Fair Maids of February

One month is past, another is begun,
Since merry bells rung out the dying year,
And buds of rarest green began to peer,
As if impatient for a warmer sun;
And though the distant hills are bleak and dun,
The virgin snowdrop like a lambent fire,
Pierces the cold earth with its green-streaked spire
And in dark woods, the wandering little one
May find a primrose.

Hartley Coleridge

I took the photograph of the snow drops in my garden this morning and thought that the words of this poem were perfect for it. One of their country names is 'Fair Maids of February' and they are also known as 'Candlemas Bells'. February 2nd is Imbolc/ Candlemas Day and it marks the halfway point between Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The old saying about this day is:

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
winter will have another flight,
If on Candlemas day it be shower and rain,
winter is gone and will not come again.

There has been a little sunshine but mostly we have had cloud and rain so it looks as though the worst is behind us:) Certainly the days will begin to get noticeably longer now as the Great Wheel slowly turns and we move towards the Spring.



The last line of the poem made me wonder whether there were any primroses visible and to my surprise a search produced the double white flowers of Primula 'Marie Crousse' in a sheltered corner. Not the lovely wild primroses that Coleridge was speaking of but a cheering sight nevertheless.



Close by I caught sight of the first deep pink flower of this Lenten Rose - Helleborus orientalis. It's time I cut back last year's leaf stems so that the flowers can be seen properly, I wasn't expecting to see flowers this early after such a long,cold snowy period.



I took my little camera with me when B Baggins and I went to the woods this morning, I wondered whether there were any signs of Spring visible yet. You have to look carefully but they are certainly there, these are the male hazel catkins still tightly closed. You can really see why they get the country name of lamb's tails.



A few tiny buds of pussy willow sparkling with raindrops.




These are the tiny new leaves of the wild honeysuckle, the woods are full of it and in the early summer when it flowers the scent is wonderful.




Amazingly the bluebells are already pushing through the brown carpet of dead leaves, the more you look the more you can see. Ecclehall Woods are anciant woodland and in late April/early May the woodland floor is a carpet of blue.




I caught sight of these new leaves of the hart's tongue fern as we crossed the river on our way out of the woods, it isn't the greatest photo but I was peering over the top of a high muddy bank and trying not to fall head first into the river. If it hadn't been so muddy and slippery I could have got nearer and got a better shot but there you go - sometimes you just have to do the best you can!



And lastly, came cold February, sitting
In an old wagon, for he could not ride;
Drawne of two fishes for the season fitting,
Which through the flood before did softly slyde
And swim away: yet had he by his side
His plough and harnesse fit to till the ground,
And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hasting Prime did make them burgein round:
So past the twelue Months forth, and their dew places found.
from The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (1552-1559)

Winters Past

The Frozen Thames by Abraham Hondius

The frozen River Thames painted in 1677 The view is probably from Old Swan Stairs looking east with old London Bridge in the middle distance, and the tower of St Olave's Tooley Street just visible, and Southwark Cathedral on the right. Old London Bridge with its shops and houses and many supporting piers is no longer there, the shops and houses were dismantled around 1760 and the remainder was demolished in the 1830s when it was replaced by the New London Bridge. Even that is no longer there, it was sold to the American Robert P McCullogh in 1967, dismantled and shipped across the Atlantic to be rebuilt in Arizona! The London Bridge in the painting is the one referred to in the old nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is Falling Down'.



The news recently has been full of the usual media hype about coldest winter for 20 years etc etc and most of us have probably seen sufficient snow to last us a while but really what we have seen is nothing compared to winters in the past. We are all familiar with the Christmas card scenes of stage coaches battling through huge snowdrifts. Travelling in one of these coaches in winter must have been appalling, there was no heating unless you were fortunate (and wealthy!) enough to have a footwarmer and for those hardy souls who travelled outside there was no shelter either.



Getting stuck in snowdrifts was a very real possibility in those days when winters were very much colder than they are now. Can you imagine having to get out, probably already half frozen, and stand in the biting cold to lighten the load while the coachman and guards tried vainly to get the coach out of the snowdrifts?



I think we've all probably had a bit of a giggle at old pictures of men and women wearing nightcaps but if you'd been sleeping in the bedroom in the photo you'd have been very glad to wear one yourself. There is no glass in the windows of this well to do yeoman farmer's house, wooden shutters would be put over them and that would be it. The bed curtains were there for a reason not just to look pretty!





