A Poem for Thursday...."The Turn of the Seasons"

The Turn of the Seasons 

My thoughts begin with water in the rill

Full-ferned and moss-muddlied. there sits

A crow on the topmost level of

A bowing birch. above it still the waning moon

Silver-sailing in a mourning sky.

*

The magi of mushrooms and

Pale greeness of lichen and I am

Mind-spinning at the turn of the seasons

There a gathering of starlings

Sitting slanted on an earthen roof and

*

Wood pigeons murmuring a pied -melody

Where trees scarlet and leaves bud

The turning prowls through my memories

Sometimes there are assembling hours

And heaven beckons. sometimes a glimpse

* 

Of seedful poppies in strawberry beds

Scattering feral banks on fecund land.

*

Here are the daffodils to give joy and bring hope.

We can but believe.

Hope remains.

Be kind.

April's best week.

 

This is the week where the leaves unfurl

where the blossom excels

where frog spawn becomes tadpoles

where the sun is warm at noon

but the evenings are cool and you throw on another woolly sweater. 

The Labyrinth
Above the grassy labyrinth

Wood browns flirt and flutter in pairs

Catching rays of gold

On mottled wings.

So new life emerges

Playful and coquettish

To fly and suck

On summer's nectars.

The struggle from

The winter's binding

Strengthening flight

And damp moss perfumes

Dappled sunlight.

While blackbirds claim

Old Territories and sing.

 

A spring haze that makes a watercolour painting of  trees
Bathes pink and soft green tops on sky stretched branches.
The land wakens with misty light and water gives growth
As hill and mountain overflow with bubbling springs.
Late afternoon still air glows rose on lazy strollers
And the chill sends them indoors to slump
Contentedly in front of smokey wood burning fires.

Sowing for the Summer

 

Half way through March already.

Today is spring equinox.

Also known as "Ostara"

And celebrated around the world.

Spring Celebrations Around the World

In ancient Rome, the followers of Cybele believed that their goddess had a consort who was born via a virgin birth. His name was Attis, and he died and was resurrected each year during the time of the vernal equinox on the Julian Calendar (between March 22 and March 25). 

A dynasty of Persian kings known as the Achaemenians celebrated the spring equinox with the festival of No Ruz, which means "new day." It is a celebration of hope and renewal still observed today in many Persian countries, and has its roots in Zoroastrianism. In Iran, a festival called Chahar-Shanbeh Suri takes place right before No Ruz begins, and people purify their homes and leap over fires to welcome the 13-day celebration of No Ruz.

The indigenous Mayan people in Central American have celebrated a spring equinox festival for ten centuries. As the sun sets on the day of the equinox on the great ceremonial pyramid, El Castillo, Mexico, its "western face...is bathed in the late afternoon sunlight. The lengthening shadows appear to run from the top of the pyramid's northern staircase to the bottom, giving the illusion of a diamond-backed snake in descent." This has been called "The Return of the Sun Serpent" since ancient times.

I'm trying to sow at least two trays of seeds each day...I've rather over stretched the packet situation...again!!

...meanwhile the chocolate vine is starting to bloom...

...and the light will last a little longer each day until the autumn equinox...

...morning arrives with light on the birch bark..

 

..buds burst expectantly on all the fruit trees, apple, cherry, plum, medlar, pear...

..and the grape vine sends out new tendrils and weaves it's way through the old love seat at the bottom of the herb garden...

...king alfred daffodils pop up in places I'd forgotten about at the bottom of the field...

...and the lingering evening sun encourages me to stay a while in the garden.

Here's to the "coming of the light"...as Hockney says...

“I had always planned to make a large painting of the early spring, when the first leaves are at the bottom of the trees, and they seem to float in space in a wonderful way. But the arrival of spring can't be done in one picture.” — David Hockney

Song for Spring

Song for Spring

Praise be to the swallows

Who dared to venture north this week

Praise be to those fellows.

Praise be to the sun

All glorious in the shadows it throws

Praise be to the sharp sun.

Praise be to the green grass

Softening the verges with the red bilberry

Praise be for the petrichor.

Praise be to the coal black ravens

Nesting high in the tallest beech trees

Praise be for cawing birds.

Praise be for the seasons

Catching us unawares each year

Praise be for the northern spring.

...there is time to enjoy and time to reflect...

Do you do what I do every year...buy bulbs and then forget to plant them...or even buy the bulbs in flower in the early spring to pop in the ground and never get round to it?
Pat at The Weaver of Grass and Karen at Moonlight and Hares have the bestest pics of their snowdrops.....
My snowdrops have all but disappeared ..I go out looking for them in late winter...but only the early leaves of the bluebells appear. So I buy again...and once again don't get round to putting them in the soil.
Thankyou Pat and Karen for the pics...I must survive on these...and maybe manage this year to plant the pots!

I may get round to the tulips...I really love red tulips..here's hoping!

Kirby Lonsdale day out.

The sun shone and the sweet spring air gave us back a hope after a hard winter....

...in Kirby Lonsdale...

.... the new bridge over the Lune river...

......the old bridge...

 ...held together...stone and iron...

...saturdays and sundays are for cyclists' gatherings...

...close by, the cricket field gets a makeover for the new season...

...and dogs and owners play by the riverside...

...freshly planted willow twigs protect the banks...

..while spring flowers clothe them...

...the trees begin to unfurl their leaves...

...and blossom blooms along the path...

