Day 122 - Curled up kittens and a very talented old school friend.

Thursday 2nd May

 

Thank you to our lovely Helen Le for supplying us with the cover photograph for this blog post.  May is, indeed, blossom month although some come earlier.  For me, blossom heralds the warmer weather and promises much.  Just knowing that the trees will be bearing fruit is enough for me as I gaze at the wonder that is spring blossom.  Stunning as our blossom is in the UK I think we would all agree that Japan is the place to really see blossom.  For the Japanese it is not just a thing of beauty as it has spiritual roots as well.  Cherry trees are called Sakura in Japanese and refers to the transient nature of life.  This, in turn, ties in with the Buddhist thinking about the nature of life.  Traditionally, the Japanese would enjoy the beauty of the blossom while regarding the meaning of life.  Celebrations were held among the blossom trees. 

For me May is a month of celebration and I think the blossom has much to do with it.  I always feel like the winter is behind us and the spring growth has established itself.  I always feel a little blessed in May.  I have borrowed these absolutely stunning photographs of blossom from an old school friend, David Newell.  He has one of those cameras that make people feel important where as I have one that I mostly want to hide.  That said, I have worked with a lot of photographers in my time but David's work is truly first class.  David is a very, very busy man so any attempts by me to persuade him to start a photographic blog are unlikely to be successful.  But if you guys all comment here or on my facebook page just maybe...

 

Today has been a lovely day in home school as we went off round the smallholding looking for early wildflowers and other spring growth.  George and Max know so much more than I did at their age about wildflowers and we quickly gathered a great little collection. These included the following -

• Herb Robert
• Yellow Weasel Snout
• English Bluebells
• Wild Primrose
• Dandelion
• Common Field Speedwell
• Anemone Nemorosa

In addition we collected branches of willow and Hazel catkins and white Heather. 

 We wanted to try and create a page like Edith Holden did in her book so the watercolour paints came out.  The boys then delved into all our wildflower books to find out some more information about the specimens they had painted.  By wandering the smallholding early in the season it means we can spot new things on subsequent visits.  The Bluebells are just coming now but the real joy is across the far field that we do not use.  Birch trees have completely taken over this field so I need some strong boys to use their handy slasher tool and make a path for me.  If I make it I promise photographs (not as good as David's sadly).

The rest of the time in school was spent on more basic operations like spelling.  George's list always includes at least one word I have never even heard of let alone written.  That ensures I keep learning alongside the boys!

After school is a mad dash out to the tunnel. Now the plant sale is out there I need to push on.  Spring is an excellent time to make new plants from cuttings or dividing.  Rewarding my excellent chives for their fabulous growth I set about cutting them up!  Bless.  Out of one 12cm pot I can usually make 3 plants which is always rewarding.  I like free things and I like cuttings even more.  Max's apple mint cuttings from last year have done so well I was taking cuttings from them already.  My garden mint is flourishing and rather showing off so I told a dozen cuttings from there as well.  The new one for this year is the ginger mint.  I have taken a few cuttings but I am not sure about these.  We shall see.  I always start mint off in jam jars filled with water on sunny windowsills to grow small roots. Then I transfer them to pots mixed with compost and seaweed pellets.  I normally advise people never to buy potted herbs from supermarkets as they are grown quickly in very controlled conditions.  When we take them home they can't cope with the different conditions and die.  The exception to this is garden mint.  I bought one in the Co-op yesterday for 99p and I made 6 new plants out of it today.  Each of these will sell at £1.25.  You do the maths!

Onto other matters, briefly.  I sent a tulle butterfly off to an adorable little girl called Ruby.  She is the daughter of a previous pupil of mine - how old do I feel?  They were kind enough to donate on my Butterfly Tree page.  It took us several goes to get this to work.  To clarify the best link is my lovely big blue button in the sidebar of this blog.  That takes you straight there.  Otherwise if you search for My donate and then search in the middle fundraisers box for Fiona Doubleday my page will come up.  I am yet to put all the money from the tea party in so the money raised looks a little sad at the moment. 

May I give you a little incentive....for anyone who donates £10.00 or more I will happily send a tulle butterfly to the person of your choice.  Think Mums, Grans, best friends, girlfriend etc....You just need to include your name in the box as you donate and send me a quick email with the person's name and address and I will do the rest.  You and your nominated person will have the joy of knowing that you have purchased at least 2 mosquito nets and made a real difference. 

I know from my analytics that roughly 140 people read my blog and most of them read daily.  What is 140 x £5.00?  Whatever it is it is a shed load of mosquito nets and many, many lives saved.  I have such a lovely blue button as well. 

Fundraising events are springing up everywhere so there is much to look forward to.  Thank you again to everyone who has supported thus far. 

I was busy making more tulle butterflies as I have none left now when my little kitten decided she rather liked the basket I keep my wire in.  Wire had to come out as kitten went in and she has been in there for hours. 

Until tomorrow. xx