Menoturals; Some Pretties

A reminder that next week is Final Friday once again... and here I am sharing with the LLB gang on Nature Friday, with some glimpses of nature in Aitch's garden... The blue Felicia was a little gift from me. Next you see Clarkia, Begonia, and finally Teasle just starting to blossom. Then we were surprised by the arrival of a flurry of Little Tortoiseshell butterflies...

Menoffagainorhoea; Places To Be

Departing Galashiels on Sunday morning (12th), The Grey and I mosied down to Aitch's place via some of the quieter roads over the border. It was another beautiful day and a most enjoyable tootle, taking only a little over 90 minutes. We parked in her drive shortly before midday, just in time for a cuppa and for me to prepare lunch for us both in the van kitchen. Then it was the final day at Wimbledon!

Monday was a quiet day at home, catching up with each other's news and happenings... and I made myself useful...

I had asked whether there had been any sightings of hedgehogs of late, to which the answer had been no... then lo and behold! That evening, there was a visitation...

Can you see it? There was a little video of it running right up to and past the camera trap, but the format meant a bit of finagling would be required to get it Blogger-compatible, but trust me, that was definitely a hedgehog!

Now, long-termers here might recall that when I am with Aitch, we fit a lot in! So it won't all fit in this one post. Tuesday found us going on a whole-day outing, and it will take three, maybe four posts to cover it, so brace yourselves! As we drove out of her village toward our intended destination, we made an impromptu stop at a small memorial site...

Well, I say small, but of course, the battle covered quite a large area of the moorland - now a tilled hill...

For the history buffs among you, here's the info board with the basic story. The War of the Roses was something we covered in school history, but I hadn't recalled that there were Scots recruits to the cause!

Our next stop was at Maelmin Henge and Trail in the village of Milfield. This was an excellent place to explore, and it included the RAF memorial, which you saw Ducky 6939 share in Tuesday's post. This is a reconstruction of early historical sites represented in Northumberland, with lots of info boards which, unfortunately, have not been well-maintained. We discovered a letter nailed to the gatepost which explained that the care of the site was being transferred from Newcastle University to a more local charitable trust. The plan is to refit all the boards and upgrade some of the site, bringing it back into full glory. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit here, and hope these photos convey a little of the experience. 

That is all for this post; more to come from our Tuesday outing next Thursday. A hint of what's to come is at the bottom of this collage of images that Aitch took of me doing the visiting... 

Menoizikul; Midweek Musicalisms

Completing the little foray into the works of Leoš Janáček, we have a short but very sweet piece, again with violin and piano.