Friday.

Above photo is another one  of  the village  of  Boxford- a lane off  the main street.

Above  building is the gatehouse of Hinchingbrook  House, near Huntingdon. Made a detour (got lost- hem hem)  on the way home  from Sarah's;  the place is now  a  school. The main building is pre Tudor, and stone. The rather  earlier gatehouse (I think probably fourteenth century) was moved from elsewhere  to its present site some centuries ago, and is  also  used for antique fairs, which is why I know it quite well. Nice to see it again - worth the detour.

Wednesday.

Snapshots of  the main street in Boxford, a few miles from here.  Just before I  took the second picture down, a small boy (a 7  to 8 year old) was careering down the hill on his bicycle,  and  shrieking at the top of  his voice  "This is DANGEROUS. This is REALLY  DANGEROUS!!!", whilst  obviously  thoroughly enjoying himself.  We forget what it's like to  be that age!

The third picture down is of a small building backing onto the river. The building  has always  rather puzzled me. The two stone squares above the doorways are inscribed BG and 1828. I've done a  little research, and the  local story is that the  building  was Boxford Gaol or lock up, then used as a Fire Station, then more  recently as a 'bus shelter.
Boxford is  a lovely (and  quite unspoiled)  Suffolk village, and well worth exploring.

Wednesday.

                                         Mystery Objects.
                                         ______________

I took  the above two photos of mystery objects in Boxford yesterday.  They are at the  corner of a  big old inn and a lane off the  main  street of the  village. There are a good many of  these  objects around Suffolk. Try and guess what they are made of and the purpose they now  serve.  When I  first saw them yesterday a young mother and her son were sitting on them in the  sunshine, and I wondered whether to tell  the  mother what they were sitting on - but I lacked the courage.

Tuesday.

Managed to crop, and therefore enlarge, the photo of our frog (?) which I showed yesterday. I  put a  question mark because I'm not sure that some expert on amphibia won't try and tell me that this  is a toad rather than a frog, and given this chap's  skin, I'm not  too sure, but anyway, no bets taken either way. This afternoon we motored over to Sudbury to have my hearing aids serviced, and also to do a little necessary  shopping (socks, a tie or so, and some groceries), and also to drink  coffee, and take some photoes of  a Suffolk village, Boxford,   on the way back (for use in future blog entries) -altogether a very pleasant and relaxed afternoon out.

Pushing ten pip Emma, and I'm starting to make toooo many typing errors (all so far I think, corrected)  so I'll knock off now.    Goodnight all.

This is  our garden pond, and as the garden is very small (pocket handkerchief size) the pond is small too, in fact I'd better confess that it is an old horse bucket sunk into the garden. If your eyes are good you may well be able to see that on top of the central rock in the pond is a frog - I hadn't seen him for some time, and ( if it's the same frog) he's grown a good deal since the last sighting, a couple of months ago.

Our one goldfish still lives in the pond as well. I hope goldfish and frogs can inhabit the same small pond in amity?

It's good to be  home  again, Sarah drove over this morning from Milton Keynes, and took Ann into Ipswich Hospital , where it was decided that Ann is to have a cataract removed from one eye sometime in the next  three months. Otherwise, the eye surgeon  is fairly happy about her eyes.

I've been asked not to drive (pro tem.), which is why Sarah drove over. I must say that all our offspring have been very good indeed about running us about, when necessary; and generally keeping an eye on us.

 Looking at my screen it seems that I've developed the same photo twice - still I suppose that's better than none being developed at all, as has been  frequently   the case, of late.  After lunch Sarah has been giving me lessons on the computer, so I'll keep trying to publish this blog. If it doesn't work it will mean that this machine has found some other way of  frustrating my good intentions - must just keep trying. 

Going on from my  remarks in the previous blog entry about Milton Keynes, there are a good many signs similar to these two all over Milton Keynes. I don't really mind the lower one, especially if (as in Suffolk) the Roads  and Bridges Department are filling in all the horrific potholes left over from last winter.  However the upper sign seems to me to be , at best, verging on being brusque, and, at worst, being *$""+ rude.  I would value any comments from readers on this one.

P.s. Having being given a few more lessons on the use of  the  computer by senior daughter, will try  and be a bit more reliable at keeping my blog up to date.

Both these pictures were taken during our fortnight at senior daughter's home in Milton Keynes village during  the last fortnight, when our new bathroom was installed in Suffolk.  The top one shows me teaching Great Granddaughter Astrid (who is now three and a half) how to blow bubbles. This magic fascinated her so much that when she called  in at Grandmama Sarah's home ( a few miles from her home) she would plant herself in from of me and say  (very firmly) "Bubbles ?".

