The Second Part Of Our Day And Evening,

still in the USA section in the cactus area, 

a warning,

 

the staff had gone to great trouble to protect the public, 

theses all at head height, but unlike other gardens you could get up close and personal with the plants, 

these not so much of a threat, 

any cactus collection would not be complete without some of these, 

barrel cactus, (Echinocactus grusonii), 

we then entered the orchid house, and was greeted with a plant I never expected to see, 

the most dangerous plant in the world, 

the Queensland Stinger, (Dendrocnide moroides),

one plant you can not and do not want to get up close and personal with!

there were many orchids,

in the small orchid house, 

but only these in flower,

looking up, 

every inch of space was used, 

Diana waited for me outside, 

back to the center,

and on to South America, to Chile,

with its Monkey Puzzle trees, (Araucaria araucana), 

some of the other plants here putting up huge flower spikes, 

and when I say huge, 

this flower spike alone is over 7 feet tall!

there were a few smaller ones, 

like this one, 

some I guess flower every year some not so frequently, 

Diana pose with a North American icon, from the days I remember in my youth of Davy Crocket and James Fenimore Cooper, 

this I just love to see, school children being shown the wonders of the plant world on a day trip out, so nice to see without their heads buried into phones, 

and this is what was grabbing their attention,

the Little Shop of Horrors!

a bed of insectivorous plants, 

some in flower, 

wonderful to see, 

we started our walk in the grounds, I should say that when we bought our tickets we were given a map, 

when we finally looked at it, we found we were walking the wrong way round! but there it is, we started so we will finish,

  

we passed the school group having a lunch break,

over the first bridge,

 

and into a huge area, 

of meadows, left so that the local insect population has plenty of places to feed and breed, 

they seemed to stretch forever, 

then through some woodland, again with just the path maintained, the rest of the area left to nature, 

a quick pose, 

as we crossed the River Darent, 

looking downstream, 

over the second bridge,

a wall was by the side of this tributary, 

looking down, 

difficult to see, some long abandon work, 

we made our way upstream towards the lake, 

and spotted this pair,

of damselflies,

the walk was so lovely the trees giving dappled shade, 

we the saw this board, with information about wildlife, 

and above us the ice house, 

so a walk up the steps to have a look, 

and a photograph looking towards the house, 

on the way down the steps Diana noticed this, 

a mushroom growing by the side of them,

the house in the far distance, I zoomed in,

over another bridge,

as we neared the lake, 

it was here that I had a chat with the fisherman we saw earlier on, 

the weir at this end of the lake, 

there were a few fish nearby, at first seeing as how the fisherman had been using a fly I thought they would be trout,

 

but with their orange fins they looked like roach,

we continued walking, 

at the house the Post Office make a delivery, 

the trees opened up to reveal the lake, 

looking to the right in the distance, 

the River Darent entering the lake,

just in front of us, 

a family of ducks, 

with two youngsters looking so cute,

passing the side of the house, 

this I guess that tradesman's entrance, 

the front for everybody else, 

a couple of poses, 

the church in the distance, 

what a wonderful place to live, I just dread to think of the running costs, 

I mentioned it was hot, in the car the outside temperature read 36!

back under the viaduct and home, what a splendid day out, and the weather could not have been kinder, 

arriving home after a coffee, wash and a brush up we were out, for my birthday back in April Diana mentioned a couple of surprises for me, one was last week when unknown to me she had ordered tickets for being in the studio as Have I Got News For You was being recorded, 

and her surprise this week was that she had bought ticket at Wembley Arena for a live show of one of my favorite comedians, Jeff Dunham, I was first introduced to him by another Jeff when we were living in Thailand, 

Jeff with Dai, if you are reading this Hi from Diana and myself, 

we made our way to the arena, 

it was so hot, jacket off time,

we soon found our seats,

with a beer, 

and some nachos for Diana,

I could not be happier, 

the arena started to fill up,

before the show to keep the crowd amused there was a show of the life of Jeff and some of the remarkable things he has done in his life, as well a trivia quiz about the show and the characters in it, great fun, strictly no recording when the show was in progress, but at the end, 

he invited people to use their telephones to photograph a code to buy merchandise, 

what a show it was I had tears of laughter in my eyes, he unveiled a new puppet he had only just completed a few days before, Clive, a very pompous English gentleman, we will see if he becomes a part of the cast in future shows, many thanks indeed to Diana for such wonderful birthday presents, the show ran overtime, we arrive home just after midnight, so a coffee and a chat before we were off to bed.