Its all go well almost

Blimey I think we had at least what ten minutes rain this evening, got to write that down.

Been an odd day really I had to open my wallet and buy some more kit for work should be able to do a few more jobs now in peoples gardens.

Then there is little brother, Robin the wanderer, he is now in Scotland ready to start his 1000 mile cycle ride tomorrow morning. Been hard to get the local press to pick this up but there are a couple of Marie Curie ladies in Scotland who have been pushing hard, got him some warm showers some nights and evening meals. We will see how it goes. Robin had his picture taken today, thats it at the top, with a local patron of Marie Curie in Scotland Dame Barbara Kelly. So there is no backing out now for him especially as the sponsorship money is slowly going up. Have you sponsored him yet????

Such is life

So I dont know about anyone else but we could use some rain desperately, I am not on about short heavy storms, nice long gentle rain to soak in to the ground for hours on end.

If we dont get some soom I think the garden centres will be doing a good trade in the Autumn as folk try and replant whats died and that is a lot from what I have seen while working in folks gardens for a living.

Went to a day centre for the elderly earlier this week speaking to them about their recollections of Cambridge, very interesting information gathered and some interesting themes touched on. Cambridge Storytellers are aiming to put a performance together about what we get that we can use later in the year.

Been recording wildlife species again as I go round doing my gardens, good selection of bumblebees still going strong and then its interesting to see what common birds turn up, the reason being a lot of people dont bother to record those and record centres need information about the common birds as well as the more rare ones. Same goes for butterflies and amphibians of course.

What happend to it then

What happened to the rain, I could smell it the other day but did we get any in the bit of Histon I live in, nah.

So the gardening is slacking off, I mean you cant cut lawns when they are not growing and I wont cut a lawn and charge for doing it as things are, I might be mad but I cant take money of folk for cutting a lawn that does not need cutting. Mind I am hearing that some people are still pushing mowers over lawns throwing dust up all over the place and charging folk for doing it.

Anyway we have spent hours today sorting bits out for Robins Grand Tour of Scotland

It must be FATE

Just got back from a weekend party, a bit Electric Light Orchestra I know but one heck of a weekend at this years Festival at the Edge an annual storytelling festival held at Much Wenlock.

FATE 2010 was brilliant, great tellers, great stories and a really friendly atmosphere, what would you expect really I suppose we were all there for the stories and were not disapointed.

If you think stories are just for children you dont know what you are missing. All made possible of course by a multitude of people working hard for a cause they believe in. Have I heard something like that in the news today, hhmmnn.

My best wishes to all those who made it happen and roll on FATE2011.

Is it really a week

Time flies as they say, so do bumbebees from what I can see. The weather is sort of changing but still no good rain for the gardens. I have not cut a lawn in weeks now they all look as if a camel might appear and look at home.

Story work has been interesting and varied since last week, last saturday I did some work at a local festival, then on Sunday went into Norfolk to tell at another festival this time with a reenactment feel to it. Some great people at the do on sunday.

What about little brother and his cycle ride , well look at this website http://www.justgiving.com/RobinsGrandTour and think about donating or passing the link on.

Lets see what this weekend brings.

Little Brother and his Ideas

Little brother has this idea which has now got a life of its own as they do.

He is going to cycle 1000 miles around Scotland from the end of July to late August, 65 miles a day or thereabouts carrying all his food etc not a backup vehcle in sight.

He does this, a couple of years ago it was canoe across England from the Mersey to Lowestoft, again its going to be to raise money. This time for Marie Curie, one of their nurses stayed by our Dad last year after he came home from hospital until he died from cancer where he wanted to go, at home with mum.

So its getting him set up with Just Giving etc now so hopefully folks can make a donation if they wish.

An interesting Thursday

Live once redundant is nothing but variety.

In the morning a garden for three hours, one of my regulars and a good garden. mind you I have to say this we need rain something terrible down here, the ground is like concrete and the veggies and just not putting on any size thats if the seed germinated.

Then onto a library to tell some stories for free to a group of ladies on behalf of Cambridge Storytellers, the stories were from Cambridgeshire and they seemed happy with them, in fact they sparked some thoughts from them which is always good.

Finally a storytelling job with a difference, after going on a farm walk for yes you have guessed it some farmers looking at options for arable land and stewardship grants, I told them some Fen stories which again seemed to go down well.

Just got back from a weekend in Scotland looking at biological records.

Always loved the countryside and worked to protect it, never fully realised just how valuable records are to help do that.