Wednesday

Sod Spammers: took me about ten minutes to clear all of my blogs.  Now do they think anyone is going to click on them?  This one, not sure whether the language is Chinese or Japanese is fairly persistent, I notice our Indian spammer has mooched off elsewhere.  No I am not in need of escorts ;)

What was exciting yesterday.... as I drove into the drive and stopped the car a young song thrush landed on the bonnet.  We all looked at each other rather bemused until it gathered his wits together and flew off with another one.  That morning looking out of the window I had seen, at first I thought a green woodpecker but it was rather gray.  Then realised it was the Mistle thrush, a much larger version of the Song thrush, later on in the church yard there were two Mistle thrushes, again one of them must have been a young one.  Since we have been here both these birds breed either in our long fence with ivy/virginia creepers that stretches and bounds everywhere.  Home to the noisy sparrows it will have many nests.  Or, in the great yews in the church yard, we know they are there because of the battles that take place between them and the crows.

So though we are missing the swallows we do have our thrushes returning home to breed.

The mistle thrush, which is the largest thrush at 11 inches long.

The song thrush

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/country-life/folklore-mistle-thrush-66404

Both photos are from the internet, the Song thrush sounds lovely in the evening, but I am not sure I have heard the Mistle thrush, called thus because the bird eats mistletoe berries.

Tuesday and what this day brings

Well it is another trip, and another test at York hospital today, and I am desperately hoping the rain keeps off.  Tomorrow is a gardening monthly visit to Scarborough Cemetery to see the work in this large park but I am not going if it rains.

But things that keep me happy, new potatoes grown in bags...

And then there are the roses, with ceonanthus and mock orange breaking flower, and roses put on their show.

But facebook occasionally puts forward old photos you have uploaded, and suddenly there are the Essex photos.  Bluebells, the river and of course the old Cats pub in Woodham Walter, wonder if it is still going?  I am quite happy to find these photos, my old external hard drive refuses to work.

New Word;  Speaning

Thoughts on monday

Hubble-bubble pipe or hookah

When I was a child we had one of these in the house, I always thought it was for opium smoking but no it was for the use of flavoured tobacco smoking!  It fascinated us as children as did the big brass Russian samovar.

Well not mixing politics with drugs, I shall only mention Gove in passing.  Why? because I believe that the moral laws of yesterday are somewhat different to the more modern morals of today.

Over the weekend my grand daughter went to a music festival, she is a sensible, intelligent girl, but then thoughts of Ecstasy and its sometimes fatal end, and or spiked drinks and we all get worried, especially her mother.  But as we know we all go through 'rites of passage'.

The question that went through my mind though was, are drugs a 'class' problem? Ask on that Google and you will get Sajid Javid making claims against Gove for obvious political reasons.

There is a forum I read on which someone who seems to be on a high most of the time with his gibberish talk frustrates any sane comments, note I said forum not blogs ;)

To be honest I have never taken drugs, never wanted to or was interested in them, my cousin brought back from squats in London, inlaid with grime and  his face a green pallor that was my antidote. He was also brought back from India, the 'in' place to be in the 60s. The family cared.

Paul after leaving art school, made his way to Japan to study there. On his arrival standing on Tokyo station late at night waiting for a non-existent sleeper train, he was rescued by a night worker, who phoned the police, who came and took him to a hostel.  His life panned out differently in another country but drugs were not on the menu, neither was much else as he lived in poverty for a while.

So are 'recreational' drugs bad? As we know the question divides into two, the problem of the user and their reactions, and the problem of the people who sell drugs and live in a criminal world.

p.s. A facebook message flashes on my screen, "Matilda arrived home 11.30 last night and is now sleeping it out on the sofa"... all is well that ends well.

Sunday

Trooping of the colours: Though not an immediate fan of the Royal family, I am glad we have one, the Queen is the solid backbone of this country, and her birthday celebrations are fabulously colourful.  Out comes the  coaches, the splendid red coated soldiers with their glittering swords, and most of all I enjoy the sleek black horses as they parade round.  But best of all the two drum horses, belonging to the Queen and having the title of Major.

Do we love our animals too much? maybe but for a moment we take the 'jewels' amassed over centuries out of the cupboard and put them on display.  Trump never got a look in on this over the top display, he never got the crowds the Queen draws and he will never get the love and respect shown to her....

