Metaphor in the garden

Wisteria and the falling down structures:

There are 2 outbuildings, side by side. They are falling apart, heading downwards, bits of wood are falling off them, their roofs are at the wrong angles and the uprights are tilting severely.

The wisteria tree has been there for many years, it has a huge solid trunk and massive branches which spread right over the unstable structures. Even though it looks about to collapse I give it a shake, hoping it will crash around my ears, but it is surprisingly and annoyingly unbudgable. There are nasty sharp nails exposed by the falling planks. There are bits of wood at eye level which could damage anyone getting too close. It looks disturbing. It is disturbing. It is crashing down at a glacial pace.

Under each of these structures there is space for garden chairs. One is bigger and provides total protection from the rain, but is dusty and nothing grows under it. The other is smaller and lets the rain through, but has vines and wisteria leaves as its roof and is beautiful, cool when it is too hot, lets in a bit of sunlight and has an array of plants in pots from another part of the garden. Exiles from the dangerous wall which was taken down and rebuilt safely.

What can I do with my metaphor? What can I do with my garden?

Unnerving familiarity, archaeology and an experiment

I get a shock when I click on a blog and find that it is using exactly the same template as mine. I tend to forget that the design I'm using is ready made.

Today I went to an archaeology session at the Ashmolean in Oxford. We were able to handle flint tools made during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic times in this country. One fitted my hand so exactly. Others were warm from being handled by the others as we passed them carefully around the big table to each other. I nearly dropped one flint at the beginning! The table had layers of soft plastic over it, but even so...

How timeless things are - the archaeologists can tell if a piece was chipped into shape by a left or right handed person. Most people doing the chipping were right-handed back then. They can also spot small pieces which were mistakes. They were chipped in not quite the right way and so a differently shaped piece popped off and was left on the ground.

The last part of my day was dealing with 2 eggs which were past the eat-by date. T and I have done things like burning a whole pack of matches in the garden to see what would happen. H and I haven't done this sort of thing yet. So, we went and egged the old stable wall in our back garden. H had such a good time. He flung the eggs with such force and we were both so happy at being vandals!

Stunning afternoon

H and I sat on our lawn in the partial shade. We nearly did forward rolls, but decided against it!

After he'd had enough breathtaking beauty I lay and looked upwards. I could see the birds fly from one branch to another. The sky was that constant blue. The planes had stopped for a while. The acacia has just come into leaf over the past week. I could see the tiny leaves against to the gnarled old branches I hope will never smash into the roof of our house in a storm.

When I go into and out of our house there is a battle about the doors, I like them open to allow the breeze in and H likes them shut to keep out the flies. He is right really, but I keep on opening them again while he is busy in his room.

My tadpoles are growing

I looked carefully at my tadpoles while they were near the surface because of the warmer weather. The something different about them is that they are developing eyes. I hadn't expected that at all.

They have also started to snap at the surface of the water. Their tails are darker and longer too. They swim in more jerky deliberate moves.

While I look at them I check the surface of the water for struggling insects. Each time I spot one I save it with a dry leaf and place the leaf on a plant pot so the insect can have another go at life. It's lovely to see the water drain away and the little legs start to move again and off they go to somewhere safe.

Heavenly summer day

Looking up right into the branches of the big tree. When there is a storm the whole trunk moves. We cross our fingers it won't crash down into our roof and then on into T's bedroom. His bed has always been well away from the corner the tree would come through...just in case.

If the tree is well over 100 years old, think of the different conversations and games which have gone on under it over the 20th century.
Hollyhocks taller than me. My favourite plants are tall ones so that the space is taken up and they form a live wall around me. This goes for vegetables too, Fennel, leeks and gone to seed spinach/greens.
This is pretty, the brilliant green against the dark, dusty spaces by the wall. It was so overcast yesterday in comparison. Life is so different when the sun is out!
The lawn is partly shaded by the big acacia. I did some shady sun bathing, lying on the very slightly damp grass, breathing in the warm air. There is a light wind, what would be called a light air at sea.

My Zen Garden

This little corner needs no watering. The moss grows on those triangular bricks anyway. The lichen grows by itself on the stick. I put a vase in the central space, so it doesn't get blown over by the wind. When I want I can be quiet and sit here.