Daffodils; They come this time of year in small bunches of tightly sealed buds, and I always say Cornish daffodils and think of the daffodil fields that slope down to the sea in Cornwall. First name to mind is Derek Tangye and his Minack Chronicles. That little ramshackle cottage with the cats and donkeys. There was a time when life was much simpler and Derek and his wife Jeannie took off from London and lived their self-sufficient life.
So I always welcome the daffodil for the first flower of the year, its unfurling in a vase and bright yellow colour. You can keep all those other brightly coloured flowers of the supermarket, the daffodil brings hope of Spring.
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The reason I snapped this picture, was the 'gurgling' water jug who look like he wants to snap a flower off. By the jugs side is honey from Cadiz, brought back a couple of weeks ago, and behind you see the Aga in all its splendid warmth.
Actually it is being kept low, as it is a great guzzler of gas, but we can toast on the hotplates and will probably use the slow oven for casseroles leaving them in all day.
Below is something I grabbed from Rebecca Solnit's book - ''The Mother of all Questions'' Being hopeful is the only thing we have to hold onto in this world, apart from making the changes needed.
My partner likes to quote a line of Michel Foucault: “People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don’t know is what what they do does.” You do what you can. What you’ve done may do more than you can imagine for generations to come. You plant a seed and a tree grows from it; will there be fruit, shade, habitat for birds, more seeds, a forest, wood to build a cradle or a house? You don’t know. A tree can live much longer than you. So will an idea, and sometimes the changes that result from accepting that new idea about what is true, right, just remake the world. You do what you can do; you do your best; what what you do does is not up to you.
The Mother of all questions - Rebecca Solnit
I have a fish like that too, although mine is smaller, I think. Mine is a decoration I found in a resale shop. Do you use yours as a pitcher? I never thought of mine as a water jug - just a decorative fish.
ReplyDeleteI liked that quote and it did make me think!
I broke the glass water jug the other day so we got the fish jug out. It glugs when you tip it Ellen.
DeleteI love that last paragraph Thelma Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit like a riddle, count the 'what' and 'do' does. You have to read it a couple of times to make sense of it Pat (I think).
DeleteI love that paragraph, and you have given me another book to look for! It IS food for thought. I despair over the state of the world, but ultimately know that there is little that I can do to change any of it. What good I can do, I do, and I will never know if it has helped this world in any way at all. I'd like to hope so.
ReplyDeleteAll complicated Debby. Solnit is a feminist, and the question 'The Mother of all Questions' refers to her refusal to answer to why she did not have children, it is not any bodies business. She also wrote a book on 'mansplaining'. The funny thing was when talking with a female and male friend, the male talked over her about this book he had read which explained everything. Solnit's friend broke in, and told him that Solnit had actually written the book.
DeleteOh, how funny!
DeleteI re-read the Tangye books several years ago--of course for me the cats are the main characters. Daffodils have naturalized here [Kentucky, USA] in great swaths along roadsides and in edges of pastures. There are so many I marvel at how they might have come into being where they are. Buds are already showing yellow but they will be frost-blighted several times before it is warm enough for a real show.
ReplyDeleteWell Wordsworth summed it up Sharon, "A host of golden daffodils", not sure how native they are to this country, but always in Bath they would line the verges thickly, once the bulbs had been planted.
ReplyDelete