Whenever I write I am always aware of the history that lies behind everything in this small country, the wars so bitterly fought for power.  The poverty that hounded many people through the Victorian era, and the slow rise of equality, now of course, receding fast under the tide of capitalism.

We are watching the world shift, like the great continental masses that grind together mysteriously under the sea, Russia and China maybe becoming uneasy bedmates, or perhaps Europe will hinge itself on to Russia.  It is a vast game of chess, who will win?  America withdraws into itself, and all the machinations of Brexit will not convince me that America will be our saviour in the form of privatisation that happens there.  When you construct a world for the rich, the poor have to suffer.

So I shall get back to horses, one of the drum horses was a milkman's horse in Edinburgh.  The Queen saw it and it was bought for the prestigious role of drum horse.

The Blind Harper by Kate Rusby.

Continuing temptation

Lead us not into temptation;  That brought up a memory, in my late teens I read a lot and rather than Tolstoy I read Dostoevsky.  There is a chapter in 'The Brothers Karamazov' the chapter may even have been called Auto-da-fe, the burning of heretics by the Catholic church.  The story is told here, basically Jesus has wandered into a city and been captured ready to be burnt.  The Grand Inquisitor though admonishes him for not giving way to the devil on the Mount, it would have been so much easier for the church......

 "Jesus begins performing miracles, and people recognize him for who he is—and he’s arrested, of course, by the Inquisitors, who sentence him to be burned to death.

The night before his sentence, the Grand Inquisitor visits Jesus in his cell. Jesus doesn’t speak, but the Grand Inquisitor speaks to him at length about how the church doesn’t really need Jesus anymore. And that, frankly, his return at this point is just disruptive to the overall meaning of the church. In other words, the Grand Inquisitor says that the church’s mission in preaching Jesus has become more important than Jesus himself."

Somehow this prose has resonated in many minds, the abduction perhaps of a good person in Jesus by the church and then manipulated for the purpose of power.  It must never be forgotten that the church ruled with fear and persecution, those powers are long gone.  But stop and look at the stonework of any church, or those faded paintings at Pickering church on the wall, and you realise they are there to strike terror in your heart.  Hell is a vivid image, now we play with vampires and gothic tales in our stories but in the middle ages it was a real story.  Except for the few that questioned it, but their fate was death. 

Pedro Burrugete - Saint Dominic presiding over an Auto-da-fe in the 12th century

We may well question his sainthood.  I have never looked for the saints of the Catholic church, my interest has always been in those early men of the Celtic church.  They wandered lonely with their bell and stick turning the population away from paganism towards Christianity.  The first letter that  Gregory The Great wrote in 596 AD from Rome to England, was tempered with a prudent hand...

Letter from Gregory taken to England by Mellitus;

When almighty god has brought you to our most reverend brother Bishop Augustine, tell him what I have decided after long deliberation about the English people, namely that the idol temples (fana idolurum) of that race should by no means be destroyed, but the idols in them. Take holy water and sprinkle it in these shrines, build altars and place relics in them. For if the shrines are well built, it is essential that they should be changed from the worship of devils (cultu daemonum) to the service of the true god. When these people see that their shrines are not destroyed they will be able to banish error from their hearts and be more ready to come to the places thaey are familar with, but now recognizing and worshipping the true god.

It is strange how  one sentence can bring back memories so quickly, but The Church has a lot to answer for today as well as yesterday.

Friday 7th June

Doctors and vets yesterday, hospital today, life takes on a different perspective.  Paul is doing alright, tired a lot of the time but he even went out in the garden yesterday and swept the stones away on the path, the bantams just love scattering stuff.

I took Lucy to the big new glass fronted vets yesterday, and a very efficient vet examined her, she had a high temperature, and then he took a blood sample, analysised in 20 minutes.  It seems she has a liver infection, not too serious but requiring a fair amount of pills and another blood test in a fortnight's time to see how she is recovering.  Thank goodness for all the new equipment the vets have invested in.  So have I of course, bills don't come cheap, though I do have insurance.

Lucy herself sleeps a lot, tends to throw her bowl of food all over the kitchen floor, but eats some of it eventually, she is a diva of high order with her mischief making and on the whole is still cheerful when teasing us.  Then there is of course all that yummy ice cream that hides pills, will have to invest in some more, perhaps to go with the strawberries that are on sale down at the smallholding in Sinnington.

