Purslane and poems

Another gloomy and wet day. Spent some time this morning getting ready for the first u3a Poetry Group meeting this afternoon. The theme was Highdays and Holidays and I picked out 'Halloween is nearly here' by Kenn Nesbit and 'Holidays' by Longfellow. I also wrote a few limericks as I usually do, just to lower the tone a little! This is one of them, vaguely on the subject of 'Holidays'! 

A hot Christmas Day in Atlanta
Proved a problem for jolly old Santa.
To his gloomy dismay,
The load on his sleigh
Was just ice cubes and bottles of Fanta!

There were only six folk there, but I think a good time was had by all.

On the way back I popped in to the Walled Garden at Glencruitten in the hope that there might be something to pick, but the peas were all dead and only a few flowers on the runner beans of which very few had made it up the poles. Very odd. The potato haulms disappeared a couple of months ago and I'm not sure to bother to dig in the hope of finding a few. Maybe I'll have a go next time we have a dry day!

My Blip today is of the succulents which I rooted from the garden where we stayed in the Isle of Man back in the spring. Shh - don't tell them! The purslane in front is one that I later bought, but I can't remember the cultivar name at the moment. 

Quote of the Day: 'Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.' - Samuel Johnson.