An odd angle on rocks

The beach at Clevedon

These rocks on the beach at Clevedon were laid down hundreds of millions of years ago.

There's an old fault line just a few yards away, a discontinuity where the rocks lie at a different angle. And the rocks in the photo are tilted, you can see the layers clearly.

These layers are accumulations of mud and silt in a shallow sea, turned into relatively hard rock by heat and pressure and long millenia.

It seems extraordinary that sediment can be squished like this, and that rock layers can be upended and tilted. Nonetheless that is what happens given enough time in the churning interior of the Earth over long periods of time.

The recent earthquake in Pakistan created an island. The seabed shifted enough to raise what used to be beneath the sea so that now it's above the waterline. No doubt it may have been slightly tilted as well. Over time a series of such movements can build up significant changes of angle.

What an amazing world we live in!

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Decorated biscuits

Decorated biscuits

Young children love decorating biscuits, and this example is from my granddaughter's 5th birthday party. I'm not sure how appetising you find them, but they are certainly colourful!

Every child took to the task in a different way. Some were slow and careful, some enthusiastic and highly productive (can I decorate another one, please). Even at age five, personalities are well developed and very varied. And they all come out in biscuit decorating.

If you have a young child and haven't tried this, it's easy to set up. Buy a pack of plain biscuits along with paper plates, a set of tubes of pre-made coloured icing, a large tube of white icing, and a selection of sprinkles, sugar letters and numbers, and small sweets. Here is what you do...

1. Place the ingredients and the plates on a well-protected or wipe-clean table.
2. Make sure the table is standing on a well-protected or wipe-clean floor.
3. Release the children.
4. Stand well clear.
5. Clean up (children, table and floor).

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

A Peacock

A Peacock butterfly

No, this is not a Peacock bird, it's a Peacock butterfly, a species native to the UK. I spotted it recently feeding on nectar from fragrant flowers in a garden in Fife, Scotland.

It was interesting to see a Peacock so far north. The butterfly gets its name from the eye-spots, similar to those on the tail of the bird. The butterfly probably has these spots because they increase the survival rate of the adults by scaring away predators or making them think this is an animal altogether too large to eat.

Maybe a predator would even think there are two animals as the Peacock has four 'eyes'!

Butterflies have been in very short supply this summer because of the wet summer last year. But numbers are increasing in this year's dry and warm weather. Good for the butterflies.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

A plant to remember by

Prunella grandiflora

I bought this plant at Cragside, a large house in Northumberland once the home of a famous engineer, Lord Armstrong.

We spent a while at Cragside on 17th August as we drove back south after a week in Fife with my daughters and their families.

Prunella grandiflora (Large Self-heal) likes moist conditions in partial shade and I've planted it next to our summerhouse where it will only receive late evening sunshine.

This one is a white-flowered cultivar and should be popular with bumblebees. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it grows.

It's good to collect plants from places I've been. The Self-heal will remind me of two visits to Cragside, one just recently and the first back in the mid 1980s.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Fish and chips

Yummy fish and chips

Fish and chips is usually good, but tonight we had fish and chips that was utterly spectacular. We are on our way north for a week with the family and we stopped at Durham for the evening before driving to our motel in nearby South Shields.

We walked the city centre streets of Durham, visited Palace Green and the Cathedral, and had a look at the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibit (it's oustanding, by the way).

Then we stopped at Bells Restaurant for fish and chips. They were the best ever! Really delicious, beautifully cooked, nicely presented on fish-shaped plates, with friendly service thrown in for good measure. I thought I should share the photo.

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Hedge trimming

Belated hedge trimming

Keeping the world in order is a massive undertaking. If I wasn't here to manage my little part of it, it would manage itself - but probably not to my liking!

This photo of my garden hedge illustrates the problem perfectly. On the right is the part I've just trimmed. On the left is the part that I have still to do.

You wouldn't believe it, but earlier in the year it was all trimmed. However, hedges have a habit of growing and growing, and this year's warmth and rainfall has provided perfect growing conditions.

If only someone would breed a hedging plant that would grow to a designated height and width and would then just stop. That would be perfect.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Jim and Pam's 25th

Party at Jim and Pam's

Tonight was Jim and Pam's 25th wedding anniversary.

Jim had prepared a big party for over a hundred guests, hosted in their house and garden. A marquee filled much of the garden with the rest of it pressed into service as a kitchen and serving area.

In one corner of the marquee was a disco. People congregated in the house itself as well as in the front and back gardens.

Children were happy to play on the bouncy castle in the front garden.

Many of the guests already knew one another, a reflection of Jim and Pam's widespread circles of friends, both church based and in the wider community.

Donna and I knew many of the people there through one route or another. It was a truly great evening and everyone had a lot of fun.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)