Cricket on a Sunday Afternoon

Hello friends. 

I hope you enjoyed a lovely week.

Last Sunday afternoon, hubby and I spent a lovely afternoon with our son and daughter-in-law at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham. Before I begin, I want to point out that I am not usually a sports fan of any kind, but sometimes I can surprise even myself. 

Hubby and our son have always had an interest in watching cricket, and our son worked at these grounds when at University. As retirement is coming up shortly for my other half, I had flippantly suggested he take himself off to the cricket grounds some days. That resulted in our son booking tickets for the 2024 Vitality Blast, a set of matches completed in a day, unlike Test cricket. They are generally known as T20s.

We were able to see both a women's match and a men's match, which were both great fun to watch.

The whole atmosphere was wonderful, with everyone clapping for all sides - bowlers, fielders, and batters - true sportsmanship!  I actually learnt a lot and at least know how the scoring works now. There was some amazing play, with one of the bowlers bowling out six unfortunate players and gaining a hat-trick as well. I think we will be revisiting Edgbaston after retirement. Here are a few pictures from the match; that's my sports reporting for now. I did have a great time, though.

On Friday, hubby and I were off again in search of another interesting home and its gardens. Baddesley Clinton, in Warwickshire, is about 40 minutes away from us and was perfect for a sunny afternoon. This was originally a medieval manor house with strong Catholic connections. This religious fervour could be very dangerous, especially during the English Civil War, and the house was a safe place for Catholic priests. The Ferrers, who owned the property, leased the manor to two sisters at that time. They had several hiding places, or priest holes, cleverly fitted, which proved to be life-saving on several occasions when Catholic priests were being hunted down.  

As it was a hot afternoon, we decided to take a stroll in the shade around the house and made some new feathered friends.

 

We also enjoyed seeing more of the formal gardens and my favourite flower was this beautiful Peony.

Back in our own garden, it's the turn of some other fruits to take centre stage after the strawberries did so well. I have a couple of blackcurrant bushes scattered around, and they have all produced a lot of berries.

The gooseberries are also doing well, although someone has been munching on some of the leaves. I need to be a bit more vigilant to prevent the sawfly from attacking next year. 

This week, in this small corner, it looks to be another warm week to enjoy in the garden.  I'm going to add more bark mulch to the woodland area at the bottom of the garden, which has become a little overgrown over the last few weeks. Although there is less need to weed there, I'm hoping the mulch will help retain moisture in the soil for longer when it has been watered or rained on. One or two plants also need to be removed and replaced, and so a trip to the garden centre is also looking likely. We also have some family birthday celebrations in Essex next weekend, which will be lovely

I hope you have some lovely plans for the week and that the weather is perfect in your own corners.

Best wishes

B x