Primavera

 O spring has set off her green fuses....

Breathe, breathe in the air.

Don't be afraid to care.

Leave but don't leave me.

Look around and choose your own ground.

Long you live and high you fly

And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry

And all you touch and all you see

Is all your life will ever be.

Breathe (In the Air)

Pink Floyd

David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Roger Waters

The Dark Side of the Moon

What's not to like? The world still turns. The tyrant is dead (OK that is wishful thinking, but it will happen.....) The Streets [sic] of Hormuz are opening to traffic, and oil is well.....

Apparently you can see the canals of Ken Hill from the dark side of the moon, though you might need a Hasselblad (and a mirror).....  But I am so happy there is a dark side - I was beginning to think it was just a flat cheese plate.  My only worry is that the space portal-loo doesn't seem to work....

Anyway, I have been out in my tractor - a harrowing experience [Stoppit!  Ed]....

Anyway again, I am glad that someone is ploughing the fields and scattering the good seed on the land. [Wir pflügen und wir streuen - Matthias Claudius, 1782 - Ed]....  Someone's got to do it, or the good Burghers of McDonald won't have the ultra-processed Fleurs du mal that Charlie Baudelaire so enjoyed.....

Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,

N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins

Le canevas banal de nos piteux destins,

C'est que notre âme, hélas ! n'est pas assez hardie.

Au lecteur

Les Fleurs du mal

Charles Baudelaire

(Who wrote in French, as Europeans do)

Anyway, yet again, to shut a strong lorry cort, I have been springing to my feets and wandering the pleasant lands around me, breathing the air, and not afraid to care.

I love the spring, largely because of the resurgence of life after the darkness and death of winter [Thank you Jesus - Ed], but also because of the physical warmth of sunshine and the uplifting light that brings us Vitamin D [An essential fat-soluble nutrient that regulates calcium and phosphate in the body, crucial for maintaining healthy bones, teeth, and muscles - Ed].

I love to see nature coming to life.  I love to walk where we have made our homes, and I am so grateful that, so far, at least, we have not been subjected to the extreme violence that is the daily and nightly diet of the citizens of Ukraine and much of the Middle East. I shudder in horror at the indiscriminate killing of ordinary people, the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, bridges, power plants etc.  But, we are fortunate - by chance.  It is a privilege, but that is by chance.  It has not always been so - there are plenty of reminders around us of the Second World War in the shape of concrete gun emplacements, bombing ranges and air bases. 

Say what you like, but this recent vortex of violence was unnecessary.  Forgive me for this quotation, but today's leader in The Guardian was a powerful statement of just how wrong things can be:  The US has squandered tens of billions of dollars, burned through its interceptors and torched relations with allies.  That may not bother Mr Trump, who had premised victory on the conditional reopening of a waterway that was not closed prior to the conflict.  But the war has also spooked markets, raised prices at home and showed signs of fracturing his Maga base.

Mr Trump chose to believe Benjamin Netanyahu's assurance that this would be a short and easy war, but soon found himself seeking an exit......  The war has destabilised the region and normalised talk of war crimes, further trashing the idea of a rules-based order..... 

The tide is out. The earth is scorched. But seven avocets can stand on one leg while Artemis [The ancient Greek goddess of the hunt, wilderness  and wild animals et al, sometimes called Cynthia - Ed].... while Artemis spins through space, leaving us breathless....

Near here the clouds add to the reflected beauty of beach scenes:

The wind blows fresh and cool, disturbing little but the dust and what's left of my hair.....

Sea lavender (limonium vulgare) brings colour to the dun and grey of winter:

Alexanders (smyrnium olusatrum), possibly the gift of the invading Roman legions, burst into life by the waysides:

Ramsons, or wild garlic (allium ursinum) fill the air with an unmistakable scent by the Ingol river [for which in 2018 Anglian Water funded the creation of a natural treatment wetland - instead of a traditional chemical upgrade - which now acts as a giant, living water purifier - Ed].

At Dersingham Bog National Nature Reserve [which merges with the now infamous refuge of Wolferton Fen - Ed] birch trees stand guard over rare and diverse species of plants such as bog asphodels, round-leaved sundew, white beaked sedge and cranberry....

