Sitting in the conservatory this afternoon after a hard spell of weeding in the garden, I put on a Barbra Streisand CD, poured a large glass of red wine and looked out at this last week of August scene. Back in the late Spring I found a few Nasturtium seeds in the garage and stuck a few in at the back of the pond with the result as below. They so remind me of childhood days, of sucking the spur behind the flower and enjoying its hot and peppery taste and Cabbage White butterfly caterpillars under every leaf.
The pond itself looks jaded now and thanks to this photograph, looks a third of its size, it really is much bigger than how it looks here.
Elsewhere in the garden the flowers are all continuing to do their bit and are sending out their messages of "come and get it", and yet the grey skies and chilly wind seem to deter even the hardiest of bees.
And that is the problem, here we are at the end of August and yet it is like mid-Autumn, it should still be so hot and sunny and Pittswood Man should still be complaining about the heat and the sun and the need for a shady tree, but no, its like mid-October.
In the chapter called "Wayfarers All" in the Wind of the Willows, Ratty, desperate at the way summer seemed to be slipping away so fast, had come across a group of Swallows who were discussing their soon to happen departure southwards. He asked why they couldn't stay on to enjoy the good times that he and his friends had during winter.
"I tried stopping on one year", said one Swallow. "I had grown so fond of the place that when the time came I hung back and let the others go on without me. For a few weeks it was all well enough, but afterwards, O the weary length of the nights! The shivering sunless days! The air so clammy and chill, and not an insect in an acre of it! No, it was no good; my courage broke down, and one cold, stormy night I took wing, flying well inland on account of the strong easterly gales. It was snowing hard as I beat through the passes of the great mountains, and I had a stiff fight to win through; but never shall I forget the blissful feeling of the hot sun again on my back as I sped down to the lakes that lay so blue and placid below me, and the taste of my first fat insect!"
Does not that say it all - it does for me!
Swallows are so expressive. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI agree Wilma, and they also have the sense to spend the winter in hot and sunny places, as no doubt you soon will.
ReplyDeleteIt has just been announced that we in the UK have had the coolest summer since 1993, which will make the winter even longer this year.