Dont chop down your ivy! & Beiber in the news again!

Once more the Daily Express has a headline of "staggering news"  "House prices to rise £10,000" "Biggest increase for 3 years" .  Its all based on "confidence in the housing market" and the fact that the "Average house price" is £225,601 I wonder which bit is worth the £601!

There's a good scary story attached to this Link about a brother and sister who go Marlin fishing off St Lucia and the boat sinks.  Worth a read and hats off to their "never give up attitude" 

Mr Beiber is in the news again.  This time he's in Sweden and the police have found Cannabis and a stun gun on his tour bus - - hey ho publicity - - - nothing like it to prop up a flagging career!

Sky news has a follow up to the Boston Bombing which starts by suggesting the brothers had Times Square lined up for a bomb at some time in the future.  It then devotes a lot of time to an "impassioned plea" from the parents of the brothers, who don't live in the US about how its all a conspiracy and that the pair had nothing to do with the bombing.  The father is about to go to the US for the funeral of the one that was killed. The mother of the pair isn't sure if she'll go because she was allegedly picked up for shoplifting in the US last summer and is concerned she might be arrested. - - - - -

I never knew that Bee's went anywhere near ivy but this Story is urging people not to chop it down. The Bee's rely on its late flowering blooms to provide much needed pollen in Autumn to help build up a store of food for the winter. 

Our garden is on a pollen high at the moment with the spring flowers and blossom working hard for the Bee's.

The miniature cherry tree with the white blossom will be moved to another spot once the blossom has finished in our never ending gardening programme.  Lets hope its survives the move!

Another gardeners tale is in this Story  about the stink bugs which afflict the US and Canada.  The bugs apparently arrived there from "Asia", doesn't everything? between the late 1990's and 2003 and not having any predators it is thriving and can be devastating to many crops.  Now comes the difficult decision, a wasp from Asia will keep numbers down if its introduced but what might it also get up to that might not be helpful!

Finally - - - Clearing up some old e mails i came across, once more, a few pictures sent by a friend, "Ginny" who was my partner on the Ben Nevis ice climbing trip in early March this year.  We were motoring up to Fort William on the A82 when I noticed a great photo opportunity as we passed Loch Tula.  The sun was out the water very still and the mountains were reflected in the water.  Great pic Ginny! especially through the window of a moving car!

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see our weather website

Or this one just to see the live birdfeeder webcam