Thursday, 22 August - Thames side nature park
 | We took the boys to the Thurrock Thameside Nature Park. Take a look at the website and you will see that it is a very interesting building. We were able to follow the spiral up to the roof where the view is amazing. The park shows wildlife living alongside industry. That wasn't our theme for the day though, Leo got an interest in bugs. We bought a small bug collecting kit, and the picture is of one of the bugs we found that day, not at the park itself, but in Mill Meadows. Looking for bugs in the park bought home to me the sudden drop in numbers that insects have suffered in recent years. |
Sunday, 25 August - St. Giles Mountnessing Flower Festival
  | Bank Holiday weekend also brought the bi-annual flower festival at St Giles. In previous years there have been more people at the St Giles weekend, but it was still a good display. No pictures of flowers because the thing that most grabbed my attention was the mamoth bone. I had never heard of it before, or perhaps I had just missed it. That's not to say that the displays of flowers weren't good, they were very good, as they always are. |
Wednesday, 28 August - Bats in Mill Meadows
 | The slightly grainy picture of Mill Meadows at the scout hut entrance was taken as the sun set. We are visiting the meadow on a guided bat tour. The bats that inhabit Mill Meadows are pipistrels. We were loaned bat detectors and had a very enjoyable evening pointing them at the sky and listening to the bat's echo location calls changed to a frequency we could hear. We saw and heard a bat chasing an insect in the torchlight in the middle of the meadow. The changes of direction are mad and seem impossible to us. This may be my favourite outing of the summer. |
Thursday, 29 August - Jenny and Joe's Wedding
 | Christ Church had been transformed for the wedding. An event we had all looked forward to for such a long time. It went very well, as many people came to celebrate with them. We all wish them the very best in their life together. |
Saturday, 31 August - Flatford Mill - Treasure Island
  | Open air theatre is one of the things I enjoy most. It is also pretty rare for me to get to a show. This one was special because it was aimed at children. So, there we were with Leo and Fred and their Mum and Dad on one of the hottest days of the summer. Lunch was packed and eaten in the field in front of the stage before the performance. The story was told brilliantly with lots of action and lots of songs to keep the children (and Adults) entertained. Even so, the youngsters were a little distracted for some of the time. At one point the weather changed and it became quite cold, but at least it stayed mostly dry. Pirates have been quite a theme since, but there's no keeping Captain Jack out of it now. |
Friday, 5 September - Tiptree
  | We had been told that there was a pub in Tiptree that served good lunches at a very reasonable rate for pensioners - The ship. We decided to visit as it was a nice day. The food was good, but we should have booked, the pub was full. We were found a small table right next to the bar. After lunch we took a stroll on Tiptree Heath. The heath is first recorded in 1401, and now has ponies on it to keep the scrub under control. They certainly add something to the heath, making it feel older and more rural than it probably is. I've heard since that some people are trying to get them removed, I hope they do not succeed, natural management of the environment is so much better than a mechanised human approach. |
Friday, 6 September - The Windmill and the White Horse
 | The family got together to celebrate an important birthday twice. Once, because that was the decoy event and happened at lunchtime. We went to The Windmill at Hanningfield for lunch, and once again it was full, or so we were told. It didn't look full, but then you can never tell what bookings they have. While we were standing outside trying to find somewhere else to go one of the waitresses came out and invited us back in, saying there had been a cancelation. Was it just a story, I don't know, but we were pleased to be seated, and to enjoy a good meal. We said our good-byes and prepared for later. A room wwas reserved at the White Horse for the evening celebration. Loads of friends had been invited, and a good night was had by all. |
Sunday, 8 September - Weald Park
 | Weald county park is a huge expanse of green space, fields and woods that we visit occasionally. Today Brody enjoyed a longer than usual walk and so did we. |
So concludes the summer. A very different approach this year with different highs and different memories. The children are back at school and life goes on, only blogging gets left behind. I'm catching up with that now the weather is cold and foggy.
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