As an ex-Catholic convent girl, the Pope latest pronouncement made me laugh,

'Do not lead us into temptation'. Is the one I shall always remember, Hail Mary escaped the purge as did 'I believe in God, the father almighty'.  Both of which learnt by heart, one, repeated with rosary beads. The sad fact is all through my formative years I never believed in God.  And as I look at that latest naive updating by the Pope, I despair.  Apparently it was a bad translation from the beginning. 

"The Pope has previously told Italian TV that the new translation was already being used by the Catholic Church because the original translation implies God leads humans to sin.

"Do not let me fall into temptation because it is I who fall, it is not God who throws me into temptation and then sees how I fell," he told TV2000, an Italian Catholic TV channel in 2017.

"A father does not do that, a father helps you to get up immediately."

A line in The Gloria will also change in the third edition from “Peace on earth to people of good will” to “Peace on Earth to people beloved by God.”

The weather is good for the moment, the garden looks perfect and there are three sweet fledgling sparrows harassing their mother for food.  The world is alive with the newly fledged young, whether they be sparrows or crows.

Just photos

Looking over into the spinney. I love the draped effect, of I think is a larch.  The sun catches it early on in the morning

A pot of nasturtiums with sweet peas intermingled,  between my pots of runner beans, which are just beginning to flower

Sweet Rocket, Dame's Violet, Hesperis Matronalis.  Who would not be in love with flower names

The other side of life

Larry, chief mouser at No.10 has been providing fun again, he parked himself under 'The Beast' the reinforced car Trump is using as he faces a somewhat hostile Britain.  Did Larry present a 'security risk'? Probably not but he introduced a grin here or there.

And then, the campaigners 'Led By Donkeys', revealing who they were last week, their poster campaign is an antidote to tweeting... A few years back, British humour was sarky, ironic and very funny, one day we will pick up that thread and run with it.  But as we all hold our heads in despair over the present set of politicians, remember everything goes away with time, even Trump.
In fact Larry was lucky that no American security shot him, but then animal loving british people would never ever forgive that man ;).  Notice how Trump backtracks on the NHS yesterday, don't believe him!

Led by Donkeys poster campaign

Monday 3rd June

Should call this nature notes! But before I go travelling in the garden a Paul update. He has lost that pallor which so worried me and regaining his appetite and even has stopped sleeping so much, so there are signs of a slow recovery.

Last night we watched on Netflix 'A Hundred Foot Journey,' about an Indian familiy's restaurant and a French restaurant with Helen Mirren and Manish Dayal.  Well I won't give a Rachel film review, but it was HAPPY and everyone finished up with the right people.  And though I am not really into fusion cooking, squiggles on a plate for goodness sake, the gentle touches of spices to French cooking seemed to work.

The weather remains cool, but surprises come out of the blue, did I sow Sweet Rocket last year, well it certainly has appeared alongside the verbascum's dark blooms.  The squirrels, there are two, are performing acrobats for food, though I notice there are a lot of fir cones on the tree in the spinney which should provide enough winter food.

The crows and jackdaws feasting on the seeds and pushing out the smaller sparrows and doves.  My two bantams are both broody and have to be put out on the grass for the day, but more often than not they go off and have a dust bath in the potato bed.

Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs are cute but are sharply on the decline in England for a number of reasons.  This message sent out by our own hedgehog Sanctuary is a timely warning to know what to look out for.  The above shows Matilda just beginning to fill out after having been brought in thin and starving.  The message from our local sanctuary below underlines the role we can all play in helping these small prickly creatures.

Please talk to your friends about hedgehogs. We might know but so many people still do not. Hedgehog’s that are wobbly or shaky, sunbathing or can’t curl up are in trouble and need immediate help. One with more than a couple of ticks also needs help. Ticks target sick hedgehogs. The hedgehog we removed over 200 ticks from was close to death when she came in. She could have been released had it not been for her spines which have been damaged. As soon as they grow she will be back home. Flies lay eggs on hedgehogs if they are out in the sunshine! They need moving somewhere the flies can’t get them. Make sure no flies are still sitting on them too. I had one brought to me in a box complete with flies still laying eggs on it! Maggots  Dehydration are a killer. If in doubt capture the hedgehog first before you call a rescue. British Hedgehog Preservation Society have a list of some rescues, but there are lots of carers. Check Google for your closest. Lots can collect. Do not try and care for the hedgehog yourself. Sick hogs need URGENT care. Offer water only until you have spoken to someone that can help. Please feel free to copy and paste this so you can share. Thank you. Pickering Hedgehog Rescue.

