For a number of reasons that I will not bore you with we have lost our telephone landline and with it our broadband connection. What was meant to be a delay of a few days before service is restored has now turned into 2-3 weeks.

The whole thing has been so aggravating that we have changed our suppliers and restarted the process from scratch. Hopefully we will have everything back to normal on 7th February but I am not holding my breath.

Computer offline

Here is a pretty flower to lighten the mood!

Snowdrop 'Sam Arnott'

Cucumber and tomatoes in the greenhouse

For more Wordless Wednesday posts visit here.

Meconopsis cambrica

Surrealism was a movement in art and literature launched in Paris in 1924. It was dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed to the artist in dreams and the subconscious. This would allow real life to be viewed in very unconventional ways.

Angels of Anarchy

The Surrealists loved taking everyday objects and presenting them in a radical manner. Imagine a teacup and saucer made of animal fur or a sofa in the shape of a pair of red lips. There were many paintings showing every fear or desire that might lurk in our subconscious. Of course  Surrealism is much more complex that that but this gives you a flavour of what the exhibition was all about. It was excellent by the way, well worth visiting.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this work by Meret Oppenheim.  Before leaving for Manchester I had been down the garden chasing a squirrel away from the bird feeders. Now in the middle of the art exhibition I am looking at a Surrealistic Squirrel!

A Surrealist Squirrel

On arriving back home I sat down at the computer to write this post. My feet touched something soft under the chair.

I glanced down.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Dead Squirrel!

The actual evidence has been removed. The above photograph is only a representation of the terrible discovery.

You will have to imagine my scream of horror!

Halki the cat 1 ………Squirrel 0

(The Surrealistic Squirrel picture was taken from the exhibition catalogue we bought. I hope no one objects to me showing this)

Birds are messy eaters and all kinds of weeds pop up under my array of bird feeders. This plant is one of them and worth keeping because of the sky blue flowers. They are very welcome at this time of year.

Linum usitatissimum

It is an annual. The seeds are edible (I buy them to put in bread) and are the source of lindseed oil. The plant also provides the fibres used to make linen.

Linum usitatissimum

Thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday. Visit her to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

What happened?

What to do first?

When did it all go wrong?

Passiflora caerulea (Passion Flower)

It is probably the most exotic flower in my garden.

Passiflora caerulea (Passion Flower)

Thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday.

Visit her to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

Note my hand made perch near the box. When the birds were building their nest they got themselves totally confused deciding on the best way to approach the entrance. They were a very indecisive pair, making numerous fluttering attempts before they went in. Stealth and subterfuge were not their strong points.They may as well have waved a large sign saying HEY CATS – BIRDS NESTING HERE. I thought the perch might help them out. Eventually they produced a satisfactory nest. Now they are feeding their chicks. Do click on the pictures for a closer look.

A Blue tit arrives with a caterpillar in its mouth. I think it’s the female but I’m not absolutely certain.

She takes a look  from the guttering….all looks well…or does it!

Blue tit on guttering

Perhaps she can get a better view from the top of the nest box….surely it’s  ok now!

Blue tit on nest box

Nope….she knows those cats are sneaky so she wants to make sure! She tries the view from the perch. That caterpillar must be drying out.

Blue tit on perch

By now loud tweeting is coming from the babies in the box. They cannot wait a moment longer. She decides the coast is clear, and in she goes.

Blue tit finally goes into the nest box

Further down the garden some Starlings and their young have discovered the fat feeder. These are very noisy, sociable birds. Luckily I have only had 12 at the most. Thank heavens, for they are extremely vocal and not in a soft twittering way….they sound as if they are permanently involved in a raucous argument. Here is an adult accompanied by three young who sit helpless waiting for food. See the poor parent on the left and the three great, hulking babies….feed me….feed me….feed me…more…more…more!

The rules of this tag are as follows:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are six random facts about me:

1. My favourite country for a holiday is Greece.
2. I do wish I could type properly using all my fingers. I’ve tried to learn but never succeeded.
3. I’d like a larger garden, with a stream running through it, along with a robot gardener to do the heavy work.
4. I would love to live by the sea
5. I like baking cakes but can’t be bothered to ice them.
6. I’d like to find a lightweight pair of gardening gloves that never wear out (and as a bonus retain their colour and pattern so I can find them easily when I lose them. Perhaps they could also glow in the dark and walk back into the shed at the end of the day).

I’m going to tag the following people:

The Patient Gardener: a UK gardener who loves growing things from seed.

Olives and Artichokes: by chaiselongue who gardens in the Languedoc, France.

Our patch of earth: a UK allotment blog by enthusiastic newcomers to allotmenteering.

Yes I know I’ve only tagged three people but I did another tag fairly recently so I’m now I’m tagged out!

If I’ve tagged you don’t feel you have to continue the tag – it’s entirely up to you.

These are the rules for tagging:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post linking to their blog.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here’s the six random things about myself:

1. I collect Crime Fiction books
2. I’ve started to get interested in bird watching
3. I have 3 cats
4. I would like to have two greenhouses instead of one
5. I find potatoes boring (growing & eating)
6. I hate the smell of Rue (Ruta graveolens)

I’m going to tag the following bloggers.
Don’t feel you have to tag anyone in turn – I leave it entirely up to you!:

Yesterday, today and tomorrow in my garden

Today I will mostly be growing

The inelegant gardener

Petunia’s garden

City garden.eu

Our pint sized veg plot