Welcome to newsletter number 26. We hope you have been out enjoying the sunshine just lately.  It seems the last few weeks of cold and rainy weather have lasted for ages. 

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Upcoming AGM

• 25 Informative, interesting and positive newsletters – articles are written by members and volunteers. 
• 235 Recipients of newsletter 
• Great Website: www.northantsparkinsonspeople.uk 
• 14 Regular friendship calls via one volunteer 
• 1 Support call for additional support provided by another volunteer 
• Via the help line/facebook/advertising, we have supported 67 people affected by Parkinson’s, 38 of these with general enquiries. In addition we have helped 19 people receive the high rate of attendance allowance. (This totals £88,524. Over a twelve-month period) 4 additional attendance allowance applications are waiting results. We have also helped 4 people to obtain Personal Independence Payments to include supporting a client through to a court hearing and winning the case.   
• We regularly welcome 12 to 16 individuals to exercise group. We also have the same amount at the monthly quiz but not the same group. 
• The younger Guy’s group has increased in numbers recently to 15 regulars, they have begun to meet again in person.  
• We have started our walks in the park and meet three times a week.
• We have received some very generous donations and have some amazing fundraisers. Our financial statement will be sent to our members. 

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Virtual Pub Quiz   Every 1st Saturday of the month. (next one is 5th June 11:00 am) Zoom in with the in-crowd. Several rounds of General Knowledge, Music and Pictures. A bit of a social at the end. Join our  Zoom Meeting

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Our Latest Amazing Donation       
by Val Hamblin (Charity Trustee)  

  
Pictured: Lady Lowther at a previous plant sale and both Lady Lowther and Pamela Dunn

Judith Continues with some Art exercises for begineers 

Hello everyone,

 This week I have prepared a simple landscape for you to try in three simple stages.

For those of you that feel confident and ambitious, it is lovely to be able to go for a walk or a short drive to somewhere which has a landscape of interest and start to sketch spontaneously, especially when you have a good day of weather :-)
 
The setting for your landscape could be a farmhouse in a rural field, a gate leading onto a field with pretty wildflowers or a hilly landscape with trees and interesting shaped bushes. However, it does require confidence and for those of you just starting out I would recommend that you follow my basic layout and planning steps for a simple landscape to help with setting the scene.

To start the sketch, you can either use a pencil, or ff you are unsure of what pen to use,  check that it is waterproof in case you want to try colours over the top of it, as a normal pen will run when colours are added.

Stage 1

Firstly draw a line a quarter of the way up your paper , which is for your ground level. This will enable you to get the perspective right for your landscape.

 
Stage 2

Draw in the building, just off centre on the paper. Add the two bushes and a pathway.

 Stage 3

Last of all, start to add the detail, which can range from adding trees, fencing, fields and hills for more detail. Birds and cows are optional :-)

 

Next time,  I will cover shading and how to add a splash of colour into your drawing to bring it to life. Enjoy sketching and drawing – it takes time to create a perfect drawing,  don’t expect to be Van Gogh immediately  !

I am looking forward to hearing how you are all getting on, feel free to share any of your sketches with the group if you would like to receive any feedback.

Insect

Good morning Annabelle I guess it's time to say,
Of all the insects in the world some have gone astray.

I've seen maggots placed on wounds to eat up an infection,
And lots of silly insects which have no sense of Direction.

But the one that frightens me the most I think you will agree,
Is the one that stung me in a private place, it's Mr Bumble Bee.

I was driving down the motorway with my buddy John,
It was a hot and sticky day so my shorts I had put on.

I felt a sting in the engine room of this I cannot deny,
Until the tears running down face were wet then very dry.

I jumped over the driving seat into the back of the van,
I'd left the steering wheel to my mate,  just do the best you can.

We were flying down the motorway at 60 miles per hour.
All I could feel was this burning sensation, I needed a cold  shower.

If you want to know the outcome, I'll write it down one day.
Everytime I see a bumble bee I tend to run away. 

 

 

Editors Note:  Bumblebees are usually pretty relaxed, and stings are uncommon, so many people are unsure about whether they can sting or not. As Dave so poetically describes it above, they can, and unlike honey bees they don't have barbed stingers so multiple stings are possible but rare and only when they feel threatened. While bumblebees certainly can bite, it's not their go to defensive weapon, and is unlikely to cause great pain, but you will definitely know if you have been stung!  Oh and they are attracted to blue colours.

