The horses on our walk were close to the fence today and seemed as interested in us as we were in them.
The Daffodils we see are now in full bloom.
I heard today the our local hospital are asking again for knitted items for the premature babies. I’m going to make the traffic light hats in red, orange and green. These hats are destined for the maternity unit at Treliske Hospital. Wheal Fortune where the post natal ward midwives use them to indicate the level of breast feeding help a mum and baby need. Red – lots of help Amber – some help Green – occasional help but doing well.
There were lots of beautiful colours in the dawn sky this morning.
A warm sun shone this afternoon and we spent a couple of hours at our allotment clearing ancient gooseberry bushes and weeds out of the fruit cage that we have inherited. We can now see where the currant bushes are and plan on pruning them quite hard soon.
We have been back in Cornwall for 13 years today so had a celebration meal of Chicken Pot Roasted in Milk, Bay and Nutmeg, the meal we made for Thanksgiving, very tasty indeed.
My day got better today when LiveWire no2 called to ask if I could bake with him. Of course! Video call and ingredients all ready, we spent a happy couple of hours making Choc Chip and Raisin Cookies. Our lovely neighbour likes it when I bake with him too as we share out the results.
A late parcel arrived yesterday wrapped in this delightful brown wrapping paper.
We really needed a different place to walk today so drove a few miles to the North coast. Our walk was short in the bitterest of chill winds!
As we walked along Lovers’ Lane, birds were dropping bits out of the tree above us, among them, this pretty bit of lichen.
There was a letter in The Guardian this morning saying that in Burton in Lonsdale, North Yorkshire, the first primroses have just been seen. Here in Cornwall, we’ve had them in flower since November both in our garden and in the hedgerows as here.
Walking past the Nursery School this afternoon we noticed the painting of local landmarks on the windows.
And today, I remember my Dad whose birthday this is. He was my rock.
Walking this morning, I spotted some wool, I think, in the hedge. It must be from a wooly dog as sheep don’t come along this way! I loved the way the drops of dew had gathered in the strands.
In a conversation with Judy of Newenglandgardenandthread this afternoon, I found myself quoting words (referring to technology rather than a little girl) that were spoken to me many times as a child when I was being less than my lovely smiley self! I looked them up and found this little poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (American poet, 1807-1882)
There was a little girl, who had a little curl Right in the middle of her forehead, And when she was good, she was very, very good, But when she was bad she was horrid.
She stood on her head, on her little trundle bed, With nobody by for to hinder; She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled, And drummed her little heels against the winder.
Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys Playing in the empty attic, She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares, And spanked her, most emphatic.
I only remember the first verse being used and I used to join in with the reprimand finding it amusing and a bit of a challenge!
This afternoon I have finished my Jolabokaflod book, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. Oh, what a story, what beautiful writing, what evocative descriptions! I was sorry to come to the end and can wholly recommend it – just have a box of tissues nearby. Being the mother of twins myself, there were parts I found completely heartbreaking.
We have avoided one of our routes up to The Great Flat Lode because there has been such a lot of rain and that makes for a lot of puddle dodging. There has been much less rain recently so we tried that route only to discover that it is a completely impassable quagmire as a tractor has been churning up the mud and the puddles!
It’s very cold, it’s wintery dark too early and we are all worried about the virus but there is hope in the garden. Nature will have her way, has kept us supplied with greens over the winter and now new shoots are appearing heralding a bright and beautiful Spring.
Here are my six for this week.
1. We redid the wall border in the early Autumn, planted lots of bulbs and some Clematis. This evergreen one has just taken off and is already all over the trellis.
Clematis Wisley Cream
2 In the same border are lots of winter flowering pansies which we can see from the kitchen window. The orange ones have been much more successful than the purple ones and make lovely bright spots in the border. Lots of the bulbs are peeping through.
3. I went looking for Snowdrop shoots and found a few. Some I expected to find are smothered in weeds and we’ll have to get to clearing that little patch quickly to give the flowers some air and a chance.
Snowdrop shoots
4. The raised beds continue to supply us with Kalettes otherwise known as Flower Sprouts. They are delicious quickly stir fried in garlic butter.
Kalettes/Flower Sprouts
5. We acquired an allotment in the Autumn (great excitement having waited several years) and all we’ve really done is clear the dense weeds. We have however planted some Osteospermum along the path and a row of Elephant Garlic which has started to sprout! Yippee.
The Daffodils in the front garden are quite tall and almost ready to bend their heads over so flowering isn’t too far away……
6. We have spent some happy hours planning the allotment and have this week ordered lots of seeds – for Dwarf French Beans, Courgettes, Leeks, Pumpkin, Tumbling Tom Tomatoes and Kale. News of those in due course.
And, just for fun, on our walk today and in someone else’s garden, we were serenaded by a Robin who stayed there singing as we approached, as we went by and until we were so far away, we couldn’t hear him any more. What a treat!
The inspiration for Six on Saturday comes from The Propagator. Pop over to see his posts and to read sixes from lots of other gardeners.
Near the start of our walk late this afternoon, the lovely Mr S spotted a couple of horses way in the distance.
Horses in the distance
We took a long shadow photo for our family in Atlanta, waving to celebrate the news about the Senate.(Edited 8th Jan 2021- To make things quite clear – I was talking about celebrating the Democrats winning the two Senate seats in Georgia. I was not referring to the disgraceful and frightening behaviour of the mob in Washington.)
Down the lane and nearly home we came to the view of our lovely Town Clock bathed in golden evening sunshine and the viaduct which carries the railway line which runs from Penzance to Paddington.
