Wild about the town

 In the part of Horsham where I live there's an ongoing project to rewild as many of the green spaces as possible no matter what their size. I've made a conscious decision to really pay attention to what I'm seeing when I'm out walking. There have been several butterflies and some really beautiful wild Spring flowers. Although the butterflies may not play ball, thankfully the latter are stationary so I have a chance to capture their magnificence and it enriches my experience while I'm out.

Green Alkanet aka Evergreen Bugloss. It's related to Forget-me-nots, borage and comfrey. It was believed to be helpful for healing wounds or snake bites and the root can be used both as a coffee substitute or you can extract a red dye from it which was used by weavers and cloth-makers. Alkanet apparently is derived from the Arabic for henna and the plant is thought to have originated in the Mediterranean.

Wood anemone aka Windflower, European Thimble Weed and Smell Fox because of its sharp musky scent. Anemone comes from the Greek God Anemos who sent the Spring flowers before him. It's the county flower of Middlesex and a symbol of good luck if you carry some about your person. Fairies were believed to hide in them and close up the flowers to protect themselves from the rain.

Cowslip aka Plumrocks, Fairy Cups and St Peter's keys supposedly from the look of the flowers to the bunch of keys that he carelessly dropped. These were traditionally picked on May day to decorate the boughs and bushes that those celebrating would have carried with them. It's a very fragrant flower [smells slightly of apricot] and many years ago it was regularly made into a country wine.

Ground Ivy aka Run-away Robin, Creeping Charlie, Devil's Candlesticks and in Sussex Lion's Mouth. Its other name of Alehoof alludes to its use by the Saxons to flavour and clarify their ale before hops were favoured. It smells of blackcurrant [and tom cat!] and is a good remedy for nettle bites. It was believed to be a protection against sorcery and milkmaids would wear it to stop the cows from being enchanted when they milked them.

Lesser Celandine is part of the buttercup family and is not to be confused with Greater Celandine which confusingly is not related as it's part of the poppy group. It's claimed that it was Wordsworth's favourite wild flower, but maybe it might not have appealed so much had its main name been Pilewort [relating to its use for treating haemorrhoids]. Other country names relating to its sunny yellow colour are Goldy Knob and Golden Guineas.

This final one is, of course, Forget-me-nots. If you've got to the end of this post without losing the will to live you might be relieved to hear that I've already covered this little wonder in an earlier post here https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=forget-me-nots. I figured that there was no point in covering old ground😁

Weirdly for the second time in as many weeks I found myself accompanied by another friendly feline guide who showed me round the redundant Victorian graveyard which was one of my hunting grounds. I hardly ever encounter cats when I'm exploring let alone ones which are hellbent on having a cuddle and come over of their own volition. Life's funny how it works sometimes isn't it.

Arilx

Tickled Pink

I was tickled pink to see my first ever pot full of pink Forget-me-nots at Biddulph Grange. That close up is me being all swanky using my newly discovered macro function on my camera. Have only had the said camera for about 5 years!! I never was one to read instructions.....anyway back to floral matters and a little bit of related trivia for you.

The Forget-me-not is part of the Borage family and has,in its time, also been called Scorpion Grass and Mouse Ear [the Greeks thought the leaves looked mouse ear shaped]

Henry IV adopted the flower as his emblem in 1398.

It was traditional for German lovers to wear a sprig each so that they would remember one another when apart.

The flower only really rose in popularity during the Victorian era. In the language of flowers it came to mean friendship, remembrance and loyalty.

During WWII supposedly Freemasons moved over to the Forget-me-not from their standard square and compass design so that they could recognise one another, but avoid identification by the Nazis.

Nowadays poignantly the flower has been adopted by the Alzheimers Society.

We were spoilt on our trip out that day. Not only did I get standalone pink blooms, but a whole border of mixed blue, white and pink mixed together in a gorgeous confection.

Arilx

The Thrifty Times Issue Six

So it's been another busy  if not thrilling week of lock-down activities. This was the day I sorted out all my scarves and rolled them so they'd take up less room. I have lots as you can tell, but I wear all of them regularly. Once upon a time I had a striking set of unusual earrings, but I had to give up wearing them when my pierced ears would no longer play ball. The ones hanging up on the back of the chair as gifts from TYM after his stints in Bangladesh and Uganda. I just love the stories they tell of his time out there.

One of the things Mr GBT and I have spoken about is even the simplest decision seems to require so much more thinking and discussing these days. We are on our last toothbrush heads...do we do click and collect from one of the shops in town? risk the supermarket? [not keen....prospect makes me too anxious at the moment] or look online. We chose the latter and then had to research the cheapest way of doing it, as I'm not able to resume work yet so every outlay is being kept as low as possible. Sussed it eventually and we're now well stocked, but we've had the same discussions around vegetable seeds. Not quite so laboured as we've been growing for a while so have already narrowed our choices down...new on the list to try is kale. Then there was compost.....thankfully that particular conundrum was easy to solve....nobly Mr GBT took on the unenviable task of digging out the compost bin, but we had enough to top up all of the raised beds.