From the mid 1300s until well into the 1800s there was a Little Ice Age in Europe and the winters were very severe. On many occasions during this period the River Thames in London froze over completely. In 1536 Henry Vlll travelled by sleigh along the River Thames from Whitehall to Greenwich a distance of about 6 miles. His daughter Queen Elizabeth l skated and practiced archery on the frozen river in 1564 but things really started to get interesting in 1683 when the first Frost Fair was held. The diarist John Evelyn wrote
"Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other stairs too and fro, as in the streets; sleds, sliding with skeetes, a bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cooks, tipling and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water"

The stairs referred to are the steps leading down to the river where people boarded the boats which were used in much the same way as taxis are now. The Thames watermen were the London taxi drivers of their day.

Another anonymous eyewitness wrote
"On the 20th of December, 1683, a very violent frost began, which lasted to the 6th of February, in so great extremity, that the pools were frozen 18 inches thick at least, and the Thames was so frozen that a great street from the Temple to Southwark was built with shops, and all manner of things sold. Hackney coaches plied there as in the streets. There were also bull-baiting, and a great many shows and tricks to be seen. This day the frost broke up. In the morning I saw a coach and six horses driven from Whitehall almost to the bridge (London Bridge) yet by three o'clock that day, February the 6th, next to Southwark the ice was gone, so as boats did row to and fro, and the next day all the frost was gone. On Candlemas Day I went to Croydon market, and led my horse over the ice to the Horseferry from Westminster to Lambeth; as I came back I led him from Lambeth upon the middle of the Thames to Whitefriars' stairs, and so led him up by them. And this day an ox was roasted whole, over against Whitehall. King Charles and the Queen ate part of it."
It's worth clicking on the wonderful woodcut to see the detail, all the action is taking place on the frozen river and at the top is London Bridge.



This lovely little mug is a souvenir of the first Frost Fair and is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is just two and a half inches high and has engraved on the base 'Bought on ye Thames ice Janu: ye 17 1683/4'
In case you are wondering why it says 1683/4 it is because until the year 1752 the New Year officially began on 25th March although many people considered January 1st the first day of the New Year. Thus between Jan 1st and March 25th the date was always written using both years.



The Frost Fairs continued to be held whenever the Thames froze until the early 19th century. The last one was held in 1814 - an elephant was led across the river to demostrate the safety of the ice! In the mid 1800s the Thames Embankment was built which involved reclaiming the marshes and building out over the foreshore of the river. As a result the Thames became narrower and deeper. Old London Bridge, whose piers had slowed the flow of the river and enabled ice to build up, was demolished and the climate started to become warmer and these three things combined to bring an end to the Frost Fairs.

Apparently there is a plaque under Southwark Bridge with the following inscription

Behold the Liquid Thames frozen o’re,
That lately Ships of mighty Burthen bore
The Watermen for want of Rowing Boats
Make use of Booths to get their Pence & Groats
Here you may see beef roasted on the spit
And for your money you may taste a bit
There you may print your name, tho cannot write
Cause num'd with cold: tis done with great delight
And lay it by that ages yet to come
May see what things upon the ice were done


My son and his family have landed safely in South Africa and will now be enjoying rather different temperatures to those we have here. We mustn't grumble though - things could be a lot worse!!

Now Stir The Fire....

Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful ev'ning in.



Oh winter, ruler of th' inverted year,
Thy scatter'd hair with sleet like ashes fill'd,
Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks
Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows
Than those of age, thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds,
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne
A sliding car, indebted to no wheels,
But urg'd by storms along its slipp'ry way,




I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st,
And dreaded as thou art! Thou hold'st the sun
A pris'ner in the yet undawning east,
Short'ning his journey between morn and noon,
And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,
Down to the rosy west; but kindly still
Compensating his loss with added hours
Of social converse and instructive ease,




And gath'ring, at short notice, in one group
The family dispers'd, and fixing thought,
Not less dispers'd by day-light and its cares.
I crown thee king of intimate delights,
Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted ev'ning, know.

