[fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="yes" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="https://www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Itoh-Peony-Pastel-Splendor-003-Wm.jpeg" background_position="left center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="fixed" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="100px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="600px 0px 0px 0px" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_fontawesome icon="fa-angle-down" size="40px" flip="" rotate="" spin="no" alignment="center" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" circle="no" iconcolor="" circlecolor="" circlebordercolor="" animation_type="" animation_direction="down" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset="" /][fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="50px" border_size="" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="50px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_title margin_top="100px" margin_bottom="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" size="2" content_align="center" style_type="none" sep_color=""] What Can I Say..? [/fusion_title][fusion_separator style_type="single solid" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="#8bc34a" top_margin="0px" bottom_margin="20px" border_size="2" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="30px" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text] ..Firstly that I've been totally overwhelmed by your response to the previous post and deeply touched by all the thoughts contained in the comments and personal messages that I've received. It's quite humbling to realise that rusty duck occupies a special place in so many more hearts than just mine. It was a tough enough decision before I read your comments. But now.. If you'll forgive me, rather than respond to each comment individually as I normally would I'll pick up the main points here. Yes I can try out a schedule with fewer posts. What I propose then is to post when there is something significant to say rather than be tied to the ritual of memes and my previous self imposed target of two posts a week (epic fail!). There will still be blooms, of course there will, just maybe not on Bloom Day. The End of Month View was mentioned a couple of times so I'll aim to include some of those. Can we see how that goes? I will need to keep the social networks going as many people access the blog from there. But I probably don't need five. As the rain has been pouring down this morning, making gardening impossible, I've been researching tools. Not the sort that overflow from Mike's toy box with an increasing array of unfailingly irritating noise. No, internet tools. The sort that are supposed to streamline one's online life. There are a couple, Buffer and Hootsuite, which allegedly help with posting to social media including Instagram. For anyone with the same problem as me this is how it works. Both of these (free) applications allow us to compose an Instagram post on a desktop computer, lifting the photo direct from the hard drive which is where all mine are saved from the camera. Once you've finished composing the post the whole thing is sent to your phone or tablet, by wire in my case but no doubt bluetooth works just as well. From the phone or tablet post straight to Instagram with little additional work. A workaround maybe, but slightly less of a faff. At the last count there were 765 unread posts on my Feedly reader. Eeep. I'll draw a line under these if I may and start again. I'll continue to keep up with your posts as much as I can, I do enjoy them. But please bear with me, especially in the short term, it may still take a while to catch up. And now, if you'll excuse me, there's a chap coming round to see about ripping out the bathroom and I have much research still to do on pop-up wastes. Until next time.. And thank you. Jessica x [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

[fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="yes" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="https://www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Paeonia-mlokosewitschii-001-Wm.jpeg" background_position="right center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="fixed" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="100px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="600px 0px 0px 0px" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_fontawesome icon="fa-angle-down" size="40px" flip="" rotate="" spin="no" alignment="center" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" circle="no" iconcolor="" circlecolor="" circlebordercolor="" animation_type="" animation_direction="down" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset="" /][fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="50px" border_size="" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="50px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_title margin_top="100px" margin_bottom="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" size="2" content_align="center" style_type="none" sep_color=""] Bloggus Interruptus [/fusion_title][fusion_separator style_type="single solid" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="#8bc34a" top_margin="0px" bottom_margin="20px" border_size="2" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="30px" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text] Above, Paeonia mlokosewitschii 'Molly The Witch' to you and me.. There follows a short blogging break. No jetting off to exciting places, sadly. Just terribly behind with everything and struggling to catch up.. Back soon, be good x [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

[fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="yes" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="https://www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Pots-Ducks-002-Wm.jpg" background_position="right top" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="fixed" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="100px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="600px 0px 0px 0px" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_fontawesome icon="fa-angle-down" size="40px" flip="" rotate="" spin="no" alignment="center" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" circle="no" iconcolor="" circlecolor="" circlebordercolor="" animation_type="" animation_direction="down" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset="" /][fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="50px" border_size="" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="50px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_title margin_top="100px" margin_bottom="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" size="2" content_align="center" style_type="none" sep_color=""] A Short Break [/fusion_title][fusion_separator style_type="single solid" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="#8bc34a" top_margin="0px" bottom_margin="20px" border_size="2" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="30px" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text] The ducks, tucked up for winter Many thanks for all of your comments on the previous post, it's great to know that the subscriber emails made it through. Fingers crossed that whatever problem existed has now been resolved. It was wonderful to hear from so many readers for the first time, lovely to meet you all and a warm welcome on board! Things are getting a tad hectic chez rusty duck. I've a deadline to get the bedroom (plus collateral damage) into some sort of order in time to draw breath before You Know What at the end of the year. Festive displays everywhere I go and the sudden deluge of 'Get Your Gifts Here' emails serve to remind that I'm rapidly running out of time. A pleasant day outside in the garden photographing for Bloom Day? Nope. On my hands and knees scrubbing the floorboards in preparation for liming. I've started using the liming wax now. And Mike has been retouching the emulsion paint on the kitchen walls. Between us the place smells like a chemical factory. Hey Ho. There'll be a short blogging intermission while we set to and get everything done. Back soon, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Damn it, those squirrels get everywhere. J x [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

[fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="yes" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="https://www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Mouse0-Wm.jpg" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="fixed" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="100px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="600px 0px 0px 0px" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_fontawesome icon="fa-angle-down" size="40px" flip="" rotate="" spin="no" alignment="center" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" circle="no" iconcolor="" circlecolor="" circlebordercolor="" animation_type="" animation_direction="down" animation_speed="0.1" animation_offset="" /][fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="50px" border_size="" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="50px" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_title margin_top="100px" margin_bottom="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" size="2" content_align="center" style_type="none" sep_color=""] Testing.. [/fusion_title][fusion_separator style_type="single solid" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="#8bc34a" top_margin="0px" bottom_margin="20px" border_size="2" icon="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="30px" alignment="center" /][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text] I'm hoping that the recent problem with new post notifications to rusty duck subscribers might have been fixed. If it has you should have received this post via the 'official' email from WordPress. Can I have half a dozen yes's (or even hallelujahs) in the comment box if it did get through? Many thanks, J. [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]