Saturday thoughts

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing assistant.

No I have never signed up to it but it flashed across my mind when Tom Stevenson's blog queried our relationship with free speech, in this instance, Peter Willsman, Labour man had said something 'off screen' about the Israeli embassy.  The question could we not speak out about unfair policies in Israel against the Palestinians is perhaps a subject we should be silent on but then free speech becomes impaired.

The correlation between Grammarly and proper writing and of how one actually sees the world through the lens of one's own eye is intriguing.  One problem is the fact that the media are there like a pack of media men (not being cruel to wolves who only hustle for food) hustling for news.  One sentence can easily be taken out of context, and then blown up in front headlines and a person's career can be ruined.  This is a question for editors to address.

But the world of today has changed from the simple place I once knew to a more dogmatic attitude of 'proper behaviour'. We have through the internet, media news and what else, now not only contemplate our own tummy buttons but everyone elses!

Actually I cannot see an answer, news screams at us from every corner, we can only pick and choose, acccept that there are gender issues we never knew existed, or that protests against them, as in the case of the Birmingham primary school, are part of a multi-cultural problem, but maybe we should not have an opinion;)

But at least the day has opened calm and beautiful, the birds are singing, the milkman has just left the papers.................

there is no 'Away'

I wonder who  thought up that slogan about rubbish, every day we are expected to be guilty about something, yesterday rubbish, today eating rubbish food, eg heavily industrialised food with more artificial ingredients than fresh.  O well..

Western world has been discreetly sending their rubbish to Asian countries.  Well they have had enough - good for them - and now are threatening to send it back to the countries it came from.

We talk of recycling plastic but it is almost impossible to recycle all of the plastic, so we should perhaps be hitting on the producers of plastic and telling them to stop.  Okay impossible but solutions need to be found.

How come governments haven't done something about it? Stupid question, we all know the answer to that.  We have 'recycling' schemes, today is our recycling day, newspapers and cardboard in one box, aluminum cans and plastic in the other.  The garden waste, (very heavy with grass cuttings at the moment) is collected by another vehicle. 

Garden waste gets recycled and I buy some each year (it comes in plastic bags though), the rest goes elsewhere.  No matter how much I scan my shopping and try not to buy goods in plasticky things, you have to.  Lucy's chicken, ice cream, fish, etc the list goes on. I suspect that biological wrapping stuff, such as potato starch would get impregnated by the liquid content of the stuff bought. Though I notice some of my magazines and even the Guardian uses potato starch as a covering.. Perhaps there is an answer here, grit one's teeth buy expensive butcher's meat wrapped in paper, and green grocery free of plastic, which I do already and ditch the ice cream, Lucy would be so disappointed if I did that!

Sweden though is managing to control their recycling by burning it as fuel...

Well that is a start, which I follow, our pretty little market town has several shops that cater for our needs.  There is a small shop, bring your own bags for flour, etc and they have vegetables, fruit, local mayonnaise, jams and pickles.  But then think of the log jam if everybody shopped there.

Another thought, Daisys, our local garden centre, why can't they use those brown cardboard pots for plants they are selling, instead of the plastic pots? Slight adjustments and we could be there... Have you hear about 'Who Gives a Crap' toilet paper,   a delicate subject but worth thinking about, they don't use trees in the making of their wares but I am not sure what they do use, its not what you think..

Serious concentration called for here... We cannot live upon this Earth without producing some rubbish, our guilty secret, and here I include Paul, is that we have things delivered to the house and they come in a variety of wrappings including plastic.  Maybe a note to them all, will not accept plastic would do the trick but somehow think they would refuse to send the goods out.  Amazon stands out as a cardboard user, so some good comes out of behemoths even if they are trying to takeover the world.

Wednesday 29th May

Rain has fallen, the plants are grateful. Yesterday Rod and his wife, gardeners who cut the grass in the church yard, came and did ours.  Yes in the rain, they used a thin wand like heater, about five foot across before the mower, and the lawn is cut.  Except when you examine it, the creeping buttercups lie flat and uncut, their strong stems refusing to yield to the cutter.  That is what comes of a house built on a field, we have inherited good and bad weeds.

