Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether summer clothe the general earth
With greeness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.



Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A View from the Window



First of all I've been tagged by Patty of Morning Ramble to do this MeMe.

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in the month and day you were born. (in my case it's September 7th).

2.List three events that occurred that day:

1191 - Third Crusade: Battle of Arsuf - Richard 1 of England defeats Saladin at Arsuf (King Richard is Richard the Lionheart)
1907 - Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City
1940 - World War 11:The Blitz - Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.

3.List two important birthdays:

1533 - Queen Elizabeth I of England
1936 - Buddy Holly
(I knew about these two but was interested to see that I also share a birthday with Grandma Moses, Anthony Quayle and Paul Getty)

4.List one death:

1548 - Catherine Parr, final wife of Henry VIII of England

No tags but if anyone would like to do it, feel free. I actually found it rather interesting.

I thought I'd post some more photographs from my garden to encourage those of you who are still beleaguered by wintry weather. At the top is the view through the open French window in the dining room, taken at about 8.30am this morning. At that point it felt really warm but as the morning progressed a cool breeze sprang up and the temperature dropped though it was still sunny. And the French window was closed!


A lovely green and white tulip called 'Spring Green' - one of my favourites.


A pretty cottage tulip whose name I don't know but which holds memories of my friend
Margaret who gave them to me as a present several years ago and who has since died.


Comfrey flowers - a reminder that I must pick the young leaves and make comfrey ointment in the near future.


Narcissus poeticus and snakeshead fritillaries - almost all the fritillaries are selfseeded, I started a few years ago with about half a dozen bulbs and, as I leave the grass uncut until mid June while the daffodil leaves die back, the fritillaries also have chance to set seed. I have quite a few white ones among them now I'm pleased to say.


Finally a cottage garden in cross-stitch - a Prairie Schooler sampler that I stitched some years ago. Unusually for me I didn't include my initials and the year on this one. It might be clearer if you click on it to enlarge it. Time for bed now, I shall need all my energy tomorrow as I'm having Bilbo Baggins' young friend Pip to stay while her owners go down to Bedfordshire for a funeral. She's 14 months old and a lovely dog but I'm not sure how Bilbo will react to having another dog in the house......

17 comments:

Janet said...

The garden outside your window is just beautiful! How do you ever get anything done....I would just sit and stare at it all the time!
The sampler has a sweet message. And your needle work is so precise and so lovely.

Sheila said...

Thank you for the heartening view of your lovely garden Rowan.
A few muscari have managed to bloom, but that's it.
To cheer myself I bought another bunch of tulips today, red this time.
I hope Bilbo Baggins isn't too put out by your 'visitor', and perhaps they will even become friends.
The sampler is perfect, your needlework is always lovely.

Tea said...

What a wonderful view from your window Rowan. I wonder if spring will ever get here. At least the snow is all gone, unless it decides to snow again. Hope Bilbo enjoys his visitor!

tea
xo

Mary said...

Rowan thanks for sharing your lovely flower pics - and the view through your French doors is lovely.
Glad to know you too buy more plants than you really have room for.......but we do always find a spot, don't we?
I received my Amazon order today - two new decorating books and Joanne Harris' French cookbook - of course I only have three shelves of cookbooks - guess this will start a fourth!
Like you say - plants and books, lovely!!!!!!!

Clare and Mike said...

What a lovely view. Your tulips are very pretty and fritillaries are so beautiful - yet I don't have any! I must plant some for next year! Thank you for sharing all the lovely photos.

Ragged Roses said...

Your garden looks beautiful - what a lovely view. It's amazingi in the garden at the moment, things are happening so early. I particularly love those green and white tukips too. We've got some purple tulips at the moment! The cross stitch is wonderful, do you make lots of them?
Kim x

PAT said...

Rowan, the view from your window is fabulous.

Thanks so much for including the floral photos. They are beautiful.

I love the sampler, too!

Best of luck with dog sitting!

Pat
Back Porch Musings

Anonymous said...

I love the tricolour symphytum (comfrey) that seems to be popping up everywhere - I've got lovely photos of bees all over them, but I have yet to get some for our garden!

The tulips are a delight, they are now promoted to one of my favourite garden plants.

And that stunning view from your window, beautiful :)

Lynda (Granny K) said...

What a glorious spot! I could just sit there and do some stitching.

Rowan said...

Kim, I don't do as much as I used to but I'm working on a sampler at the moment in a rather desultory sort of way.
And Lynda, that's exactly what I do! The light is perfect for stitching pretty well all day as it faces more or less due south.

smilnsigh said...

Ohhh sigh... Such a beautiful view from your window. Oh Oh Oh... It almost *hurts* to look at it. :-) But no, it doesn't hurt. It does give me hope.

Oh sighhhhhhhhhh... Can you tell it's still grayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy here? Nahhh, you could never tell. ,-)

Mari-Nanci

Forgetmenot said...

What a lovely place to sit and watch the garden from, and read or chat under that magnolia.
Is 'Spring green' a viridiflora...I think I look at it longingly every autumn in the catalogues. Does it continue to bloom well in successive years?
You take such nice photos, and make such beautiful stitchery - thank you for such a nice post

Daisy Lupin said...

Love the sampler. The poem below and the mention of the chaffinch, reminds me of this morning when I was watching them flying from bush to fence post in the common land at the back of us. There does seem to be an enormous amount of them this year. Our sand martins came back to the river about eight days ago, noting what you said in my comments section. Yes, my white lilac will never grow as large as the purple lilac does and be a proper tree, they never seem to grow bigger than a sturdy bush, at least that is what I have been told.

Anonymous said...

I have truly enjoyed my visit to your place today. Your garden is very beautiful. Thank you so much for all the pictures, especially the fritillaria. It did make me a little jealous though, I have tried several times to get them going in my garden. They just don't seem to make it and I am wondering if the very hot July and August weather burns them up.

My "word" verification is sxhgs -- I read it as six hags for some odd reason.

Kelli said...

The view from your diningroom is just beautiful! I sure would like to sit for awhile in that chair!! I hope Bilbo is ok with your guest!!
Kelli

Anonymous said...

I love the picture that you have at the top of this post. There really is nowhere like England when the sun decides to shine on it.

Cherry xx

peppylady (Dora) said...

I did this meme some time ago and can't recall everything that I learned about the day I was born. But I knew Abe Lincoln and I was born the same day and so was my great grandmum who was born on Lincoln last birthday.

Great looking tulips. My miniature daffodils and grape hysthins are in bloom.
My white tulips are in full bud by the barn/shed.