hi heron stab big fish but cant eat thrm leave them to die in the pond we have a nice pond used to have 2 but the second got changed to a hot tub much better just been in it wet again, the cat just come rushing in out of the rain
i think you may have put a second emai with mine anyway hope your fish gets out of the cave janet

Me too.

just got back from the van very wet in mountains north wales, we put the cover on it, keep the snow off it, and brian put more mesh underneath it stop the squirels and mice getting in
1st year we left it there they did get in terrible mess and had to scub van out and throw things away
Going to garden club now been going for years me and my friend are tea ladies tonight do tea,coffee and biscuits after the speaker finished
do you have any garden club we have a garden show every july havnt won any cups for a few years my friend won 3 this summer including best in show
my autumn crocus just come out, they are lovely never had them before

We have several different types of garden clubs and societies. Rock Garden, Primula, Peonies, Alaska Native Plants to name a few. And then there are the general ones like Anchorage Garden Association (mostly master gardeners).

I belong to the rock garden group and volunteer to help keep up the rock garden beds at the botanical garden. Works well as I am a volunteer at the gardens anyway working with the facilities manager on their plant inventory database. I have donated quite a few peonies to add to their collection including about 15 American Gold Medal winners they didn't have. I believe they have almost all of them now except for a couple of tree peonies. We are doing some testing on two tree peonies to see if they will survive there. They are at least a zone colder than I am and I have successfully grown then to bloom.

The native plant people have winter meetings and presentations (I am doing on on the only endangered species in Alaska (a fern found only on one island in the Aleutian Chain), then munchies of course. No tea though it would be nice.

What is your 'van'? It sounds like an automobile but you describe it as almost a cabin.

i our caravan is 4 berth its a touring van, white L shape lounge its 18feet by 9 foot wide, we have a table and 2 seats, a fridge,full size cooker run by gas bottle, and a sink, hot water and water heater.
we also have electric heating, and a gas fire as well, the bathroom has a cassette toilet, with water flush (sorry still a chemical toilet but newest upgrade) vanity basin hot and cold water and a shower with a glass door
the bed pulls out in the lounge makes a 6ft wide bed and 8foot long we bought a mattress topper really nice to sleep
caravan is compact lots of cupboards and we have a wardrobe, also an awning for another table and 2 chairs
sit in this all summer go there every month for 2 weeks and 2 weeks at home
thats great what you have done at the botanical gardens well done so much hard work, our garden club are normally local once a month, ours 3rd wed in the month except august we are closed. pay one fee in january, then couple pounds each month covers, tea biscuits and raffle
raffle is usually bulbs or garden book etc good laugh we all shout out the numbers we have but never win
july we take our plants we grow and try to win something have silver cups to try to take home
not like rhs shows very friendly
photos od inside van
L shape sitting area thats brian


ellie asleep


dining area and my son lee. cooker sink and fridge on his right

Sounds like what we call a motor home.

Yup. Carol I agree. Janet, I knew you had a 'van' but I didn't know you left it out away from your house for a long time. I assumed you drove it around where you wanted to go. It is a great looking (we would also call it a camper, but pretty fancy one at that).

We have our state fair each year and they have a huge building where they do the judging of all growing things from plants to cows. lol. Lots of vegies and flowers. Beautiful. I have had people say I should being mine there but it is too much bother. All the flowers are lovely, so don't know how judges can pick one over another. It is also about an hour (with no traffic) out. Depending on which direction you go, you would be in the middle of going home traffic along with fair traffic. I feel sorry for the people who actually live out there in Palmer (home of the fairgrounds). They have that mess to look forward to each year. I haven't gone, even to look, in years. Once or twice is enough. And then I look mostly at the piecework like crochet, knitting, needlepoint, etc. And of course the FOOD. lol

Oberon, you sound like me...been there, done that...done with that. Our county fair is only about 8 mi. away, but still takes close to an hour to get in, and it's in Aug., and hot. Besides, I don't think my stomach would take deep fried Twinkies.

Bletch! deep fried Twinkies. I still find it difficult to believe that anyone would do such a thing. And I do love fried food like french fries, breaded shrimp, donuts etc. Not that I ever get to eat them except as an exceptional treat. Once a year or so I get Kentucky Fried Chicken just to remind myself how awful it is though it smells sooooo good. lol

I admit, if I could just sort of 'spirit' myself to the fair for an couple of hours, I would. Especially if my daughter came with me. We have a lot of fun just looking at stuff and commenting, sharing what we like, what is unusual, what is silly. Even in the 'vendor's tent' where they set up tables and sell all sorts of stuff from health food to satellite dishes is sort of fun. Well, maybe next year Laura and I will go on the train. She and her boyfriend did that this year. He will be at Southpole station next August so then we could go.

hi no its not a motor home, its a towed caravan, we bought it locally then had it taken to the farm sitefor us, as we had no tow bar. we had it 7 years love it to bits, had great hols, but it stays where it is now, but years ago we had a vw camper van that was great, drove it round scotland
the fairs you go to sound great, we have something similar with a fairground and a big showground with show jumping and animal shows best sheep,goats, chickens etc. plus of course beer tent, tea and coffee, cakes and of course fish and chips van. when we in north wales we always go the see a few of them, been to the village show couple of times You should show your flowers it would be great for you to get a silver cup and certificate, you would love it
had busy day today keep fit class am, back to the ironing then dinner
afternoon hot stones massage followed by dip in hot tub I have a massage or feet reflexology once a month good for you health (unlike kentucky chichen ) have you tried any therapys lol janet

Oh, I have had a few massages. Just not my thing. I get too antsy just laying there like a slab of beef. lol. I do like facials though. Heavenly. And pedicures. Wonderful.