I hate the word weed, it demotes so many pretty wild flowers, in the lawn there are 'good' weeds but the bullying habit of the buttercup is a problem.

Yesterday I listened to podcasts whilst I wove, firstly on America, very downbeat, and then something on Charles Jenck and architecture.  His garden in Scotland,  Cosmic Speculation one is a revelation in green lawns.  Do I like it? no is the response.  It looks as if he has taken prehistory by the throat, and formed Iron Age forts and round barrows.  Philistine that I am, the question springs unbidden to the mind - Why mess with the natural world? - it can create beauty on its own just look at the trees in the background.

Charles Jencke and Christopher Alexander also an architect (American), create buildings, they are both philosophers at heart. The picture is soothing enough, there are traces of the Glastonbury path there as well, symbols of a new pagan cult.  But Glastonbury rests on age and that ruined church tower at the top. On a more practical level, fancy mowing those curves.  Two thousand years hence will those curves still be as jagged?  As an aside Charles Jencke's wife, Maggie, who sadly died of cancer, also wrote a book, but on Chinese Gardens and the symbolic use of how they were created.  Expensive to buy unfortunately. But something did come out of her death,  these were the Maggie centres.

We are going through a wretched time of austerity, whilst those in office argue interminably about leaving Europe, there are those in the community who live on the edge. Part of the thoughts on Jencke come from an article in the Newstateman, about how as we get older what type of end house and care do we require.  Given good health many are fortunate enough to stay in their own homes, but state funded care, comes out at about £600 per week in a care home, £800 per week in a nursing home and probably £2000 a week in hospital.
Someone talks of compulsory extra money taken from everyone to help towards this crisis, but then you look at the other problems - disabled, living homeless on the streets, young children turning feral in bad social conditions - who do you spend the money on?

And who would have thought that Magid Magid, the now ex-mayor of Sheffield has managed to win a green seat in the European elections.  Hurrah for the greens!  Yes I know it is only for a short time, or maybe not, who knows?  But he doesn't half give a kick in the ribs to the question of immigrants and immigration.  That sense of humour rubs off on everyone :)

Bank Holidays with miserable weather

Forgetting all outside news, I shall concentrate today on flowers.  A walk down the roses by the wall shows each bush brimming over with buds, a sheer show of delight to come, even the foxgloves are producing buds.  On the other side of the garden the colour blue has arrived. knapweed, veronica and Jacob's ladder not forgetting irises.

Jacob's Ladder has always intrigued me, you can see its leaf, bottom left of the photo, structured like a ladder.  It was first discovered in this country at Malham Cove in the West Riding in 1666 under a great wall of limestone.  A gentle non-assuming flower but a native.  Of course it takes its name from the biblical story that Jacob 'slept with a stone for a pillow' and dreamt that he saw a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it.  The plant reminds me of the front of Bath Abbey which has this  story depicted in stone, the angels climbing to heaven.

Paul continues to slowly improve, soon it will be a rigmarole of doctors and outpatients but for now home is a safe refuge.  Jev (his old car) is attached like a patient to a battery charger in the garage, and I am grateful that I bought a car a couple of years ago, my 'hairdressers car' as my daughter calls it.  Not sure why, its red and small and is a Kia from the local showrooms in Kirkbymoorside.  I would have preferred a blue one but it was the only secondhand car with low mileage and it has done me proud.  Though sadly I scrapped its shiny paintwork at the doctors the other day trying to back out of a narrow space.

Saturday ramblings

I have been listening to Fergal Sharkey, taking Claire Balding for a walk,  they have just found the place where Millais painted the picture of Ophelia.  I suppose you would call it over romanticised and an elegant depiction of a pretty English scene, unfortunately Elizabeth Siddal, the model, caught a bad cold from lying in a cold bath. 

Gosh Sharkey sounds old but such an expert on the natural world, and I have just learnt that there are two hundred chalk rivers in England, a chalk river is one of nature's delight.  Apparently the band of chalk starts in East Yorkshire sweeps down to the South and is responsible for the white cliffs of Dover.

Ophelia by Millais

My header photo has some of the elements to be found in the painting, the white water flowers and drifting green plants.  My picture should have had the dozens of demoiselle damselflies that were dancing over the water, unfortunately I only managed to capture one low down in the r/h corner. 

