Apparently the puzzle can be completed in 18 moves. Well, can it?
I remember this fad coming into school the first time around. I never had one, never particularly wanted one either, probably as my attention span was never that concentrated and I’d probably have ended up throwing it at a wall.
However, as I get older my attention span has expanded slightly, but not to the point that I actually want one. But I have been triggered by a small video I’m seeing online apparently showing how to solve a Rubik’s cube in 18 moves!
But does it really work?
Courtesy of t’internet
If anyone out there actually has one I’d be interested to know your thoughts. Apparently if you repeat the moves shown in the photo above, eighteen times you will have the answer.
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?
I think I already posses that skill.
And that skill is:
Just minding my own business.
In life we have control over just two things, our thoughts and our own actions. You can’t control whatever anyone else thinks or does, so why waste your time in trying!
Just mind your own business. That’s work a plenty in many cases.
Plant it, and they will come. This is proof of just how true that is.
I wrote a short while back about installing a presentable garden in our new home that is just a standard, blank and bland, new build stamp of grass, here in the East Midlands: Making a work of art
The build goes on, however today I had a very welcome and unexpected visitor. I have today visited a local nursery to purchase some plants for the garden. As always I always go for the plants that the pollinators love, so I stocked up with plenty of Verbena, Salvia and Hebe that they all appear to gravitate towards. Whilst placing them in the garden, still in their pots to see what would be best in various positions, the pollinators started to arrive. However there was a special visitor on one of those plants. Look at the little fellah in the video below.
Humming bird hawk moth
You can easily tell them apart from other moths by their distinct behavior and appearance:
The Hover: They beat their wings up to 70 times per second, creating a distinct, audible “humming” sound while remaining completely stationary in mid-air.
The Tongue: They extend an incredibly long, tube-like tongue (called a proboscis) to drink nectar deeply from flowers without ever landing.
Coloration: They have greyish-brown forewings, bright orange-brown hindwings (highly visible in flight), and a black-and-white chequered body.
Size: They are medium-to-large moths with a wingspan of 50–58mm.
And it’s the first one I’ve seen personally for around five years.
Made my day this has. Remember that quote from the Kevin Costner film, Field of dreams? “If you build it, he will come.”
Well I use the same quote for wildlife in the garden, slightly amended though, “If you plant it, they will come.”
I read this and had to share. Writers of the world should be able to relate. Wisdom from 92 years ago today.
Made me smile so I’m sharing this.
These words were written on this very day in 1934 apparently. That’s 92 years ago…..and I bet many of you out there can still relate to this at sometime in your writing career.
Not me though, as pretty much every thing I write goes in that basket 😂 and I’m not a writer.
I was gifted a falconry experience for my last birthday. Here’s some pictures and videos of my day.
Last November i hit the 60yr target, and was gifted the present of a falconry experience at a location close to home in the Langton area of Market Harborough in Leicestershire.
We chose a pretty good day as we weren’t affected by the awful weather of the last few days. Once the day had ended though the heavens did open again. We struck lucky. Here are a few pictures and videos from today’s day with some of the most gorgeous creatures on the planet.
Some beautiful birds
And here are a few small videos….
Elvis, a Eurasian eagle owl
Elvis, dive bombing the group
Midnight, a Harris hawk, what a bird
Cheese and pickle, two tiny burrowing owls
A fantastic day at close quarters with some beautiful birds of prey.
Just a picture of a heavily pollen laden bee on a flower I was purchasing today. Lovely to see.
Or poppy, if you like.
A Papaver
As I purchased this beautiful poppy for the garden today, at a garden centre in Shepperton West London, there appeared to be a very welcome stowaway. There was a heavily pollen laden bee 🐝 coming along for the ride. Always lovely to see.
A lovely weekend with family, inappropriate headwear and exceedingly hot sauce, and beer. And talk of weddings.
It’s been a lovely weekend with family and friends staying with us. It’s been sun all the way on what is a bank holiday weekend in the UK, but as is tradition here, the closer it gets to bank holiday Monday, the rain is starting to arrive.
And it caught me out last night when I had to make it to the garage to get some beer, for my guests as stocks were getting low, my headwear was highly inappropriate for the weather. See this small video below:
A box is highly inappropriate in wet conditions. Leading to moments of total blindness.
A box is probably not the most appropriate headwear in wet weather, it gets soggy and when it falls over your eyes causes temporary blindness when you are trying to put the key in the lock. Yes I was a fool.
But that was not my only foolish activity this weekend. No, I had to surpass myself in the art of Tom foolery.
We visit a local farm shop, in itself a pleasant experience where I manage to get a lovely Fuchsia bush for my garden. Then we went into the farm shop.
Here there was a display asking you to sample a range of quite hot chilli sauces, ranging from mild to bloody ridiculous. All the family declined the offer, but silly me decides to go right in at the deep-end and sample the hottest one on display. There was a subtle clue in the product name. “ Crazy Bastard sauce” I just wish I’d read the tasting notes below the bottle that you can see in this picture below.
