Banjo pluckin’

Earl Scruggs died today. He was an amazing banjo player. He played banjo on the theme tune for The Beverly Hillbillies along with Lester Flatt who, together, formed the Foggy Mountain Boys.

Earl was born in 1924 and popularised the three fingered banjo picking style which is what makes bluegrass music sound the way it does. He was so influential it became known as the Scruggs Style.

Here’s a great bit of plucking from a few performers I’m not going to bother mentioning.

UPDATE 2023: Clearly the makers of the video don’t want anyone to see it thereby excluding their audience. I have subsequently changed the above sentence to reflect this.

Apart from thinking about bluegrass and hillbillies, I spent quite a bit of time in the garden today. I actually mowed the lawn – the first time since I broke my wrist. To be fair, it didn’t really need a mow until last week as it was settling down from the path but, even so, it was pretty lush. It now looks much better.

I also weeded then dumped a whole load of horse manure on the hot bed to give it a good feed. The day was hot and sunny so it was no problem working in it.

Speaking of which, yesterday Mirinda and I had lunch in Canary Wharf and had a lovely walk around in the sun. The whole place looked sparkly and new. Lots of people were out enjoying it, even the joggers, who normally look like they’re pushing the agony barrier.

Of course we saw lots of birds. These were my favourites. I think they’re Egyptian geese. They look like someone has pushed all their feathers up to their heads. They were involved in a bit of argy bargy and looked for all the world as if one wanted to pass the other but was refusing to move out of the way. Given they were in the middle of a huge basin of water, this was a bit silly.

We also watched a pair of coots adding building material to their nest aboard the Tern Raft. The male gave his mate this long bit of twig but she wasn’t too certain. She also threw other bits off, which he’d take away for her. I reckoned he would then bring the same bit back, telling her it was a different twig.

I like all the rubbish they’ve collected for the nest. And the little shrub they’ve planted for a bit of shade. Here’s their view back up the marina.

We watched them for quite a while, before heading off for lunch at our favourite Lebanese restaurant. This weather is really spoiling us.