Where is it? Wellow Brook, out in the countryside of Wiltshire not far from Bath. 

A place often visited to see  Stoney Littleton long barrow, here I would traipse with  Moss up the hill past the sheep, to brood and meditate.

If you went into the village of Wellow, you would see a place where other artists had once lived, The Brotherhood of Ruralists, of which I have written plenty, just type in search box if you are interested.  They lived in the old railway station, if you are an artist you just have to be 'with it' ;) bet it was all wicked and communal! 

Only of course that was not important, as is the kerfuffle we find ourselves in at the moment, don't weep for Mrs May, it had to happen, as does a different political system.  We will get to a point of reconcilation sometime just enjoy the pantomime at the moment and reflect on the awful truth. The Human Race is not as clever as it thinks itself.  We are floundering in a mess of our own making.

Friday and back

Well back on my old blog, what scared me? the number of people coming to read a slightly dramatic title I wrote.  I live a quiet life, am happy with it and also chattering on my blog.  Maybe in a nonsensical way and also in an angry mood when I contemplate the mess this country is in.

Well my love is back home from the hospital, don't ask me to write too much when I am worried, really truly worried, my thoughts would be all over the place.

Yesterday he phoned late in the morning that he had been transferred to another ward from the assessment ward, then at lunchtime he phoned to say he was in the discharge lounge.

So I leapt in the car and drove through the country lanes.  It takes a good hour to the hospital, but the countryside is beautiful.  If I go the Terrington way past the gorgeous country estate of Castle Howard, this is Christina's way, but Irene goes the Hovingham way, through Sheriff Hutton past its magnificent ruined castle on the hill and then Strensall.  Both my friends had accompanied me on previous visits.

Then you hit the ring road round York, something I dread, but my confidence has returned with driving and now the ring road and its three traffic islands no longer seem the worst thing to tackle.

Sheriff Hutton Castle.  a wiki photo - By Shaunconway - Own work, 

Back to Paul,  glad to be home, shocked by what had happened, a bag full of protein drinks and pills.

Full marks to the NHS for the wonderful care and attention says he, York Hospital is a very busy district hospital, but runs with a calm efficiency that is marvellous to behold.  God help us though if the computer system broke down.

The only complaint he had was of the wretched behaviour of two badly behaved male patients, one of whom spent the night shouting at the nurses.

Now I have to feed him up, a diet sheet lies on my desk, not too difficult, small meals but plenty of carbohydrates and protein.

Tuesday 7th May

The Celtic deity that resided over the entrance to the Roman Temple at Bath.  I have loved him since first setting eyes on him, he needs to be above all entrances quantifying due respect and reverence on how we view our natural world.  You may ask whether there are wings artfully concealed in his hair or perhaps snakes,  similar to a female Gorgon.  He is the Guardian of Minerva the Roman Goddess of Bath, Minerva is also seemingly implicit in a British role as the Celtic goddess Sulis, so that we have the symbolic imagery of two gods rolled into one, in this instance Minerva/Sulis.  You can find more information here.  Already my senses become overwhelmed by the information to be found 'The Ruin' an old Anglo-Saxon poem written a couple of centuries later when Bath had fallen into ruin and decay after the Roman departure.
Actually what I was going to write, and it is still in drafts was about my daughter's father family, who she still keeps in close touch but it hardly seemed interesting as a write up, so I shall print it and keep it safe.  She was down over the weekend and we talked for a long time about family, one interesting fact emerged which I did not know, was that when her cousin Marc at age 6 was brought back by my ex-sister-in-law from Persia/Iran to Switzerland, my daughter's (and his) grandfather took Marc straight round to the police station and registered him.  
In this time of Brexit, the Opper family who worked in different parts of the world, though all the children were educated in Britain, stand for old England and the comparative ease of moving round the world.  We face a very different scenario at the present time, all my grandchildren though are staunch Remainers.

Good things the song thrushes are back, the three goldfinches hop around the garden and blackbirds busily scoop up worms for their young.
And as for pretty pictures, on this damp drizzly day, at this time of the year, the fennel, lavender, rosemary the artemisia 'Powis Castle' and Ladies Mantle leaves are fresh and unfurling and fill the other long bed with a discreet amount of colour, I had been thinking 'Sissinghurst rooms' here, small blocks of plants.

