You were born in Australia on July 8, 1882, and you'd have been 143 years old today, had you not unfortunately died at the age of 78, in White Plains, New York, on February 20, 1961. Oh, well. Can't have everything. What I can have, though, is an enduring memory of your music, and your… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Percy Grainger!
Category: Gardening
The Snowman Cometh
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Three years ago tomorrow, I wrote a post about the "three snowmen," the last cold-weather intervals of Spring before it's safe to begin serious planting and garden work outside. April 21, 2021 heralded the arrival of the last one for the year. Fast forward three… Continue reading The Snowman Cometh
Quote of the Day: A Little (April) Prayer
Let us be thankful, Lord, for little things - The song of birds, the rapture of the rose; Cloud-dappled skies, the laugh of limpid springs, Drowned sunbeams and the perfume April blows; Bronze wheat a-shimmer, purple shade of trees - Let us be thankful, Lord of Life, for these! Let us be praiseful, Sire, for… Continue reading Quote of the Day: A Little (April) Prayer
William Blake: When Friends Fall Out
I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. What is the best way to handle disagreements? Between friends? Between foes? William Blake, eccentric and brilliant man, early Romantic Poet, Biblical scholar, anti-establishmentarian, advocate for the Free Love movement (who once asked his devoted wife Catherine if it would be alright… Continue reading William Blake: When Friends Fall Out
“Grow, you buggers, Grow!”
Few English actors have radiated imperiousness upon command (see what I did there) better than did the late Glenda Jackson. Nevertheless, I found myself charmed by a revelation, in a recent Daily Mail column** written by her son, the journalist Dan Hodges, that Jackson struggled as a gardener, even amongst the flowers that she loved. To wit,… Continue reading “Grow, you buggers, Grow!”
What the Hellebore?
I do love the plant genus Helleborus. Known as the Lenten Rose, it’s certainly living up to its name in 2023, after a few years of not doing very much. (To be fair, when it comes to my garden, I wasn’t doing very much during those few years either, so not entirely the plants’ fault.)… Continue reading What the Hellebore?
Harbinger
I just picked the first of this season's dandelions and brought them inside as a treat for Miss Bunny. Doing so reminded me of this post, from almost exactly a year ago, and of how much I love this season: Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close emerging, As if no artifice of fashion,… Continue reading Harbinger
Sowing Seeds
Where there’s life, there’s hope, and need of vittles.–JRR Tolkien The pathway to some of my favorite vittles became clearer today with the arrival of the first two seed catalogs of the year. The temperature is in the single digits (supposed to go down to 2°F tonight), and the wind’s blowing like a Force-8 gale.… Continue reading Sowing Seeds
Roses in December
God gave us memories that we might have roses in December–J.M. Barrie It’s a lovely sentiment, isn’t it? Unfortunately, not all our memories come up roses (pace Ethel Merman): https://youtu.be/s62MrU8mHx4 and our memory gardens inevitably include thorns, thistles, poison ivy, and an abundance of other nasty weeds we encountered at some point in the horticultural… Continue reading Roses in December
An October Garden
In my Autumn garden I was fain To mourn among my scattered roses; Alas for that last rosebud which uncloses To Autumn’s languid sun and rain When all the world is on the wane! Which has not felt the sweet constraint of June, Nor heard the nightingale in tune Broad-faced asters by my garden walk,… Continue reading An October Garden