the golden ticket ..

the best view in Nottinghamshire..?

Just reflecting really.

On the 18 June 1970 our nation was electing a new government. But much more significantly, a pretty girl spoke to me.

bee orchid

I've had this bird fascination forever and at that time had little canaries as pets that had nested and had young. I was out collecting wildflower seeds to feed to the birds with my Jack Russell for company on the Klondike allotments in Wilford near where I lived. I'd seen this pretty girl and her beagle puppy walking in the village. She asked me what I was doing.

spotted orchid

So, there we were together last night, 44 years later on a beautiful cloudless evening and guess what.. collecting wildflower seeds.

Just outside our gate and through the wood there's Nottinghamshire's best view  from which on a fine day you can see across to distant Crich Stand on the edge of Derbyshire's Peak District . And then you're led into a former sand quarry that is now a heath. We found exquisite flowering orchids. And together collected the seed of white campion and a short yellow hawkweed for sowing into our own wildflower meadows.

Gosh. 39 years married. Two lovely children. An amazing home and garden. And she's just as pretty.

I've won the golden ticket in life's lottery..