Outdoor lessons

This has appeared over the weekend on a nearby allotment. 

Every day…

Odd one out

I was walking round the allotment site a few days ago when I noticed these small plastic bottles being used as cane end protectors.

They’re certainly better than the more usual empty drink cans or bigger plastic bottles that most people seem to use.

The Father Anselm books

This morning I collected The Day of the Lie by William Brodrick which was reserved for me at the local library.  It’s the fourth in the Father Anselm books which started back in 2003 with The Sixth Lamentation. I read the second one, Gardens of the Dead, first but wasn’t a problem as they’re all stand alone books.

The third, A Whispered Name, won the 2009 CWA Gold Dagger.

One of the best cover quotes, by the Spectator, rightly says that William Brodrick’s crime novels have the great and unusual merit of being unlike anyone else’s.  

So far I’ve found them to be intelligent and thoughtful books which I’ve really enjoyed reading so I’m looking forward to this latest one, and the forthcoming, The Discourtesy of Death, which is due to be published towards the end of the year.

Happy reading!

Just for you…

This morning I received this postcard from Glo (Porcelain Rose) who is presently on holiday at Morro Bay, California.

On it she wrote…Hello Mike, On the way down the California coast my brother and I stopped at Carmel-by-the-Sea where Doris Day* has a hotel - The Cypress Inn. I especially wanted to go there for a postcard just for you…

Thanks Glo, how thoughtful and what a lovely surprise!

[*I've long been a Doris Day fan, and mentioned this in a few posts over the years.]

 

A Joyous Easter

…Flighty xx

Stamps and bonsai

Most of the post I receive nowadays, apart from overseas, either doesn’t carry a postage stamp or just an ordinary second class one.

The Origami cats that I mentioned the other week came from Southern California and the envelope they were in carried three of the USA 2012 Bonsai stamps - azalea, black pine and sierra juniper. 

I don’t collect stamps but Jim, a long time friend, always has done so I give him nearly all the ones that I get. He keeps some of the more interesting ones and gives the rest to one of the charities that he supports.

Although I’ve always found bonsai a fascinating subject it’s not something I have ever wanted to do.