1. Dinosaur Flowers
My eight year-old son is a bit of a dinosaur-geek. He loves the big lizards, and eats, talks, sleeps, breathes, dreams dinosaurs. Surprisingly, however, this week he's been taking a very keen interest in .... magnolia trees. As we've walked to school he's pointed them out to me: red magnolia (not quite in blossom), white, single magnolia (in full blossom) and light pink double magnolia (slightly past its best). They've all been duly noted down with an actuarial attention to detail. So what's got into the dinosaur buff? Well, he's learnt from an Alan Titchmarsh documentary that the ancestors of the magnolia were among the first flowering plants to live on our planet, and ... wait for it ... they co-existed with the dinosaurs! I don't think either of us will ever look at the magnolia in the same way again.
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| Dinosaur flowers a.k.a. magnolia blossoms |
2. Daffodils
When I've not been obsessing about magnolias I've been enjoying the daffodils. The North Wind brought winter back to us for a while this week. Yesterday we had the equinox and enjoyed our first official day of spring, but it didn't feel very spring-like. The happy upside of the cold spell is that it has prolonged the lives of these cheerful yellow flowers. This is how Ealing Common looked yesterday when Maxi and I took our first spring promenade:
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| Ealing Common on the first day of spring |
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| Ealing Common bounded by the Uxbridge Road |
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| The Ealing Common daffodils |
3. Maxi's new look
I've got used to Maxi's new look after his doggy makeover last Friday. It was a bit of a shock at first, but now I like it. He looks like a dog with attitude, which, of course, he is. He's a squeaky little dog with all the come-and-get-me attitude of a great, big, enormous dog!
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| Still cute? Sure, I'm still cute! |
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| Remind me again: what am I supposed to do with this cushion thing? |
4. Bubble Tea
On Wednesday I drank my very first bubble tea. It didn't have any conventional bubbles, but it was very nice all the same. I'll be going back for seconds ... .
5. Grease paint rainbows
Emi, the eight year-old dinosaur-geek, has been starring in his school play this week. He was in a chorus-line of singing monks, who all wore stage make-up for the first time in their little lives. What I have learnt is that stage make-up creates grease-paint rainbows in the bathroom when an eight year-old tries to shower himself clean before bed.
Anyway it's been a fun week. I hope you've had a good one too.
All the best for the weekend,
Bonny
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A fun week indeed...and a busy week. I thought the connection between the magnolia and the dinosaurs sounds typical of his age...My son, LONG ago had a fixation with dinosaurs also, so this was a special fun read for me in memory.
ReplyDeleteLittle Poochie new 'do' looks great! Such a proud puppy!!!!
Thanks Ani. Yes, I think dinosaurs are pretty much a compulsory obsession for all 8 year-old boys. Glad that you like Maxi's new look. He went from being very hippy to being very angular: it was a bit of a shock. Have a great weekend, Bonny
DeleteOh that magnolia/dinosaur connection is awesome.
ReplyDeleteDaffodils are so beautiful all I can see is snow:)
Maxi sure does have attitude, adorable.
I have never tried bubble tea.
Oh your eight year old son is going to do great in the play. Enjoy. B
Thanks, Buttons. Hope you get lots of gorgeous, golden daffodils and a lovely, warm spring sometime soon. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend, Bonny
Deletegorgeous, gorgeous blooms! can't wait to see them crop up here in NY!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda. I hope you get loads of them in NY and some nice spring weather to enjoy them with. Have a super weekend, Bonny
DeleteMaxi is so elegant and stately-looking!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin. He's very much a rascal pup. Maybe one day he'll grown into a more stately sort of dog. Have a lovely weekend, Bonny
ReplyDeleteThanks, you too!
DeleteRe: your comment on my blog post - I think Ramen noodles are sold in the UK. They are popular in many countries. They might be called "pot noodles", "cup 'o' noodles", or "instant noodles". If your grocery stores/markets typically have sections for Asian cuisine, they are probably there, if they aren't in a regular soup and pasta section.
Thanks for taking the trouble to post the further information, Robin. I'll keep my eyes open for them. I try to shop in the local independent shops, which are mostly Asian so hopefully I'll find them there. All the best, Bonny
Deletewhat beautiful spring images!! and wow, i had no clue about the magnolia tree! ha, when i was in elementary school, probably about the same age as your son, there was a boy named randall beck who also loved dinosaurs. he was crazy about them. i guess that's why i remember him after all these years! maxi is sure cute! have a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tanya. Yes I had a boy like that back in my elementary school as well. He was the class dinosaur authority, who'd keep the rest of us right when dinos came up as our topic (which they seemed to do a lot). I think that little boys are just a bit fascinated by dinosaurs. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend, Bonny
DeleteMaxi looks great! I am ready to see some daffodils here.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah. Hopefully the weather will go back to being warm so that he doesn't catch a cold, although that would probably spell the end for our daffodils. Have a lovely weekend, Bonny
ReplyDeleteLoving the daffodil photos -- no color here as yet but soon! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Nancy. I think ours will be fading soon, so I'll look forward to seeing yours. All the best, Bonny
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