Tag Archives: cheer me up

Spring is in the Air

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Spring is in the Air

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It was a beautiful frosty morning, the sun glinting off thawing raindrops.  I love this time of year when it’s just warm enough – and hopefully dry enough – to get out in the garden but not much is growing yet, so you can catch up with clearing up the vegetable patch.

It’s a rare ‘window of opportunity’;  time to get rid of all the perennial weeds like docks, nettles, buttercups and the perennial grasses.  I give the weeds to the hens – they love scratching though them looking for worms.  By the beginning of February there’s a sort of hopefulness in the air, the birds are singing, showing off their bright spring feathers and busily looking for nesting places and the air is alive with the promise of things to come.  It’s exhilarating just getting outside and living and breathing – and becoming part of – Spring.

 

Ozymandias

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20RouteDeLaPlage

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear –
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Clematis in November survived the first frost

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This clematis survived last night’s frost but won’t be here much longer – looking at the forecast.  It was planted last year and I’d forgotten about it, then suddenly  a few wispy tendrils appeared climbing up the hen house.  I thought it was much too late to flower but then a few days ago it produced this beautiful bloom, just in time for the frosts!  So need to make the most of it, treasure it, whilst the sun shines!

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Samhain – All Hallows Eve – Carve pumpkins into Jack’o’Lanterns

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Samhain – All Hallows Eve – Carve pumpkins into Jack’o’Lanterns

31st October was once New Year’s Eve in Celtic Ireland. The Druids believed that the mystic veil separating the dead from the living opened and spirits roamed the earth.  We celebrate with a bonfire and Wittenham Cider and pumpkins carved into Jack-o’Lanterns – so called because they are named after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over the Irish peat bogs creating Will’o’the’Wisps

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The last rose of summer

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The last rose of summer – somehow more special because it’s flowering in late October.  I chose this rose for it’s fragrance and every morning when I put sunflower seeds out for the birds I can enjoy its fragile fragrance for a few moments.

the last rose of summer

the last rose of summer

Still picking runner beans

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Still picking runner beans and it’s nearly November.  There’s no more room for beans in the freezer so I’m just picking enough for two days – preparing them and leaving half in the fridge in a plastic bag for tomorrow.  I pick from one section so I still get some young beans – once beans get full size they stop producing more.  The other section I leave and pick when the pods are fully grown then I pod them and use the beans in chilli con carne.  I made a three bean chilli yesterday from dried red and black beans, and podded runner beans – and I also cooked some sliced runner beans to go with it.  We all like meat so I added some mince as well but I needed a lot less mince than usual as beans are a good form of protein.  There was none left – sure sign of success!

runner beans

runner beans

Autumn sweet peas?

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Can’t believe my sweet peas have survived into Mid-October – I was a bit late planting them out _DSC0027in the Spring but this Autumn has been very gentle on the flowers.  I pick a few sweet peas each day and add them to a vase on the kitchen windowsill so they smell lovely when I’m preparing vegetables for dinner.