Dear Brenda, there has over the last 6 months been a lot of Spitfire and Hurricanes activity near us from Biggin Hill. I thought they might be practicing for the Queens Diamond Jubilee, but they were making a Documentary about the Battle of Britain with the actual planes that fought in it. The Documentary was on the T.V. for the first time yesterday and it was brilliant. The only flying Hurricane from the Battle of Britain was in it and it does not belong to the R.A.F Historic Flight at Duxford, it is owned by a private collector!
The film Star Ewan McGregor and his brother Ian who is an R.A.F. fighter jet pilot were in the program, and they were in for a shock.
Tony will know what I am talking about now. They told Ian the jet pilot that although he can fly a jet it does not mean he can fly a Spitfire and he would have to learn again. He started on a Gypsy Moth and had trouble with that till he got used to it. Then on to a Harvard trainer which he found easier apart from landing and finally got to fly in a dual seat Spitfire!
He made a lot of mistakes as he was too hard with the stick and on a Spitfire you only need to just touch it, so the plane was going everywhere. He got the hang of it in the end. They spoke to many veteran pilots of Hurricanes and Spitfires, and had to do a whole day in the life of a fighter pilot, which wore them out, and that was just one day!
The last day was Ian flying the Spitfire again, and suddenly they were joined by two other Spitfires and two Hurricanes. The surprise was Ewan his brother was in the back of one of the Spitfires as he is not allowed to fly it. He was stunned to see his brother there as he had never flown in formation before either. Then they went out over the English Channel, flew back over the R.A.F. Fighter Command memorial on the cliffs at Dover with thousands of people waving below. Then low over the villages of Kent and everyone turned out in the streets to wave. They landed back at Biggin Hill and were speechless, until they were taken to the old officers mess, had a few pints with the veterans, and sang some songs on the old piano that is still there.
It was wonderful to see them around here, and the program itself.

Neil.

Neil, thank you so much for sharing that with us! I just read it all to Tony. He is now reminiscing about those planes! I wondered what the name of the program is, maybe I can find it online. I hope you are well and enjoying your day. We are finally getting out in the garden to start our spring cleanup! Nearly 70 degrees here today!

Dear Brenda, it was simply called 'The Battle of Britain." But was on satellite not the BBC!
It had Ewan Mcgreogor and the Spitfire pilot who won a D.S.O and a D.F.C who wrote the book "First Light."
We do see a lot of Spitfires around here as Biggin Hill is very famous and many privately owned ones are kept there. But to see so many in formation with Hurricanes is a sight to behold, and made the hairs stand up on the back of everyone's necks.
The sound of those Merlin engines all together over here was awesome, to say the least, and I am sure Tony will understand why!
They must have got permission to fly so low, but who cares about laws when you see and hear something so beautiful.
There is no other sight or sound like them and I am ex Army!

Neil.

A great tribute to those who flew.

Nice, Neil! I will look for it!

Although we still have the drought we have now git thunderstorms as well. The ground is so hard after no rain since the Autumn it just runs off it and goes down the drains. It clears the air up and everything is fresh but is not ding any good. We need drizzle that soaks into the ground and lots of it.
Hope you are all well.

Neil.

That is what we're getting now. All Day long and it is getting a bit tiresome. Cold and dreary in April is not appreciated.

oh, but we do need the rain!

yes we need the RAIN but nt the 37º

We have been getting cool , not cold weather and a nice drizzly weather.

Sunny and in the 70's today and for the next few days! Woooo Hoooo! Wishing for drizzle for you, Neil...

loudy gray, cold wind and 40. Very depressing....................

I managed to get a quick look at the container plants yesterday as sometimes you get slugs or snails attack them because they are green and lender for them. Not a slug or snail in sight anywhere. So either they got drowned in that downpour or more likely they have all died due to frostbite and hypothermia.
I bought and I know you can make them one of the fat and seed feeders for the birds as there is not much around for them to eat at the moment, they love the thing. They have already eaten half of it.
Keep warm and safe,

Neil.

Neil I hope you are not getting all the rain, I want some . It has been rather cold and dry here lately. But spring is in the air. Starlings are nesting above my bedroom window, I hope I don´t get the fleas inside.

Bought my first fruit tree a couple of weeks ago, a Sweet Cherry tree "Sunburst" and planted it in the middle of my garden. and soon I will receive a few more small fruit trees I ordered from Finland through my gardening society. I´m not sure they will do well here but people are trying to grow some plants that have rarely been grown here before. I sowed some peas a week ago, never done that before and my windows are full of petunias and lobelias, so there are lots of things going on here.

Hope you and Sarah are well and your two cats too.

Just a few pics from my yard the past few days........................

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This is the earliest for all of the above blooms, 'Fraid come August/September I won't have any..............

Lovely cherie. A garden like that can keep your spirits up.

Pretty, pretty, pretty, Cece! We have things coming along as well! Hooray for spring!

I've taken more pics since then. Just haven't loaded them on the 'puter yet. So busy with Ed home. He had a 4 day weekend and his honey do list was longer than mine

Next weekend we will be gone for the weekend to my brothers as his son is graduating high school, the same day as y dd's birthday and then Mothers Day is Sunday. Which tells me to get off this computer, get my shower, do the hair and get going getting gifts, cards, an wrapping paper.