As I sit here writing I can honestly say that the present weather is more like October/November than May rapidly going into June! So, I sincerely hope that by the time you are reading this newsletter that summer will have put in an appearance! We could certainly do with some nice warm sunshine!

The very wet weather just lately has brought out an army of slugs and snails. I planted out some quite sturdy 6” tall, Scarlet Emperor, runner bean plants and the following day there was not much of them left. Would have taken a photo to show readers but as there was nothing to photograph was bit pointless!  Luckily, I always sow a few extra beans in a pot in the greenhouse to cover exactly this occurrence. However, the pesky creatures started to have a go at them too! Enough, I thought, time to attack! I decided to order some Nematode slug treatment which is not a pesticide. It comes in a powder form which is mixed with water in a watering can and then used wherever you feel it is needed. I know I have banged on about this treatment before but I must point out that I only use this treatment on my raised veg bed, planters and pots. I leave the rest of the garden slug and snail clearance to the hedgehogs

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are flourishing but the ones outside are a bit slower because of the lack of warmth. They will soon catch up when (if) the temperature rises. Wherever you have your tomatoes planted don’t forget to put some ‘catch’ crops at the side of them before the plants get too big. I stick a lettuce plant in and also sow some basil seeds. When the lettuce is big enough to harvest pull it out gently so as not to disturb the basil. Leave the basil in the pot or ground at the side of the tomatoes. Then when the tomatoes ripen you are able to pick basil too.

I love Bamboo plants they are really majestic but if planted directly into the garden they can run and become quite a nuisance. In fact, they can be very difficult to contain or get rid of. I have grown a black bamboo in a very large pot. Looks quite beautiful and gives a bit of height near a fence. Good tip is to prune off the lower side shoots so that all you can see on the bottom two or three feet of the plant are the beautiful black stems. I have put an old house mirror behind mine to reflect the light which the birds love!

Now for this month’s pruning…
Clematis that flower in the winter or spring bloom on the previous year’s growth. As soon as they have finished flowering is the time to prune them back. Cut any old or damaged wood out but in general do not cut too far into the old wood. Remembering that it is the new shoots that will produce next year’s flowers.

Lilac bushes and trees also need to be pruned as soon as the flowers die off. Take out any large damaged or dead stems. Dead head all the flowers and any stems which will improve the shape. Again, remembering that the new growth will produce the flowers next year.

 

CREAMY CHICKEN PIE

I overheard two people talking about the weather the other day, while I was waiting in a queue at the post office. It started me thinking of some of the weather extremes I have experienced during my travels.  I recall driving up the road from Radfan to Dhala in the Aden Protectorate. We were close to the southern edge of the 'Ruhb - al- Khalil' which roughly translates into 'the empty quarter'. Which  it is, a vast 500 plus miles of barren, dry, arrid sand and scrub. No water holes, nothing.  
We were heading to Dhala one day, in a convoy of ten trucks and a squad of men (30)  all armed, escorting a supply of munitions. The horizon took on a dark, dirty brown colour. This seemed to stretch for several miles across our front and as far as we could make out it went several hundred feet into the sky.  The clouds on the horizon started to assume a really nasty looking almost black colour and appeared to be advancing toward us, at a rapid rate of knots. Over the radio came the voice of Staff Sergeant Danny 'cuddy' Edwards " All vehicles halt stay where you are  on the road. Ladies we have run into a sand storm. Everyone arm yourselves, get in the rear of the truck now ". Which we all duly did, just then as the wall of sand hit the vehicles, there was an enormous crash of thunder and bolts of lightening flash through the heavens. One could imagine how some could think this was Armagedon (the end of the world). As the wind rode over us, you could  feel it trying to lift the trucks, then just as it appeared to die away the wind started to reverse from an anti clockwise twist to a clockwise one, this created momentarily a vacuum and all at once everything went deathly still. But within a minute the wind came again, this time it felt as if someone had  punched you and it hurt, not enough to disable anyone (which it would have, had we not been in the trucks), this went on for around a good hour or more, until it just blew itself out and died away. On getting out of the truck all we could see was sand, no road, nothing, just sand. It was as if man had never been there.  
I can honestly that it was one of the most eye opening  and thought provoking moments in my life. 

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