Above picture taken in the same room (Sarah and Mikey's kitchen  in Milton Keynes village), and shows FOUR generations of ladies - Ann, Amelia, Astrid and Sarah (our senior daughter).  It's an odd thing, but when people learn that we are going to MIlton Keynes, they make derogatory remarks about the  place,  and almost invariably, it turns out that they have never been to the place, or, at best, have once driven through it. In fact, a very great deal of thought  has gone into the design and layout of  the place, and there's a lot to be said  for open spaces, woods, grassland ,  meadows, lakes, and well designed houses. Most of the  prettier village centres have been carefully  preserved, too. Just being called for lunch. More later, hopefully.

Going to be rather busy over the  next few days, as we are having  a  new bathroom (or rather - I'm told  it  will  be a 'wet room') installed.  I hope  we'll  both like it when done. We know  the chap who's doing it. He built  our friends (John and Milly) a new kitchen and made a lovely job of  it, so fingers crossed.

 Above is a snapshot of  our garden pond. It's an old  rubber horse bucket which I inserted into the garden last year, but our resident goldfish seems to like it. 

Not been too well over the  last few months, but seem able to get on with things a bit better now.  Basically Anno Domini, but the medicos call it different things these days.  I really don't  like medispeak. Unnecessarily offensive.  Won't go into  that just now;   might when convinced I'm completely better, but I really don't think even the cleverest medicos can do much to  stop the march of Anno Domini. 

Been reading the Forsyte Saga again -  last read it about forty  years ago-  do you know, the characters haven't changed a bit in those forty years.  Will try a Dickens or so  next I think. Warm regards  to you all.    Mike.

Tuesday.

Wandered round the  garden the  other evening (well, a day  or  so  ago) and took photies. The garden is really starting to look quite colourful, and as grand daughter Lucy  is here this morning, nominally keeping an eye on the  old man, we discussed the  matter and decided to make a 'blog entry' of  the garden.  The top picture  is of  wild violets (I think   'dog violets'  is  the correct term)  They started to come into flower early in January then we had a good deal of snow, and they changed their little minds about the matter, but they've all decided that perhaps it really is spring now, and have all flowered again.

Should perhaps  have explained that, ordinarily,  Lucy is at Liverpool John Moores University, reading  history, but she  is  enjoying the  Easter  holiday, and as her Mama (our  senior  daughter, Sarah) is  taking Ann to hospital for an examination of one of her (Ann's) eyes, Lucy is staying here with me pro tem-  she is nominally looking  after me -  but I shall have to make her a coffee in a min. 

More later, next time I have someone here who can make the computer behave itself, as Lucy can. 

Church this morning. It's a tiny  church just across the valley from us. It's an East  Anglian round towered church. of very early date. The 'experts tell us  that it probably based on the site of a pre Christian  temple.

Wednesday.

The above photograph is a !!! No, forget that . The above is a mystery object. What , and when??????

Wednesday.

Can anyone tell me why someone writes the above photographed doggerell ? It is awful stuff. In the first two lines there is a false rhyme - home/own- dreadful!  And as it goes on it gets worse.  In my opinion  an intelligent seven year old could better it.  I'm a reasonable chap as a general rule, but this sort of rubbish makes me think  that I'll  try being cirmudgeonly for a while.!!!!!

Tuesday (2).

This is almost (but not  quite) the same thing as a  Mystery Object. It is a plant which is now  in flower in the garden. I don't know its real name but I have always  known it as the  Army and Navy plant.   Any idea why? and, of course, what is it's real name.

Tuesday.

Eldest daughter, Sarah, here and is  trying (once again) to  make an honest citizen of  the old man, in  respect of  this computer. Will  have a quick look  through the photos available then  (hopefully)  make  a blog  entry.

Friday (111)

Close up of part of  the  floor in Ann's 'Nuremburg kitchen' (this  one's  English) just to give me a bit  of practice  in blogging while Ruth's still here (she and my  youngest granchild return home  tomorrow.

Friday.

Granddaughter to left of picture - daughter to right.

Above is a photo taken a few days ago of  Ann's blackbird. She has been feeding him mealworms  all winter, so he should be in good fettle for raising more families come spring (which , come  to think  of it, is already  here).

Above is the latest snapshot of Ann's Nuremberg(type) kitchen. It's now getting a  bit crowded. As  you've probably guessed, we've had Ruth  and one  of  her girls staying  all week, and  today Ruth is again showing me how to subdue this machine and making it return to its duties.

So... here goes.