William Cowper 1731-1800

I am a bear of very little brain this morning so I'm cheating a little by posting yet another poem with some paintings as illustrations. Not very inspired I'm afraid but the cold I'm currently dosing with elderberry rob seems to have deprived me of the power of coherent thought! I shall try and produce something better during the coming week. For now it's on with knitting a nice warm jumper for Gabriel I think. Stephen and his family are on their way to Heathrow at the moment - problems with the non arrival of visas meant they didn't travel last week and their flight now leaves on Tuesday evening. They are going down today and staying two nights in a hotel at Heathrow to be sure of actually getting there, having had to rearrange the flights once they don't want to find that the snow prevents them from getting to the airport. We are apparently due for another lot of snow later today up here in what is currently the Frozen North and I suspect that it might be slow going on the M1 and the M25 today as they were forecasting heavy snow for the southern counties last night. Never mind, every day is another day nearer to Spring and scenes like this!

Happy New Year!

Just a very quick post to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. We have had snow again overnight and my garden was looking rather better under its blanket of snow than it does when the snow isn't there! I have a lot of work to do out there once Spring appears. Even now there are tiny signs, in spite of the bitter cold (20F overnight) there are snowdrops and crocus tommasinianus already peeping through. I am feeding the birds even more than I usually do and yesterday, in addition to the regular goldfinches, blackcap, long-tailed tits and other regulars, we had three bullfinches on the feeders - two females and a spectacularly handsome male. I hope they will stay around. As well as seeds, nyger seeds(the reason for all the goldfinches!)and fat blocks I'm also putting out dried fruit, grated cheese and meal worms. Wild creatures suffer badly in these freezing conditions and need all the help we can give them. My reward in the summer is that I have a pretty pest free garden.



When I took Bilbo Baggins out this morning the waning moon was just setting and made a lovely picture through the branches.



This is looking to the west and you will probably need to click on the photo to see the reflection of the rising sun turning the snow covered moors a faint pink.



Another small touch of colour amongst all the black and white, the acid yellow of lichens on this tree.

I'm hoping to be back to posting and commenting more regularly after next weekend, my son and his family leave for South Africa on Wednesday and my younger son and his family will be up here from Friday until Sunday and then life should become a little quieter during the cold winter months.

Winter

And yet but lately have I seen, ev'n here,
The winter in a lovely dress appear.
'Ere yet the clouds let fall the treasur'd snow,
Or winds begun through hazy skies to blow,
At ev'ning a keen eastern breeze arose,
And the descending rain unsully'd froze.




Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd ev'ry object to my eyes:
For ev'ry shrub, and ev'ry blade of grass,
And ev'ry pointed thorn, seem'd wrought in glass;
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show,
While through the ice the crimson berries glow.





The thick-sprung reeds, which wat'ry marshes yield,
Seem'd polish'd lances in a hostile field.
The stag in limpid currents, with surprise,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise;
The spreading oak, the beech, and tow'ring pine,
Glaz'd over, in the freezing aether shine.






The frighted birds the rattling branches shun,
Which wave and glitter in the distant sun.
When if a sudden gust of wind arise,
The brittle forest into atoms flies,
The crackling wood beneath the tempest bends,
And in a spangled show'r the prospect ends




These lines were written in 1709 by an English politician and poet called Ambrose Philips while he was secretary to the British Envoy to Denmark. The lines seem rather appropriate since we are having a fair amount of ice and snow so far this winter. It's a good many years since we last had snow on the ground at Christmas and there is more to come this afternoon and overnight in the area of England where I live.

I am a little bit in limbo at the moment as my eldest son together with my daughter-in-law and two granddaughters are leaving for South Africa on January 6th. They will be living out there for the time being though fortunately they will be coming back to the UK at least once a year for 5 or 6 weeks and I shall certainly be taking the opportunity to go out to South Africa again. It's a wonderful country to visit and they are handily placed about 20 minutes from one of the gates into Kruger National Park as well as a short drive from the Drakensburg Mountains. Lots of photo opportunities there! Clicking on the word Kruger will take you to a page with some information about one of my favourite places in the world.

Merry Christmas!

The Night Before Christmas was always my children's bedtime story on Christmas Eve.
So for all of us who still feel the magic of this night......

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.




More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.



As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."




May I wish all of you a very Happy Christmas!

Winter Solstice

"So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!"
- Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day


"The holly and the ivy, when they were both full grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown. . .

