Morning walk

-
I haven't done a morning walk for ages - not because I haven't been walking. I've either been deep in thought, or doing a morning run, which makes photographing difficult! Today was the first morning in a while there wasn't frost.




I'm on a semi-ruthless purge of dandelions in the garden. When I was little, I loved blowing the seeds off the dandelion clock (how ever many puffs it took to get rid of all the seeds was what time it was for us in Northamptonshire - was it the same for everyone?) but it used to drive my mother wild as the seeds settled everywhere, and with that genius for germination that dandelions seem to have, grew. Now I absolutely appreciate how she felt. But they are beautiful.




The hawthorn is just starting to come out. I'm not sure why this one bush is out when all around it are firmly not.



We have some village pigs now, who are incredibly popular. Dog loved the pigs when they were piglets, and they spent much time nose to nose through the wire. She still likes the remaining sow (we assume the other one is now in the freezer) but the boar who has now appeared is another matter.... no pic of him yet.

Comments

Christina Wilsdon said…
I envy you the beauty of your morning walk! How marvelous. And how funny to be reminded that moms are the same in so many places when it comes to puffing the seeds off of dandelions! (My mom chided me in NY for doing so, and I checked myself from doing the same here in Washington State to my own child :)
11 May 2010 at 16:07
Jane Badger said…
My son, at the advanced age of 18, still likes removing the seeds from dandelions, though these days it's with a swift kick!
14 May 2010 at 11:53
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more