We walk at Courtyard Farm, Ringstead, and admire the budding trees, as the sap rises and leaves unfurl. I am reminded of Charles Causley's Spring 1818, which commemorates John Keats's departure from this land, When spring fired her fusilladoes, and then we come across a Taiwan (or Formosan) cherry (prunus campanulata), which is another beautiful reminder of international disharmony and threat....

And then, as the sun slips away to add another layer of yellow to the sickening POTUS, we enter a field of cowslips (primula veris) which brings us back to the natural glory of spring in our part of the world, where delicate shoots go untrampled, and the cycle of life goes on.  In Look! We have come through! D H Lawrence wrote: 

We shall not look before and after.

We shall be, now.

We shall know in full.

We, the mystic NOW.

[NB, He also wrote:

Oh, America,

The sun sets in you.

Are you the grave of our day?

Ed.]

And there we have it.  A row of oaks march down towards the wash in the early morning light:

While our village church stands proud upon the hill, catching the farewell glance of the evening sun, a symbol, even to the unfaithful, that there is a place for differences of belief and practice.  If there is a god, then surely it is the same god that envelops Hegseth and Netanyahu and Khamenei?  

But then in truth the god that really matters is surely Apollo [The god of divine distance - the god who made mortals aware of their own guilt and purified them of it - Ed]? 

Well yes, but Apollo is also the god of light, music, prophecy, and healing, and, perhaps, above all, the god of the sun, without whom/which there would be no life, no spring, no resurrection....

Arrest my case.....

For one who has nothing to worry about:

Breathe, breathe in the air.

Don't be afraid to care.

Leave but don't leave me.

Look around and choose your own ground.....

Flowers for my Queen

My Lady of the Camellias  

(or, rather, Azaleas)

It's a grey, damp morning as we enter the formal gardens at Sandringham, but then many of our days are grey and damp. I don't want to confuse Mental Health Awareness Week with Amanda's dementia, but who now knows how anxious she may feel?

So I have brought her, with her wheel chair, to see the gardens that the late Queen Elizabeth II loved. And my love may love.... In the cloudy light the colours are soft:

And the air is fragrant:

Ramsons vie with Hostas:

And the ground cover, like the light, is green and pleasant. It is, or it can be, a green and pleasant land.....

Amanda has a slight cold, but I have wrapped her up warmly, and she seems to appreciate the calm and the colour:

The flaming flowers (Azaleas, I believe, though I am not an expert - Rhododendrons, and not actually Camellias) being particularly attractive:

In  all their shades:

Though it is difficult to know what is going on in the remnants of her mind. Would she rather I didn't take her picture? Is she more interested in the passers by?

A great Horse Chestnut tree is alight with flowers:

And goslings, feeding on the luscious grass, demur to the house and lake:

I want to think that she appreciates these colours and the delicate scents around us. I want her to be happy in the closure of her mind. I don't want her to be anxious.... and, though I am not trying to diminish the significance of Mental Awareness Week, with its theme of Anxiety, I cannot entirely separate this need for awareness from the depth of Amanda's suffering. We are surrounded by beautiful flowers:

Wisteria is often associated with love and romance, due to its fragrant, showy flowers and lush green foliage. In Japanese culture, Wisteria is known as fuji, which means lady of the wind, so perhaps it is apt that I take these pictures with my FujiFilm camera. The association with grace and beauty has made Wisteria a popular symbol of love and affection.

 

And Camellia flowers symbolise love, affection, and admiration (you have to forgive me here; I wrote this thinking these flowers were Camellias, but have since been put straight - thank you Sarah!):

White Camellias (even if they are Azaleas....) symbolise adoration and are given to someone who is well-liked:

Pink Camellias (as above) symbolise a longing for someone and are given to someone who is missed:

Red Camellias (whatever!) symbolise love, passion, and deep desire:

These are flowers fit for a Queen.  They are fit for my Queen.

*     *     *     *     *

Dedicated to our dear friend Irene Boogerman, who passed away peacefully early this morning:

Amor è palpito dell´universo intero,

misterioso, altero,

croce e delizia al cor.

[Love is a heartbeat throughout the universe,

mysterious, altering,

the torment and delight of my heart.]

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi

Hertfordshire 1 - The Chiltern Hills

Spring Fever - When that Aprill with his shoures soote.....

Although there is an unusual tendency among certain human types to mutter and moan at every change of weather, there can be little argument that the gradual lengthening of days and warming of the soil in March and April brings relief and joy to the northern world....

