The Changing Seasons – July 2020

This challenge is hosted by Su from Zimmerbitch. You can find out how to participate at the end of this post!

I am not going to dwell on the pandemic or the behaviour of stupid selfish people this month. I am heartily sick of both.

So July started with a welcome week off work. Things had been pretty full-on since returning in Mayand needed a change of pace. That said, I started the repot of my bulb collection. I used to do this annually but the sheer amount of work involved made me drop it to every two years. This is still a challenge so this time I have massively reduced the collection and posted a lot of plants off to friends. I have managed to get about 2/3rds of the collection done and hope to do the last bits during weekends so that my next week off (late August) I can relax and do creative things.

So here is the greenhouse looking quite tidy after repotting has moved on from here.

There are some flowers and other signs of life at the far end though:

Conophytum bilobum – an odd form with red anther filaments

Conophytum bolusiae, flowering through completely dormant bodies.

First bulbs showing signs of life at the end of summer dormancy – Strumaria aestivalis

A cactus – Gymnocalycium ragonesei

Outside on the raised bed, the lovely pink ‘dandelions’ of Crepis incana are at their best in early July:

Crepis incana

Somewhat smaller is Campanula raineri. This is a magnet for slugs and hates our wet winters, so this might be its last hurrah!

I have two lovely friends who share the same name – Sarah.

Firstly, my work friend Sarah ‘paid’ me for doing the guinea pig drawing I showed last month:

Then my WP buddy and collaborator – Sarah from Art Expedition sent a lovely card whose words really touched me. Thank you Sarah.

Speaking of matters creative. My Instagram followers have already seen this finished drawing:

But the process was fun too. I like this punk rock stage:

I got to use my creativity at work too, taking lab photos for our publicity, this instrument is not modern enough to boast about but I think it looks way cooler than modern sleek featureless boxes. The plumbing above the white circular thing in the middle was my own invention/addition from around 1998. The instrument itself is at least a decade older and my colleague Helen saw one in the Manchester Science Museum a year or two ago! We are certain it is the last one functioning in the world as only a few were made by a man last heard of selling insurance! I have not used this thing since 2006 but can still operate it well enough to troubleshoot if Helen has issues with it.

Finally. The last week of July saw some devastating news. My department head, Professor Richard Shore, died suddenly on Tuesday 28th. He was a world renowned ecotoxicologist, a great manager and a lovely, kind, person with a great sense of humour. I liked and respected him immensely.

We are very sorry to report that Professor Richard Shore died suddenly on Tuesday 28 July. We are all so shocked and saddened at losing Richard. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/zbnGxRRBqo

— UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (@UK_CEH) July 29, 2020

If you would like to join in, here are the challenge guidelines:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic):

• Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
• Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

• Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
• Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
• Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them.

If you do a ping-back to Su’s original post, she can update hers with links to all of yours.