You should have been there near Quarry Bank when Liesel and her Mom attempted to shin up this tree.
Unfortunately, I ran out of film so there’s no photographic evidence. We did enjoy the walk however, through the woods, and back along the banks of the river Bollin.
Something I’ve always wanted to see on a walk in nature is a bird box with a magic square inscribed on the side. And my wish came true today.
Each row and column adds up to 111, the total for the square is of course 666. This magic square, known as ‘The Sun’, is often associated with Western esotericism and the planetary magic squares of Agrippa.
For bureaucratic reasons, Liesel and I paid a visit to Salford. Any excuse to go for a ride on a tram. And while there, we had a nice wander around, spotting plenty of wildlife.
Actually, the fish was in the aquarium in the office at the garage where we took our car for a service.
While Leslie visited Dunham Massey with a friend, Barbara, Liesel and I paid a visit to Stockport. We visited the oldest house in the town. Staircase House was first built in 1460, with numerous extensions built over the years and centuries following. It now houses Stockport Museum too. There was a fire in 1995 and you can still see scorch marks on some of the beams. It’s very slightly interactive in the sense that quills were available with ink, so we could have a go at writing the old-fashioned way.
We are planning to visit the famous Hat Museum one day too, but this display of old hats will have to do for now.
I tried one of them on which did not impress Liesel: she just assumed that I would have picked up some new friends. (I didn’t.)
I checked the time against the old longcase clock, and it was a couple of minutes out, but two people must have independently changed the time by one hour for British Summer Time, as it was really an hour and two minutes fast.
We walked by Strawberry Recording Studios, but I don’t think this venue wants visitors. Its association with the band 10cc resulted in some of the most memorable music being produced at these Studios, Paul McCartney, Neil Sedaka, Stone Roses, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra and many others recorded here. Not complaining, but if someone cleaned the window, I could have taken a better photo.
Because she’d been away on her actual birthday, Martha celebrated here at home a couple of weeks later. It was a gorgeous day and we all gathered in the garden. During the course of the afternoon, I realised that I can no longer use a hula hoop, I’m not much good at Tetherball, hitting a ball back with a racquet, and my aim with a frisbee is absolute rubbish. Juggling three clubs is also a skill I seem to have lost. I did however make friends with a St Mark’s fly. It did not want to leave me, no matter how much I jumped about.
Happy birthday Martha!
I waited all afternoon for the right moment. Martha’s garden is under a popular flight path from Manchester Airport so there was a flight every two or three minutes. The aeroplanes kept missing the Sun, until 18.20.
Another thing I’m not much good at is Mölkky, the Finnish outdoor throwing game, comprised of wooden skittles and a throwing stick.
We still see the occasional reasonable sunset from our luxury apartment.
But where’s Keiran, I hear you ask? Well, he’s a big fan of avocado. And he quite enjoys eating it sometimes too.
It’s been a while, but it was a joy to collect the children after school again. We took them to Diamond Jubilee Park where they roller skated around and had some fun in the playground.
When Liesel and I walked over to Didsbury, we saw a few birds on the river. I hadn’t seen a heron for a long time, but it’s good to see him back. Or is it a new one? There was a nice pair of mandarin ducks and a pair of mallards just messing about on the river. Well, until the male mandarin decided to make a move on the female mallard.
We both enjoyed our massages, just a shame the cab ride home was a bit of a rush afterwards!
The three of us returnd to Dunham Massey to enjoy the floral colours it has to offer, But the first port of call was the ice cream shop. Double scoops all round, thank you very much!
Regular viewers will know that my horticultural and floral knowledge is extremely limited. But Liesel instantly recognised this tissue tree… only that’s not its real name.
Did I mention colours?
Did we have another ice cream after a very pleasant walk? Tempted, but in the end, no.
Meanwhile, back at home, I’ve been busy making radio shows, trying to sell stuff on eBay, unsubscribing from mailing lists, reading books, listening to radio shows and podcasts, doing puzzles and generally passing the time in a most enjoyable manner.
Don’t forget you can catch up with Mick’s Music Mix on Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 at 4pm each Sunday, or listen to the archived shows on Mixcloud.
mickandlieselsantics.com 