Excitement

Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.

Jupiter tryptic

A couple of weeks ago I was excited that one of my paintings would be entered into an astronomy competition. A magazine wanted to see people’s artwork so I sent in this image. Then I got a message asking me to send in again with a jpeg (it was) as an attachment (my phone sends the image embeded in the email).

I tried again, it did the same trick. I started to walk upstairs to send the image on my PC instead. Snap! That was when my ligament snapped.

Of course I emailed to apologise and explain. I also asked if they had anyone technically able to get the file as I only have my mobile to use as I’m stuck downstairs! I’ve had no response, no reply. I feel dismissed and fed up. Excitement, what excitement?

It’s all click bait!

Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

What uninteresting story can I write about? I still like reading newspapers so that means I can find something uninteresting if I look hard enough. But then my sense if humour kicks in amd I will see the silly side of the story.

Most online stuff seems to be click bait. Stuff that you click on and the article has nothing to do with the headline and you are dragged off to some advert about bitcoin.

So finding something was hard, but a clue to something came from my hubby. I asked him if he had seen anything interesting. He then proceeded to tell me about an article in his monthly magazine from Apedale light railway. He told me about a well tank. (a steam engine with a tank of water between the frame of it instead of outside like a saddle tank).

He said the engine was called Stanhope and it was found sunk in a swamp in Africa where it had slid off its rails. It was rescued and restored and brought back to the UK.

So the story is entirely uninteresting to me. I like steam trains, but the story does not enthrall me. But it interests hubby, so I guess the point is the old saying, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

Blackthorn?

Flowers from a bush in our garden, tentatively matched in the Spring 2021 issue of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Magazine, page 13 in the Nature Spy section.

It says ‘Blackthorn is one of the first native shrubs to burst into flower around mid-Marsh.’ (I think it means March) ‘Its fluffy white flowers, tinged with pink, provide vital nectar for the first of the years butterflies, bees and flies. See how many different insects you can spot feeding on the blooms.’

Free seeds

_20190904_163250 packets of seeds….. Free!

What a lovely surprise, a gardening magazine we sometimes get had seven free packets of seeds with it today. Most of them are worth about £3 each so that means about £20 worth of free flowers.

The other good thing is they can be planted now in late summer or early autumn to establish plants for next years display. All I have to do is dig out a load of nettles so I can plant these out!

The garden is very overgrown so I’m getting someone in to help cut it back a bit. I love it but it’s hard work having big trees and shrubs. A warning, you need to keep on top of stuff to keep it looking good. Anyway I’m hoping by tomorrow I will be feeling a bit better and can do something.