I am the Holly King, Lord of the Waning Year. You may know me as the Green Man or as the Winter King. I rule from Midsummer to Midwinter, and my reign culminates in the festivities of Yuletide. As the wren dies to make way for the robin, soon I will bow before my brother the Oak King. You will not see me again until the Sun once more begins to wane. As I prepare to withdraw into the deep midwinter, I contemplate the glowing light of the reborn Sun in my cup — and in this holy grail, I see visions and dreams of the year to come.

Carry a sprig of holly with you as my token. It will protect you against fierce winter storms, and will bestow upon you the focus, direction and courage you need to succeed in your own spiritual quest.

Fill your homes with holly this season! Deck the halls! My evergreen leaves and bright red berries, seen against the barren oaks of winter, will remind you of the Life that sustains us during the bitterest time of the year."
- The Holly King
The lovely image above is from a card by Wendy Andrew.




"The stag bells, winter snows, summer has gone
Wind high and cold, the sun low, short its course
The sea running high.
Deep red the bracken; its shape is lost;
The wild goose has raised its accustomed cry,
Cold has seized the birds' wings;
Season of ice, this is my news."
- Irish poem, 9th Century




Today is the Winter Solstice, for a short time the sun pauses and then gradually, gradually the days begin to lengthen again. There are many long cold days ahead for 'as the days lengthen the cold strengthens' but one day we shall feel the warmth of the sun on our faces again and spring will be here. Happy Winter Solstice!

Frost At Midnight

Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, 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.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834

These are a few lines taken from a longer poem written by Coleridge in 1798, I don't have any photographs of 'frost at midnight' so one taken in January of this year when there was a spectacular hoar frost is the best I can do.

Almost Ready!

Like everyone else I'm very busy at the moment and I haven't much time for either blogging or commenting. I thought I'd just post a few photos of bits and pieces around my home to show you what I've been up to. Above is my goose who sits on top of the fridge and keeps an eye on things at this time of the year.


Part of my collection of handmade rustic pottery along with the recently acquired cranberry heart. That may well stay there permenantly even though it's a Christmas decoration. Most of the pottery is made by John Leach of Muchelney Pottery in Somerset. I love his work. If you click on his name it will take you to his web site which tells a little of the history of the pottery.



I made the wreath yesterday, the one on the back door is always much simpler than the one on the front of the house. I made a ring of willow withies which usually lasts several years and it just has ivy and variegated holly from the garden wired onto it.



This is the piece of stitching that I showed in the previous post now made into a pin tuck, all hand sewn. I'd rather sit and sew by hand than use a sewing machine



Last Saturday my friend Linda and I went up to a craft fair in North Yorkshire and there was one small stand selling lovely primitive bits and pieces. I fell in love with this stocking with the little mouse peeping out of the top so it came home with me. :)



Another corner of the kitchen with lots of my bits and pieces, the horse brasses are old and genuine, the lovely heart was painted by Karen of Moonlight and Hares, clicking on her name will take you to her lovely blog.



The wreath at the front, the brick wall isn't a great background for it but I can't use either nails or a wreath hanger on the porch door so it has to hang at the side instead.



I've been cooking as well, cabbage au gratin here to go with the boeuf bourguignon that I forgot to photograph! Both are in the freezer ready for Christmas Eve dinner.
The cabbage dish makes a very ordinary vegetable into something rather special, underneath the breadcrumbs and butter is the cabbage in a bechamel sauce mixed with double
cream, mustard powder and cheese. It's simple enough but it takes a while to make the bechamel sauce.



Chocolate Crunch Christmas Pudding - rich, spicy and absolutely no cooking involved apart from melting the chocolate, butter and syrup before adding the dried fruits, spices and rum. Served with single cream this is another one that everyone loves but a little goes a long way. This is in the freezer too.



A while ago I was asked if I'd post the recipe for my lemon cream pie so here it is, very quick and easy and very popular, I've given the recipe out dozens of times over the years.

Base

Crush 12 oz digestive biscuits and mix into 6oz margerine(or butter if you are feeling like a little luxury!) Press into 2 7-8" flan rings and leave in a cool place to set.

Topping

Whip 10fl oz double cream until thick but not too stiff. Add grated rind of 3 or 4 lemons. Beat in alternately 8fl oz lemon juice (made up with water if necessary) and a 13oz can of condensed milk.
Divide between the two crumb bases and leave in a cool place, preferably a fridge, to set. Garnish with sliced kiwi fruit or strawberries.
Freezes well and takes about 11/2 hours to defrost.