“Feels like getting a tattoo on your tongue”
5 flames plus. I should have known better. I spent the following hour thinking a hole was developing in the roof of my mouth trying to make its way to by brain, my lips and gums were numb, my speech was impeded and I was dribbling, to be honest I was a mess at the amusement of the rest of my family. Lesson learned. Would i recommend it? As a paint stripper and general rust removal solution it would be fantastic. As for making your food taste better, I’d give it a wide berth to be honest.
But nicer things were to come. Whilst all sitting around the table, one of the younger members of the family and her fiancé approached me with a small black box with my name upon it. This is for you “Dave”.
The box
After stating that it’s not my birthday for another six months, I was told to stop yapping and just open it. They get married in a beautiful part of Portugal in 2027 and they have asked me to be the Officiant at their wedding. I jokingly replied that I’m not a priest or vicar, but immediately said yes. How lovely and thoughtful, and wonderful that they would consider me to be a part of their big day.
Wow, what an honour
The role of the Officiant is to guide the couple through their vows. They will be getting married officially in the UK in a private ceremony before heading to Portugal, so my role is non legal as they will already be legally married, I will be there to supply some continuity to those family members attending who are resident in Portugal or who were not in attendance at the official wedding in the UK.
Wow, I am so proud and honoured to even be considered for such a role, it means so much to me and to be honest my wife is completely over the moon about it. I think she is worrying more about it than I am at the moment, but in a good, let’s get this done and do them proud kind of way.
So even with over a year to go, it’s time to think it over exactly what needs to be done, and to think even after they have witnessed me wearing inappropriate headwear and questioning my lack of judgment with hot chilli sauces, they still believe I’m the right person for the job.
Saw this today. Strange but it hit me somewhat. So here I am sharing this cheery nugget with you all.
Saw this today. Can’t disagree with it, even though it is very blunt and to the point. It certainly won’t be an ordinary day for me….or for anyone else come to think of it.
Nuff said…
Maybe even live a lot. Party like it’s your last day.
Ever had a jigsaw puzzle take five years to complete? I have.
For anyone who knows me, they will know only too well my fixation and fanboy devotion to the 90s music of R.E.M
I’ve been a fan from the early days, I’ve seen them live on many occasions, god I even have a tattoo of one of their album covers that I’m actually having touched up next week as it happens.
R.E.M – Monster tattoo
Around Christmas 2020 they released a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in conjunction with the ALA (American library association) of an original poster that was released in 1990 to promote reading. This poster was quite collectible at the time and still sits in many fan’s collections around the globe. For those that did not possess the original poster, this jigsaw became the next best thing.
The original advert from the Very Good Puzzle company
The puzzle sold through the groups own website and was produced by the Very Good Puzzle Company. In the UK the puzzle retailed for about £25:00GBP. I think it was purchased for me as a Christmas present from a relative.
Box opening
I started the jigsaw in January 2021.
The intention from this day forward was to take a picture daily, as I set myself a target to dedicate an hour at a time towards its completion.
Day one
Day two
Day three
Day four
Beyond day four, which in itself had spanned a couple of months, time being spent on the puzzle when other commitments would allow. The puzzle became ever more difficult and confusing, as there are a number of areas within this puzzle where the areas are dark, or of just one colour and it just became a pain in the ass. So this was 2021 now, and very soon after this last picture, the jigsaw, on its base board just got put on the top of a cupboard in the spare bedroom, and there it stayed until early 2026.
For those who occasionally delve into my ramblings, you will be aware that in January 2026, after protracted selling shenanigans, we eventually moved to our new home. At this point we had packed and shifted almost everything, and the jigsaw was reluctantly broken up and put back into its original box. I guess I’d admitted defeat at this stage.
Step forward my Sister in law – Liz.
Now Liz loves Jigsaws, it’s her hobby and she heard of the ongoing issues with the R.E.M jigsaw. She has absolutely no interest in the group as such, and would probably, in her own way be quite opinionated in her views of their music, that’s her right and I respect that. She asked if she could take on the challenge to build it, and who was I to say no. So in March of 2026 I handed the box over to her.
Good luck with that Liz!
Just a few days ago Liz and her husband Terry came to visit as we were all heading out for a day. And as they came in they had a large object in a black plastic cover.
“Sit down Dave and open this” I was told, you might like it. I did what I was told and to my immense surprise, not only had Liz completed the puzzle, but her husband Terry had also framed it for me. I now have the completed puzzle, and the way it is presented looks absolutely fantastic.
The completed and framed puzzle
Liz had spent a lot of time on the puzzle, and also shared her frustrations on the dark areas that were problematic. But the thing with Liz is once she gets her teeth into something she will never give up. And for that I am forever grateful, for she has done a fantastic job, and this will be a welcome addition to my work room, as the wife won’t let me hang it anywhere else.
So after 5 years, the puzzle is complete. And I think it looks superb. I now have my own personal copy of that poster that was so popular back in 1990.
