Monday Montage

Last week's WidsMob montage was more difficult:



Wilma's description was closest:



as it is a storage box with lots of small clear plastic drawers.
As always my thanks to all who gave it a go.

Maybe this week's montage photo will be easier to identify:



If you would like to make a guess please leave it in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the original photo, next Monday.

Cactus

When I bought a couple of what were supposed to be Christmas or Easter flowering cacti one had 'leaf' sections which are longer and thinner than the usual varieties:



A couple of focus merged close shots looking inside one of the flowers:

Wordless Wednesday

Spanish Bluebells

War Graves

Whenever we take the footpath through the back of the churchyard we pass next to a war grave:




Inscription reads:
42564,  Private J W Turner, Durham Light Infantry, 2nd May 1918, Age 34
It looks a bit unkempt in the photo but has been tidied up recently.

War graves are cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A few years ago I saw a person from the Commission cleaning the headstone. This got me to look a bit further in to the CWGC. Their web site lists the war graves they maintain around the world, where they are and who is buried in each. According to the list there are four in our local churchyard.

On a nice sunny afternoon a few days ago we had a wander round the churchyard. I looked at every headstone in the newer section and those I could get near in the old part but so far only found one other war grave:



Here the inscription reads:
7615923, Private S A Forman, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 12th March 1943, Age 21.

I will make another attempt at finding the other two on some future occasion.

As well as the actual graves there is also a memorial to all those from the village who lost their lives in the 1914-18 war:





The village was much smaller then.
The 1911 census returning just 280.
Now there are estimated to be around 1,000.

While I was looking at the headstones two others caught my eye.
This is the oldest person's grave I have spotted so far:



This one in the older part of the churchyard is almost buried under nettles and covered in lichen.
I was particularly drawn by the carving:



There is a wild variation in colour as some were taken with the 'full spectrum' camera.

Monday Montage

 


Last week's montage was:



... a WidsMob Montage modified version of:



which was correctly identified as a frog by Adrian, Wilma, Weaver of Grass and Ragged Robin.
I agree it was more difficult when you couldn't see the texture of the skin.

A new one for you:

 

The background is my conservatory window but what is the orange coloured object?
If you would like to hazard a guess please leave it in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the original photo, next Monday.

Bottle Brush

Bottlebrush plant anyway. Callistemon Citrinus. I used to a have a Callistemon growing in the conservatory many years ago. Even though the conservatory was heated in those days it died off one hard winter. There used to be a garden centre not far away which had one of these in a greenhouse. It had been growing for years and the display of bright red bottle brush shaped flowers put on a magnificent show every year. The version I have just planted in the front garden is rated at H3 which should be safe down to -5C:

 

For those who haven't seen a Callistemon:
You can see what the flowers look like here on the RHS site.

The two pots of Chinese Lantern plants are coming on well:

 



It's nice to have some more unusual flowering plants and am really looking forward to the results.

Blackbird Serenade

A bit grim first thing with the temperature at 1C but plenty of Sunshine took it up to 13C and encouraged, as if it needed any, a nearby Blackbird to serenade us:



As for the camera nestbox - the squatter has had the last 'word'. No sign of the Great Tits for ten days and the bumblebee continues to be active. I wonder whether we will get to see some 'baby' bumblebees emerge. Unfortunately its nest is hidden under the nesting material supplied by Mrs GT.