Catch-up!

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, so here’s a little catch-up!

Being Lucky!

In July to mark their new season, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra held a week long competition on their Facebook page! I was lucky enough to be chosen for their Thursday competition!! The prize was for two tickets to see Psycho with music performed by the Philharmonic, (ideally on my birthday!), and also two tickets on-board the Ghost Bus run by Shiverpool tours! I have done many ghost walks while holidaying in Edinburgh but not in my own city. So I am very excited to see what the bus tour has to offer! 😀

Culture and Sightseeing!

During one Saturday, David and I took a short visit to Birmingham to see their street art of Owls. The Big Hoot it was called! In total we spotted 33 of the 89 owls on the streets, not bad for a few hours on the trail!

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While walking around the city, we enjoyed the many different types of architecture to be found!

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Last Thursday came the news I had been hoping for, for so long! The Tower of London Poppies were finally embarking on their UK tour! It was beyond my wildest dreams that Liverpool could be one of the first few to be chosen for this unique art installation but that is what exactly happened!

The instillation of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by Paul Cummins Ceramics Limited, that was first seen at the Tower of London in 2014, captured the imagination of the nation! The Weeping Window will be coming to Liverpool’s St George’s Hall in November 2015 to January 2016 and the second part of the installation, The Wave will be housed at Yorkshire Sculpture Park this coming September to January 2016! I hope to get the opportunity to photograph both! You cannot imagine how excited I am at seeing them! 😀

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Wildlife:

Last week, our house was a B&B for a poorly pigeon whom we called Jack! David noticed the lethargic bird last Monday and after debate we made a box up for him (and later a cage) and brought him in of a night. He seemed generally fit, apart from green runny poop! The worrying thing was that he could not fly and even though he attempted too, he could not get any height! So for seven days we would leave him out in the garden for the day (Artie was not allowed to go outside!), and of a night he resided in our back bedroom!

Jack the pigeon

We were going to take him to a vets to get checked out but over the weekend he seemed to be getting more strength and confidence.

This Monday while filling up the bird feeders, (we have many Goldfinch and House Sparrow fledglings visiting), Jack took to the air and landed on a nearby shed roof. He was not to be seen come the evening and we hoped that he had found his strength and flown off with some newly made friends!

On Tuesday morning we saw Jack back in the garden, this time eating seed that had fallen from the feeders and integrating with a small flock of fellow pigeons! We hope he continues to visit the garden and hopefully Jack’s story has a happy ending.

The Garden:

At the weekend David and I spent six hours in the garden cleaning, re-potting and planting. I bought a Dahlia from Grosvenor Garden Centre, Chester. I fell in love with the black foliage and the flower heads attract bees! I also bought an Anemone to replace my blighted Michaelmas Daisy and some wall art!

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And finally I’ll end with one last picture. After two months growing from seed, my Borage has finally flowered!

Borage flower

What events are you looking forward to seeing?

Christine x

Liverpool… a City of Giants!

25th to the 27th July was the return of Royal de Luxe’s giant marionettes to Liverpool.

In 2012 not long after my father had passed, Little Girl Giant, Xolo her dog and the Diver came to thrill the streets of Liverpool in A Sea Odyssey, and left a lasting impact on the psyche of all who saw them.

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In 2014, they once again took over the streets of Liverpool, this time with dear old Grandmother in tow. They were part of the World War One commemorations. Liverpool was celebrating the heroism of it Pals, 5,000 men who volunteered for the war effort! Almost half never returned and those who did were left with scars both physically and mentally.

David and I on the Friday took the bus into town at 8am on a bright sunny morning and stood for over three hours waiting and watching as Little Girl Giant and Xolo awoke to start their journey around town and witnessed the Grandmother visit the city for the first time.

While waiting for the Giants to wake up, David and I were magnets for the media. We were approached by BBC Merseyside, Juice FM and a gentleman asked if he could take our picture for a magazine, though I didn’t catch the name of it! David and I must look approachable or was it the red cat suit I wore on the day?

David and I in Newsham Park

It was hot, too hot and the swelling crowds seemed endless, like a sea of humanity stretching fathomlessly through the city’s streets.

For the next three days the weather played along and visitors came from both far and wide to witness the magical spectacle.

As the Giants took over the city’s streets, public transport was sorely affected. On the Friday we ended up walking half way home as buses were diverted. We finally picked up one by the Women’s Hospital, both disgruntled and with sore feet!

I struggled with a migraine all weekend. The heat and standing in the sun for hours did not help.

On the Friday evening, after trying to sleep off the migraine, David and I went to Newsham Park where the evenings events were to be held. We went with his family. As expected the fields were already filled with people, so we were not so lucky as in the morning in getting a front row spot!

The giants were over an hour late as Grandmother had a malfunction with her head!! At least it was a nice warm evening under a golden sun!

Giant spectacular, Liverpool 2014

Finally the Giants entered the make shift stage. There were Pipers pipping, drummers on top of double decker cars and Xolo ran around entertaining the crowds. The grandmother sat down next to the Little Girl Giant and told the tale of how the Giants made mankind! They then all bedded down for the night while cheesily John Lennon’s ‘Imagine‘ played into the twilight.

We did not go to see the other two days. Saturday was a blur as I recovered from my migraine and Sunday, because we knew there would be crowds, we decided to cut our loses. At least we had seen the Giants during their visit, and we had seen them two years ago. However I did not feel the emotion that I had on their first visit to the city. Perhaps I was still in mourning then? Either way, the Giants this time around was as good if not more productive for the city and its credibility. May they return in the future with a much stronger tale to tell.

Christine 2014.