From one garden to another. Building a garden is a long term work of art. Here I am at the start with a blank canvas waiting to be filled. Let’s make a start.
Gardens that are portrayed on television are created in an afternoon. Nice.
However in reality it takes an awful lot longer to produce a garden, and just as in any art form requires a lot of planning, thinking, constant changing of mind, and repositioning items so they fit just perfectly.
My previous garden in our old house took me about 8 years to get to a seasoned level, where all planting looked authentic and had been specifically chosen to season in a garden that was north facing. Believe me, winter months were like an episode of Game of thrones, winter came and stayed in our garden for immense periods, whilst our neighbours South facing gardens experienced a much improved and sunnier outlook. I had to plant accordingly and this is what took time. An awful lot of trial and error and sacrifice of a number of plant species.
My previous garden
Having now moved to a new build property you will understand the challenge that now faces me. In new builds you are presented with a stamp sized piece of turfed property surrounded by walls and fencing, and some people like to keep this look. Some go for the “Landscaping” option, basically just putting in place loads of paving stones and decking, to create a low maintenance garden. Each to their own I say, but this option is not for me. I want to recreate my previous garden. I have the time. I want to see wildlife in this garden, I now have an easterly facing garden, and good light from early morning until mid afternoon, it couldn’t be more different to that cold northern facing garden I had previously.
My blank canvas and a lovely rainbow
There are a lot of birds flying around, the majority of them being wagtails, interspersed with a few pigeons, blue tits, robins and a few other small to medium avian visitors. First thing I did here was to put up a bird house on the rear wall before I’ve planted anything. I purchased a house with a blank garden, maybe there is a bird family out there also looking for a new build!
A small birdhouse on the rear wall
The bird bath is in place, brought in from the previous garden, I’ve yet to place it in the best position, I’m just awaiting a few other items prior to this happening.
First thing I want to do is to get some miniature trees in place, and in this case I have five of them lined up to go across the rear fence, these will be the main structures of the garden and everything else will be planted to complement these trees.
The first three smaller trees are the first to go into place, I have two small Salix Kilmarnocks, one of these will be planted either side of a Ceanothus, otherwise known as a Californian lilac. This will create a nice contrasting centre piece, in about three years the Ceanothus will be about 5 or 6 feet tall blooming with beautiful lilac colours, probably peaking in size at about 8-10 feet tall. They can grow taller but it’s my plan to top it out at about 10 feet maximum. The Salix along side will both bloom like miniature weeping willows growing no higher than about 5 feet in height but they will also grow in width displaying lovely foliage as well as furry catkins, its perfect for the smaller garden.
The Ceanothus, with the Salix Kilmarnock on either side.
I have shopped around for the remaining two trees and I was prepared to pay a good price, for two good examples to complete this part of the garden. I discussed my plans with a chap called Jack at a garden centre in the Rutland area and as a result the following two trees were delivered, they are a nice size, too big to be transported in a car.
Amelanchier canadensis (sugar plum)
On the right of the fence is the tree that will be the tallest, this is a Amelanchier canadensis, also known as “Sugar plum”. I purchased this one as the name “Sugar plum” was the nickname given to my wife by her late Father, it seemed wholly appropriate and was just a nice touch. This tree should top out at about 14 feet, it has a lovely mixture of berries and beautiful snow flake type flowers, it will spread well and blend in lovely with the whites, greys, purples and greens beside it. It’s a beautiful tree.
Prunus ‘Accolade’ (Flowering Cherry)
To the left of the other trees we have an absolute beauty, it’s one of the finest ornamental cherries that you can buy. Even as it was being delivered and moved out of the delivery van, it had a small, appreciative army of bees and pollinators surrounding it, even as I was planting it they remained there, it was a pleasure to see and the tree is a tonic for the eyes, it’s gorgeous. This tree will not grow any higher than the 5 or 6 feet it is already at, however it will bloom outwards creating a cascading display of pink blooms in the spring before showing a display of dark green foliage prior to turning Orange later in the year. It will then lose its foliage before starting all over again the following spring.
These five small trees will supply colour, cover, and hopefully a place of trust for the local birds. The planting that will then take place below them will Hopefully attract bees, butterflies and other insect life that will also support the food chain.
The five trees in place
The trees have supplied the undercoat to the artwork, everything will now be designed and worked around them. I have a couple of good Rhododendrons, one that came from the old house as well as a lovely Magnolia called “Susan” and a young Wisteria planted to climb the rear of the property. Add to that a couple of young Verbernum “Snowball” bushes, I think we have enough to be getting on with, it’s a work in progress.
I have a vision of how this will look in a few years from now and to be honest I’m quite excited about it. And yes, I’m keeping as much of the grass as possible. At the moment it is a beautiful green carpet of loveliness, something I’ve never had before and I intend to keep it.
I will update this post as things develop and get added, but I know this is going to be a lengthy drawn out process. Believe me, it will be worth the wait.
Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown.
Foxes Den 
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