Friday, March 11, 2011

Spring...

Ever thought how nice it would be to have a little stream running at the bottom of your garden?  The gurgling noises, the constant movement, moisture feeding your plants without you lifting a hand?


This little spring  popped up about a month ago just at the corner of our allotment - that is our seedbed in the picture, or it would be were it not waterlogged.



Quite a little stream is running along the channel cut for it.  Apparently the drainage ditch must be blocked, the water table has risen to within a spade's depth of the surface and the spring has made itself visible for the first time in many years.  All the upper half of our plot is soggy, which is probably doing our blackcurrant bushes no good at all.




New growth on our rhubarb, grown from seed three years ago, one of a block of eight.  We are still eating rhubarb frozen from the crops last year.  We also have two of a different variety which cooks to red rather than green, which we bought from a charity stall in Ludlow some years ago.




Brilliant blue skies and the fresh green of a weeping tree over the river.  Is this a willow?  I'm not sure.  On the other side of the bridge there certainly are willow plantations, planted by Surridges, for making cricket bats.  The uncle of a friend of mine spent his working life at the company based in Witham.





An interesting comparison.  On the left, Regia sock yarn designed by Kaffe Fassett.  Lovely clear blues in shimmering patterns, set off by a curious khaki splodge. Cost:over eight pounds for a pair.    On the left, sock yarn by King Cole: same sort of turquoise and a purply colour, distributed more mechanically across the piece.  Cost: about half what the Regia costs.  It will be interesting to see how they wear, but also, given that I generally wear socks with black trousers and clogs, whether I continue to be aware of the difference in daily use.

This week's words, following alphabetically  from "Clarty" - dirty or sticky.  "Clatting" meant telling tales or grassing someone up, as Essex would have it.  "Clab" could be either a noun or a verb, meaning something plastered on, as in butter on bread, or at least, I think that is what it meant.  I haven't heard some of these words in forty years.  My parents were not really dialect speakers themselves and they certainly did not think speaking broad would bring with it any advantages for their children, so it was discouraged.  Now, I find these words have all the charm of the endangered or newly extinct specimen  in nature.

3 comments:

Janet said...

I think I would favour the KF socks - it's the provenance, never mind the cost.

Anonymous said...

I like the look of both socks, bit if the cheaper ones wear as well, then that's what I would use .... I wouldn't pay extra for the 'name'.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Very grand ! A moated allotment shed . Hope your blackcurrants survive , there's all those pies to make and enjoy .
Both yarns look lovely , so really it comes down to how they feel and how long they last . And how warm they are , especially this Spring !!
Now there's an image to hold on to ..... putting your toasty warm feet up and tucking into a big slice of pie ! And all home-made !