Ribes

Or flowering redcurrant of course!

This shrub sits back against one of our fences, and is looking particularly lovely now that the raspberry shaped cerise flowers are beginning to burst open! You can easily tell it is part of the red currant family by its leaves, they are the same as hubs redcurrant bush :-)

This is a quick garden blip today, as part of https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2028028600032169003 Flower Friday.

We are busy busy today getting everything sorted for our trip down south tomorrow to see hubs sis and family for a few days.

We are all looking forward to Tuesday as we will be meeting up in Southampton with friends from the USA who are bringing their own families for a visit. They are staying in London for a few days and taking the train to meet us. The last time hub and his sis saw these two friends (also brother and sister) was when they were in their mid/late teens, they are now mid/late forties, with their own children and hub and his sis are 60ish!

The story goes back a long way to the start of the Second World War......hubs mum was in her early teens and wanted to do her bit, so wrote off to be a pen friend to someone from across the pond. The letter she received was from a younger girl (age 10) called Virginia (Ginger) and a little reluctantly because of the age gap, Mum wrote back, and there started a friendship that lasted almost 70 years. Both grew up, married, had children, and went on to meet up, several times, both in the US and UK, all the time continuing to write to each other regularly throughout their lives.

Sadly both Mum and Ginger, and respective Dads are no longer with us, but I am sure that all four will be smiling down on their children come Tuesday :-)