Out and About

The gale force winds have died down for now although looking out of the front window the rainbow indicates that one minute there's rain and then sunshine. We took the opportunity to do a few errands Tuesday morning.  Our granddaughter texted the night before to say that she had seen flooding on low lying areas by the Don Valley River, but we didn't need to go that way to do our shopping.

However,  the water in River Loxley was high and fast flowing. Thank goodness for the stone walls along the river banks in the area.   The water was swirling and racing along over the weir and under the old bridge towards the place where it joins the River Don.

Last time we were there I noticed a new wall by the bridge, but didn't have time to investigate so this time I walked along the path by the new development, which includes a new supermarket, to take a look.  

The wall is a moving memorial to those who lost their lives in the Great Flood of 1864.  The motifs represent some of the personal items belonging to the residents in the Loxley Valley and the people themselves.  What happened was a new dam wall for one of the reservoirs that was being built at the time had a weak point in its construction.  Vast quantities of water rushed down the Loxley River and then into the Rivelin River, the Don River and beyond causing the destruction of farms and cottages in its path and much loss of life.  Even today for a different reason the Upper Don Valley and areas further north as far as the city of York have seen or are experiencing threats of flooding during periods of relentless and heavy rainfalls.  We stop to remember past disasters such as the Great Sheffield Flood  and also those today who are battling with the problem of flooding where even the river barriers do not hold back the water and there's the clear up to contend with time-and-again.

Before we went shopping we stopped at the library in the park to take back books and collect more. (The reserved books seem to be ready all at once).  The Walled Garden was open as it was the day for the volunteers to do their gardening so I took a short cut through the Walled Garden so that I could visit the Wild Garden.

There's a new rockery in one of the raised beds.  Perhaps more Alpine plants and heather will be grown there?  There are two new olive trees by the door into the gardeners' quarters and an electrician was fixing more lights on the wall.

There are primroses flowering here and there...

....and anemones - one of my favourite flowers.

a fluffy pussy willow....

....and a hazel tree - the kind with twisted branches.  The dangling catkins 

have appeared too.

Next time I'll buy some plants that are displayed on the 'for sale' table as they're so reasonably priced.

The Stumpery

There are lots of snowdrops and crocuses in the wild garden area and, of course, quite a few squirrels.

 a witch hazel bush with lemon-coloured flowers

Here are two of the books from the library.  Liz Fenwick is a new author to me and I'm intrigued as the novels are set in Cornwall.  I'll let you know how I get on later.

Looking out of the window I've just seen a shower of snowflakes that has now turned to rain. It's certainly a day for staying indoors in the warm.

Take care, speak again soon,

Linda.