After the Shower

Photos are copyright of Maggie May.

There is always plenty of rain in England and it is a common sight to see the plants in my garden covered in rain drops.

It is quite refreshing though and saves me having to water the pot plants too often.

The Agapanthus has now died back and the ornamental grass is looking rather tatty before it too, disappears.

I can't believe that it is Autumn already. Seems like we haven't had much of a summer at all.

Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy. For lovely photos, pop over for a visit.

Through Children's Eyes

Photos copyright of Maggie May.

I always encourage my grandchildren to draw and paint, having an artistic flair myself. They have an artistic auntie back in Japan, so if they do end up being good at art in the future, then I cannot claim all the credit. Their dad also has an artistic eye, but then he might take after me!

I usually end up putting their offerings onto the fridge door. Seems a good place to display it. Sometimes I get too much artwork given to me and I have to surreptitiously recycle something and hope it won't be missed.

The top picture was painted by Amber who was six when she did it. Notice the way the merman is ogling the mermaid! Little girls of this age love mermaids and horses, but horses are more difficult to draw, so I am told.

Now this one was drawn and painted by Millie who is four. She called it *the owl and the ghost.* I am not sure what she was thinking about at the time or where she got her idea from. If I had asked her she probably wouldn't have a clue, as her little brain moves on fairly quickly and I have a job to catch up. I think she might well be the one who has the most talent as she used to spend so long painting, though sadly, the desire to paint does seem to be waning slightly these days.

Working in an After School Club, I do get presented with a fair bit of art work from various children and I don't usually keep it because of lack of space. However the picture below was produced by a friend of Amber's and presented to me, so I put it on the fridge door in a place of honour. The look of pleasure on the child's face when I told her it would go in a special place with the granddaughter's artwork, was a real pleasure to see. I always pretend that I will keep their work, but this time I actually did.

Its a happy little picture, isn't it?

The Birds!

Hosted by Cecily and Izzy 'N Emmy

All photos are copyright of Maggie May

Wherever I seem to go there is a beady eye staring at me. In fact we are never very far away from seagulls or pigeons where I live.

I went for a day trip by the sea not long ago and a woman I got talking to on the way home, told me that she had had to go and buy a new top because a seagull had pooped all over the one she had on, as she said it was impossible to clean herself up with tissues or wet wipes.

I have often been pooped on by these birds and felt this splat of warm nastiness on the top of my head. Now that IS a horrible experience.

Once when visiting St Ives in Cornwall....... a beautiful seaside town, Harry had a seagull poop down his glasses and it was like thick mud that couldn't be wiped off properly. He ended up going to the gents and the assistant made him pay to go in. "I only want to wash off this mess from my glasses," He complained.

She had no sympathy whatsoever and insisted that he payed his money even though he didn't want to use the toilet. He was quite peeved about that.

While we were on that same visit, we saw seagulls snatching ice creams from children and terrorising them. Aggression in seagulls is not uncommon.

Pigeons are often fed and this encourages them to flock into the cities. So it's no wonder that they are everywhere because we humans throw down so much food.

Isn't it strange that it is completely frowned on to feed the common variety of feral pigeons but quite acceptable to feed the wood pigeons that frequent our gardens? They seem so much more respectable somehow.

Some people are really afraid of fluttering birds and will go right out of their way to avoid them. I know someone who is absolutely phobic about birds of any kind and she avoids them at all costs because to walk through a group of pigeons would cause her absolute panic. She is a very brave lady in every other respect though.

The pigeon in the picture below, even made a plant pot into a nest and the owners were using the pot as a window box. Cheeky thing staring into the front room, like that!

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily. Do look her up to see some really good photos and stories.

The Red Arrows

Photos are copyright of Maggie May

One Saturday in August Harry and I were feeling a bit lost as Sam had taken the children to Japan for a month and our lives had suddenly changed from being ridiculously busy, to being rather empty and aimless. (This is how we felt at the time, but we soon got over it.)

We decided to go for a very long walk across The Downs which is quite a spectacular place in one of the highest points of Bristol, so I don't know why it is called The Downs.

When we got to the Sea Walls and looked down at the Avon Gorge many feet below us, we began to hear other children asking their parents, "When are the Red Arrows coming?"

I am not sure if there is anyone reading this who has never heard of the Red Arrows but if so they are a group of tiny planes, painted red, who do daring stunts at air shows! You can get more information here.

Anyway Harry and I decided to wait as quite a few people had started to mill around who were mentioning 5 o'clock. On asking different people, it was confirmed that yes, the Red Arrows were visiting The Harbour Festival, not far away, so they would probably be seen by us from where we were standing.

Sure enough at the stroke of five, there was a huge roar as they swooped over the horizon. I had my camera with me and I noticed quite a few people had long angled lens that they had fitted to their cameras.

I did not have such equipment and I knew my little digital camera would struggle with these planes. Even though there is a good zoom, it was surely not meant for this kind of display so far away.

The Arrows whizzed across the sky so fast that it was difficult to catch them at all and sometimes all I got was a trail of red, white and blue smoke which the planes had released, the planes being long gone by the time the photo was taken.

Well this is the best I could do with my camera and if you click on the photos, the tiny planes might show up better.

