This
story takes four children: Amanda, Peter, Laura and
Jason from New York City to a small town in west Texas
and describes good times and bad times as they grow
from childhood to adulthood
STOP
PRESS
Virginia Bickel's
newest book
Come September has just been released. Order it now!
In Virginia Bickel?s second book, she turns from
historical fiction to mystery. Come September is the
story of Daniel Lindsey?s quest to identify the young
woman found unconscious in front of his store, and to
find out what she was doing on Mesa Street, in El
Paso, Texas. She brings to this genre her skill with
character development and dialogue. You won't be
disappointed.
Please click on the thumbnails to view the pictures full size.
Here are two photos, taken on the evening of the 4th of
July 2001. The first is taken from the bottom of the garden path and
is a good shot of the vegetable garden and the honeysuckle that twines
through the ivy on the outbuilding in which I store all my garden tools.
Both the honeysuckle and the ivy become host to many families of birds at
this time of the year. At the latest check I could just see six nests in
the thick, sheltering growth. Note how the standard fuchsias are also
sheltered under the overhanging foliage.
The second picture is of the same area, but taken from a
little closer. The standard fuchsias that are being grown for the shows in
August are looking really well now. Unless we get some very windy weather
to damage them, they will be at their best for the first show. This will
be the Ashfield Flower Show, and will be held on Saturday and Sunday the
11th and 12th of August.
These are two more shots, taken on the same evening of
4th July 2001. They are both close-ups of the head of one of the show
standards. They were taken in the evening and the sun was shining directly
onto the plants, which spoilt the first picture a little. However the
small buds that will make flowers in time for the shows can be clearly
seen.
We moved the plant into shade for the second picture,
this allows you to see clearly the tiny flower buds forming on the ends of
the branches. There is another five and a half weeks to wait for the shows
and the flower buds are at just the right size for them be wide open on
the day of the show.
This first picture includes part of my vegetable garden,
and it was also taken on the 4th of July 2001. It was taken from a
spot at the back of my flat and the photographer was standing against my
spare bedroom window. The stand in the foreground was created from scrap
metal and holds eight fuchsia plants in five inch pots. Behind that is the
vegetable garden with carrots, parsnips, swedes, beetroot, onions and
beans which will grow up the canes at the bottom of the garden.
The last picture is of a very unusually coloured
Ivy-leaved geranium that my pal Colin has growing in his greenhouse. I
like the colour of this plant and have asked him for some cuttings from it
for next season. Isn't that a wonderful plant?
We had gale force winds for a few days from the 9th to
the 12th of July. On the evening of the 11th they were so bad that the
head was blown from one of the standard fuchsias. It even broke the cane
that the stem was fastened to. This is a photo of me standing behind the
pot that the plant of Come Dancing was in when it was snapped off. I'm
holding the head in one hand and the stem in the other. I know it isn't
really much consolation, but luckily this plant was not one of the better
ones. Behind me you should can see a nice standard of Gordon Thorley
that is being grown on for next seasons shows. During the gales I moved it
close up against the hedge so that it wouldn't get damaged, I wish now
that I'd also moved the one that was broken.
I couldn't leave you with a picture of me with a frown
on my face, so I had another one taken while I was smiling. Though I
really didn't feel much like smiling at the time. The red washing up
bowl and the large white container by my side are two tools I use when
re-potting or potting-up plants. I put the potting compost in the white
container and use the washing up bowl to hold the plants while I'm working
on them. The bowl also acts as a lid for the container and prevents the
compost drying out.
Send
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Alfie Geeson
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Copyright ? 2000 Fuchsia Land. All rights reserved.
Last modified:
April 24, 2009 08:11:43
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Alfie Geeson
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