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It’s been a long month here since I last sat and typed a post. A lot has happened and I have to confess that my usual get up and go has been worn down a little, and as often is … Continue reading
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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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What a strange Christmas this year. No physical visitors, but a wonderful, across the globe, multifamily, multigenerational, even multi continent, ZOOM call. In Wales, a recent apparent surge in Covid case numbers, the discovery of a new “mutant” and “more … Continue reading
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I’ve always been a sucker for synchronicities – those serendipitous events colliding in time or meaning, yet with no apparent causal link. The word was first used to describe the concept in the 1920’s, by analytical psychologist Carl Jung, who … 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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Dream Leaper What a time it was, When beeches wept and Seasons’ memories lay neatly banked and rusting, Deep beneath Caermalwas Fach’s Cathedral sheltering boughs. It was a time For Crow to crown the naked larch And, silhouetted, … Continue reading
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I can’t recall a year like this. Never mind the “pandemic”, I’m referring to our lovely Oak tree, draped over the barn roof. (The valleys though, aren’t singing. Locked down again, for 17 days from Friday. So listen instead to … 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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Early on Mothering Sunday morning, March 22nd 2020, in glorious sunshine, on the day after this sort of headline hit the news media – Coronavirus: ‘Unprecedented’ crowds in Wales despite warnings and the day before the nation heard in a … 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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It doesn’t matter how many forecasts are pored over, the weather here is fickle, so rising early last Thursday, the date of our first pop up open garden open day of 2020, the desire to draw the curtains and peer … Continue reading
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A very brief post to say that we glimpse a tiny weather window, so are holding a pop up opening for the NGS this coming Thursday morning. I’ve emailed those on our regular mailing list, but we currently still have … 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
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Though not necessarily in that order.Locked into the combination of rain, frequently grey skies, and the lethargy that comes with insufficient light waves winging their way towards my retinas, comes the added torpor induced by the recent media coverage of … Continue reading
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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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A fortnight ago, we headed down to the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW) for their annual Wales Fungus day event. In spite of a poor forecast, as always there were several interesting talks and events laid on, including their … 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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I recently checked out the Shed of The Year competition website to see who the category and overall winners were, since we were sworn to secrecy in an email a few weeks ago having been told The Hut hadn’t won, … Continue reading
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As autumn proper has arrived, and October is a mere gale and thunderstorm away, it’s a wonderful time of the year to enjoy the delights of Dahlias.Very late to the Dahlia party, I’ve realised that they provide a wonderful autumnal … 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
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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
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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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As always here, no news isn’t good, or bad, just a reflection of the weather – almost no rain, and too much to do. I should start with a quick reference to Hannah, which we hope will be the last, … Continue reading
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Was it the full moon? Or the sudden warming in temperatures last week? Or impending Easter – which won’t fall this late in April again until 2030? Or the threat of predators? At that stage unseen.We’ll never know, but after … Continue reading
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Warning – this is a long catch up-post.And for anyone quick off the mark, we’re holding a “pop up” Garden open day for charity for the National Garden Scheme, this Easter Saturday at 2.30 pm – but you MUST contact … Continue reading
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Seizing the moment on a currently rare March morning, forecast to be dry and sunny after much rain, cloud and wind during the first fortnight of this highly variable month, Fiona had plotted a circular route centred around the coastal … Continue reading
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What a fortnight! Spanning the days between two saintly commemorations. Firstly, Italian martyr St. Valentine, tortured and then put to death on February 14th 269, after refusing to revoke his faith to the emperor Claudius. Beaten with clubs and then … Continue reading
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February 1st and 2nd are important dates. Or certainly used to be in this part of the world. February 1st being the ancient Celtic festival date for Imbolc, when winter was considered to be passing into spring. A word of … Continue reading
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It’s only mid January, and already I’m thinking about next year’s bulb order. Significant numbers of larger bulbs aren’t going to be on it, maybe just a few Narcissus ‘Rjinveld’s Early Sensation’ but certainly lots more of those smaller gems which … Continue reading
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Since creating this blog and website I occasionally look back, with interest, at how things have changed over the years. In this, the first written post of the New Year, I thought I’d begin with reflections on some of the … Continue reading
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At last, I’ve made it to the Gower. An invitation that popped into our inbox for a day’s course on managing land to help our native invertebrates caught my eye. Particularly since one of the tutors was the naturalist Steven … Continue reading
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This may be a confusing slog – no typo. Both to write and read.A blurred rush, as is my own self-imposed challenge over all these years, through topics related to the natural world around us in rural West Wales, and … Continue reading
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It finally happened. We’ve been hit by the severe rainfall event which we’ve expected for many years, and the prospect of which had driven all our work creating rain management channels on our access track. However before this, preluded by … Continue reading
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Every once in a while, a big concept strikes home, creating a damascene like moment. I reckon my heightened awareness of the importance of fungi in the ground beneath our feet, which is outlined below, will prove to be almost … Continue reading
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Pictures? Or Words? Another Day Saturday morning, before Today begins. Warm, still, silent. Up here. Crow crudely cracks the soundscape open. Beetles blurrrr West. Blushing pink flushes swiftly gold. And valleys haze. So calm, so calm. … Continue reading
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Naked ladies, Devil’s paintbrush, Brimstone, Mosquito hawks, Hordes of toads, Erupting craneflies, Dandelion diversity. The list of interesting observations here in the last 10 days has certainly kept my eyes wide open, and my shutter finger twitchy. But I’ll begin … Continue reading