Jubilee weekend what's that?

We have realised that once you are retired, bank holiday weekends rather pass you by.  Down here they generally mean an inundation of tourists but, possibly because it has been so wet, we have not noticed many people about.  Although the local newspaper was full of information about events, especially Big Lunches and the lighting of bonfires, we have not seen much in our immediate area.

I can see this flag from my bedroom and I found one other cottage across the road that has bunting

but that is about it.  There have not been any street parties in this immediate area but I think that is partly because it is quite 'elderly'.  Probably just as well given how wet it has been.

Yesterday the weather actually cleared for a couple of hours and we were able to go for a short walk along the path that leads from Penzance to Marazion.  We began from Long Rock which is a very popular place for the locals to take their dogs to walk on the beach.

The path goes all the way from Penzance railway station to Marazion bounded on the right by the beach and on the left by the main railway line.  You have to be a bit careful as it is a shared path for pedestrians and cyclists and if you are walking you don't hear the cyclists because of the noise of the waves.  Mounts Bay and the Mount were looking glorious:

What really struck my was the great variety of flowers, not all of which were wild.  Here are some of the things I noticed.

Broom growing along the fence between the path and the railway line,

Sea thrift on the rocks.  This is more what I expect to see at this time of year.

Oilseed rape and umbelliferous plants.  There is an incredible amount of windblown rape this year although it is very late coming out.  There is more of it in the first photo.

I rather liked this evidence of rabbits living cheek by jowl with the trains.  Then there were some escaped garden plants.  I don't know what this is!

I think this is a member of the hollyhock family.  It certainly isn't originally a wildflower.

I am always on the lookout for more unusual photos when on this kind of walk and I rather liked this sign

which was on a very 'dead' hut.  There certainly hasn't been a lifeguard on this section of the beach for as long as I have known it.

The rest of the weekend I have managed to make some progress on my May journal quilt.  I began this as a second piece of hand stitched bojagi  using ramie.  I took it to Copenhagen but I didn't get very far.  On Sunday I sat and 'watched' the river pageant in the best stitcher's way i.e. with one eye on the TV and the other on the needle.  This side of the quilt is now finished but not quite the right size and I fear that when I come to trim it to size I am going to hit some seams.

While watching the St Pauls service this morning (not planned, I went to mark the Grayson Perry programme to record) I have started on the reverse side which is pojagi made of organza.

And my excuse for not getting this quilt finished sooner?  Well, at the beginning of this week I took delivery of my new iPad.  Having left my Kindle on the plane to Copenhagen I decided to upgrade.  I have bought a painting programme, got all my Kindle books on to it and made good use of iPlayer but it is going to be a steep learning curve, particularly as we are a PC family and I have been told to expect no help!