Spring Into Action
19/3/22 Saturday
Drive to work, it’s so windy- my car wobbles like a loose tooth in the road’s crooked jaw. A buzzard flies, unintentionally, backward.
We are back to hydrotherapy sessions on Saturday shifts- care client is happy like rainbows and bubbles- you can see it, it lifts you.
Drive home under a moon that is first a copper penny, then a sepia peach, then I cannot decide the colour of it- if you held a candle lit glass of champagne in front of an old map, the kind with soft faded paper, and peered through the glass, those are the colours of this moon.
(It doesn’t have to be champagne. Try also cider, cava, lambrini, fizzy lager, ginger beer- follow your heart.)
Drive to work, it’s so windy- my car wobbles like a loose tooth in the road’s crooked jaw. A buzzard flies, unintentionally, backward.
We are back to hydrotherapy sessions on Saturday shifts- care client is happy like rainbows and bubbles- you can see it, it lifts you.
Drive home under a moon that is first a copper penny, then a sepia peach, then I cannot decide the colour of it- if you held a candle lit glass of champagne in front of an old map, the kind with soft faded paper, and peered through the glass, those are the colours of this moon.
(It doesn’t have to be champagne. Try also cider, cava, lambrini, fizzy lager, ginger beer- follow your heart.)
20/3/22 Sunday, Spring Equinox
Mr has gone to Malmesbury (for the black belt pre-grading) so I wake alone but not lonely- the pigeons are loudly present, and the crows, and the hedge sparrows.
I wake early so I sit in bed with my coffee and get some writing done.
At work, take a walk: two hilly miles there and back, and two scrabbles over rocks to stare at the kelp all flopped in the low spring tide at Porthpean, then later wonder why my legs feel worked. Kelp rocks were worth it, of course, lying low like beasts with their backs to an onshore wind, to the white-topped surf, while my bare feet felt the warmth in the rocks, the warmth of seasonal renewal.
At work, take a walk: two hilly miles there and back, and two scrabbles over rocks to stare at the kelp all flopped in the low spring tide at Porthpean, then later wonder why my legs feel worked. Kelp rocks were worth it, of course, lying low like beasts with their backs to an onshore wind, to the white-topped surf, while my bare feet felt the warmth in the rocks, the warmth of seasonal renewal.
21/3/22 Monday
Dog woke me at 5.50am. Birds were singing. I was unwilling to be awake, unable to get back to sleep. Mr woke up early too, so the kettle was on, coffee was brewed, we sat in bed watching agroforestry videos, getting excited about future nut harvests.
22/3/22 Tuesday
Garden day! Polytunnel shelves have seedlings in residence- cucumber, tomato, pepper, and coriander- the lime tree is having a blossom burst; purple deadnettle, wild strawberry, the cabbage trees, primrose, daisy, nasturtium, and bittercress are all in flower. Outside there are tulips, dandelions, grape hyacinth, daffodils, more primroses- the cherry, plum, and pear trees are beginning to bud.
23/3/22 Wednesday
Morning coffee: sat in bed, watched a crow dispel a pigeon from its perch in the tall pine. The crow then wrestled a twig with great vigour and zero success, before flying away empty beaked. Meanwhile, the pigeon settled on a higher branch and was also watching the crow’s failure.
At work: had the privilege of watching a Riding For The Disabled session. Care client couldn’t wait to get going- her leg was waving in the air ready before the horse was in place, she was beaming, and even kept her hat on which is rare behaviour.
In the afternoon she played guitar while I potted up her new palms, and re-potted the perennials. Found some beautiful spiders, bodies the size of blueberries; one all shiny-black, several house spider types that were stripey brown, and one with silvery fur.
24/3/22 Thursday
Due to an ash tree in the lower field having die-back disease, and dropping branches dangerously close to the road, we were at the land early kitted in high viz, feeling nervous. I’m not sure why we were nervous because although we were helping out with traffic control we were not shinning up a dying tree with a chainsaw swinging from our belts. (Very glad those lads have their own insurance.) Bit by bit the tree was denuded, so we could clear up the sawed-off parts and keep the traffic flowing. Only one grumpy man was inconvenienced, everyone else seemed happy for us to value their safety. When the ash was a pillar it was roped to a truck, and the trunk base chainsawed with the rope taut. As it tipped the van drove, bringing the ash down at an angle that was not blocking the lower gate. A row of ash in the top field, with the same problem but not so critical, also were felled, and are now heaps of variably sized wood in the top parking bay. Tree surgery is expensive but no budget discussion was required since it could have been a life or death matter. That’s probably where the nerves came from, even on this bright sunny day with the daffodils glowing and blossom lurking in the blackthorn.
Due to an ash tree in the lower field having die-back disease, and dropping branches dangerously close to the road, we were at the land early kitted in high viz, feeling nervous. I’m not sure why we were nervous because although we were helping out with traffic control we were not shinning up a dying tree with a chainsaw swinging from our belts. (Very glad those lads have their own insurance.) Bit by bit the tree was denuded, so we could clear up the sawed-off parts and keep the traffic flowing. Only one grumpy man was inconvenienced, everyone else seemed happy for us to value their safety. When the ash was a pillar it was roped to a truck, and the trunk base chainsawed with the rope taut. As it tipped the van drove, bringing the ash down at an angle that was not blocking the lower gate. A row of ash in the top field, with the same problem but not so critical, also were felled, and are now heaps of variably sized wood in the top parking bay. Tree surgery is expensive but no budget discussion was required since it could have been a life or death matter. That’s probably where the nerves came from, even on this bright sunny day with the daffodils glowing and blossom lurking in the blackthorn.
25/3/22 Friday
Woke up, put the washing machine on, drank coffee, watched an agroforestry video, hung the washing out on the line. Tulips in flower: cerise, yellow, red. Door on the polytunnel has fallen apart, inconvenient as I have to check the seedlings daily. No time to fix it today, have to wedge it together. Got logs to shift!
Arrived at Paddock Garden mid-morning, sun streaming down through our mostly safe hedge trees. I had some horse chestnuts to plant out, and primroses, then it was time to chop up bits of ash tree that had landed in our neighbour's field, roll the subsequent logs up through the hedge, and tidy up the plle of brash. The logs were heavy, the terrain both steep and populated by thorns. Dog was so exhausted from watching that she had to take a nap. We were that sort of exhilarated-tired that makes you notice how the curve of a fallen tree is like the back of a dragon so you climb it and laugh. Mr climbed the stump too, and we think it will be good to carve into a high seat. The big trunk needs moving, hopefully towards the fire pit where it will be fashioned into furniture. How we move it will be an adventure for another day.
Woke up, put the washing machine on, drank coffee, watched an agroforestry video, hung the washing out on the line. Tulips in flower: cerise, yellow, red. Door on the polytunnel has fallen apart, inconvenient as I have to check the seedlings daily. No time to fix it today, have to wedge it together. Got logs to shift!
Arrived at Paddock Garden mid-morning, sun streaming down through our mostly safe hedge trees. I had some horse chestnuts to plant out, and primroses, then it was time to chop up bits of ash tree that had landed in our neighbour's field, roll the subsequent logs up through the hedge, and tidy up the plle of brash. The logs were heavy, the terrain both steep and populated by thorns. Dog was so exhausted from watching that she had to take a nap. We were that sort of exhilarated-tired that makes you notice how the curve of a fallen tree is like the back of a dragon so you climb it and laugh. Mr climbed the stump too, and we think it will be good to carve into a high seat. The big trunk needs moving, hopefully towards the fire pit where it will be fashioned into furniture. How we move it will be an adventure for another day.
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