This gallery contains 46 photos.
“How are you?” was the familiar greeting down the line. “I’m feeling glum. I’ve just read your email and poem”, was my unusual reply. This the response to our younger son, after a brief email he’d sent me which included … Continue reading
This gallery contains 71 photos.
2023 for us began splendidly – house guests again, at last, over at least some of the twelve nights of Christmas. Conversation, reminiscing, walks, special food, and some favourite films including a much-anticipated second watch of Stephen Macrae and Sarah … Continue reading
This gallery contains 69 photos.
This time of the year, when a temperate Northern hemisphere garden inevitably has the least to offer visually with light and flower power at its seasonal nadir mid-November, it’s struck me just how many other of our seasonal markers have … Continue reading
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It was with some trepidation that we looked forward to our last garden visitors of the year since Paul (and Angela) set up, own, and still run the excellent and useful Great British Gardens website. Worth checking out as a … Continue reading
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The official 10-day mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II ended here, on September 19th, with a dry, still day with dense, quilted cloud cover, and hardly a breath of wind.We had already been gripped by the emotion of losing the … Continue reading
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A year ago my July post “Extreme” ended thus: What can we expect in the future? More and worse of the same – extreme heat, sunshine, rain, winds – often all in the same year. Plus ça change, plus c’est … Continue reading
What a Jubilee June! Far too much to write about, so I’ll rely heavily on photos to tell the story of a jam-packed June. It began in a subdued fashion with the weather turning cool, grey, and damp without enough … Continue reading
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It started with a kiss. Actually, I can’t remember whether it did, in the early morning in question, but it was certainly in the bedroom that at some point I’d registered a buzz. Since we always leave our Velux roof-light … Continue reading
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Just a few introductory words about this latest “Harmonies No. 3”, compilation video. All footage was filmed here at Gelli Uchaf in the first 3 weeks of April 2022, yet another wonderful April in a run of 3. Images and … Continue reading
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Will you read to the end? Who is this really for? You or me? Do I know? Do I care? A selection of short sentences to begin, since I’ve been thinking about attention spans of late. Probably prompted by my … Continue reading
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No sooner does the Met Office confirm from its monthly summary, that once again we’ve had an exceptional end to March in the UK, than the weather has flipped, some welcome rain has arrived, and we’re enjoying a bit of … Continue reading
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The garden is full of white at the moment, a veritable sea of snowdrops, but today it’s two other, stronger, early spring colours I’d like to open with. Yellow. And Blue. And the briefest mention of another one, red, that … Continue reading
This gallery contains 55 photos.
Our thanks to a regular blog reader for alerting us to the fact that 10 days ago the Sunday Telegraph ran an excellent article by Val Bourne, a self-confessed galanthophile, on snowdrops, with some excellent practical tips on how to … Continue reading
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I shall forever remember the recent wolf moon. I’ve certainly seen one before, though without knowing that the full moon in January was given this, and several other monikers centuries ago, at least in the U.S.A., by native American tribes. … Continue reading
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“History never repeats itself; at best it sometimes rhymes”. So said Mark Twain, apparently. I think the same sentiments could be expressed about the appearance of any garden from year to year, and as I write this on New Year’s day, … Continue reading
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No fanfare greets your late return, No chattered dipped inflections, No yearned for sunny silhouettes. No, November’s solitary influx Seeps, a secret spreading stain. A million marvel migrants fled. The chilling landscape, flushed you Fast, by night. Alone. And tracked … Continue reading
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We’re past the worst. As I began to tap this out on the morning of December 22nd, I can say this with confidence. The days are now extending, the nights reducing, at least for the next 6 months or so. … Continue reading
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Three questions to begin. Do you like the header image, which is completely untweaked? It’s exactly as it came out of the camera’s flash card. Secondly do you prefer it this way up? And finally, and really the most interesting, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 9 photos.
At last, November 2nd, a dense grey scene greeted me as I drew the upstairs bedroom curtains. But not without hope, as it had the faintest hint of colour seeping through, due East. As always, the next job in my … Continue reading
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Let’s get the plurality of falls out of the way. I’m stretching the meaning to include what we still seem to call autumn, on this side of the pond, though fall is an appropriate term on a day like today … Continue reading
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The landscape and weather here have been languishing. Stuck, metaphorically, in a deep rut between the end of the summer season and autumn’s winds and rains, with the anticipation of fall and decay. Fat berries, the spawn of many successful … Continue reading
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Extreme. A single word, reflecting a manic month, when, with little respite from time spent outside, the charm of putting together a blog post has dissipated in much the same way as water has been sucked from this, now dessicating, … Continue reading
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Midsummer’s past. The nights are drawing in. Although the inevitability gnaws away at my consciousness on a dank foggy morning, this year it’s different. Our discussed expectation, as we toiled with the hay last year in the upper meadow, was … Continue reading
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This short compilation was stitched together in a hurry, to coincide with our talk on June 17th on Noel Kingsbury and Annie Guilfoyle’s Garden Masterclass Thursday teatime chat at 6 pm. The limitations of Zoom means sharing videos clips on … Continue reading
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Sometimes it’s worth revisiting thoughts. “But all the gardens Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud. There could I marvel My birthday Away but the weather turned around.” … Continue reading
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World Bee Day 2021. I’ve just bought a new external Røde VideoMic NTG microphone to link into my standard Lumix FZ 1000 bridge camera, to enable me to capture sound better without the machinery rumble which comes from the camera’s … Continue reading
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What a pair of words to place together. Crudely linked by their common first letter, yet full of rich and varied cultural depth, and filled with distant, ancient meaning. Much of it unknown to this blogger, before I was inspired … Continue reading
This gallery contains 94 photos.
