The Garden in July

 

I had to start with the three Hostas called "Fire and Ice". Even better than when they were planted over two years ago.

Next are the poppies that I grew from seed in a bare patch in the long border. 

The dwarf dahlias that were so successful last year are back doing their stuff this July.

 I was surprised to see the lupin returned from last summer.

The Agapanthus in the pot  has also reappeared.

There is a lovely Geranium in the front border.

A nice rose, although they have now finished blooming. Hoping for a repeat flowering soon.

Not sure where this sunflower came from. 

Freya Ridings, Birdy and Adele

 

I rarely buy music on CD these days. It's possibly three years since I last posted a review. Even though three of my favourite artists brought out new albums in the last year, they do not have the same impact as before. That must be me. Of the three, Freya Ridings' Blood Orange is my favourite. I reviewed two of her albums in November 2019 that were full of great songs. Her latest includes some electronic beats that I have to turn off. There are a couple of classic tracks, Weekends is the strongest but the others seem too much like her previous recordings.

The new album from Birdy is much the same. Surrender is a classic but there are far too many ordinary songs for me.

I'm not sure why I bought the latest Adele music. Probably all the hype. It's either that my tastes have changed or she has. 

There are other artists whose latest albums I have avoided. First Aid Kit's Palomino is a good example. I have all their CD's but their latest seemed ordinary. It must be me.

Two Roses

 

Here are my two favourite roses. I could not find the label for the one in the long border. I believe it is called a Bengal rose. I love the dual colour.

Every year I post photos of the rose "Blue for You". Here it is again.

Bakewell Holiday - 2023

 

  

It was on Friday 7th July that we set off for our weeks holiday in Derbyshire. The day was sunny and warm when we arrived at Hardwick Hall. We bought lunch at the café and sat at one of the tables outside. We looked at the ruins of the old building on our way to the new Hall. Note the clear blue sky.

We rarely spend much time inside a stately home, but this time there was so much to see. I loved the stone transoms and mullions that framed the windows. Replicating those of the old hall as the photo below.

Leaving at 3pm, we were soon at Pinecroft in Bakewell, the same bungalow at which we stayed four years ago.

After unpacking, we walked across the road to the event village for Alison to register for tomorrow's Peak District Ultra Challenge. 

Saturday 8th July

Alison left very early for her 7am start time. The course was 50K so I did not expect her until after 5pm. I walked into the town for supplies from the Co-op and was out again at 11am to explore around Bakewell. First the gardens.

Then up the hill to the church.

And further on to the museum.

On the way back it had started to drizzle, but then eased off. Back just after 1pm for a quiet afternoon with Wimbledon, the third test against Australia and later, England Under 21's winning the Euros. 

Apparently the temperature had stayed close to 20C overnight but sleeping had been fine. There was rain off and on in the late afternoon (Alison had seen none for her too warm event) and a thunderstorm in the evening. A muggy 23C.

Sunday 9th July

This was the day for our visit to Alison's sister in Marple. All her family were there. I had not seen my nephew and niece for a long time. We sat outside in the warm sun and later had a wonderful lunch. I went with Alison's sister to look at some open gardens and then met up with the others at Marple cricket club.

Another bright and sunny day (a fresher 18C) but with another thunderstorm at 5pm before we left.

Monday 10th July

It turned out to be my longest walk for a very long time. Eight and a half miles in all from Hassop Station along the Monsal Trail to past the Cressbrook Tunnel, and back. 

Alison could see part of her Saturday route below the viaduct.

Back at Hassop Station for a late but very nice lunch, toasted split bagels and salad. Smoked salmon for Alison and Pastrami and Cheese for me. The weather had been bright and cloudy at 18C with just some very light  drizzle on the way back. It did rain again later.

Tuesday 11th July

I don't know why we decided to walk to Haddon Hall. There did seem to be a path but we ended up on the pavement next to the road most of the way. We had a reviving cup of tea outside when we arrived. 

There is so much to see inside. Below is the chapel.

 And the great hall where there was a talk about the history.

It was light drizzle outside but it just cleared as we were waiting to go round the gardens.

We had a late lunch in the upstairs café, quite lucky as there was very heavy rain outside. Fortunately it cleared before we left to catch the bus back to Bakewell. A sunny end to the day, fresh again at 20C.

Wednesday 12 July

A day in Buxton with Alison's sister and her husband. Unseasonably cool at first, making our way to Pavilion Gardens.

We had tea before Alison and our brother in law went off for a talk by historian Tom Holland (part of the Buxton Festival) at the Buxton Opera House. I stayed inside with Alison's sister, talking about books at the Waterstones display and then around the "Art in the Octagon".

There were so many High Peak Artists showing their work. We were lucky as they were only there on three days.

I found some pen and ink pictures by Howard Levitt that I liked. While Alison's sister was looking at hand made jewellery and other things, I saw a huge cloth poster for "A Hard Day's Night ". I ended up talking to the textile artist Tracy Coverley about it and her other work.

I was also very interested in The Octagon building that looked as if it had been recently restored as it was superb inside. It was originally built in 1875, four years after the gardens opened. It closed in 2015 due to problems with the roof but has recently re-opened.

However, there seems to be one mystery. On one of the steel pillars is a plaque that I guess was there when it opened. It tells us this was Buxton Music Hall but I cannot find anything on the internet that this was the original name. Note the stage at the end.  The following photo is from a few years after it opened.

We all met up and found a table for lunch at The Café at the Green Pavilion. A wander around the park, and past Roseleigh where we stayed four years ago. Then back for a cup of tea at Pavilion Gardens. It had been quite a long day, only arriving back at 5.30pm. We seem to have been inside for those showers and it had become warmer in the afternoon. But only 17C in mid July!

