Autumn

 AUTUMN

Swirling early morning mist and the

Hazy platinum sun,

The noticeable chill in the morning air

Tell us that autumn has come.

 

Underfoot the crunch of leaves

Brings with it the scent of autumn.

That nutty aroma of crushed acorns,

Evoking childhood memories

Of collecting autumn treasures.

Acorns, conkers and hazelnuts,

That could fill a squirrel’s winter store.

Soft plump blackberries and sour crab apples

For making jam and golden pies.

Sycamore keys floating down like helicopters

Coming to rest amongst the crumpled leaves.

Fluffy old man’s beard covers the hedgerows which are hung

With scarlet chains of black bryony berries

And delicate webs laced with dewdrops in the still morning air.

The smell of autumn bonfires fills the air

Reminding us of the cold that winter will bring.

Changing the mellow autumnal days

Into cold grey ones, awaiting the arrival of spring.

Where have all the Sheila gone?

  I  don't know where all the time has gone, it's over 5 years since I last blogged so I hope I remember how to do it.   First I need to add a picture I think, it makes blogs more interesting if you have a picture.  Okay that's fine, it is a rather big one but the subject of my blog today.  

 

Where have all the Sheilas gone?

                             I have noticed over the years that not many young girls are called Sheila any more. I knew a few when I was a child and recently, on face-book, I have met a few while playing online games. In fact I have collected quite a few as online friends and must say that they are a lovely group of friends. The above photo shows many of them. This makes me think it must have been quite a popular name in the post World War 2 era. Time for a bit of research to keep me busy, better than housework.

    Over the past 20 years or more I have researched my family history so while I have hit a bit of a hiatus in that research I moved on to this. The place I decided was a good place to start is the births, marriages and deaths site FreeBMD. This has records of births in the UK from 1837.

    I started in 1837 searching for all the children registered with the name Sheila which also includes the different spellings of the name. The first record I found was in the September quarter of 1861. This doesn't mean there were none before her but to find those would mean searching the parish registers which aren't a full record and were only filled in if the child was baptised and many of the records have been lost over the years.

    I got waylaid in my research here because the first record I found turned out not to be a Sheila after all. Someone must have transcribed it wrong from the original record and as usual I went off at a tangent looking into the name it should have been which was Thulia. But that upset me because Thulia died in their month of birth and I put their because the record said gender unknown.

    The next names in the birth record are not until March quarter of 1877 and there were 2 babies given the name in the birth records but on researching them there are more transcription errors. Sheila Louise Hill was Theilia according to the 1881 census and Sheila William Lathbury was Charles William when I checked the original record. This make me wonder how many of the records I have found in the past are wrongly transcribed.

    The next Sheilas are in the 1870s and there are 5 between 1877 and 1880. I'm not going to investigate whether they are really Sheilas as I might be here forever. Between 1881 and 1890 there were 27 Sheilas listed and from then on the number went up dramatically. In the 1920s there were 30,844 and even more dramatic rises in the 1930s and 1940s with more than 50,000 in each of these two decades (including me!). This is when the name Sheila piqued in popularity. By the 1950s there was a big drop to 29,272 and the 1960s it was down to 8,746.

    This trend continued towards the end of the century and the name is now on the list of girls names that are at risk of disappearing all together. Not sure how true this is but this is the list I found:

Annette, Beryl, Brenda, Carolyn, Cheryl, Dawn, Debbie, Debra, Denise, Diane, Donna, Doris, Edna, Freda, Geraldine, Gladys, Gwendoline, Hilda, Janet, Janice, Jean, Jordan, Kirsty, Lindsey, Lorraine, Lynda, Lynn, Marian, Marion, Marjorie, Marlene, Maud, Mildred, Norma, Pamela, Pauline, Sheila, Shirley, Suzanne, Thelma, Tracey, Tracy, Toni and Yvonne.

    As the tradition of naming children after their parents seems to have ended all these Sheilas have obviously not named the children after themselves, maybe the name wasn't so popular with those who were named Sheila.

    The name Sheila is thought to be derived from the Irish name Sile which is believed to be from the Gaelic form of the Latin name Cecilia. Cecilia is the patron saint of music. Different meaning I have found for the name are heavenly, musical and blind one.   

Getting ready for Spring in the Garden

After doing the Big Garden Birdwatch yesterday I decided it was time to  get ready for when the birds in my garden start nesting.  I have had bird nesting boxes in the garden for many years now and they need to be emptied every year so they are ready for new occupants.  Also after a while of being exposed to the elements they often need to be repaired or replaced.  Two of mine were damaged last year, one fell down and the roof tore away from the box and I think the squirrels broke the side off one and emptied the nesting material on the lawn.  Not sure if it was occupied at the time or not.

I turned to Richard, who is a very keen bird enthusiast and conservationist. He has supplied me with boxes in the past.  You can see what great work he does by going to his website, Project Birdbox

He came round today with 2 very sturdy looking new boxes and as well as erecting them for me he emptied last years boxes and moved a couple too.

The boxes are suitable for bluetits and great tits. The hole is too small for other birds to get through.  The nests are mainly made of moss but they find lots of other soft materials to line them. This has sheep's wool in white, pink and blue wool which may have come from sheep at the nearby farm (coloured by the farmer for identification.)  At the bottom the bright green/yellow is probably from a tennis ball according Richard.  In the past I have found the filter tips off cigarettes in them and horse hair. This also had bits of tissue in it.

