by feeding the birds,
unusually one of the magpies was down first,
the pair of crows soon followed,
this the one with the damaged claw,
it does not seem to stop him from competing for food, it is strange, we are surrounded by crows in the park, but only these two come down to feed, unless there is an unusually high percentage of crows with a damaged right claw,
today's advent bubbly, put in the refrigerator for later,
then we were off, first stop to pick Steve up, and then drive to Laurence Hobbs Orchids, located in Hophurst Lane, Crawley Down, and if you rely on Sat Nav as we do, the post code is RH10 4LN,
as we entered we were treated to an impressive display of orchids,
all for sale,
and so many varieties,
these all looking so nice,
talk about spoilt for choice!
and we had not even walked into the main greenhouse,
what a selection,
Steve was impressed as we both were,
I have to admit, I was looking for different types of plants that we already have,
and I was not disappointed, the first orchid I saw in the main greenhouse was this Paphiopedilum, I think wilhelminae,
what an absolute beauty,
in the main greenhouse a central bench was flanked,
on both sides by benches of plants,
plants like this Paphiopedilum,
or Slipper Orchid as they are known, in abundance,
I am not sure what this one is,
but it certainly looked nice,
as did all of these,
especially this Paphiopedilum Maudiae this variety I believe is called 'Black Jack',
more plants everywhere we looked,
it was such a treat,
another Paphiopedilum,
stunning,
Diana had so many to choose from,
well we both did,
we do not yet have a slipper orchid,
but we will have very soon!
oh the agony of choice!
we were overwhelmed by the different varieties,
decisions had to be made,
we were tempted by this one,
the flowers were huge,
we started amassing our choices,
and brought them to the counter where Lawrence gave us all more than a few helpful hints and tips about the plants we were buying,
and took real care of our purchases,
we now have a few types of orchid that we did not have before including a 'Black Jack' and a Paphiopedilum wilhelminae var. gardineri,
this was an open weekend, which happens every few months, these are the next scheduled dates, and a real treat, home made cakes, plus tea and coffee are here every open weekend, if you want more information about Lawrence and the nursery have a look here,
our main windowsill, with a mixture of the old and new orchids,
just three,
close ups,
of our new house guests,
this one we have had for some time and has now decided to throw up a flower spike, I have no idea what it will be,
we need bigger window sills!
on one of the other sills, one of our original orchids is doing so well, we bought it with a flower, that then died, a few months later this stalk appeared with 4 branches on, all with 4 or 5 buds on each and has now started to flower, if they all flower at the same time it should look very nice indeed, again many thanks to Lawrence and family for all of the time they took looking after us,
after a coffee Steve called back to pick us up, we were out for Sunday lunch,
to the Toby carvery at Eden Park,
normal or big plate, more decisions!
Diana's selection with gravy,
none for myself,
'Cheers!',
and a nice touch,
Christmas crackers,
I had already got the hat,
as had Steve, who ordered a ice cream for dessert,
as did Diana with a gingerbread man,
for myself Christmas pudding of course, with a large brandy to liven it up a bit by pouring it over the pud,
Steve called in for a coffee, and a chat, after we said our farewells it was time for the days advent bubbly,
for our evening film Diana chose The Last Days On Mars, which we followed with a couple from Robot Wars and rounded off the evening with a couple from Bottom, firstly 'S Out, in this episode the duo go camping on Wimbledon Common, also 'Holy' which featured Gold, Frankenstein and grrr' to really get us into the Christmas spirit, and after a couple of large Sailor Jerry's I was! and with that we were off to bed.
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