Thursday 13th July

I usually have a rest day on holiday, but the non stop activities this week meant I stayed in the bungalow in the morning, writing up this diary, while Alison went out for a trek around the hills. Back at lunchtime, we walked into the centre and found a nice café for lunch. We sat outside for fancy tea in classy pots and teacakes.

A walk around the shops and courtyards, a couple of purchases, a sit by the river and an ice cream to finish the afternoon.

Friday 14th July

The forecast was for heavy rain all the way home from late morning and into the late afternoon. So we rose at 6.30am and were off by 7.45am. However it started to rain just after we reached the M1. Only heavy on a couple of occasions and generally not too bad at all. We were home by 10.30am so a good journey back. The very heavy rain did not arrive until well past lunchtime. Good for the gardens.

Free Love, Small Things Like These and The Bullet That Missed

 

It was only towards the end that I felt the book had been too obviously plotted in comparing conventional southern English suburbia with the social experimentation of swinging London in the sixties. Now I have to admit that I was there from 1963 to 1968 and seem to have missed it all. I never smoked a cigarette, never mind pot. Although sharing a tiny attic in Chiswick (too small to be even called a flat) with Bob (and his occasional girlfriends in a bed a few feet away) would horrify today's young. Of course we drank, but it was only beer in those days. And the music. And the parties.

Back in suburbia, forty year old Phyllis is bored with her husband Roger and finds excitement in an affair with Nicky, the son of a friend so a much younger man. "The tenderness and sweetness in their relations disconcerted him; he had been sure he had a barren soul, incapable of such feelings. It suited him, too, that she came to him (in his room in London ..... of course) only once a week, like a lover in a book".

Far more interesting is Phyllis's sixteen year old daughter Colette, a large girl, wide, unattractive and wears glasses. But hugely intelligent, destined for great things. They should make a film about her as she bunks off school and seeing less of her mother has instilled a kind of reckless spirit. It is her introduction to that social revolution that I found most interesting. The writing, of course, is first class, this being my sixth book by this author.

It's 1985 somewhere in Ireland and times are hard. Bill Furlong has a wife Eileen and five daughters and works hard to keep his coal delivery business afloat. Christmas is coming on fast and last orders have to be made. Crucially to the story, a delivery to the Convent reminds Bill of how lucky his mother was, carrying an illegitimate child and kept on in her position as housekeeper by the kind Mrs Wilson. The girls there are not so lucky. Chapter 4 is ten perfect pages.

The next chapter is equally brilliant. At the Mass just before Christmas Bill's mind is filled with the lost girls and their hardship at the Convent, and how his five girls are so lucky compared to them. When it comes to Communion, he "stayed contrarily where he was, his back against the wall". His wife is not sympathetic.

What is he to do? Near the end there is a warning which, at first, I did not understand. But then came one act of kindness which might ruin his family. Now I remember Eileen had also warned him and what would her reaction be to this act of selfishness. This is what so upset me at the end. Not what would happen to Bill but to his family. Thank goodness we never get to know. I actually swore at Bill at the end, how could he do this? His background is no excuse for what I came to believe was a despicable act.

Someone says that Bill is as saintly as Atticus Finch. Absolutely the opposite. Another reviewer says "If you had the chance to do the right thing, no matter what the cost, would you do it". For me, this completely misses the point. What if the"right thing" ruins your family? I know what I would do, kick Bill until he realises family comes first.

It was OK. Nothing special. Missing the humour of the first two in the series. Are there any phone boxes that still work? In Staffordshire?

Greatest Days, Asteroid City and No Hard Feelings

 

Originally a stage musical called The Band in 2017 based on the songs of Take That, it certainly seemed to take inspiration from Sunshine on Leith and Mama Mia. The acting talent is definitely minor league, but they gave it all they had which is all that was required. The production was first class and the, nearly all, exterior shots were pleasing. A couple of emotional moments and something that looked good on the big screen.

I was going to say that the full length songs at the beginning and the end (those from the trailer: Freight Train by Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whisky, and Last Train to San Fernando by Johnny Duncan and his Blue Grass Boys) were brilliant, just a shame what came in between. But that would have been unfair. After all this is a Wes Anderson movie. There were times when it was pretty incoherent, but it was never less than entertaining. The colour palette is remarkable, and of course we get lots of star turns as listed in the poster above. A film bursting with American acting talent. 

I liked Scarlett Johansson's Midge, Jeffrey Wright and Maya Hawke as June Douglas the dancing schoolteacher. She twirls around to a skiffle group (or cowboy band in American), Montana and the Ranch Hands (complete with Jarvis Cocker on washboard) as the film is set squarely in the late fifties.  The music supervisor is Randall Poster and the soundtrack is full of songs from that era, (and beyond) including The Springfields with the terrific  Island of Dreams with Dusty on vocals. Focus Features have the full list on their website.

I was struggling this week for something decent. I thought I would wait a couple of weeks before I tackled Indiana Jones. So here I was, watching Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie tackle something out of her comfort zone. An edgy, grown up. distinctly American comedy. Well, that was what the first half told us. The set being quite a stupid idea with lots of silly stuff to follow. But the second half was quite a surprise as it turns into a much more solid drama, things are serious, hardly any laughs, as a relationship crumbles. We even get Mathew Broderick as her young friend's father. There is one moment that elevates the movie from ordinary, and that is when, at a fancy restaurant,  Maddie's young nervous date is forced to play the piano, and choosing  the Hall and Oates Maneater. We already know that Percy thinks the song is about a monster, not someone like his date.