The day of the flower show

It's been feeling slightly autumnal this week...a chill in the evening air, some rain, and leaves on some trees are beginning to change colour.

But last weekend, it still felt like high summer down in North Somerset as I went to see Mama for the weekend. On Saturday afternoon we went off to the annual flower  show in her village, which was like a trip back in a time.

The Tickenham Flower Show has been held since 1947....and the basic principles of the show haven't changed -it's all very low key. It's not a large or flashy show with fair rides, burger vans or any of that malarkey, but the showing classes are taken  seriously, and it's a chance for everyone to meet up, have tea, and bask in the success of winning prizes.

Mama headed straight for the village hall to do her stint serving teas with her friend Gwen and all the others in the kitchen

It's in the marquee that you see how creative villagers are...and green fingered...

They may be just raspberries on leaves, but I think they are utterly beautiful....

And this winner certainly knows how to style his vegetables.....

And look at the beautiful simplicity of these tiny chillies...

One class of flower exhibits were travel themed -I loved this interpretation of a Singapore sling....

 

A country tea...

I also liked the simplicity and sheer cheerfulness of the children's efforts....

There was also an art and craft exhibition....

Out on the field, everyone had cream teas or ice creams

while the  band played a selection of tunes from the hits of the 1940's to television theme tunes.

Young children played on the grass in fancy dress, babies sat on their mother's knees in the shade, and some of the men enjoyed  a pint in the cider in the sunshine.

And I won a coconut, which is the first time in my life that's ever happened!

Then there was the serious business of the presentation of prizes, before everyone drifted off  in a wave of  "See you next year"after a happy few hours on a summer's afternoon. A few hours away from the news, violence and crises around the world, a few hours of the simple traditional pleasures of a country village.



 Today's track is one of the theme tunes the Portishead Band played last Saturday. Imagine the sunshine, the ambience ...and this blasting out....Love this!

 

A summer evening walk tonight

Days of being a tourist in my own village

We've got a houseful again, and it's great having friends and family to stay. And not just for the sheer pleasure of seeing them, of catching up on all the news and having a laugh either.

No, it's seeing where I live through their eyes. The mundane, the usual, the places and things I know and love but perhaps take for granted suddenly become different .

For example, I love the view from my kitchen window. It changes every day according to season, to light, to the mood of the weather.Every morning as soon as I wake up I look out while the kettle 's boiling and I scan the horizon....

But last weekend, our visitors arrived on Friday night...it was dark. When one of them wandered into the kitchen the next morning , it was light and as he looked out of the windows he literally jumped."Wow, I didn't expect this" he said, and I felt lucky all day.Lucky to be able to wake up every
morning  and drink in the view.

Similarly, a walk around the village with my friends  and seeing it through their eyes makes me fall in love with the place all over again.It's only small..there are 26 houses and a church.It's a conservation village, set in beautiful countryside.I know that. I love this place.But I appreciate it even more after friends see it for the first time.

Would you like a quick look at what I saw this morning on my quick solitary walk in the sunshine?

Here's our 12th century church...so simple yet so serene.....

Our mud thatched wall around the church is rather rare....

Obviously posting a letter is a regular event. Our village postbox is very old, and has the tiniest slot to post  cards and letters through .I actually have to fold some cards in half to post them, and it's always muddy by there...but when some American friends virtually had orgasms  about "the most darling little Victorian post box, "I glowed with pride..

I love where I live......and being a tourist in my own village reaffirms that love every time.

I wonder what makes you look differently at where you live?

Today's track, 'Tourist by Athlete' I must have seen this band at least ten times live and they always give a good performance-always a joy to watch them.