Awake, thou wintry earth

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

 

A day off and some lovely time gardening.  The weather was changeable; cool in the shade, suddenly warm and lovely when the sun made a rare appearance.  We are trying to tidy up the garden before spring completely arrives.  There are definite signs of spring starting now.  A shrub I've had for a few years is flowering for the first time, it is quite exquisite, but I'm not sure what it is. 

 

Can anyone name this shrub?

 My spring garden is starting to look pretty.  The daffodils are in bud and the primroses and primulas are in full flower.  Tulips and bluebells are further behind, hopefully to greet us in April and May.

Mr C has planted his garlic and is now planting onion sets.  Garlic did well in the garden the last time we tried it, so hopefully we will have a glut.

Garlic

We are also planting several fruit bushes - here are three gooseberry plants, and we have two blackcurrants and a further redcurrant.



Gooseberries

The acid yellow of the spurge or Euphorbia is quite startling and cheers up the garden, most of which is still quite dormant.

 

I may need to make a trip to the garden centre to find another couple of these, they look really good the whole year.  I'm really keen to get on with growing flowers this year, I just need to thwart the slugs and snails!

 

 

In small pockets of the garden however colour and fragrance are appearing. From now onwards, the garden will only get more lush and green and I just cannot wait! 

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

Glimpses of spring?

Walking in woodland in Devon last weekend we saw a few signs that Spring may be on its way.  March is always a strange month, often you can get several warmer sunnier days and then suddenly the wind rises and the ice and snow appear again.  It is certainly too early to plant very much.  I did notice in Devon the daffodils are starting to come out, so in a week or two ours should appear.  In the meantime, in the woodland and at Hazel Cottage, the snowdrops are charming us.

Funghi doesn't seem to be quite so fussy about temperature as the flowers.  We saw this rather impressive tree funghi.  Does anyone know which one it is?

The primroses are coming up with their dainty pale yellow flowers.

“O fairest flower, no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly.”

John Milton

 The winter aconites were still plentiful if you knew where to find them.

We also spied the beginnings of ramsons or wild garlic.  Not yet ready to pick, but in a month it should be everywhere!

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet

The Darkling Thrush and friends

As winter continues onwards towards a hopeful Spring, we have seen some interesting visitors in our garden.  We are so pleased that we regularly see about fifteen different bird species at Hazel Cottage.  Many of the relatively new arrivals such as the sparrows and starlings have become very regular in the last months.  We are also seeing more of the collared doves.

 

 

 

We are both trying to learn more about birds.  I'm pretty certain I can tell the difference between the sound of a collared dove (coo-coooo-coo) and a woodpigeon (coo-coooo-coo-coo-coo).  It is all rather subtle written down like that, but more obvious when you hear it, honestly.

 

We were excited to see this chap the other day.  At first from a distance I thought it was a female blackbird or a starling, but it moved very differently, and had longer legs. 

 

Luckily he moved far closer to the back door, and for once I had the camera to hand.  Wandering around our lawn was a thrush!  We don't remember ever seeing one in our garden before, although we have often wished for a flock of them to deal with our slug and snail population.

 

It is always great to see a new bird in the garden.  We are also seeing a lot of what we discovered was a Black Cap these last few weeks.  He seems to be on the feeder every day now, and Mr C zoomed in madly the other day to discover him sat in a hedge with our resident robin.

Much as I have enjoyed this winter far more than the last, we are both looking forward to Spring enormously.  The days are lengthening now and the daffodil leaves are peaking above the ground, so even if Spring isn't here, it seems at least a possibility.

"Surely as cometh the Winter, I know
There are Spring violets under the snow."
-  R. H. Newell

Fighting against nature

It has been very cold since January has changed to February.  Every day is cold and often windy, making it feel bitter and we even had a little snow yesterday.  Our wood burner has really been installed in the best possible winter.  It has made such a difference to the cosiness and warmth in our little house.

The other morning I took a photograph of the back garden and the light was very strange and blue. It seems rather apt considering how cold I felt!

 

"There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow.  It is the still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig, is clad with radiance."
William Sharp

It is so easy to want to stay at home and hibernate this time of year.  Going out of the house each morning to work has been a bit of a struggle!  We have been trying to make sure we do still go out and do things in the cold weather.  We went to visit Winchester Cathedral the other day, and in spite it being the cathedral I know best I still found some angles and features I'd not noticed before.