The weather has continued to be a dominant factor in life here over the last 4 weeks. Culminating this last week in what I can only describe as brutal conditions for several days. However, to rewind, named storm Christoff, battered … Continue reading
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What a start to 2021. Just when you thought 2020 did pretty well at shaking up the world’s complacency, along comes 2021, and already we’ve had the storming of the Capitol by a Trump supporting mob, a pending second impeachment … Continue reading
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Were you lucky enough to see October’s Halloween blue moon? Many will know that the “once in a blue moon” event when we can see, weather permitting, two full moons in the same month does indeed happen pretty infrequently. The … Continue reading
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For many decades, I’ve been convinced that our diets have a huge impact on our health and state of well being, but a few recent observations and discoveries had me trying to track down who was the first to coin … Continue reading
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I feel very fortunate that we’re always kept busy here, even if much of what we do is repetitive, manual and mundane. It’s good to have elements of effort which are routine, even if conditions make them more challenging, so … Continue reading
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I guess we’ve all played kick the can at some point, a great multi generational game though possibly needing modification in these days of social distancing – actual physical contact probably not being a good idea. But I’m now programming … Continue reading
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I’m beginning with a quick update on the current situation regarding possible garden visits to Gelli Uchaf for the rest of 2020. National Gardens Scheme (NGS) gardens in Wales are still currently unable to open to the general public, though … Continue reading
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Little did I think, as I worked in early April writing words for “This Glorious Spring”, that began with these three lines: In this most glorious spring, our cruel Gods with cunning irony, And perfect twenty twenty vision, hung out … Continue reading
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Fiona told me a friend had recently shared a Facebook post along the lines of : “You don’t realise how anti-social you are until a pandemic comes along…. and then you discover that your life has hardly changed”. There’s certainly … Continue reading
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With apologies to The Eagles, “Life in the slow stream, Surely gonna ease your soul” seems a suitable line to begin a post typically full of the observations that always happen down here when the weather is wonderful. And DRY! … Continue reading
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Monday March 16th dawned clear, cold with a light frost, and sunny for a good couple of hours. Thrushes were serenading, small feathers drifted across the yard, as house sparrows and wagtails built nests. By 9.30 honeybees were visiting the … Continue reading
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If “a week is a long time in politics” ( first coined by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the 1960’s), then how long is a year in weather terms? 2020 seems to be continuing the trend for the weather to … Continue reading
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Me, or you, by the end of this? Let’s get the word out of the way first. Apparently derived by combining “over”, with the Middle English verb “whelmen”, meaning to overturn, turn upside down, or submerge completely. Click here for … Continue reading
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New year. New decade. What a beginning! Welcome to the roaring twenties, with some previously unseen images from early January exactly 10 years ago. Whilst struggling to get started on this post, news has run ahead of me. The suspicion … Continue reading
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Lurgy struck, our planned visitors had cancelled, which meant Christmas Day dawned bright, quiet, and relaxed after the previous evening’s calm was spoiled by ominous loud tapping from an kitchen internal wall. Checking the under-stair cupboard showed signs of recent … Continue reading
This gallery contains 74 photos.
Fortunately, a noisy wiper blade made me think twice about heading out for an evening talk last week, with the forecast heavy rain. Just as well, since with no warning hints from any of our weather forecasts, as I nipped … Continue reading
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After my last long post, heavy on history, this one is much shorter on words, and more garden focused. It begins with a tribute to Jessye Norman, singing below the third of Richard Strauss’ wonderful Four Last Songs – Beim … Continue reading
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September Today I yearn serenity. And on this first morn, Shorn of politics and prorogation, September smiles. Struggling through horizoned clouds, A window opens; golden light floods Distant Pumsaint’s rich veined coum. The hidden … Continue reading
This gallery contains 57 photos.
What halcyon days, the August 2019 bank holiday weekend. A record breaker for temperatures across the UK, and here too with heat and wall to wall sunshine. Yet what of the origin of “halcyon days”? You have to return to … Continue reading
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Autumn has arrived here early, in the last 48 hours. Rain. Gales. Home fires. Even if the air is still warm. After what must rank as one of the best summers we can recall here, life can calm down a … Continue reading
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In a blatant bit of promotional activity, I’m asking any readers of this post to support “The Hut” in a public vote to find the Cuprinol Shed of The Year 2019. Having decided to enter “The Hut” into this annual … Continue reading
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With most of the hay we need for the next winter already safely harvested, we headed off, relieved, for what passes as a significant break for us in early July, spending 6 nights away travelling up to Northumberland and back. … Continue reading
This gallery contains 46 photos.
Just in time for a bit of planned guerilla planting, or more accurately sowing, our eldest son and fiancée arrived at the end of the first week in June. Following the wettest day in 3 months, a quick trawl beneath … Continue reading
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