Saturday, April 25, 2020

Pottering

      
  And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
Gerald Manley Hopkins






It is that time of year, I cannot go to a wood covered in bluebells for two reasons, one because my heart would break without Paul, the other of course is leaving home in this time of stay-at-home.  Somewhere years ago I wrote about the bluebell, nonscriptus, but it has vanished, and each year I fall once more in love with this magical moment of extreme blueness......
But there are a trace of bluebells in the garden, they raise their stubborn heads in the lawn and over the road in the verge there is a strong clump of their dark blue flowers, telling of long ago when once this area was woodland.  The above come from Blake's Wood, Essex.
Well somewhere I had written about them but can't find the blog.  Grigson gives the Latin name Endymion nonscriptus which has fallen out of fashion now and there is a new name.
And to quote Hopkins once more "In falls of sky- colour washing the brows and slacks of the ground with vein blue".  They are often seen as blue harebells in the middle ages. And even Shakespeare mentions them.  It is difficult to describe the effect this flower has on the psyche of the British people, it is the massed blue ranks of their sweet smelling flowers  amongst the shaded area of the woods they grow in.  Then they are gone and summer is on its way.

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I came across this old blog as well with Yeat's poem in it, it captures the history we walk over every time we walk anywhere.














8 comments:

  1. Lovely post Thelma - glimpses of what our countryside is like - all still there even if we can't go and look at it. One day we will all be back to normal. Keep safe....

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    1. Nature follows a predictive pattern and it is interesting to see what I have written a few years ago, and of course the ability to find answers in one's own blog ;)

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  2. I love seeing the fields of bluebells here but don't think I will be able to see them this year. Like you, I am staying close to home. These photos help me remember their beauty! Thanks.

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    1. I think the best are to be found in Wiltshire, West Woods near Marlborough, a glowing mass of deep colour.

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  3. Lovely pictures. It's so different down here in the desert where tomorrow it will likely go over 100F for the first time this year

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  4. I can hardly contemplate a 100F temperature Rain but the desert has its own magic I am sure. The bluebells above come from a wood in Essex.

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  5. Your post reminds me that the bluebells in our nearby Ecclesall Woods will probably be fully out now - in all their subtle, hazy glory. You have inspired me to go there for a stroll about - knowing that it is almost impossible to capture their loveliness with a camera. I know, because I have tried so often.

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  6. There is also some rock art in Ecclesall Woods I believe. Must come and look at your photographs.

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