Author: telboy2

Notre Dame

Nice walk this morning in the mist and cool weather before the rain came in.

We have driven past “La Fontaine’ many times but never stopped. Today we were up close and visited the chapel for the first time.

More like autumn

End if the day after working in the open barn.

It is colder today after some unseasonable warm weather. It has been raining and the wind has taken more of the leaves off the trees.

Hive gone

I opened the hive that I have been concerned about for a while.

Things had gone seriously wrong and there were very few bees still there and the hive had become infested with white moth.

Interestingly the queen was still present and being protected by the workers.

The white moth takes hold when the colony is failing. There ware no honey stores left and only dead larval stage bees.

I think the queen has been a poor producer and the final outcome was lack of food as not enough foragers to go out and then not enough food to develop young.

Other hive continues to look good. I am fighting the yellow legged hornets.

Flowers

We seeded these sections late , hence, the ongoing activity. The bees love them- more so the bumblebee and others that I think are hairy-footed flower bee.

They nest in the grass in a group.

Information here.

Active bees

It is the middle of October and the bees in the healthy hive remain active. Lots of ins and outs. It is warm and there are still flowers bout there to collect pollen and nectar.

I am however trying to to fight the frelons😬.

A bit more South Downs

A visit to east Hampshire and the opportunity to walk parts of the walk we have not done so far.

However mistake made as we have walked from Cocking to Buriton before. This was only evident when we arrived in Buriton to walk from west to east and recognised the village. Shaz found a photograph of me at the pond from September 2020.

As we arrived the church bells were ringing. A lovely sound:

And the church:

Built about 1200

When we did find the correct track it was well work the effort.

Saturday walking eastwards was harder. More hilly especially going to Butser Hill but great views. The flint paths are tough on the feet and the blisters returned.

Tosca

A trip to Covent Garden last night .

We have seen this before in Wellington but I did not remember the details. The ending is rememberable as Tosca commits suicide-last night by jumping through a window and for the Wellington performance by jumping off a wall.

I was up in the gods so the warmth became an issue. I enjoyed it, it became better as it progressed and I enjoyed the ‘hits’. The story was stronger and clearer than in some other operas and so easier to follow.

I have been listening to the music again today along with a few other operatic classics.

The Importance of Being Ernest

We went to this at the weekend and the effort to note it has come from reading a review in the FT.

A positive review and we certainly enjoyed it. I have seen it at least once before-many moons ago in Cannizzaro park as part of the outdoor theatre festival.

Stephen Fry makes a dominant impact and yes the performance of Merriman is very ‘Mrs Overalls’ and ‘soup…..’- great.

Well worth seeing the classic play done with a sting nod to gay life and identity.