Spring Flowers III, Winter Aconite Nil

The crocus are just about done. I would have been mad if we had been away this past week. They had been opening all week with the warm weather and most are now gone with the exception of some in the shade in the backyard. The daffodils snuck up on me, I didn’t notice that they were open until Friday evening. Also blooming are some “Glory of the Snow”.Missing though is the lone Winter Aconite, I looked and looked, but didn’t find it. Queued up are the blue hyacinth, the Siberian squill, the anemone blanda(Grecian windflowers) and the grape hyacinth.

Did some work in the yard today since it was the first real nice weekend. Moved the 2 raised vegetable gardens and the compost over about a foot and a half to make room for a red stemmed dogwood in the back corner. The dogwood will be near where the green pot is in the left side of the photo. The lilac is in the center of this small garden and there are 2 types of periwinkle sharing the garden, one with green leaves with purple flowers and one with variegated leaves and blue flowers. There is also a lot of sweet Woodruff just sprouting around the lilac. To the right in the picture is a blue hydrangea.The dog stayed out with me almost the whole time. We had taken her to the dog park this morning for the first time in about 2 months and she was very tired.

Holidays in the Sun

Went to visit my favorite daughter who doesn’t play bass or cello and does live in London. It was cold, windy, cloudy and rained on and off on our last full day. The main reason for the trip was to attend her Graduation ceremony.  Just a few photos here, maybe a hits and miss list of museums later.

Canal boats at Camden Lock.

Some photos taken near Spitalfields Maket, don’t have the Lamb curry, you have been warned. Swiss Re Building aka The Gherkin.A real Mini Cooper.

On the way to Spencer House, near Green Park.

Liverpool Street Station    TR6Spencer HouseSmall garden off Green Park. St. Barts the GreaterSt. Barts pipe organThe extent of stained glass at St. Barts. A beautiful church none the less.Layout of St. Barts before dissolution. Only remaining sections are the Lady Chapel,, crossing and the Presbytery.

Digby Stuart Chapel, site of “The Graduation”.Digby Stuart college exterior.Grove House at Roehampton University, Froebel College.

Fullers Brewery tour, very excellent. Tour guide and us three.Old tank and old fermenting square.Keg(pasteurized beer) filling line with robot. On a tea break.Cask (real ale) filling line.     Some ale resting in old whiskey barrels. 

Outside the Household Calvary museum.

Liberty Department store on Great Marlborough Street near Oxford Circus.

Something else to fix

Like I need a repair project on top of the list of build projects I have queued up. I saw lots of cool trunks, suitcases and containers in Camden Stables Market and amongst them I saw a case that would fit some of the longer tools I have or I could make it into a traveling drinks case. Actually, I was looking for a tweed hacking jacket or a tweed vest, but had no luck there. I looked at the case and walked on and kept thinking about it and finally went back to look at it closer.

It was pretty clear it was a violin case, but I didn’t expect there to actually be a violin inside. The interior of the case was purple and the violin was a 3/4 model. This gave me further pause, there actually being a violin involved, but I decided to buy it anyway because purple is my favorite color. The price was 30 quid and the guy wasn’t budging, it would have been more but the sound post  (dowel between the front and back panels) was loose and the bridge had been broken by a previous gawker who dropped the case. They must not have know there was a violin inside either.I will probably take it to the local small instrument repair guy and get an estimate. If it worth anything I will have the work done by a professional and if not I will try my hand at being a luthier. There is a small crack in the case, but that is well within my abilities to repair. If it ends up being playable, I will give it to my favorite daughter that plays bass and cello and doesn’t live in London and if not it will sit on the book shelves with the Golden Lion tamarin monkey skull egg cup and endangered eagle claws.

But, I’m keeping the case.