The Nave

Light from a window coming in onto a pillar

Guardian Angels Chapel

The cathedral was rather busy as it was an open day, but when you look upwards you can see a place of great beauty and stillness.  I've loved the guardian angels chapel for many years now, I remember being amazed at the 13th century angels heads on the roof.

This winter has been good for going on lovely wintry walks.  The frost and the mist has been rather beautiful.  Such a constrast to last winter which was windy and filled with torrential rain.

Low sunshine and shadows

Frost

Frost close up!

"Come when the rains
Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
While the slant sun of February pours
Into the bowers a flood of light. Approach!
The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps
And the broad arching portals of the grove
Welcome thy entering."
-  William Cullen Bryant, A Winter Piece

Marmalade time

Over the weekend I made a double batch of seville orange marmalade.  This meant two kilos of oranges and four kilos of sugar so the kitchen is still very slightly sticky a few days later.  I don't know whether it is just me, but I find marmalade far harder to get right than jam.  All the books say it takes 10 minutes of boiling before the marmalade has reached setting point and virtually very single time I've made it, it takes more like 45 minutes at least.

I used a River Cottage recipe, which was a whole fruit method.  I started with my lovely fragrant seville oranges...

I then simmer the oranges in water for an hour or so until they are soft.

 

The pips are taken out and the peel is sliced into small slivers

The peel, sugar and water are added with any juice and slowly brought to the boil whilst stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

When it gets to a rolling boil, keep it boiling.  The books all tell me that it should be boiling for 10-15 minutes, but it ALWAYS takes longer than that.

 

After a lot of boiling, finally I have twelve jars of marmalade. 

 

 

In the darkness of midwinter it is lovely to create something bright and warm and glorious.

Back to the grindstone...

Anyone who reads this blog knows that we both are home lovers.  We've put a lot of effort into making our home how we want it and we love doing things at home - watching old films, cooking, sewing, reading, gardening.  We had two whole weeks off for Christmas and had such a lovely time.  We did the social bits, went for lovely walks as well as lots of reading and watching films and obviously a lot of cooking and baking.

Now I'm sat eating the last piece of Christmas cake at my desk at work (having a short lunch) my mind is now yearning to be back at home.  I'm not yearning for Christmas particularly - much as I love that time of year, I don't mind when it is over as I'm excited for the next thing to happen. I just want to be in our cosy home...

Our new sofa (note the patchwork cushion made by me a year or two back!)

Our lovely study where we read/fall asleep

My craft area.  Note the pile of material waiting for me to make it into something

 

The pile of books I received for Christmas.   Hurray!

I've only finished one of my Christmas books and am reading the A N Wilson biography of Queen Victoria which is really interesting.  I'm also really looking forward to reading 'We Made a Garden' by Margery Fish, which explains how she created a garden from scratch in the 1930s.

I made a rather odd purchase in a charity shop recently.  Its a very small suitcase, possibly used for a musical instrument.  I liked the look of it, but what sold it to me was the old material British Legion Poppy that was hanging off the handle.  Yes, yes I know I have issues!

At least it is Friday and we have a relatively quiet weekend ahead.  Tonight I plan to make some homemade lemonade out of the Christmas leftover lemons and we have lots of dates and nuts to make something out of.   I love weekends!

St Cross to Winchester on New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve, the year is nearly at an end and frost lays heavy on the ground even this far south. Perfect weather for a winter walk from St Cross to Winchester.

The ground was hard underfoot as we set out from Five Bridges Road past the farm alongside the River Itchen.

The wintry sun sat low in the sky, just warm enough to slowly melt the morning's frost, drip, drip, drip from the skeletal oaks and beeches.

The Hospital of St Cross and Almhouse of Noble Poverty. ‘England’s most perfect almshouse’ (Simon Jenkins: England’s Thousand Best Churches).

He withers all in silence, and in his hand
Unclothes the earth and freezes up frail life.
~William Blake (1757-1827), "To Winter"

Mist still lay across the fields, yet to be burnt off by the pale winter sun.

The days are short
The sun a spark
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.
~John Updike, "January," A Child’s Calendar, 1965

Into Winchester and past the last home of Jane Austen.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” Edith Sitwell.

Happy new year to all.