It has been too hot to do anything other than to waft about in loose clothing opening and closing windows as per instructions via the BBC weather people. Open a window during the wrong part of the day [God forbid] and there is the threat of being turned into something resembling a dry roasted peanut, or such like. Anyhows, this week has been tropical in Devon, despite appearances….
But thankfully it is fresher and a lot less humid today.
I have a nagging thought that I’m supposed to be taking pictures of my garden for the Great Blogging Gardening Competition 2022. I am also supposed to be supplying Melanie with a picture of a tree, and of a secret path. I must remember to do these things.
I do have this picture of my very first family garden that I can’t resist publishing before Mr Devine’s big event….
I have no idea why my aunt is wearing heels to weed, nor why my mother saw fit to wear slippers to use the concrete roller thingy. This is the only time I’ve seen the concrete roller thingy in action – as a child I used to climb on it to try to see over the big fence at the end of the garden [not the same garden or big fence as in this pic]. I think this picture only serves to underline the eccentric nature of the Blue family – see what I had to grow up with!!!
Moving on, I have made a couple of collages, the first is for a calligraphy exchange…
….and the second is not going anywhere….
I have made a lot of collages, and most of them get sent away to far off climes, or just down the road, but I am going to keep this one. I will frame it, and I will make more in a similar vein. I have a big one planned that will break copyright laws. Tough. It’ll worth it.
Next week [or the week after?]: Scarlet makes merry with a scalpel and some gold leaf. And also takes more photos.
Wonky Words 
I can tell you, it’s been sweltering here too, but I don’t mind the heat. Im a hot house flower.
Beautiful art meets calligraphy as always.
And yes…your right. I think we are to be taking gardening picture before they go up in flames. Mr DeVice has had several posts…but what eith his tales of interludes in gardens and just him being cute…I get distracted.
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Mistress B – It has now cooled down so much that I might put on a cardie.
Mr D has daydreams in his garden – he needs encouragement so that he can sully forth and blossom!
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I mean sally forth so that he can get sullied. Who knows what I mean?
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Oh dear, your lawn looks a little parched. A rolling expanse of brownsward. And talking of rolling, the photo of your very first family garden appears to depict an arcane ritual of some sort. The poses are strangely stylised – is it a rain dance, perhaps? Be that as it may, glad to hear that you at least have some relief from the heat. It’s still regulo 4 here.
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Mr Batarde – That’s not a lawn! That’s a freshly harvested field of corn, or wheat!!
But I agree that there is something very odd about the family photo! I wish there was somebody I could ask – I think they were all pretending to be busy! I can’t imagine that my mum really did the gardening in her slippers!
It’s been cooler today, but the temperature is set to rise for next week. Ugh. I have slept so much during the days. Roll on Autumn!
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I’ve been inside so long, I think I’ve forgotten how to actually BE in public! I have read a few books, so at least I’m doing something. Thanks to the drought out here in Lalaland, everything is brown and/or dead! I think my submittal will be pics of the houseplants since they are alive!
Love your collages, Scarls! xoxo
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Thank you, Savvy!
I don’t go out much anymore either, other than my daily morning walk – thankfully I do meet and chat to other dog walkers, and this constitutes my social life! I don’t get to dress up any more and I miss that.
Thankfully the little bit of rain we’ve had has taken the edge off the brown look! I must get snapping away in the garden for Mr Devine!
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It’s not been very sunny here in London, just muggy and humid.
I adore that photo of your crazy family at play in the garden! I remember those gigantic concrete lawn rollers. Obviously ours was just for show, because I also remember what laughingly passed for a “lawn” was as lumpy as hell.
Don’t blame you for wanting to frame your collages, Ms Scarlet! They are rather faboo. Jx
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Jon – The weather has been very odd here, we have had rain, but yes, so humid and heavy – I’m pleased it’s freshened up.
People don’t have lawn rollers anymore do they?! I was rather fond of ours, it sat at the end of the garden from the mid sixties until my parents moved in 2012, by which time the handlebar had become partially detached. Everyone needs a lump of concrete to stand on sometimes.
I will take a pic when I’ve framed the collage – thank you (blushes)!
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Huzzah! The wonderful Scarlet has dragged herself to the keyboard.(She’s terribly polite and really only did this to nudge me into action!It might work…)
I laughed my coffee all over the desk at that lawn roller…they were all the rage when I was a young ‘un. And weren’t they just the trick for scrambling onto and peering over fences!
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Dinah – I imagine that you are writing an epic post as I reply!
Lawn roller – it’s called a lawn roller, and not a concrete thingy! I even had one left at one of the properties I lived in in the 90’s – I used it as extra garden seating, or something to perch on when smoking a cigarette. Did people use them once and then simply abandon them in gardens all over the country?
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The most striking aspect of the photo is that the women are still wearing skirts or dresses to do the gardening. Also the complete absence of flowers. Were they hiding somewhere under the flowerbeds?
I’m now extremely curious as to how he made a soggy mess on the carpet and why he insisted on the presence of sharks.
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Nick – It’s my mum’s slippers that make me believe that it’s all a ruse in the photo! We will never know! There are no leaves on the trees, so it must have been taken in Winter – very odd.
Ah… the sharks, and the soggy mess – please see my advert post featuring Debbie in Dover and the gentleman with Russian connections!
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I love the old family photo! I also don’t blame you for wanting to keep that second calligraphy art for yourself! It’s funny! I feel IDV’s presence in that paragraph; is he the one using magic to add insult to grievances by getting your pink shag rug soggy? Did he forget to change out of selkie form before he huffed on in? 🙂
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Mels – I love that photo too! I think they were messing around! I will have to weave the image into another collage.
