Approaching storms?

http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en

There are storms currently over southern Belgium. These are moving NNE at present. If they reach the UK, I suspect they will not reach us here in Burwell. It will be several hours before I can be sure though.

Kent grandchildren

For the next few days we have our "Kent" grandchildren staying here with their mum and dad. They are very little.

The elder one (now 5) is being sat upon by his 2 year old sister. He enjoyed picking a pile of blackberries with granny from a local hedge.





Here they are sitting on the garden bench enjoying grapes. Our granddaughter loves grapes!

Storms

It looks like the storms that were threatening us have now moved away.  Although there was a lightning flash at Earith, west of Haddenhan, the main centre of storms is now tracking north up the North Sea past Yorkshire. May be we'll be spared today. There is another down near Cheltenham which may be moving this way.

See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en .#

At the moment, it is raining very heavily.

UPDATE 1945z:  Storms that were threatening us have died out, for now.

UPDATE 2012z:  Main storms are in the northern North Sea and in the Heligoland area.

Gaza - more dead

"Some 1,655 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 63 Israelis, mainly soldiers, have died in the conflict."

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28619418 .  The needless bloodshedding goes on. When will it end?

I read yesterday that the real motive for the fighting is the Leviathan natural gas fields off Gaza that Israel has its eyes on. Israel does not like to think revenues from this going to Hamas to fund terrorism. This I can understand. The answers must surely be a just peace, an end to Hamas leading Gaza and some sort of sharing in the gas field? Whatever, I hope the Palestinians are treated fairly and justly. They have suffered more than enough from Israel backed by the west.

Ebola - spreading?

WHO officials are worried that the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa may not be contained and may spread further. Ebola kills more than half the people who develop it.

See http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-guinea-ebola--20140801-story.html .

Post brain bleed walk today

Today we walked to a friends' house, a 2.62km round trip. This equals my longest walk to date (since the stroke) but this was without holding on to anyone and without any walking aids. Walking is getting better.  I still feel giddy when walking, but even this must be improving oh so slowly.

Distance was measured using the GPS app (My Tracks) on my Android Samsung S4 mini smartphone. The GPS seems to work impressively well when out in a top shirt pocket.

Sweet peas

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/Advice/ACEImages//RHS_WSYD0003866_590944.jpg

For the first time in many years, my wife decided to grow some sweet peas. These smell beautifully and make excellent, if short-lived, cut flowers. This year, because of my poor health, most of the flower beds have been done and maintained by my wife Lis. She has done a great job.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Cosmos_na_Mostra_de_Flor_de_Hong_Kong.JPG/220px-Cosmos_na_Mostra_de_Flor_de_Hong_Kong.JPG

Her cosmos have also been excellent. We probably have the most colourful garden in the street.

Both images above are located on other sites. The links to them are shown below each image. If this is a problem (copyright etc) please let me know. 

Our sweet peas