I understand about your van now. Sounds great. Like having your own country cabin. Would love to have a small motor home, like maybe 22 feet (D saying that is too big but he has never stayed in one and doesn't realize how fast they 'shrink'). It would be fun to drive to one of our many rivers and camp and fish. Or over to the Kenai - lots of neat places there. But other than that, it's around 1500+ miles to the 'lower 48'. Guess we could go to some places in Canada. Again it is around 400 miles or so just to get to the border.

thanks a long way to go, everywhere must take so much time, how vast the country is, furtherest we have been is to border of spain about 6 years ago
we saw a sign for gibralter 600kms took us 3 nights in hotels to get there. we went on our motor bike
hired a large tent, fully equipped fridge, small cooker pots and pans, and a nice double bed and bedding
the sunshine was great and saw lots of southern france, and camargue where they have white bulls and horses and of course flamingoes great numbers
just been out in the garden lovely and sunny 12c today but 6c last night wind is easterly now, be a cold night i think
bought garden fleece ready to cover up any plants that tender
garden closed down now finished planting bulbs and all winter bedding in, really looks nice yesterday brian helped me tidy up and sweep paths have you got moose fence up yet, has the snow arrived yet
going to a local garden centre for a cup of tea today with my friend somewhere to go
we go on holiday together every year for a week, best hols was kirkenhof holland (cant spell it)to see the fantastic bulbs and the tulips field for my 60th birthday and saw amsterdam, diamond musuem and cheese making great
we go to see gardens all the time keep warm lol

You have been to so many places. I feel like such a stick in the mud. I did go to Ireland by myself once to attend an Irish Crochet workshop for a week. Hit Dublin, rode bus to the little village where the workshop was being given, rode bus back, got on plane and left. Dumb I guess not to have ventured out a bit but I am leary of traveling by myself. I have no sense of direction and if there is a decision to be made, I usually make the wrong one. Gotta face facts.

Your trip to Holland sounds just like what I would like to do. I bet I could do that by myself. I flew over the pole to Ireland via Frankfurt, Germany, so assume I could maybe fly on Condor directly to Amsterdam. Perhaps next year.

that must have been marvellous seeing pole from the air. You were pretty brave going to dublin on your own, im a knitter myself just making an aran pinafore type tunic no sleeves, in what i would call middle purple coming along nicely
only just learnt how to do aran, looked it up on youtube still cant do a diamond shape pattern when we went to amsterdam helen my friend said we not going to that red light district too late i said you have crossed over the bridge your in it!! we went on a evening trip to see the sights, well thats a good word for it never again
the gardens though were fantastic i will get my son to put some of the pictures on the computer for me, there on my old one
enclosed some of our garden photos of trebah gardens cornwall this year holiday in june its a tropical garden
picture gunnera and my friend helen

we had a sandwiches by this lake


bamboo


the valley


agave

My daughter was dating a fellow from the Netherlands and he told us about the Red Light District in Amsterdam. He said it was a 'must see'. You were brave to do so.

Your pictures are beautiful. So many wonderful places to visit.

I went over the pole at night so didn't see it at all. Honestly, I really didn't comprehend that I would be flying that way. My son flew from Virginia USA to South Korea and they went over the pole and he sent me a picture he took. Amazing. To actually look down on the North Pole. Didn't see any sleds or Santa Clause though.

what a shame could have dropped a letter down, there always seedy places in citys all over the world, even in france we saw very nasty looking areas. my sister-in-law had her handbag on her knee in car in rome and the window was down, scooter came along side and stole bag with all her passport money everything, you have to be so carefull
got some primroses from garden centre like them, mind you its all christmas stuff now, every year always something new and always seems to need a battery
i like the toys that dance when you press the button on them. Ive no grandchildren, neices and nephews all grown up now have you any grand children?
my friend has 2 grandchildren l girls 6 and 3, there nice but i dont see them often
got some photos of lands end last place in uk (sorry thats all you see when you get there)
1st pictures lands end

view of st ives in cornwall

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seaside where i live district called new brighton about 1 mile away river mersey opposite liverpool



lady dressed in garden costume at tatton show


sculptures at show

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streptacarpus this is the company i buy mine from dibbleys nursery if you put that in online you can see them




alliums do you like them i do lovely colours


fuchsia tower last photo have a nice day

photo of new brighton where i live and streptacarpus sorry hope there on this one

Great pictures. My sister in law, who lived in San Francisco, California told me years ago that she wears her purse strapped over her shoulder, maybe even a metal cord through the strap. With the flap and zipper toward her, not outward. That way it cannot be easily grabbed. But to have someone reach in a car and steal one is way over the top. How awful. To say nothing of a terrible disruption of your trip.

Great flower pics.

hi i can see your post was 8am, its 2139pm now and getting rather cold central heating is blasting away we had a evening dip in the hot tub, got halagon heaters on the roof where we get changed, and we put in floating lights, really nice go in after tea when it gets dark,trouble is when you come out the room its cold in the garden, run in quick dont think have many more dips evening or through the day
just bought lots of bird food stock up, last year i had 12 different types of feeders around front and back garden what types of birds do you get love to know
we have sparrows,robin,blackbirds,goldfinch,blue/great/coal tits, magpies dont like them much and
starlings the goldfinch are the most colourful love watching for them
I was digging in the garden the other day and a robin followed me round for his worms
well the bats are hibernating now, we had them in the front of the house for over 15years, strange as it not a really old house and we have a bumble bee hive for the last 2 years there great to watch
i been told that the queen bee will hibernate in our garage and come out next spring
well its time for supper, and feed the cat she sitting on the chair in the dining room waiting, how your dog hope keep well, its ellie check up time just after christmas vet charges £30 for about 10mins

our motorbike

Love your hot tub. And that is a lovely motorbike. Quite snazzy.