Birthday Greetings to a Forumist

[Paul T]

Maggi,

Nope, just making sure everything was clear.  I didn't want to find out that you were 108 and that you were only approaching 1900 not 2000 years of age!!    I like to try for SOME precision!! 

Of course Anthony has admitted that all this applies to HIM as well, so you're not alone in your advancing age!!!!! 

I think I'd better run now!! 

[mark smyth]

Happy birthday

I think Ian shoul give you your own wee patch to plant whatever you want!!

[Lesley Cox]

You could make a coffee and sugar syrup and pour it over Maggi.

A million best wishes from me too. I also know how nice it is to have calls from Thomas and Otto. So pleased they both phoned you.

[Maggi Young]

Lesley, great idea about the coffee  and sugar syrup....or... I could munch it with maple syrup... Ian would like that better, he is no fan of coffee in any form
It was pure delight to hear from Thomas and Otto, I was just tickled pink!

Mark.... I am lucky to have my rhododendrons.... he IS the BULB DESPOT, after all! If our weather changes a bit more then I may be able to persuade him onto the path of more Irids....I think he is still smarting from the loss of all our Iris species when we destroyed them all because of virus... it WAS horrible to lose them.

[Brian Ellis]

she always made me a coffee cake for my birthday, then she and I  would scoff the lot... no-one else is very keen on coffee cake here!!

Well I'm quite happy to volounteer to take her slice - it's our favourite, with Walnuts of course.

[Maggi Young]

Young Darren Sleep turns 41 today... birthday greetings, Darren!

[Hans J]

Hi Darren ,

Happy Birthday from me too !

Greetings
Hans

[Darren]

Thank you Maggi and Hans,
                         Another year older in body but still regressing mentally.
I've just taken delivery at work of some (non-alpine) flowers from Susan. I've also had a birthday e-mail from Thomas Huber. And i see an-e-card has just arrived from yourself and the forum. My lunch break is shaping up very nicely today!
We are training up some new staff at work today, three young ladies in their early twenties, and they are making us more mature members of the section feel positively ancient.
Thomas has reminded me that I have been absent from the forum for quite some time. Unfortunately we still do not have web access at home and i'm still not taking many breaks at work (hopefully the three young ladies will help with this situation). My apologies!
Susan and I have just returned from Scotland, where we visited Orkney again and saw Primula scotica in flower for the first time (there may be pictures eventually). We also callled in at the Explorers Garden in Pitlochry and met up with Julia briefly. Of course we are also coming to the discussion weekend in just a few weeks too! I'm hoping to enter the show this time and hope the planned vegetation in question co-operates with regard to timing.
At home we are about to finish the patio area and are also installing a green roof on our dining room extension. I hope that we can be a bit more imaginative with planting than a few square yards of sedum acre, nice though it is.

Hope I'm back soon....

Darren.

[David Shaw]

Happy birthday, Darren. I was 41 (once) but it seems like a distant memory.
When were you in Orkney, we returned from a couple of days there last night. Unfortunatley we didn't manage to find P. scotica this time partly because we lost time due to the outward ferry being cancelled due to the gales. Also, we were perhaps just too late for it in mid-August.
See you in October.

[Paul T]

Happy Birthday Darren!!  Congrats!! 

[Anthony Darby]

I've decided I'm not aging - just marinating.

[Darren]

Thanks again all of you.

David - we came back from Orkney on August 4th. The weather wasn't fantastic for us either but was largely OK. We saw the primula on the 3rd at Yesnaby. There may well have been a few flowers still open last week but Yesnaby is no place to be in a gale - and the primula grows within a few metres of the cliffs!

[Darren]

Further to my last note for those who wish to look for it- primula scotica has it's main flowering in April-May as you would expect but, like many plants, has a second attempt in late summer. We caught the second flush. It was growing with lots of tiny frog orchid and thousands of Parnassia palustris in peak flower. Scilla verna was in ripe seed. We have looked for the primula before in late may/early june with no success as we were between flowerings.

[David Shaw]

We had to make the choice between Yesnaby and Skara Brae and decided Skara Brae was more important to us. We hoped that we might see some primulas whilst walking along the shore and cliffs there but did not find any.

[Lesley Cox]

Happy birthday Darren, from the lower half as well.

I think Anthony is getting marinating mixed up with pickling. To marinate, you pour the liquid over (whisky is a very good marinade for some things) but with pickling it's taken internally.