This dahlia, our Gallery Valentin variety, is usually bright red. But in the autumn the flowers come out light orange or even yellow. I don't know if this has to do with diminishing sunlight or cooler temperatures or what. Strange!
Our alstroemeria, or Peruvian lilies, are also looking quite autumnal, but they're always this color.
In case you're wondering why I posted so ridiculously early yesterday (as I'm sure you are), it's because we shifted off of British Summer Time and turned our clocks back an hour. Of course, I didn't realize that when I accidentally got up at 4:30 in the morning! Oops.
It poured rain yesterday morning, so I did some housework and read. I finished my latest Newbery, "The Girl Who Drank the Moon," which I really wanted to like. It was imaginative and ambitious and had memorable characters, but at almost 400 pages it was a lot of book -- and it was fantasy, with witches and magic and an admittedly likable dragon, and fantasy is never my favorite genre. I'd been reading it all week and I was feeling a bit bogged down, so I'm relieved to be done with it.
In the afternoon, I took Olga to the cemetery, and she was eager to go -- but about halfway through our walk she showed signs of limping so I brought her home early. She doesn't know when to stop, that dog. We had such a long walk on Saturday that she needs a little extra recovery time.
Speaking of which, here's a picture from our Saturday walk that I meant to show you. This is the pond at Golders Hill Park that featured in my Kong Retrieval video a couple of years ago. It has been drained, for some reason, so now I know how deep it is! There was some debris lying in the mud including cans and bottles and a baby stroller (who takes their baby stroller to the park and then chucks it into a pond?) but no Kongs that I could see.
And I'll show you the items I found on the West Heath:
First, I found a 50-pence coin (left). I put it next to a newer coin for comparison -- as you can see, the design has changed since 1997, when the coin on the left was minted. Back then, the portrait of the Queen was by Raphael Maklouf and depicted her wearing the George IV State Diadem. In 2012, when the coin on the right was minted, the portrait was by Ian Rank-Broadley, featuring the Queen wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara. Apparently the portrait has changed again since then, but I don't have any newer coins on hand.
Anyway, the older coin is very worn, probably from being trod upon for years in the gritty soil of the forest path. I'm amazed that I saw it, thus continuing my trend of finding things more efficiently without my metal detector.
Oh, and here's the old Schweppes bottle I found. I still need to clean it up a bit more. I can't find any reliable information online telling me how old it is. Do any of my British readers know offhand when these bottles were in use? I'm assuming it's from the '60s or '70s but I don't know for sure.
38 comments:
The Peruvian lilies are beautiful. In the latest pound coins I see that the queen has crows feet, wrinkles, and more jowels.
Let me reassure you, the colour of your flowers is nothing to do with climate change. No, not at all. It is quite a colour change though. Both colours are nice.
I don't of any brown Schweppes bottles here. I think local companies used to dominate the market when I was young.
With a recent phone video call with a couple of friends we were all trying to find the best angle for the camera to hide our jowls. I note the Queen's jowl line changed a little bit in the coins.
1997 was the year the 50p size changed. They were originally bigger.
The reflections in the water are beautiful.
I do admire you for sticking with a book that you are not enjoying. I stick for a few chapters and if I'm not enjoying it I ditch it. No staying power, haha
Poor old Olga, tell her I know what it feels like. lol
Briony
x
I believe that that is a ginger beer bottle - patented in 1922. I don't know when production ceased but I suspect that the 1960's is a conservative guess.
If you had invested in a tartan shopping trolley, Olga could have rode home in it - her little head and front paws poking out from the top.
I recently finished a book that I kept asking myself why I was still reading it. Maybe I thought it would get better. It didn't. Or maybe I'm just stubborn that way. Anyway good finds as usual. And I do like alstroemeria. We have a native version, alstroemeria pulchella or parrot lily.
I would think that the dahlias are predetermined to be the color they are by their seeds. Aren't most flowers like this?
When I looked at those coins I thought about how the Queen simply cannot be in denial about her looks, whether for good or bad. She has been portrayed so very often over the years with changes tracked to account for aging.
I have to tell you that if I was reading a book of four hundred pages and it was not making me happy to read, I would put it down and move on. Life is short, man!
