Moan, Moan, Moan - 2012

[Maggi Young]

Sun came out for an hour.... took advantage of this to get outside... pulled a few weeds, admired the three flowers on a Chinese paeony - from Italy!- cheered me up no end.... then I come in, read Angela's post and I'm moaning again... I don't think I have ANY flowers on molly the witch. 

Glad to hear you think you'll manage the Show....  that's the most important day in our year, isn't it... apart from Early Bulb Day!

[Roma]

It was quite warm in the sun this morning.  Pottered a bit in the greenhouse then went out to dead head Meconopsis x cookei and some hellebores then had to dash out in the middle of lunch to take in the washing when the rain came on.  Maggi and Angela! hope you are both fighting fit by Saturday.

[ronm]

I'm really looking forward to this Show .......and I won't even be there!
Hope you all can last until at least Saturday evening

Good luck to everyone

[Lesley Cox]

Is this for the Aberdeen Show? Will it be on at the same time next year? I'm very good at making sandwiches.

[Maggi Young]

There will be no Aberdeen show next year, Lesley.
Ian and I are retiring and there are , as yet, no successors.
The numbers of entries are falling, our fantastic team of helpers is getting smaller - and older- and we said a couple of years ago that this will be our last year.
Also, quite a few of us hope to be trotting around Europe next year, to the Czech event and Gothenburg etc, so the main cogs of the Aberdeen wheel will be away at this time. Wondering if we should hire a coach or a private plane to transport us all around on our travels! Must look into the purchase of a Lottery ticket!

[Lesley Cox]

That really disappoints me Maggi. I was so hoping to go to at least one Show, after the Czech Conference.

[Lesley Cox]

[quote
 Wondering if we should hire a coach or a private plane to transport us all around on our travels! Must look into the purchase of a Lottery ticket!
[/quote]

Maybe a mini-bus? I'm seriously wondering if I can manage Sweden as well as the Czech Republic.

[Martin Baxendale]

Not looking forward to an autumn with no apples from the trees in our garden! All the blossom got soaked and battered by heavy rain and hail, and it's looking like there'll be precious little fruit set, if any. We've got so used to harvesting a few boxes of our own apples and pears. Will realy miss them 

[ronm]

Its the same here Martin.  . All started well with good blossom development, but cold days, high winds, few pollinators seems to have put paid to it. We are still eating our late varieties from last year, and appreciating them more and more as this year goes on.

[Anthony Darby]

Some of my son James's class mates were discussing the pronunciation of the word "albino", so James, quite correctly said "al - bee -no". He was shouted down - "the letter "i" isn't pronounced "ee", it's pronounced "eye", so it must be "al-beye-no"? He related this to me, so I asked him what nationality were the students. White New Zealand, he said. Kiwis then! (or should that be K"eye"w"eye"s?)

[fermi de Sousa]

Some of my son James's class mates were discussing the pronunciation of the word "albino", so James, quite correctly said "al - bee -no". He was shouted down - "the letter "i" isn't pronounced "ee", it's pronounced "eye", so it must be "al-beye-no"? He related this to me, so I asked him what nationality were the students. White New Zealand, he said. Kiwis then! (or should that be K"eye"w"eye"s?)

You're in for a lot of grief if you want to try to correct their pronounciation, Anthony!
 
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

Too true Fermi. 

[Lesley Cox]

Well where are you Anthony with alp eenus and alp eyenus? (as in Dianthus). When young I used the former and was laughed off the map.

[Anthony Darby]

For very obvious reasons I'm not a peenus person. I did have to rescue my eyeballs from the stratosphere this afternoon when I had to collect a parcel from the Post collection place nearby. The "the parcel was too big for your letterbox, you need to make sure your letter box is big enough" box had been ticked. Curiously, the note had probably been written at the depot because I watched the post girl drop the three items of mail into my remote letter box from her bike without slowing down! I commented to the lady behind the counter, and said this was the first time I'd come to the Botany centre, and this is where my eyeballs nearly went into orbit: "oh, you normally have to go to Ben Le Mond Crescent"!! That would be Ben Lomond Crescent!!!!!!

[fredg]

Just a couple of moans for me just now.

1. There were thousands of ladybirds ( ladybugs) around all winter and early spring, I cannot recolect seeing as many. Where have they gone?
The aphids are beginning to run amok and our spotted red allies have deserted.

2. The bidding on ebay  . Why are people bidding up to five times more for plants than the nursery price? Particularly when the nursery plant would be bigger.
OK OK... good if you're a seller but surely this is just encouraging others to raise their prices.
There's supposed to be a recession on, no one has any money.