Among the first signs of life renewal, which may be in January or February (they are traditionally linked with Candlemas), are snowdrops.....

But these icy little flowers are soon followed by sunny primroses, (from prima rosa - first flower) emerging on banks and in ancient graveyards (Primrose Day is April 19th, when primroses are laid on Disraeli's monument at Westminster Abbey).....

And in the meantime the male catkins of goat willow (pussy willow) turn bright yellow to brighten hedges and scrublands....

Around the same time daffodils come into bloom.  Wild daffodils are also known as Lenten lilies, and Easter lilies, and they used to be among the commonest of our wild flowers.  I remember the fields near my grandparents' home in Sussex being completely filled with them when I was young....  The two bright yellows of these flowers gladden hearts as they shine like the sun, and it is not surprising that Wordsworth's poem is one of the nation's favourites.....

Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

But perhaps the best of spring comes with the emergence of shining lakes of perfumed bluebells?  I suppose it marks that point of no return for Spring, when the earth is full of growth, the air is full of scents and songs, and the fires of love warm life anew.  We may suffer inclement showers and stormy winds, but the prevalence is for light, and the snows and frosts of winter are now, we hope, fading memories.....

O I admire and sorrow! The heart's eye grieves
Discovering you, dark tramplers, tyrant years.
A juice rides rich through bluebells, in vine leaves,
And beauty's dearest veriest vein is tears.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, On the Portrait of Two Beautiful Young People

Near where I live are the splendid beech woods of Ashridge, but all around me are pockets of ancient woodland with well-established colonies of native bluebells.  From a distance sometimes they shimmer like water, as Housman suggests, waves of them lapping at the boles of trees....

And like a skylit water stood
The bluebells in the azured wood.

A E Housman

A walk in the bluebells has long been an annual necessity in our family, and, though the real thing is never as good in two dimensions, there has often been an attempt to capture the moment....

My mother took this snap of dad in the last year of his life....

With the sun a little higher in the sky, and the unfurling of fresh young leaves and fronds, the woods at this time of year continue to surprise with their variety. Later in the year, when the trees are in full leaf, less light penetrates to the floor, so the sparkle is gone.....

At this time, the stems themselves can seem like trees....

And their own haze makes the perfect background for their individual bells....

Sometimes they are whipped by hurried breezes, 

Sometimes you find a solitary plant standing quietly in a clearing.....

Although they are found all over the British Isles, and don't only clothe the floors of beech woods, in the Chilterns they mostly live under the canopy and do their best to flower and set seed before the darkening leaves close over them and they die back.....

A bluebell's eye view....

The rich weave of colour that we see when the bluebells are at their best distracts us from everything else, and it comes as a surprise to find that among them, as if by stealth, other bright gems are set....

Greater stitchwort with its fragile stems needs the cover and support of other plants to raise its delicate flowers to the sun, and then lower in the undergrowth, Germander speedwell makes its appearance....

And peeking from the foliage, another little blue flower appears....

That sweet and bright-eyed flowerlet of the brook
Hope's gentle gem, the sweet Forget-me-not!


Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Keepsake

Ground ivy joins the blues, 

White dead-nettles attract the bees..... 

Jack-by-the-hedge appears in flower.  This is also known as Garlic mustard, and it has long been used for flavouring and for salads.....

Though if you would like a slightly stronger taste, then the leaves of Wild garlic, or Ramsons, can be gathered and eaten in salads or wilted like spinach.....

And, as the bluebells begin to fade, Yellow archangels take their place in the parcels of ancient woodland in Heartwood Forest.....

So......

Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,

And smale foweles maken melodie.....

[Geoffrey Chaucer, 

The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales]

Then I love going on rambles in the countryside.....  It's such a positive time of year!

Spring Fever is generally a good and lively thing, and the rising sap stirs us from our invernal lassitude. But every silver lining has a cloud, as they say, and Spring Fever can also be the opposite, known as Frühjahrsmüdigkeit, an unexpected tiredness or loss of energy.....

This may account for the lack of engagement noted in this quotation from P G Wodehouse's novel, Spring Fever:

Breakfast had been prepared by the kitchen maid, an indifferent performer who had used the scorched earth policy on the bacon again..... 

Or it may in part be responsible for the appalling laziness that led to this example of Spring Cleaning:

There's always someone around to spoil things.

Fly tipping not far from Heartwood Forest.

* * * * * * *

This one's for my mum.....