This is my robin box. They like an open front box that is well hidden in the shrubs.  This was really well hidden by the honeysuckle last year but that has been cut back. I am sure it will soon grow and cover it again.  Robin's main nesting material seem to be moss as well. After having this box for 4 or 5 years last year was the first time it was used.  I saw it when it had 3 eggs in. Don't know if the robin laid any more after that.  Hope they come back and use it again.

This box below is the one I can watch easily from my kitchen, it had a nest in from last year so is has now been emptied for this years prospective residents. 

This one was way to far up the tree so Richard has moved it down where is is easier to see. The nest in the photo was from this one. 

 This box is in my front garden and was on the other side of the tree. On this side I will be able to watch it from my armchair in the sitting room. 

One of the new boxes from Richard. It is bigger then the others and very sturdy. Above it you can the one that was emptied by the squirrels last year.  The side is missing off it. 

The second new box fitted today.  I can see both of these from the house but might need to use binoculars to spot any birds going in and out as they are both at the bottom of the garden. 

Finally a  look at the signs of spring approaching.  Crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils. Also winter flowering jasmine and heather which will provide food for any early bees. 

Grandson Aaron

It is that long since I blogged and I hadn't realised I hadn't introduced my newest grandson Aaron yet, and he is 18 months old now. Very remiss of me.  Hope I can remember how to do it!

Aaron Isaac was born on 8th July 2016 and here he is at about 3 weeks with dad Sam. 

Born in England but his dad is Welsh so here he is sporting his Welsh shirt at the age of 5 weeks. Not sure he likes it with the expression on his face.

Waiting for lunch with big brother Stuart at about 6 months old

Think they will be good friends

On the zip wire with dad at his first birthday party

 Picnic in the park and a lovely sunny day for his first birthday. 

 Christmas at granddad and grandma's house Dec 2017

Feels like Spring, so into the garden

At last we have some springlike weather so made a trip to the garden centre to replace lost plants.  I planted a lovely fuchsia last year which was full of flowers. Unfortunately it hasn't survived the winter. Not sure why as it was a mild one.  I think maybe the plant nurseries force the plants so they look attractive when we go to buy but then they burn out after one season.  Replaced it today with a small cistus or broom. 

The next task was my herb bed.  It is the only part of the garden that I am able to manage now. Everything else is too big for me to do.  Come to think of it, apart from the pond, it is the only thing I seem to blog about too.   I had lost 3 plants there.  My lovely French lavender which flowered 3 times last summer  (maybe that burned itself out), the hyssop (which was new last year) and the cat mint.  

Here is the Hyssop on the left and the French lavender right. 

I couldn't find any cat mint at the garden centre so replaced that with basil mint, which I had never heard of before. I planted that inside a pot as it apparently spreads like regular mints. 

To add a different colour I also bought  a golden feverfew which has lovely yellow leaves.

The herb bed is now weeded and tidy, guarded by Hedgy Hog.

I have replanted my green trug with some dwarf aquilegia as the house leeks I planted in there at the end of last year were not looking very healthy.  I have re-potted them in small pots to see if they revive. 

Here is my lovely cherry tree which never fails to amaze me.  It has never grown any bigger since we moved here over 20 years ago but it produces such lovely blossom year after year.  it stands in the middle of my wild flower meadow.  You can't see very well on this photos but it has lots of primroses in it at this time of year. 

Circuit of Wales future in doubt - Welsh Trusts respond | Gwent Wildlife Trust

Circuit of Wales future in doubt - Welsh Trusts respond | Gwent Wildlife Trust

Craft Morning.

I can't believe I am blogging for a 3rd consecutive day, but I went to a craft morning at my local library so thought I would show you some of the lovely things I saw there.  It was an opportunity to go along and try new crafts. The lady organising it goes to the craft group that I go to and she runs a rag rug making group regularly at the library.

There were lots of lovely ladies there, some that I know from the group I go to. We had coffee , welsh cakes and chocolate biscuits which was very nice. 

A group of very friendly spinsters who were not offended when I called them that.  The name spinster, for an unmarried woman, comes from the craft of spinning. A spinster was the name given to a woman who spun thread and these more often than not were unmarried women, hence the name.  I was wondering what the collective terms for a group of spinsters was and one of them suggested a gaggle!  I will have to think of one a bit more alliterative I think. 

These very talented ladies belong to the Gwent Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. Not only do they do all these things but they make many different things with their yarn. 

Here are samples of knitting,crochet, felting and a very lovely woven picture.  

More crochet and felted items.  

Some of the very industrious ladies. 

There were a lot of people making rugs who had brought along some of their work.

There are 2 ways to make rag rugs. The one on the left above has a smooth finish and the one on the left has a shaggy finish.  

The butterfly below combines to 2 different ways of doing it. 

A shaggy looking chicken and another rug combining both methods.

What a fine looking cockerel!

A craft I am familiar with is crochet but I have never attempted anything like this. So beautiful!

This is more of the same lady's work

I had a go at making a mini rag rug of the shaggy type. Didn't have time to finish it though. This is how I did it, Rug making. 

Here I am with my 2 crafty friends Ray and Gail.