...ancient walls bloom too with tiny ferns...

...and further up the rough meets the smooth where two streams join...

...in the old churchyard wild daffodils fill the space between the graves...

..and in this area Ruskin had his famous view...

...while ancient gargoyles gaze endlessly down on all.....

...and the churchyard cat snoozes in the sudden heat of an April day.

Back in the Garden...

What a winter...but at long last we are getting into the garden and trimming and protecting, and all of the other things that probably should have been done in March.

Nobody was doing any gardening in March around here!!

The frogs have spawned and the little pond at the bottom of the field is full to overflowing with it.

The potter is climbing ladders again...and very happy to be doing so.

This apple tree is a great fruiter but needed the centre opening up.

He's the man who can!

...and this year we were determined to get to the cherry tree before the wood pigeons...

Two years ago it was so prolific that I was able to make a glass "topf"  full of cherry brandy.

....my sister's German recipe.....

Last year the pigeons made it before us and we only managed to salvage a handful of cherries.

They eat the the buds ...they must be sooo sweet...before they have a chance even to start to become cherries...

Well yaahooo!!

you fat wood pigeons....got there before you this time

...not as if there isn't lots of other lovely stuff to go for...

...and by the way birds...

lay off the peas also this year!!

Foraging begins!

...this is hairy bitter cress!!!

Well this grows all by itself...I never have to encourage it and then come the early days of spring....there it is in amongst the stoney paths that trap the winter rains.

....oh that sounded quite poetic I think...

..."The stoney paths that trap the winter rains"....

Well anyway...this hairy bitter cress is actually quite delicious when washed and the root removed and popped into tomato sandwiches or added to a spring green salad!

Here's a little blurb about it from a foraging post that I came across....

Hairy bittercress is known by other common names like pepperweed, snapweed, and land cress. It is in the mustard family, and has the same peppery, bitter flavor as other mustards. It is best to gather the greens very early in the spring, or in the late fall when the leaves are tender. The many leaf stalks grow from a basal rosette, can reach about 4" long, and are sparsely hairy. Each leaf stalk has 5-9 paired leaflets, and the largest unpaired leaflet is at the tip of the stalk. From the center of the basal rosette, flower stalks will grow up to 10" tall, with several more leaf stalks growing from the main stem. The flowers are very small, white, and have 4 petals, and will bloom while the seed capsules are forming. The seed capsules are small, about 1/2"-1" long, and olive green. When the seed capsules are mature, they can explode and spread the tiny seeds far from the parent plant. While the flowers and flower stalks are edible, they may seem a bit tough compared to the more tender leaf stalks and leaflets.

Now you see ...you all know it probably, and perhaps you all got there before me and had been putting it into your salads...for ever! 

I snip the roots off....plunge it in to cold water a few times and often just leave it in the water until I use it.

We had it in sandwiches today alongside some gorfeous carrot and lentil soup!

....YUM...

(Like the fish swimming around in that bowl by the potter!)

The next herb to be foraged  will be the juicy tops of the early nettle crop that I maintain at the side of the orchard....oh alright ...grows whether I like it or not...

...but boy does it make a good nettle broth..

They say that it's good for the liver.

That's good enough for me!

Would wood?

 March 1st and the wood is low...a quick call to Joe the wood man for one more load and then hopefully the actual spring....

....it's the first of that today apparantly...

... will have warmed the bones enough to do without a blazing fire early each day.

Meantime the potter has cleared the dry stuff from the back...have you noticed how things make their way to the back of cupboards?...

...and is tidying the green wood up for next winter....brrrr!!!

...nothing as artistically pleasing as a pile of stacked wood in a wood shed me thinks!

Men and their sheds.....!

The Thrush...

It is just the sort of morning to get out there and be physical!.....
So with rake in hand I collected the twigs that come down from the crack willow...I know it should be given another name nowadays...it could get a bad reputation....
...anyways...as I hauled the debris from the driveway...there in the corner a beautiful collection of empty snail shells!!

 

...the work of one of the thrushes in the back field.....

.....don't you just love these precious birds...

...and how perfectly he ...or she!...has winkled the goodies out of the shell.

Knows a thing or two...perhaps learnt from the French!!

Spring has sprung!

At last, at last the spring flowers are here.
We took a trip to Dunham Massey in Cheshire today.
The sky was sunny and blustery...just how you want a spring day to be when it's nearly March and it's about to come in like a lion!

We bought ourselves National Trust membership last year.
 The new snowdrop walk at Dunham has quite a reputation already, so  we went off to see the results.

They stretch in magical swathes under the trees and the petals shine and almost glimmer in the light.

In clumps as well

and all sorts of shapes and sizes.

I'm no expert on the different types, I just want to see the beauty of them, both singly and in crowds.

This triangle of trees and snowdrops takes your breath away.

Pure white bark of Japanese birch underplanted with hundreds of snowdrops.

The regimentation of the layout of the trees against the scatter of the flowers..just beautiful.

but as we say in Befast.."there's more"!

lawns full of scillas with their ice blue flowers...

                                      early miniature irises of all hues...

all pushing their way through the dead leaves of the old season of autumn.

New life from old.

more...

and even more to delight the eye.

And of course it could only be spring with daffodils.

These early miniatures dancing through it all in the winds.

What else could I do after that......apart from a nice cup of tea....

but buy a couple of pots for the garden.

Three different miniature irises in the bud.

Grow little plants grow!