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.
The Peruvian lilies are beautiful. In the latest pound coins I see that the queen has crows feet, wrinkles, and more jowels.
ReplyDeleteYes, they've aged her portrait to keep up with the times!
DeleteLet 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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.
Delete1997 was the year the 50p size changed. They were originally bigger.
ReplyDeleteThe reflections in the water are beautiful.
I read that! So they must have first downsized the coin and then redesigned it -- because the size of this one is the same.
DeleteI 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
ReplyDeletePoor old Olga, tell her I know what it feels like. lol
Briony
x
I do tend to stick with things. I'm a finisher. You just never know when something will get better.
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteIf 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.
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.
DeleteI may eventually be one of those people wheeling around their dog in a baby buggy!
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.
ReplyDeleteI never like to quit a book. I push through because, as you said, it might get better.
DeleteI would think that the dahlias are predetermined to be the color they are by their seeds. Aren't most flowers like this?
ReplyDeleteWhen 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!
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?!
DeleteYes, the Queen must confront images of herself at every turn. Then again, I'm sure she never handles cash!
So interesting that the dahlia flower changes color in autumn. I've never seen that before. It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and then I wonder what it's like to live in a country that still has a Queen and a royal family.
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.
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the dahlia! I make myself stick with books, as a rule. I can't remember the last time I quit one midstream.
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
DeleteThe flowers are a lovely way for me to start my day. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad!
DeleteThat 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.
ReplyDeleteAlstroemeria are just about the perfect cut flower -- they're beautiful and they last a long time.
DeleteSteve, 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!
ReplyDeleteIt is terrific how you find so many interesting things! Thanks for sharing them with us!
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."
DeleteI think I like this color of the Dahlia better than the red, but both are lovely. They go well with the lilies.
ReplyDeleteOur 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.
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.
DeleteI'll bet I would have liked that book - I enjoy fantasy fiction every now & then. But 400 pages is quite a commitment!
ReplyDeleteYou 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.
DeleteSteve, the urban archeologist. I love that you actually do research on your finds. My mother loved Peruvian lilies.
ReplyDeleteThe 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!
DeleteYou 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.
ReplyDeleteHey, you got yourself to Palm Springs! That must have been a challenge too!
DeleteAs 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.
ReplyDeleteHa! 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.)
DeleteI like all British money. Well, I suppose one could just say I like all money. But the British rough-edged coins are particularly nice.
ReplyDeleteBritish 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?
Delete