It did lift our spirits as we walked the long trek home. The Red Arrows are always exciting no matter what your age and we were as excited as any child there.

Home On The Canals.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Photos are copyright of Maggie May.

A few weeks ago when my daughter and the two grandsons were staying with us, we decided to go to Birmingham to meet the boys' other grannie and we ended up at the Black Country Living Museum.

This was a lovely place to go and there were many houses and shops depicting life as it would have been in late Victorian times. In fact there was a little village with several streets. All these buildings had been dismantled from somewhere else and had been reconstructed just how they used to be in this little village. There were actors on the streets and we listened to little disputes mostly between mouthy women. I really felt that I had been transported back in time.

In the streets there were skipping ropes, metal hoops and hopscotch games to try out.

There was even a canal and we came across this authentic house boat complete with lady dressed as she would have done when these long boats frequented English canals.

I love the art on these traditional metal coal scuttles that were used to store the coal that lit the tiny stove in the minute living space. The houseboats were pulled by horses along the tow path and when they had to go through tunnels, the horse was taken over land, probably by a child and some strong fellow had to lie on his back and walk along the top of the tunnel to propel the boat through. I expect everyone had to join in as the boat would be heavy.

In the photo below, I managed to get a picture of the living conditions below deck and how it would have looked years ago, when families of many children had to live in such cramped conditions as in this tiny bedsit.

I sometimes think I am badly done to, but realize how lucky I am having so much space in my ordinary terrace home. How could any family manage to bring up a family in such a small place?

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily. For more interesting stories and photos why not visit the link?

A Touchy "T"issue

Photo is copyright of Maggie May.

If you are about to have a meal or have just had one, then I suggest you come back later. If you haven't had close contact with children, then you mightn't like this post.

However, I feel this subject has to be written about.......... the very awkward subject of wiping children's bottoms.

When I worked in a Special School, this was just automatically done, alongside nappy changing and nobody thought anything about it. The children were very little and dependent and the job just had to be done. There was always somebody about, near the changing tables. Of course, that was ten years ago and things might well have changed since I left that job.

Its perfectly normal to help small grandchildren when they call out for assistance. Their little arms are just not long enough to reach their bottoms and even the nearly seven year old still calls out for assistance, usually while we are eating. Why do children always want to go right in the middle of a meal?

My son, Sam, moans to the girls, "How long do you think I am going to carry on doing this for?"

Amber replied, "Until I go away and get married."

That would make the perfect thing to say in a speech at her wedding (if there are still such things in operation, by then.)

No, I really meant that things can get tricky when you are not around and the children are at school.

Playworkers and school staff are not allowed to wipe bottoms, let alone go into the toilets, unless there is some really terrible mishap, in which case the parents are sent for.

So it is with with some apprehension that we will be sending Millie for full days in a Reception Class very soon, with no one to help her with wiping if she needs it.

As I work in an After School Club (as well as the school), I have found out from experience that some small children often smell and I don't mean because they are needy and neglected children. The vast majority come from really good homes. They smell the unmistakable stale smell of dirty bottoms that have not been wiped properly and now they have to wait a further two hours or more before they are collected and put in a probably, longed for bath or shower.

This is all because the staff are too afraid to help children with toileting, (in case their intentions are misinterpreted), and also because the Learning Support Assistants at school have busy schedules that do not allow for them to leave the children they are helping while they go to the toilets. There simply wouldn't be time, even if they were allowed to do it.

My other older grandchildren say they never do a poo in school (even though they have been wiping their own bottoms for years.) So it seems that children learn from an early age to save it for home time and that is why during meal times, there seems to be a tremendous urgency. They have held in all day.

I'd be interested to hear what other parents and grand parents (or anyone else) has to say about the children whose arms are simply not long enough to wipe a bottom successfully!

Visiting Jill's Garden

Hosted by Cecily and Chris

All photos are copyright of Maggie May.

Practically everyone in Britain will remember Jill Dando, the journalist and TV presenter who was famous for programmes like Crimewatch and Holiday, Breakfast News and Six O'clock News. She was gunned down and murdered outside her home in April 1999.

This caused a wave of shock throughout the country as she was a very popular person.

There was a team of make over gardeners on BBC TV around that time, called Ground Force, led by Alan Titchmarsh. Some time after her death, they televised one such programme changing an old rose garden in Weston Super Mare to a beautiful garden in memory of Jill, for she was from that town and had spent her childhood there with her family.

This is a general view of one side of the garden. The blue pagoda type trellises and obelisks provide support for plants and give colour when there isn't much in flower. There are fish in the pond and some lovely water lilies.

And this is the other side of the garden. Luckily there were no other visitors at the time I chose to take photos, as it can get rather crowded.

This was a specially made plaque depicting Forget-me-nots, for obvious reasons. There were shadows of leaves falling across the plaque that obscured the picture a bit, but I liked the effect of this so did not change it for a clearer one.

There were Alliums peeping out from behind a pagoda and it was so difficult choosing just a few pictures for this post. I took many more than I needed.

I think the garden is very special and often go there and sit and reflect. A place of tranquillity and beauty, though it has many visitors and Weston is very proud of it, as they were proud of Jill. Rightly so.

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. Well worth a visit.