Despite my somewhat laissez-faire attitude towards the garden it's all looking quite pretty. As the bluebells and forget-me-nots die back they're being replaced with lots of self seeded columbines and Welsh poppies. Then there was the mass of pretty leaves that I left in situ...expecting it to be a forgotten perennial...I am now proud to say that I have a glorious blooming patch of buttercups!! N'er mind they'll be food for some mini beast or other. The garden birds are also stuffing their beaks. As feeding our feathered friends is a priority for us we dug deep and bought a 20kg sack of seeds. Without wishing to attract rodents or let them get wet we've split it into two bags...the paper one stays inside and I've reused the big plastic bag that TYM's delivery job kit came in. I knew I'd find a use for it!!

We're still mainly cooking from scratch aside from the odd reduced price pizza we buy.. It's good to have a night off once in a while. I risked the Nadiya Hussain's recipe for baked bean felafels with her version of coleslaw. It got the the thumbs up, but I missed out the egg because they would have been liquid otherwise. Also braved a rather unappetising looking bottom of the fridge soup to use the chicken stock and lurking veg...thank goodness it looked marginally less offensive once it had been blitzed!!

Entertainment wise can I just say how taken I am with Grayson Perry's programme over on Channel 4. I've been an admirer of his wife for a long time, but hadn't really taken much notice of him. He talks a lot of sense and is very down to earth around the whole subject of art. Being me I had completely ignored all mention of "The Crown" as we don't have Netflix here [don't watch enough TV anyway under normal circumstances]. However, TYM did subscribe [cancelled now] so before it ran out I binge watched all three series...typical of me. All or nothing. I did exactly the same with Peaky Blinders. I very rarely watch films either, but armed with the stitching below I have settled down well over a couple of afternoons and enjoyed some of the offerings on I-player. This heart is the start of a folk art hanging project I have in mind for our bedroom. It will take shape slowly over time as I want to be sure I'm happy with the end result.

Both of us are missing the live folk sessions we were going to every few weeks at the local folkclub. Listening to a live session over on FB last Friday night with a glass of homemade wine made as good a substitute as possible. It was Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll and the recording is still up on their page if you're a folkie. Here's my very own folk musician...during the clap for the NHS we've discovered that one of our neighbours plays the ukulele. She started off by just strumming chords, but as the weeks have progressed she has moved on to playing a well known song with all of us joining in. Mr GBT had a socially distanced chat with her last week and she popped the chords through our door so he could join in. He'll be performing again tomorrow.  We've said that we're going to throw a street party once we can all get together properly...one to look forwards to eh!

As a final footnote....we treated ourselves to a takeaway last night. TYM heard this week that he's got his degree with the mark that he'd worked so hard for. Mixture of relief and parental pride here at GBT!

Arilx

To Nature

To Nature

It may indeed be fantasy when I

Essay to draw from all created things

Deep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings;

And trace in leaves and flowers that round me lie

Lessons of love and earnest piety.

So let it be; and if the wide world rings

In mock of this belief, it brings

Nor fear, nor grief, nor vain perplexity.

So I will build my altar in the fields,

And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,

And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields

Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee,

Thee only God! and thou shalt not despise

Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I took the photo of the former pond now filled with Forget-Me-Nots when I was out walking with E earlier in the week. 

Arilx

Just Peeking Over The Parapet.

Wandering around at the weekend I got my first real sense that Spring is just beginning to stretch and yawn as she awakens from her slumber. I spotted a little clump of Forget-Me-Nots in a sheltered sunny spot and lots of these.

Hazel catkins [only found out what type they were today]. Catkins come from the obsolete Dutch word katteken meaning kitten because of their resemblance to kitten tails. They are acknowledged as one of the first signs of Spring.

Rootling around today I came across this poem by Margaret Fairless Barber [1869-1901] who wrote under the pseudonym of Michael Fairless. Hope you enjoy it.

Spring

Hark how the merry daffodils

Fling golden music to the hills!

And how the hills send echoing down,

Through wind-swept turf and moorland brown, 

The murmurs of a thousand rills

That mock the song-birds' liquid trills!

The hedge released from Winter's frown

Shews jewelled branch and willow crown;

While all the earth with pleasure trills

And 'dances with the daffodils'.

Out, out ye flowers! Up and shout!

Staid Winter's past and Spring's about

To lead your ranks in joyous rout;

To string the hawthorn's milky pearls,

And gild the grass with celandine;

To dress the catkins' tasselled curls,

To twist the tendrils of the vine.

She wakes the wind-flower from her sleep,

And lights the woods with April's moon;

The violets lift their heads to peep,

The daisies brave the sun at noon.

The gentle wind from out the west

Toys with the lilac pretty maids;

Ruffles the meadow's verdant-vest,

And rings the bluebells in the glades;

The ash buds change their sombre suit,

The orchards blossom white and red-

Promise of Autumn's brighter fruit,

When Spring's voluptuousness had fled.

Awake! awake, O throstle sweet!

And haste with all your choir to greet

This Queen who comes with wakening feet.

Persephone with grateful eyes

Salutes the Sun- 'tis Paradise:

Then hastens down the dewy meads,

Past where the herd contented feeds,

Past where the furrows hide the grain,

For harvesting of sun and rain;

To where Demeter patient stands

With longing lips and outstretched hands,

Until the dawning of one face

Across the void of time and space

Shall bring again her day of grace.

Rejoice, O Earth! Rejoice and sing!

This is the promise of the Spring

And this is the world's remembering.

Arilx