To be recorded; First two swallows sighted at Gospel's Cottage.  Hurrah!

Friday 3rd May

Chosen at random, he is rather cute.

Nelson lost one of his goats yesterday, poor man he was really worried. He stopped me as I walked Lucy then stopped the postman by stopping his car halfway across the road.  He was worried that it would get into gardens and eat people's flowers.  Well I think it may have come home for Paul saw one on the bank of the river.  I have never owned one, not exactly a practical animal to own, Nigel has a couple as well, the white Saanen ones, everyday he goes for a walk and collects them fodder.

Our chairman of the Parish council, elected last week, has been making waves with the local council, not very successfully.  I suspect we will appoint all our councillors by today, of all colours, including green. Then they will sit round and refuse to answer our queries or do anything we need doing.  But I am so glad that our antiquated government system is really beginning to feel the strain and they all running round like headless chickens - it's the 'London' effect.

Talking of chickens, Nelson's fowls are often out on the verge, playing around the great stump of the horse chestnut tree, which was cut down a few days ago, presumably by the council.  This verge goes back about 20 feet, and someone said Nelson had claimed the land, but then our historian sent in the Land Registry plan which shows our small village green and this verge belong to the council.  The horse chestnut was planted at the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, no one said it was to be cut down, in Bath there would have some rumblings about that.

I am wittering and there are holes to be dug for plants....and just as I type this there are handsome ponies and traps trotting by, with people piled into the carts.

How does my garden grow?

John's (going gently) call for 'corners' was an interesting delve into our lives.  Firstly, how many dogs and cats sleep on the furniture, answer, nearly all of them. Comfort is the main factor of the rooms, and many were beautifully furnished as well.

So to return to the subject of the garden, when I went out this morning it was dull and misty, there is talk of frosts at night later in the week, so I recorded all that I saw.  Vegetable gardening was somewhat important, hence big sacks to grow potatoes, beans and tomatoes, all snug against a warm wall (hopefully).

The first photo to greet you, and me, is scruffbum Lucy asleep on the sofa, joy she let me sleep through the night without demanding that I come downstairs.

The roses (still clear of blackspot ;)

my one and only aquilegia, delicate foliage

Beans waiting to go out

This plant has refused to flower for the last four years.  In fact it is a a cutting from the original, think it was a penstemon. One of my favourite plants but not too happy up here in Yorkshire.

faithful companions, the viola flowers for a long time

Potatoes and tomatoes

Beans and herbs

Monday 29th April

Sometimes people turn the argument around and for an instance you see a different slant to a story, here it is told in the tale of the grey - red squirrel conflict, and makes clear it wasn't all the fault of the grey squirrel...taken from this link

"During the early part of the 20th century, gamekeepers and others viewed red squirrels as pests and a bounty was offered on their tails. In Scotland alone, between 1903 and 1946, 102,900 red squirrels were slaughtered."

Someone attacked Greta Thunberg as a 'naive and pathetic little school girl' on a forum yesterday. rather than go in and get cross, my only reaction was that she had done more for a movement than many others. And of course how we read others and the terrible mistakes we make when first we choose to comment makes the written word so much stronger than the facial smile you would see in real life.

So how do we react to 'Climate Change' I wonder?  Is 'Extinction Rebellion' a jumped up protest group of ne'er do wells, did the senior element and the children not impress those who would castigate the foolishness of people stopping the traffic.  Terrible nuisance of course but how do you fit all those people into one basket, they are scared of the gathering gloom.  Can it be that in this country with a media so in love with the word 'B***** we have forgotten to look elsewhere in the world for news, for the Amazon forest destroyed at a terrible rate, for islands overcome by typhoons and hurricanes, our country complacently contemplates itself and ignores the wider issue.

To be quite honest I am not sure where all this will go, 1.5 degree rise means that there will an awful lot of fires around, experienced here on the moors of course, after a very dry winter.  

I am being gloomy again, my only recipe is that we must plant more trees and protect those that are still with us, it may not save the world but at least it will give our hands something to do.  Came across this on F/B this morning, very surreal of course but a message I suppose.

Remiodos Varo - Spanish/Mexican painter - 19th century

A rather long but interesting essay on 'Green Business, sadly it doesn't see us as pulling out of the crisis we find ourselves in - too late