What a period the last 2 months has been! The weather has been so cold with frosts (minus 12 degrees), then snow, now its changed to being warmer!!!! Christmas time has seen us at home or visiting family around the country. And the allotment???? Its been covered in snow, frozen with ice, open to the winds and not possible to do any work.
The last 2 months of weather, celebrations and growing family trees and
vegetables has really been so much - Here, there and everywhere!!!!!!!
The picture of the allotment below was taken just a few days ago, in the milder weather. It is hard to believe that at the end of November and into December, you could not access the area for the amount of snow. Protected (hopefully) by the frame of fleece and green netting, is where we planted winter Cauliflower and Cabbage.
Are they still there?
Have they survived?
Let you know later in the Blog.
On the theme of being here, there and everywhere, I thought for this Blog I would look at where the Nickisson's in my Family Tree have lived and where they are now.
200 years ago my Great Great Grandfather, Henry Nickisson,
was born in Stone, Staffordshire, England.
Stone is an old market town situated about seven miles north of Stafford and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke on Trent.
The local story is that the town was named after the pile of stones taken from the River Trent raised on the graves of the two princes, Ruffin and Wulfad, killed in AD 665 by their father, King Wulfhere of Mercia, because of their conversion to Christianity.
Since originating from Stone (I don't mean of the statue type), the Nickisson's
can now be found in many parts of England and around the world. The chart below
gives you an example of where we started from, where we have lived and where
many of us are living now.
As you will see from the map above, there are still lots of us living in the Staffordshire area. As with the Nickisson's were here, there and everywhere
Now,
what about those plants under the frame in the allotment?
Are they still there, did they survive?
Look at these, really surprised
I wasn't expecting that they would be still alive under the protection of the frame. The weather has been so up and down, I thought they could not have survived the frosts, snow and the severe temperatures. Lets hope they will continue to grow through the coming weeks of winter.
The allotment really does look dreary at the moment.
Not a lot to do and far to early to plant anything in the greenhouse.
Really looking forward to the spring season in the allotment, cannot wait to be
busy here, there and everywhere!!!!
Thought I would leave you with a letter I came across whilst Family Tree growing, it's from a mother to her child:
Dear Child,
I am writing this slow because I know that you can’t read fast. We don’t live where we did when you left home because, your dad read in the paper that most accidents happen within 20 miles from your home, so we moved.
I won’t be able to send you the address, as the last family that lived here took the house numbers when they left so that they wouldn’t have to change their address.
This place is real nice. It even has a washing machine. I’m not sure if it works too well though. Last week I put a load in, pulled the chain, and haven’t seen them since.
The weather isn’t too bad here., it only rained twice last week, The first time it rained for three days and the second time for four days. The coat you wanted me to send you, your Uncle Steve said it would be a little too heavy to send in the mail with the buttons on, so we cut them off and put them in the pockets.
We got another bill from the funeral home. They said if we don’t make the last payment on Grandma’s grave, up she comes.
John locked his keys in the car yesterday. We were worried because it took him two hours to get me and Shelby out.
Your sister had a baby this morning but I haven’t found out what it is yet, so I don’t know if you’re an aunt or an uncle. If the baby is a girl, your sister is going to name it after me, she’s going to call it Mom.
Some sad news. Uncle Pete fell in a whiskey vat last week. Some man tried to pull him out but he fought them off and drowned. We had him cremated and he burned for three days. Also, three of your friends went off a bridge in a pick-up truck. Ralph was driving. He rolled down the window and swam to safety. Your two friends were in the back. They drowned because they couldn’t get the tailgate down.
There isn’t much more news at this time. Nothing much has happened.
PS, I was going to send you some money but the envelope was already sealed.
