Yup, a quote from Bill Shakey - most appropriate. Just been up the garden and one of the bigger rhododendrons has lost a third of its bulk, snapped off by the gale.
In some places bulbs are through - here is the evidence.
Weather forecast has at least two more gales on the way. I have been out with the loppers and a small saw tackling the mess, collecting sticks and R had been clearing the last withered leaves off the alchemillas.
In reply to names of plants you would not give to children I have had the following suggested by I - stinkhorn and Mammillaria elongata. The latter my mother had - its other name is mother-in-law's tongue.
The former is a fungus so allowable? I mean, would you call your child mushroom? Truffle is a possibility but Puffball, Death's Cap or Destroying Angel - the last could be appropriate I suppose.
Oh! And congratulations to RJP and HP who are expecting grandtwins. I could manage two HPs but two RJPs - need some thought. I wonder if the names have been decided?
So to dead stuff that looks interesting like this sycamore leaf, lightly frosted (sounds like a recipe) and with black spot, or the hydrangea heads on the banking, back-lit by the afternoon sun.
The sun also lights up the six white birches at the dark end of the garden. If I were really keen I would be out there with warm soapy water cleaning the trunks but I do feel that is going a bit far and silly. Makes them look good though.
This time of year makes a garden blog a bit difficult as much is waiting around for spring apart from tidying and shifting manure.
It is Christmas, Winter Solstice, New Year etc (keep everyone happy) so to go off at a tangent I would like to introduce you to the cappuccino grading system I have discovered.
The test involves dropping a teaspoon of sugar, preferably Demerara, onto the froth. Then time how long it takes before it disappears. In the cafe of our local supermarket, EH Booth, it takes 7 seconds. At the Swan Hotel at Newby Bridge, yesterday, it took 35 seconds - major froth there. I am not sure how chocolate sprinkled on the top affects the calculations so much more research needed. Do not try with a sweetener as it does not work, a test for sugar lovers only.
I am waiting to collect my copy of Gerard's Herbal as it has been rebound and restored by Dominic Riley - a wonderful bookbinder. He has done other books for me in the past including my Culpepper.
The smell of the leather alone is heaven to an addict like me.
I love books which will make life amore difficult as the digital takeover continues.
Compared with Video, TV, films etc which lead one by the collar, a book, rather like the radio but more so, leaves the images to the reader. Every one of us will interpret the writing in a different way
BOOK
There is comfort
in the rhythm of a book,
the rasp of a page
turned in time to a tale,
the sway of reading eyes,
cadence of breath
and though your book may
be the same book
it is a different book,
for every book - borrowed,
bought or stolen - when read
or re-read is a new book.
The beat of your book
is not my beat.
You blend with your book
in a different world to mine.
I wish I could hear
the voice of your book,
look in your window,
read your mind.
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