Saturday, August 30, 2008
End of Summer
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Random Moment of Beauty: Queen Anne's Lace
(She chose a summer's day)
And hung it in a grassy place
To whiten, if it may.
Queen Anne, Queen Anne has left it there,
And slept the dewy night;
Then waked, to find the sunshine fair,
And all the meadows white.
Queen Anne, Queen Anne is dead and gone
(She died a summer's day)
But left her lace to whiten in
Each weed-entangled way!
by Mary Leslie Newton
For more interesting facts about this lovely flower, click here.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Blackberry Picking
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.
-- Seamus Heaney
Monday, August 25, 2008
Summer Abundance
Friday, August 22, 2008
Delightful Distraction
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
China Cabinet: Summer display
Friday, August 01, 2008
Queen Anne's Lace
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