We have recently had scaffolding up outside our house (again), as our chimneys needed repainting. When he climbed up the ladders to start the job, our decorator found a family of jackdaws nesting in one of the chimneys. Fortunately, this is a “redundant” chimney so there was no debris in our fireplace. The chimney was…

Last week I wrote about my trip to London for a fateful football game. Having been away just over 24 hours, I was dismayed to return home to find wood and dirt scattered all over the road. On closer inspection it became obvious that our “friendly” badger had made yet another appearance. The vegetable beds…

A week ago, the football season ended, there was elation for some and disappointment for others. (And great sadness mixed with the elation after the events during the celebrations in Liverpool). My husband and son set off for Wembley on the Saturday, in the hope that their team would win promotion to the Premier League.…

I play in our local orchestra, and I will admit, this TFTD is an obvious plug for our summer concert! The pieces include the well-known New World Symphony by the 19th century Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. He often used folk music from Moravia and his native Bohemia. In 1892 he became the Musical Director of…

As a parent how often do we hear “it’s not fair!” Not so much now fortunately as my two sons are well into their 30s. One lives in London and the other in Australia. They both have dogs, and it is the London son’s dog, Bill, who has featured in several TFTDs over the months.…

A few weeks back around 40 people from the Ipswich Circuit met at Cineworld where we were able to have a private showing, (at a discount admission fee), of the film The Penguin Lessons. I think it would be fair to say that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the film, which worked on so many different levels.…

A week ago, I used the image of a badger in our garden as a basis for my TFTD. Following on from that, I was dismayed to see evidence of further visitations from Mr Badger, plus his friend Mr deer! I had hoped that my erection of a fruit cage bolstered with a fence would…

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, having planted 4 neat rows of potatoes, with (short) fencing around each of the two raised beds. But my efforts were all in vain when two or three days later the fencing was pushed to one side and there were small “pits” dug into the ground and the…

Last week I mentioned that I had been to Bordeaux recently. Naturally the “Cite du vin” and the “Musee du Vin et du Negoce”, two museums covering history of wine and the wine trade were on our itinerary. Both were fascinating, the former in a contemporary building built to look like a wine decanter and…

My husband and I recently had a few days away in Bordeaux. We were staying on, the edge of the centre of the city, and travelled there by train. This required us to travel “light” with one small suitcase each. One of the things we enjoy doing when we visit a new place, is to…