So interesting that the dahlia flower changes color in autumn. I've never seen that before. It's beautiful.
Every now and then I wonder what it's like to live in a country that still has a Queen and a royal family.
I love love love that Dahlia! It's my favorite color. I have to give you credit for continuing to read a book that isn't very interesting. I would have set it aside and picked up another book. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.
I wonder why some one would write junior fiction and make the story 400 pages long. It would seem to me that very few kids would read a 400 page story.
The flowers are a lovely way for me to start my day. Thank you.
That dahlia is beautiful even if it is the wrong color. And, those lilies appear in almost every prepared bouquet I've purchased. It's interesting how coins and even bills change so often in England.
Steve, I had not seen the Kong retrieval video yet and that really made my morning! You are really the sweetest dog owner for your dear Olga! I love the photos of those flowers - so pretty! Hope Olga recovers quickly!
It is terrific how you find so many interesting things! Thanks for sharing them with us!
I think I like this color of the Dahlia better than the red, but both are lovely. They go well with the lilies.
Our Suzy is having problems with her neck/back again. You're absolutely right... they just don't know when to stop. She'll feel good one day and run and run, only to pay for it the next day.
I'll bet I would have liked that book - I enjoy fantasy fiction every now & then. But 400 pages is quite a commitment!
Steve, the urban archeologist. I love that you actually do research on your finds. My mother loved Peruvian lilies.
You are still young enough to accomplish self imposed challenges- keeps you going, energizer bunny! I empathize with Olga, we are likely the same age in dog years.
As a child, I always found fantasy tedious, and continue so as an adult. I react the same way to Harry Potter talk as I do to sports discussions. Just tune 'em all out.
I like all British money. Well, I suppose one could just say I like all money. But the British rough-edged coins are particularly nice.
Yes, they've aged her portrait to keep up with the times!
Oh, it's not climate change I was thinking about, but seasonal change. We're in a much darker, cooler time of year now than when the flowers were red over the summer.
I read that! So they must have first downsized the coin and then redesigned it -- because the size of this one is the same.
I do tend to stick with things. I'm a finisher. You just never know when something will get better.
Wow! That's older than I expected. I saw some dated versions online but they were slightly different, with the "Schweppes" written vertically rather than horizontally.
I may eventually be one of those people wheeling around their dog in a baby buggy!
I never like to quit a book. I push through because, as you said, it might get better.
I agree the dahlia is odd that way, but it did this same thing last year. I think the red pigment must somehow be related to the intensity of the sun. Who knows?!
Yes, the Queen must confront images of herself at every turn. Then again, I'm sure she never handles cash!
It IS beautiful, though now it looks EXACTLY like that yellow one I bought over the summer! It's interesting living with a monarchy. They're omnipresent but they really are very symbolic. It's almost like they aren't real people. Which I suppose is the point.
Glad you like the dahlia! I make myself stick with books, as a rule. I can't remember the last time I quit one midstream.
I KNOW! What was she thinking? And she said she wrote it with fifth graders in mind. I don't know many fifth graders with that kind of perseverance.
I'm glad!
Alstroemeria are just about the perfect cut flower -- they're beautiful and they last a long time.
Oh, I'm glad you liked it -- my one attempt at being a vlogger! LOL! When I watched it again just before posting this, I thought, "Well, that could have been shorter."
It IS a very autumnal color, but I must say, I prefer the red. Sorry about Suzy! Dogs WANT to be active but although the brain is willing, the body sometimes is not.
You should try it! I'd be curious what you think. I really think someone who's into fantasy would like it a lot more than I did.
The research makes the finds much more interesting! I never knew we've had three different royal portraits on the 50p coins, for example. I guess that's what happens when you're depicting someone who's still alive. Everything needs to stay up-to-date!
Hey, you got yourself to Palm Springs! That must have been a challenge too!
Ha! I read the first two Potters back in the '90s, when they were new, and I liked them, but I didn't see any need to go further. In contrast, I LOVE J. K. Rowling's adult fiction. (Like the mystery books she writes under the name Galbraith.)
British money IS nice, but I think there are too many different denominations. The UK has eight different coins in circulation -- unlike the USA, where there are six (and two of those very uncommon, so really just four). Do we really need all these coins?
Post a Comment