Saturday 30 June 2012

Friday forecast.....week 26.....30/06/12....and a Happy Birthday!!

Yes before we start...I am well aware it's Saturday and I'm a day late with this post but as usual time went flying by without giving me a minute so here we are.

Well weather wise it has been unsettled all week. Humidity and pollen counts have been high and the temperatures have been balmy but the skies have been mostly overcast rarely letting us see the sun and rain has been frequent.

Thursday afternoon the Olympic torch came through our town and of course the weather had to be a huge part and the Mother of all storms descended on us.

thunder, lightning and heavy rain
Lightning just about to bolt to the ground
Rains was torrential, places were flooded and the lightning and thunder couldn't have put on a better show if it had been staged, personally I love a summer storm and had time to stop and admire even though I was at work. My Hubby got sent home as his factory flooded, people lost telephone lines and electricity, a couple of neighbours had telephones, t.v.'s and internet routers blow up one of the supermarket roves in town collapsed under the weight of the amount of rain which came down so quick. Oh and that's without the hailstones which were the size of broad beans bouncing around.

Of course nothing dire happened at my work which is good, but I didn't get any time off either!!

The storm did clear in time for the torch going through town, but I think the storm ended up getting far more news coverage.

fork lightning
And it strikes!
Today has been pretty much the same weather wise, a little sun here and there, mostly cloudy and humid with short, sharp bursts of rain....apparently summer is predicted to hit the U.K. in September....so we may get crops after all...in time for Christmas dinner maybe??

(The above pictures were the view of the storm from the front of my house).

As for the birthday part of the post...well my blog has officially been running 3 years today, I don't know if I really expected it to still be going after so long when I first started it up but I would like to thank all those people who have given me help, advice and encouragement over the years and so I am giving away a book on herbs to one of my readers.
book of herbs and their uses
It tells you all about the herbs, their uses and when and where they grow...all you have to do to enter is leave a comment and someone will be picked at random.
You have until Sunday 8th July midnight G.M.T. to make a comment, sure hope I get some on this post...lol

Have a good weekend!!


25 comments:

  1. Great blog Tanya. We had lightning hit the Tyne Bridge here in Newcastle, weather has been insane; not great for gardening. Some links to it on our (just started) allotment blog at http://patchygrowth.blogspot.co.uk/

    Could really use the Culpepper!

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    1. Well you are in the running for the Culpepper Lee.

      Thanks for visiting my blog...hope you continue to come back and see how things are going...which to be honest this year isn't good!!

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  2. Hey Tany, Congrats on your blogoversary. We started at around the same time and since then I have enjoyed comparing notes on a regular basis. You do a great job (and a great job of sharing)

    ps How's the celeriac coming on?

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    1. Thanks Mal...I never really paid any attention to when the blog started until this year and so I wanted to show my appreciation to all my readers.

      I too have enjoyed comparing notes...especially as although we live on the same island we have such different weather at times.

      Celeriac seems to have stopped totally...however a plot neighbour has told me they have some very strong seedlings and I could have a few so I might give these a go too....I will let you know if I get some off them.

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  3. Ooh, and great shot of the lightening! How did you capture that!

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    1. Kind of cheated...it was taken with a video then stopped!!!!

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  4. Sounds like u had a good storm. Wished it rain here! I would love to be in the running for the herb book!

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    1. It was a great storm....people were saying that we had never had one like it and then going on about global warning but I have seen them this bad before...isn't it weird how people forget the bad stuff and remember the good. Weather will always be unpredictable.

      I will try and send you some of our rain...we have plenty to share.

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  5. Your weather has been far more dramatic than ours although we are getting good use of the summerhouse sheltering from wing rain and general coolness.

    Lovely dramatic shot of the lightning - it isn't a cheat using a frame from the video I often do this especially with birds although the burst on my stills camera does a good job with moving objects. I guess it would be almost impossible to catch a streak of lightning any other way though as you would have to guess when it was coming!

    You could post a video clip to give us the full drama.

    And congratulations on the blog birthday - love visiting.

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    1. I never thought about using video to get good shots of birds Sue...I will give it a go in the future. I still haven't mastered putting videos up...maybe I will have to look into this more for future posts.

      I am always amazes at how people mange to catch things like this...maybe they do use video stills themselves.

      Thanks for the congrats....you have been visiting me from the very start and were my first commenter!!

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    2. We pop our videos on YouTube Tanya and embed them into the posts. This way we can also use them on our websites.

      I tend to use stills and Martyn video so if I don't manage to capture the bird that I am trying for I pinch a frame from his video although only as a last resort as I like the challenge.

      What an honour to be the first commenter - love it!

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  6. Well happy birthday to your blog.
    That was some storm. I would have hated to be out in that kind of rain. Glad you were safe at work

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    1. Thank you Ann....As far as I know there were no casualties in the storms just quite a bit of damage.

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  7. It's been humid here too and we've had very grey skies. I kept thinking that we were going to get a storm, but we never did. It sounds like you had everyone's share there, and it certainly caused some damage. Congratulations on your third blogoversary. The book looks very interesting, especially as I'm only just really starting out with herbs and don't know much about them.

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    1. Glad you missed the storms Jo, though I know we weren't the only ones that had it so bad.

      Don't worry about missing out too much...it's not like it helped to clear the air.

      Herbs are great to grow...very versatile and you can do so much more than just cook with them!!

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  8. Dear Tanya, There have been some pretty big storms here also!
    The is pretty exciting having the Olympic torch pass through town.
    Congratulations on the blogging birthday. Blogging really is wonderful. It is a world opened up.
    I am glad that that we met. It is almost like being "pen pals".
    Have a beautiful Sunday. Blessings dear. Catherine
    p.s. You may use the jalapeƱo in the egg salad either grilled or raw, which ever you prefer.

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    1. It is kind of like being pen-pals isn't it Catherine.

      Thanks for the congrats...and also for visiting me regularly and showing me all those wonderful recipes!!

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  9. Happy blog birthday. Mine is only a few months old as I only got my plot in January. It has been great reading other peoples blogs, I can see it's not just mine that seems to be going wrong. You were very lucky to have the Torch relay come to your town, it by-passed mine. The weather has been very unusuall this year and I think we are all feeling it.

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    1. Hi Liz...thanks for visiting and commenting....I didn't get to see the torch as I was at work but I wasn't too bothered with the weather the way it was!!

      I popped over to your blog...I think it's looking great, especially with the terrible weather we have been having this year!!

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  10. That's so exciting to get to see the torch come thru! And looks like Mother Nature got lots of attention, hope that rain helps the growing things there.

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    1. I think Mother Nature got more attention than the torch which has had an awful lot of hype. I guess it was quite exciting but work meant I didn't get to see it....even if I wasn't at work I don't think I would have gone out in that weather anyway!!

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  11. Happy Blog Birthday! It doesn't seem as long as three years, does it?

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    1. It really doesn't Ratty, I can't believe the blog reached it's third year before I realised I had missed it's 1st and 2nd birthdays!!

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  12. What is going on with Mother Nature? Rain pouring down on Britain and corn and wheat crops already starting to fail due to no rain across the US, Russia and China. It's really depressing for us gardeners isn't it? At least you were able to get some amazing photos though!

    And happy blog birthday Tanya - three years is a real feat! Keep up the great work and wonderful posts :) Xx

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    1. I really don't think the weather is that strange...Mother Nature has always gone to extremes and I'm sure it will continue to do so throughout the time the world has living creatures on it...hence the ice age!!

      Thanks for the birthday wishes!!

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keep it clean...keep it relevant...I look forward to reading your comments!!