Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

Neesie Natters So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye ...Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye... Dearest Neessie Natters Have you got time to stop by for a cuppa, there's a few things I want to say? Fancy that, you're leaving for the other side of the world...and the beauty of the blogosphere is that we'll not miss you at all! In fact knowing you, you'll be drafting your next blog as soon as the Air Hostess says: " The Captain has turned off the fasten seat belt sign... You may now move around the aircraft and are free to turn on your electronic devises..." It's a shame you're not leaving on a Wednesday as it would be a great WOYWW What's On Your Work desk Wednesday - there you'd be with your cuppa, your computer, your trusty old camera, maybe some artwork and perhaps a champagne on a tiny weeny fold down table... You'll be finishing off your doodle with your favourite Cripple Pencil so that you can send it in for this weeks

"Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, that I love London Town "... Afternoon Tea! The best Afternoon Teas are a grand occasion... a special event to be lingered over, with time to savour. To delight in the cute exotic sandwiches, to marvel at the fancy cakes, to indulge in the scones and clotted cream, but most of all to enjoy the company of friends or family...       The best Afternoon Teas have fine tableware, tea strainers, fresh flowers and of course sugar lumps! Did you know? The tradition of the English Afternoon Tea comes from one of HM Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting Anna, seventh Dutchess of Bedford (1783 - 1857) In her day, being posh she would have eaten a huge breakfast, very little lunch and then an interminably long wait until dinner. She describes a "sinking feeling" in late afternoon and so one day she instructed her Butler to bring her Afternoon Tea with cakes in her boudoir....

If feels very fitting for Little Wandering Wren (Australia) to be announcing that if you are in the Wren's Nest, Dudley area (UK) you should try and get along to Wren's Wander this Sunday... The guided walk is taking place at the Wren's Nest National Nature Reserve . Learn about the geology and industrial history of this internationally renowned Site of Special Scientific Interest. Includes the opportunity to find fossils. All welcome, but children must be accompanied. Suitable footwear recommended. Tour lasts approximately 2 hours. No charge. People in Dudley may think it's normal to have a nature reserve where virtually every rock they pick up has a fossil on its surface - it's not! Dudley is famous throughout the world for its fossils. It could claim to be the birthplace of the science of palaeontology back in the 19th Century. Whilst they're at it, they also claim to be the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It's where Abraham Darby was

Today I'm bringing you something special, it's ' The Last Rose of Summer ' in my garden. We used to gather round my Grandmother's piano in the front room for family sign-a-longs... All the old favourites would come out such as " Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do ...", My Old Man said follow the van, and don't dilly dally on the way ...." and my favourite ' The Last Rose of Summer .'   Originally written by Irish Poet Thomas Moore in 1805 the words have stayed with me to this day. Beethoven, Mendlessohn and Ernst all composed music based on the poem, I'm not sure whose music we were singing along to, but I do know that to this day, I always look out for my last rose of summer in the garden!     The lyrics are pretty sad! I don't scatter the rose petals over the garden, but rather leave to enjoy for as long as possible, as a reminder of the summer and as a way of looking forward to the new rosebuds after winter!

Our streets look glorious at the moment, all covered in brown and gold leaves. They make such a wonderful crunching noise as you walk through them that you can't help feeling happy, even if it means that the real Aussie winter is fast approaching.... Yes we're lucky, June is a lovely time of year in Melbourne. Autumn, officially 1st March to 31st May is now over, but it's not too bad... It's cold in the morning but not chilly-cold like in Europe. Today it was plus 10 degrees Celsius... by lunchtime it will get up to a top of 16 degrees. Oh and the sun will be out (we are on the same latitude as Athens) the sky is blue - are you jealous yet?! We had rain this weekend. The first winter storm came through. We had 48.6 mm of rain on Friday night, the most rain for a June day since records began. Here are the waves left in the mown fields at the football fields... Last week we even had fog! Which is so rare that no one ever asks for fog lamps here when buyin