no doubt I had the correct person. He died about the time that my mother did.

So was that it? Not at all, unknown to me Gillian was doing a family tree search at the same time as my eldest son took up the hobby. I was able to write to Gillian and we kept contact through emails. Then she came over here four years ago and I was able to give her a signet ring that had been passed on to me by my Aunt Gladys. I too used to be a GB before my marriage. I last wrote to her in July and wondered why I had not had a reply. Her death never entered my mind.

I do not know where her brothers are. When I saw Gillian she did not seem to know either. In actual fact she did not care where they were as she had broken with them. So sad. I don’t expect I will ever see jack’s sons again but no doubt that is the way they prefer things to be.

Goodbye Gillian. I did not know you for very long but we had a good, if short, relationship.