Tag: garden

From time to time

~ windinmywheels ~ Leave a comment
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It is the moment just before that we
live over and over in its only time
and then recount to those who were not there
the beginning still echoes in laughter
but resounds unrecognized every time
and never comes back to begin again
there are no words for calling after it
and when it went it left no memory
but the sound of the running sheep calling
to the evening from the darkening hill
what they are calling as they run is Wait
what each one of them is calling is Wait

W S Merwin, From Time to Time : Garden Time

I’ve greeted sheep, cattle, Blencathra and clear blue open sky today. And I’ve made a satisfying start on the late summer Lakeland garden trim, prune and clear-up. My face is glowing in sunlight and my every muscle feels stretched. I’ve been feeling very grateful to my dear friend Bob, who takes such great care of the place when I’m away. Gardens are sanctuary spaces, aren’t they? – they speak to our imaginations, gladden our hearts and minds, exercise our bodies, and touch our souls. Bob and I will lay new breathable membrane and 25 large bags of 20mm gravel this coming weekend, further design to keep the garden low-maintenance and well trimmed.

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¿Tú tienes preguntas?

~ windinmywheels ~ 6 Comments
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I’m told that our human eyes see ‘only’ a limited spectrum of colour. I can’t count the ever-changing colours and shades present to me in one small rural garden though.

I sometimes think I’ll spend the rest of my days pondering the miracle of what it is to be a human person, to be sentient. So many extraordinary ‘happenings’ need to take place within the confines of my brain to bring about every experience I have.

So, too, for the golden labrador next door. What moves her to bark? And how does an apple tree know how to consistently make apples every year? Or Michaelmas daisies know it’s Michaelmas?

Ah, colours. And questions. My Spanish teacher asks, ‘¿tú tienes preguntas?’

‘Sí, yo tengo muchas preguntas,’ I reply, ‘siempre preguntas!’

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Twenty-nine degrees

~ windinmywheels ~ Leave a comment
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Twenty-nine degrees and the air is quite
still and if my garden wildflowers could
speak there might well be several hundred
rasping cries of ‘water!’ – and there will be

later – water for the wildflowers and
the valiant lawn and for me as my mind
ponders how long it might take for the air
and the garden and for me to get used

to the huge difference a few degrees
of increased temperature can make to
the shape, texture and musculature of
daily life – and how heroic today’s

white-van drivers are, and the sentry on
guard at Buckingham Palace who could do
with an air-conditioning unit in
his heavy bearskin, and the young mothers

who must attend to all the wants of their
slippery, salty and flustered infants
whether it is hot or cold. Of course there
will be cooler days before we’ve mulled much

more – this is England! – but we are starting
to notice that a few degrees bring
about major changes and I wonder
what we’ll do about altering our course?

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Awake or asleep?

~ windinmywheels ~ 7 Comments
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Awake or asleep? One of the chief combined effects of Covid-19 and a UK heatwave seems to be that I’m dropping off to sleep a lot – which is probably a good and health-giving thing. But it plays havoc with reading and with the typing of messages with family and friends. Half a paragraph and I’m away to the land of nod again! I’m grateful for the garden and the shade of my Japanese Acer today. Falling asleep in a garden chair outside somehow feels healthier than other options!

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The variety of life

~ windinmywheels ~ Leave a comment
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Sad though I am to be missing our second bothy weekend, I have to admit that temporary grounding in house and garden by Covid-19 is not without its joys.

Gardens, and nature generally, inspire my soul and enhance my perspective. I’m drawn to remember, and to reflect upon, the extraordinary diversity and variety in all things living – near and far, tiny and gigantic, colour, complexity, scent, size, shape, textures, life span and so on.

Peaceful today, and moved only a little by a mild breeze, beautiful life-forms in my garden appear simply to revel in their being-ness. As do the galaxies shown in glorious, mysterious technicolour by the world’s latest most advanced James Webb Space Telescope. I’m moved to be still for a while – to look at my own being-ness – in wonder.

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Winter readying

~ windinmywheels ~ 4 Comments

My little garden studio is always given a reshuffle during the autumn / winter months, the better to accommodate the lighting of the log stove and avoid being toasted.

And I’ve been working on making the garden winter-ready this morning. It’s looking bare and angular. But there’s a mellowness too: shades of gold and red and orange. I’ve been glad of the company of a robin, and of the appearance of a couple of brave autumn crocuses …