Peter The Pelican

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Heavy rain set in for the day this afternoon. Before that, Jackie managed an impressive amount of weeding and planting. She didn’t have to do any watering.

This time last year we were still preparing the empty rose garden. Now it looks as if it belongs.

Absolutely Fabulous and For Your Eyes Only

Absolutely Fabulous and For Your Eyes Only are particularly prolific;

Shropshire Lad, For Your Eyes Only, Gloriana, Margaret Merril, Love Knot

the full spread of the latter is shown here behind the statue of Spring; to the right Shropshire Lad’s aged white heads hang a bit heavy, although new buds ascend the netting; Gloriana holds up a couple of blooms; The white flowers of Margaret Merrill are to the right of the shed, and bright red Love Knot to the left.

Festive Jewel, Summer Wine, Honeysuckle

Opposite those scenes Festive Jewel merges into Summer Wine on the entrance arch, on the right side of which is the honeysuckle. The urn is one of those bought recently.

Rose Penny Lane

The first delicate pink Penny Lane bloom has opened on the potting shed trellis.

This afternoon I printed Pauline’s A+ plus photographed another.

This evening we dined at The Beach House restaurant at Milford on Sea with Becky, Ian, and Ian’s father, Peter, and stepmother Ali. We all get on very well and had a very enjoyable time celebrating Peter’s birthday today, and Jackie’s tomorrow.

My menu choice was whitebait; steak pie; and summer fruit trifle. I shared a bottle of Montepulciano with Becky. I’m past caring what the others ate or drank.

Before going out I made a birthday card for Peter.

Peter the Pelican was the mascot for the Greek Island of Mykonos from 1985 when, in an injured condition, he was rescued and cured by the islanders, until 1985 when he was killed by a car. Since, among my collection of cards, I had one of a Pelican taken in St James’s Park in 2012, it seemed appropriate to give this to the birthday boy, with an explanatory note within.

Pelican

49 comments

  1. Lovely birthday card idea! And ” I’m past caring what the others ate or drank.” SO funny!

    Your rose garden is just spectacular. I love that I have watched it come so far. The names of the rose bushes are especially fun, aren’t they?

  2. Well now I’m miffed. Seems everywhere in the country got rain today. Except us. Can you blow it down this way please? The garden really needs it. Yours, on the other hand, is looking grand.
    A very Happy Birthday to Jackie for tomorrow. I hope you’re taking her somewhere nice 🙂

  3. That’s a very well fed pelican – I hope the human Peter doesn’t take it amiss! The rose garden looks lovely, it’s a pity you can’t share the scent with us as well. I’m pleased to note you inferred a successful photocopying process today. And happy Birthday to Jackie for tomorrow xo

  4. Dixon Lanier Merritt (1879–1972) was an American poet and humorist. He was a newspaper editor for the Tennessean, Nashville’s morning paper, and President of the American Press Humorists Association.
    He penned this well-known limerick in 1910:[1]

    A wonderful bird is the pelican,
    His bill will hold more than his belican,
    He can take in his beak
    Enough food for a week
    But I’m damned if I see how the helican!

  5. Happy Birthday to Jackie. I would have offered her a rose that was picked for me from my friends’ garden today; a Pierre de Ronsard, a lovely climber. I don’t have many ornamentals in my garden but there’s the good old Rosa chinensis ‘Mutabilis’ and the plucky Rosa ‘Cécile Brünner‍ ‘. They can’t be more different but I love them equally for their beauty and generosity.

  6. A very happy birthday to Jackie! With flowers, abloom, such a lovely month for a birthday. And, love the Peter Pelican card.

      1. For me, the older I get, the more precious birthdays have become 😉 I firmly believe in celebrations, big and small, to honor a person’s birthday.

  7. I remember a fearsome pelican in St James’s Park who ate pigeons. The pictures in the Standard scarred me for life ….

  8. Your rose garden is looking beautiful, Derrick – I especially love the Penny Lane bloom. 🙂 I hope Peter and Jackie have had great birthdays.

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