Five things for the fifth

[shewhomust]

• Today is / would have been my father's 99th birthday, and we marked the occasion with a visit to Finchale Priory, where he spent holidays as a boy:
  
  
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  After all the recent snow, the river was rushing by a great speed; two ducks, sitting sideways to the current, were carried downstream and out of sight in no time.



• It's yellow flower season. The daffodils are almost past, and fields of rape are coming into bloom. The riverbanks are studded with stars of celandine:
  
  
  
  
  
  Also dandelions and I'm pretty sure I saw coltsfoot high up on the rock face. There are white windflowers, too, but the wild garlic is barely showing the first spears (the scent of garlic is pungent, though). And a scattering of violets.



• On our way to Finchale we went to the Arnison Centre to buy a new iron, as ours has died. Luckily the choice was simplified by the fact that of our two possible shops, one had precisely one iron with the feature we wanted (can be detached from the cord) and the other - had closed. Consumerism does not overwhelm me with choice, and I'm fine with that.



• After the morning's excitements, durham_rambler decided he wanted fish and chips for lunch, at the new Bell's chippy. I found this disappointing: my haddock was very nice, but the chips were flaccid. durham_rambler had mussels, so all is well.



• The upholsterers have returned our sofa, and it looks very smart. But it wobbles. The odd thing is that the castor whose absence causes the wobble came off some time ago, and we never got round to fixing it, because it didn't seem to make any difference. Now, however, it does, so tomorrow we'll have to see if we can get some little screws at the market, to fix it back on. Even with the wobble, I'm enjoying having the sofa back: the wing chairs are surprisingly comfortable, but it's not the same.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Wild garlic is just appearing down by Ercall Pool here too.

I'm looking forward to gathering some to make a garlicky green pesto!

And when the wild garlic appears, the bluebells are not usually long after. :o)

[shewhomust]

Do you use the flowers or the leaves to make the pesto?

[cmcmck]

The leaves.

[sovay]

After all the recent snow, the river was rushing by a great speed; two ducks, sitting sideways to the current, were carried downstream and out of sight in no time.

That's a wonderful photo of a river.

[shewhomust]

Thank you.