Marty

Happy hump day, everyone. It's been a sort of cool day here, with the occasional short shower. But I did manage to plant one of my apple trees. The other two can stay in their pots for this summer at least, as they were only grafted onto their rootstocks last year. I've also sourced a pear tree. The variety is Conference, which the nurseryman tells me does very well in this part of the country. Conference is actually my favourite pear, so I'm really happy about that. It's still in its pot, but he told me he only potted it in March, so has advised me not to plant it out for at least a few months yet, to let its roots settle down. I asked his advice on staking it, and the apple trees when I plant them out. He suggested two 6 foot (1.8 metre) canes put in diagonally from each side. So that's what I did with the Bramley Seedling cooking apple tree that I planted today.

Tá fáilte romhat, Albert! (You're welcome, Albert! )

Greetings, young Albert!

How does that old saying go? Oh, yea... Congrats, ma fée!

Thanks, buddy.

Cheers, bro.

It's way past my bedtime. Goodnight folks. I'll leave you with this, which was brought to my mind by Albert's earlier post about Cuba Libre...

Thanks, buddy.

Cheers, buddy.

Thanks, Val, but I am. If only because I'd already won this challenge three times out of the previous four. And there were several other members whose album this year would have been worthy winners. I'm almost considering not entering the next challenge, which is scheduled to start in September, if only to give someone else the chance of winning...

When I was trekking in Cuba about five years back one of the hotels we stayed in for a couple of nights (near the town of Trinidad) served free drinks to residents. I'll admit to getting somewhat drunk each night on Cuba Libre.

Well, I'm just out of the monthly camera club meeting (via Zoom) and one item on this month's agenda was the 52 out of 52 photo challenge I kept a number of you interested in with my weekly entries. And, guess what? Yep, my album was the winning one. You can view my winning album on Flickr if you want to at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/86156059@N00/albums/72157713744376123 (Click on any of the 52 thumbnails to see the larger version of it. Alternatively, if you look near the top right of the album screen you should see three buttons - the left one of these looks a bit like a TV, and clicking it will let you see the album as a sideshow.) I have told the club to make out the winning cheque to my favourite charity, Concern Worldwide, which is an Irish based international humanitarian organisation that strives for a world free from poverty, fear and oppression. I have supported them in various ways for around ten years now, and one of the main things that attracted them to me in the first place is that they are a purely secular organisation, which means that they are not offering their help to the world's poor as some way of trying to convert them to any religion. Unfortunately (in my opinion) many of the main Irish international charities are run by religious organisations, with their own agenda. This particular image was chosen by the judges as their favourite one from my album.

That would be a yes! Then if two people know, it's no longer a secret.

Does Albert know this secret as well?

Greetings, young Albert!

Were into drugs...? I still am!

Whenever I hear this word, I'm always reminded of Little Tim Maguire, who loved to play with fire.

But the real question is was she right? I don't tend to lose my head all that often these days. Of course, that may have something to do with me constantly listening to Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, and originally thinking the closing words were "keep your head" (although it's really "feed your head").

So tell me why you need Albert. (Or did I read that wrong?)

One of my Mam's favourite saying whenever any of us mislaid anything was: "It's a good job your head's screwed on tight. Or you'd lose that as well."

Is the adjective above referencing the politician or the state they represent, I wonder?

It's also National Clean Your Room Day...

Greetings, young Albert.