Tag Archives: garden

Sun protection – Australian style (Rousse)

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I located my Uncle J soon after I arrived in Australia. He was busy pulling up plants in the part of the bush that he called his garden. “Get indoors!” he shouted in alarm, chasing after me. I ran into … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alarm, art, aunt, Australia, Australian, brush, building, bush, chase, cheeks, fake, freedom, garden, indoors, kiss, minimalist, modern, paint, paintbrush, pale, plants, protection, run, su, sunblock, tan, tin, uncle | Leave a comment

A coping strategy for the strangely blind (Rousse)

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Dreamaticus

I suffered from an extremely rare form of blindness. Although I still had my sight, what I saw was completely different from what everyone else could see. I did all I could to disguise my disability by listening very carefully … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 50th, blast, blind, blindness, brother-in-law, car, chat, cope, coping, dance mat, dance pad, disability, disguise, East Midlands, engine, fiftieth, fifty, game, garden, Harris, high performance, hills, Isle of Harris, listen, music, neighbour, nephew, niece, nieces, pop, Porsche 911, present, pretence, rare, see, sight, sister-in-law, sisters-in-law, South Harris, strategy, street, suburban, sunset, TPR, vision | Leave a comment

Graffiti vandal cites Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum (1753) as defence (Rousse)

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Dreamaticus

The back hallway looked so much smarter after TPR painted the walls pale green. A further improvement was the list of garden tasks that I wrote up in blue felt pen on a patch of wall to the right of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1753, blue, botanical, Carl Linnaeus, Carl von Linné, credentials, dead, death, defence, disease, door, feather, felt, garden, graffiti, green, hallway, heath, home, jay, Linnaeus, peacock, pen, pride, scientific, sister, Species Plantarum, tasks, TPR, vandal, vandalis, walk, walls | Leave a comment

Badger cull targets head north of the border to attack household pets (Rousse)

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Something yellow and blue was peeping out of the undergrowth in our back garden. Was it a parrot? Yes, a parrot, in Edinburgh, at the tail end of summer! I ran to the kitchen to grab the camera only to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aggressor, asleep, attack, back, badger, blue, border, camera, creatures, cull, discovery, dog, Edinburgh, garden, grey, hall, household, jaws, juvenile, kitchen, limp, north, parrot, pet, pets, rescue, room, save, sitting, summer, TPR, trap, undergrowth, wildlife, yellow | Leave a comment

Edinburgh International Festival Virgin Money Fireworks Concert lends magic to the city (Rousse)

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Dreamaticus

Virgin Money scored an enormous coup with its advertising campaign for the Edinburgh International Festival Fireworks concert. Nobody could work out how it was done, but at about 08:00am on the morning of the concert itself the skies over Edinburgh … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ad, advertising, black, burst, calf, camera, campaign, castle, chain, Claremont Crescent, concert, coup, cow, darken, daughter, display, documentary, Edinburgh, Edinburgh International Festival, festivities, fireworks, garden, God, god-daughter, graze, hotel, magic, normal, ordinary, photograph, Pizza Express, publicity, railings, residential, skies, sky, snapshot, streets, trailer, Virgin Money | Leave a comment

Perspectives from a plinth (Rousse)

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Dreamaticus

My elderly neighbour Mrs Frazier was dying of a deadly disease, and for this reason I was helping her with her walled garden. I half expected that she would leave it to me, along with her tiny mews house. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bird, birds, blue, Canadian, crane, dear, death, die, disease, elderly, fishing, French, Fringe, garden, grandpa, green, heart, house, inherit, line, magic, mews, model, models, neighbour, pedestrians, performers, plastic, plinth, rescue, rule, scarf, show, tall, troupe, tweed, visitors, wall, walled, weeding | Leave a comment

Sir Paul McCartney sings for information scientists (Rousse)

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Dreamaticus

BC organised an evening reception for all the summer information science interns based in the US. I was delighted to be invited: I’d been getting very lonely living in a shed in my hosts’ garden. I was beginning to feel … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged America, boast, community, dog, entertainer, garden, hosts, information science, information scientist, information scientists, interns, invitation, kennel, members, minders, network, Paul McCartney, power, reception, serenade, shed, sing, Sir Paul McCartney, sister, summer, US | Leave a comment

North Sea tsunami hits land north of Aberdeen (Rousse)

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Dreamaticus

TPR, His mother, his sister S, CM and I watched in amazement as the huge tsunami rushed in from the North Sea. It hit the coast just north of Aberdeen. When the first wave crashed into the town house garden … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aberdeen, amazement, barbecue, calm, camera, coast, flat, fling, furniture, garden, hit, house, kitchen, land, loungers, magical, mother, mountains, north, North Sea, sea, sister, town house, tsunami, Uig sands, vantage, view, washing line, water, wave, west, window | Leave a comment

A late breakfast (Rousse)

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Dreamaticus

A dozen pretty coloured bags filled to the brim with bedding plants lined the hall. “Great”, I thought, “He’s going to smarten up the garden”. The kitchen table, however, was a more puzzling sight. What were all these mounds of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bags, bedding, breakfast, burn, eggs, flames, fry, garden, hall, handle, kitchen, late, morning, pan, pink, plants, plastic, pretty, raisins, scissors, slot, smarten, sultanas, table, toast, toaster | Leave a comment

Parrot spotted in Edinburgh New Town garden (Rousse)

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Dreamaticus

There was a parrot up a tree in the garden. A parrot? In central Edinburgh? Yes, a parrot was perched on a branch of the tree against the back wall! I rushed into the house to grab my camera, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged branch, camera, Edinburgh, garden, New Town, parrot, quarry, spotted, tree, wall | Leave a comment