June in the garden

Love in the mist and patio

June border

Grapevine tamed

New bird table and vegetable boxes

Potting on.. plants for the borders by the new fence

rose and a shady corner

Exhibition coming up...

Landscapes in

Oil & Watercolour

Patricia Herlihy

26th May to 2nd June 2018
11.00am - 3.00pm

in the almshouses at

St Margaret's Chapel &
Royal Magdalene Almshouses

Magdalene Street, Glastonbury, Somerset

Waiting for Sunshine...

After such a hot early Bank Holiday, this May is all about trying to get on top of the weeds and seedlings. Planters now have onions, carrots, climbing french beans and strawberries. New fences are settling in, still some building work to be completed later in the summer. If last year was all about cutting back, clearing, repairing and reclaiming space and light in the garden; this year is the year of organising and planning...

forget-me-knot & geum

Cranesbill

Aquilegia

climbing rose & willow trellis

Herb Robert,

Hosta and lavender leaves

Box hedge knitting together

(note to self ~ pheasant eye Narcissus need forget-me-knot to grow through next year!)

Osteospermum and ground nettle

Scabious

Damage to irises from slugs and snails

Green border

top of the wall plants

Spring Garden Now...

It's always the way, the sunshine arrives and something manages to get in the way of a good bit of gardening... this time, I only have myself to blame, a sprained ankle is of no use when there's grass to mow and weeds to pull! Let's hope I'm up and running soon or it will be another year of taming a jungle again.

Bonsai happy 

Pollarded trees rejuvenating

Onions have now shot up in sudden warm weather...

Lots of soft green shoots

Lovely new fence to show off plants against

Blue sky days...

Double-barrelled water but...

Long tailed tit

Download & DVD Round-Up

The Cloverfield Paradox (15)

Director: Julius Onah

(Netflix)

The third of the Cloverfield movies, this is set on a space laboratory where a team of scientists are trying to solve the world's power crisis. What could possibly go wrong? Parallel universe theory gives the director a chance to play with some gory scenarios, interesting protagonist dynamics, grim humour and weird science. A disaster movie in horror movie clothing with an ensemble cast including: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, John Ortiz, Chris O'Dowd, Aksel Hennie, Ziyi Zang, Elizabeth Debicki and Roger Davies.

Three out of five stars
*****

Thor Ragnarok (12A)

Director: Taika Waititi

(Amazon)

The next Marvel instalment of superhero mayhem starts tying together the various franchises towards this summer's Avengers:Infinity War. Thor, Loki and The Hulk team up in an action packed brawl set across the Guardians of the Galaxy universe as Thor tries to save Asgard from a new enemy, his big sister Hera. A big, fun, brightly imagined slab of superheroness. Break out the popcorn and enjoy.

All star cast includes: Jeff Goldblum, Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Mark Ruffalo, Karl Urban, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson

Four out of five stars
*****

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (15)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

(Amazon)

Unfortunately this follow up to the first Kingsman fails to grow into anything particularly likeable which is a shame as the franchise could have become a teen Bond/The Avengers. What should have been smart, funny and slick gets weighed down by caricature and 70's vulgarity. The plot is psycho woman, holding world to ransom, gets arse kicked by man spies...

The cast includes: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore and Hannah Alström

Two out of five stars
*****

Altered Carbon ~ Season 1 (18)

Creator: Laeta Kalogridis

(Netflix)

A much anticipated adaptation of Richard K Morgan's cyberpunk book, this complicated dystopian sci-fi series places a digitally reanimated long-dead warrior in the body of a dead cop working the case of a rich man's murder to gain freedom from prison. The plot interweaves the main character's dual stories against a backdrop of sex and violence in a world where endless digital life has muted morality. Interesting and quirky enough fantasy to watch to the convoluted, bloody end. Cast includes: Joel Kinnaman, Will Yun Lee, James Purefoy, Martha Higareda, Chris Conner and Dichen Lachman.

Three out of five stars
*****

Travelers ~ Season 2 (15)

Creator: Brad Wright

(Netflix)

In this second series the team of intrepid mind-time-travelling specialists continue to save the world, beamed back in time and taking over the bodies and lives of a disparate group of people. They battle past and future foes in order to reshape the past to save the future. Set in the present, this series avoids overblown special effects and keeps the plot firmly human-centric. Cast includes: Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahmson, Reilly Dolman, Leah Cairns and Patrick Gilmore

Three out of five stars
*****

Star Trek Discovery (12)

Creators: Bryan Fuller & Alex Curtzman

(Amazon)

Star Trek Discovery boldly travels back in time to reboot this franchise with a prequel to the original mission. It also steps into uncharted space with Machiavellian main characters, violence and more torturous violence. The re-imagining of old foes, spaceships and Trek lore is curiously unbalanced for example, while the Klingons are unrecognisable, verbose and ready-wrapped in tinfoil, the Vulcans are unchanged. There is a plot twist to shake up and make sense of it all but it is far too late in the series. This new Star Trek series is fleshed out with some cute sideline crew stories and great female leads but it seems to want to both embrace and stomp on what has gone before. 

In an overcrowded fantasy/superhero market there was a chance to spearhead some space science backed with a bit of soul-searching and fast-thinking action. If there is a second series of this space opera, let's hope it tries to find a more hopeful vision, it doesn't have to be politically correct but it does need to be likeable.

Cast includes: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp and Mary Wiseman.

Two out of five stars
*****