Monday 14 June 2010

It's Half Term - Hooray - No Too Much Work To Do!! (Ha Ha!!) But I Manage A Trip to Buckingham Palace

These photos are not in the correct order - kind of back to front - but I won one of the flower arrangements in the raffle at Flower club last night.  Here it is sat on the kitchen table in my big martini glass which I bought for a college assignment (still to do but watch this space) and then to use in the future.  The design has given me plenty of food (or should it be drink!) for thought!!




Flower club this week and here are some of the lovely arrangements made by the lady (can't remember her name again) this month. A modern planted arrangement some plants and some flowers which has made a nice mixture. Here theme was a journey through France, she spoke very good French and spent a lot of time telling us about wine.  It turned out she is married to a (quite) famous French singer but she did not tell us who it was!!  But her father was a composer and quite a famous one, John Addison, he composed hundreds of theme tunes for movies and TV and some quite famous films too including Reach for the Skies the film about Douglas Bader.  She was an interesting visitor to the club.



This design represents some of the different grape varieties from different areas of France, can you spot which one is the Chardonnay?



A very citrus arrangement - the one I won in the raffle - I love it!



Below a stunning creation - Moulin Rouge and the Folles Begere (?)


some ivy leaves I was checking out for an assignment I have coming up!!!



Bank Holiday Monday was a very exciting day as it was a flower club trip and the trip was to Fulham Palace and then Buckingham Palace - I was pretty excited.  Buckingham Palace was a private tour of The Queens Garden - only a few clubs get selected from a draw each year to be able to go so it was going to be a real privilege, and I was looking forward to a really interesting day.


This is the friend I made in the morning, just after lunch - I headed off for a few minutes to take some photos and phone home (cos I was out on my own!! - well without Mike and Jamie, but I was being looked after by Sylvia and her friend Jean, sadly June had been unable to make it).  I have never ever seen squirrels as tame as these and this chap and I became firm friends, largely because of the biscotti I had kept from my coffee which I had for him in my pocket!!  And boy did he enjoy it!!  Whilst he was eating he was quite happy to pose for me!!

and pose,


he posed in a tree,


and a close up in a tree,


this was the bench I was sitting almost hand feeding him from - wow!


checking for any left over crumbs


and just in case he hadn't posed enough, a different profile for me!!


and a final one in the tree, then I said bye bye to my squirrel.


Fulham Palace from the garden

a policy of the garden is to leave where possible any of the trees which die to become habitats for insects and bugs and any other animal which may find a home there,

Some of the trees are incredibly old, several hundred years and some of the planting is also hundreds of years, one of the Bishops of London was a keen plant collector and so had his missionaries send him back samples from all over the world.

A different view of the Palace, it was one of the residences of the Bishop of London, but had until relatively recently been in some disrepair and it is undergoing much work to bring it back to its original state, a slow room by room job to ensure each room is authentic to its period, but a lovely place to visit and lots of room for children to run around and enjoy themselves outside too.


This old tree has been turned into artwork, with a couple of the previous incumbents of the Palace watching out and watching over, a cat looking after one of the Bishops books, and a couple of chairs too.









The Chapel - inside it is lovely and when fully renovated it will be stunning.





The courtyard, reminds me of Hampton Court Palace, not surprising as there were architects and builders in common.

another view of the outside


The guy below was the Bishop of London during the reign of Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) and was quite brutal and tortured many.


the other side of the courtyard

Buckingham Palace - sadly we weren't allowed to take photos but it was the most wonderful and amazing experience.  We started the trip with tea and coffee in a lovely room in The Queen's Gallery and then had the most amazing trip around the garden.  The cups and saucers, the staff who looked after us, it was just the most amazing experience.  The gardens were totally wonderful and so huge - 36 acres of them and so beautifully laid out, tended.  It was the most wonderful of days and a real honour to be able to see and experience all of that in wonderful company.  I asked a couple of questions but didn't dare ask who poop scoops after the corgis!!



An amazing and wonderful day!

Ciao

Sue
XX

Reading challenge 10/16 - currently reading Songbird by Josephine Cox

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