Ah… the ‘Magic’! It’s a paragraph from one of my old advert posts from a couple of months ago – The Milk Tray chocolate advert – when I wrote about Debbie and how she preferred Black Magic!
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Who took that photograph ?
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Mr Mags – I think it was taken by a family friend, actually before I was born, so it’s a very old photo!
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P.S I presume you mean the gardening photo! I took all the others!!
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Yes, the historic photograph. Maybe it was just a long Sunday afternoon … so the three ladies and the gentleman decided it was time for some work on the lawn. Early sixties, maybe ?
Your family surely has a peculiar humour.
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Mr Mags – Funny you should suggest a Sunday afternoon because I was thinking that – and maybe in early Spring, not Winter, as they are not dressed for bitter cold weather.
Yes, my family did have an odd sense of humour!
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Yes, I thought of early spring too – simply because of the (two ?) lawn rollers used. As I read they are good to use after “seeding and sodding”. Maybe the Blue family shows here their own interpretation of Sacre du Printemps ?
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Mr Mags – My family were more about tea and cake than seeding and sodding!! But maybe they got a little frisky in Spring!
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Rectogesic ointment ?
Addicockian ? A vulcan wallops under the calm, tweeded surface of Lindy, Betty, and RD Smith …
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Ah, Mr Mags, this was actually from a comment from one of my blog posts in 2011/12, left by the Mythical Modo. See how I am mixing everything up!
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Love that collage, and the historic family gardening photo is fab. Are those really slippers on your mother’s feet, might they not be chichi pumps?
We only had a few days of heat, it’s feeling distinctly autumnal now, but it is lovely and sunny, so I won’t complain.
I haven’t left the house for days… X
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Eryl – I think they are definitely slippers – my mum’s the one with the larger roller, and when I enlarge the pic I see a fur cuff around her footwear! Honestly, this is why I think the photo was staged as my mum was quite outdoorsy and particular about appropriate footwear.
Gorgeous here, too, but long shadows are suggesting Autumn.
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At least your Aunt had the good sense to remove her pearls.
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Ms Mistress – But not her diamonds!! Or those heels!
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Until I read the comments I thought that you were joking and that the photo was some curiosity you’d picked up in a bric-a-brac shop. I thought it was staged.
Also, looking at the trees, it looks like acid rain is nothing new!
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Looby – I know! The trees! They are very disturbing.
Quite frankly I could open my own bric-a-brac shop, I have a wealth of curiosities!
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Hooray! The first ancient garden photo!* Well done, Ms Scarlet. Very well done! (Although this doesn’t let you off providing photos of your current garden…)
We had two lawn rollers at our family home back in the 70s & 80s, and they weren’t used on the actual lawn either. They were rusty metal rather than concrete (but maybe they had concrete innards?), and were also convenient for sitting and climbing. Is that what happened to retired lawn rollers back in the day?
I recognise that soggy, pink shag from a certain reimagined Milk Tray advert! Splendid collages, but what was R D Smith up to before 7pm, and who does s/he live with? Enquiring minds want to know!
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Oops! Almost forgot the *
* I have received some garden photos from Dinahmow, but hers are relatively recent (i.e. they’re in colour).
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Mr Devine – I am so behind with everything – I wanted to sort through more old photos, but I will lose days that way!
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Mr Devine – Yes, I had the rusty type roller at one of my previous homes as well! Everyone should grow up with a roller, and not the Bay City variety!
R.D Smith is another story entirely. I might explain all in my next post!
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Hello
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Hello, Mitzi – are you having bother leaving a comment? I think you’re misspelling your email address and putting nail instead of mail. I hope this helps!
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“Its awfully boring, isn’t it”
“What about if we staged a photo?”
“We could make believe we were in a painting, being serfs or something”
“Well serfs don’t have shoes so you’d better put your slippers on”
“Do serfs have slippers?”
“Imagine the descendents in a few decades time, they will wonder what kind of brilliance concocted such an idea”
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Kylie – I bet they never imagined they’d be seen in Australia and the USA via the newfangled computer thingy!
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I’m in Spain feeling very hot and bothered so much so I’m having gusset problems. I’m using ipad to leave messages, very fiddly.
Will use a different email I’m locked out of that one.
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Mitzi – You may have well stayed here to be hot and bothered! Glad you made it through.
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I’ll offer a guess on the garden picture. It does appear that the activity was not planned in advance (dress, shoes). My conclusion – they decided to play croquet and someone thought the garden was too lumpy and needed to be weeded.
Sharks in the English Channel – I’m sure a few pass by occasionally. With our global warming the English Channel may become more tropical with a new selection of sea creatures.
I watched a report that our global warming has hurt traditional wineries and benefited the British ones.
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Bill – Croquet!! Could be.
I imagine the wineries are doing well – I hope though, that the grapes don’t turn into raisins, as there hasn’t been a lot of rain in most of England.
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You wrote a good post around an old picture. Now that picture could take you down a rabbit hole. Maybe they were burying something they didn’t want discovered. Why keep your skeletons in the closet when you have a nice garden available?
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It’s raining! First we’ve had in about 2 months. Which is why I’m trying to catch up with blogging.
I have to say that really is a weird set up in your garden. I suppose weeding in heels is much more sophisticated than crocs. Times sure have changed.
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Yes, raining here as well, Joey – I’m relieved after last week, which was unbearable.
Ha! Indeed, gardening was far more sophisticated back in the old days!
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