Sweet Chestnut
Sara-Jane arranged to have a chestnut tree planted in Ampthill Great park. It's a small sapling at the moment but it will live and grow for hundreds of years, and the mature ones that surround it are majestic. We all played a part in the planting (Peter, SJ, Jack and Susan) and on what was a cold and windy day, the sun came out and shone on the tree while it was being planted. Especially poignant since the plaque includes lines from Sara-Jane's song You Mean the World to Me that read "You'll always be my only guiding light".
A beautiful place to visit, as Diego and Cooper (see photos) would testify. It has featured in our lives and our various dogs' lives since the 1970s.
Naughty Bunnies
When visiting the churchyard this week, Sara-Jane noticed some suspicious holes close to Jacqueline's 'flower garden' arrangement, that was looking a little sparser than it had been. Closer inspection suggested that the creature that had made the holes preferred
pansies to snowdrops, forget-me-nots, gerberas or daffodils. A Google search later... rabbits love pansies! And Mum liked rabbits (and pansies), so we're sure she doesn't mind.
The tree is growing beautifully!
Sara-Jane took these photos of Mum's tree this summer. She said it's actually growing better than it's neighbours! (Interesting fact: the sapling was provided to Ampthill Park by the same nursery that provided the trees for the live sculpture for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee! Royal connections!)
Marking what was always our favourite day of the year
3rd August
It was lovely and comforting to see all the flowers and cards.
Forget-Me-Nots
Thank you so much to Mum's best friend Paul (Pauline!) for sending these photos of the flowers that grew from the little envelope we handed out at the service in February. From 'Auntie Pauline' as we still call her: " I look at the flowers out of my window and think of your Mum, but then I think of her all the time."
