April 2011
4 posts
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April, An Olfactory Feast
I’d been drawing the small patch of bird cherry that grows in one corner of the wood. It’s pretty much invisible for most of the year. Just more green leaves in the summer and just more unremarkable trunks in the winter. But for two weeks at the end of April it shouts spring as it covers itself with a mass of dainty white flowers arranged in elegantly dipping spikes. Loving our...
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April, Wild Cherry Blossom
To get to the cherry blossom, I have to walk along the track past the log jumbled pit hole full of tar black, silent water. A moor hen makes a floating nest in the middle every year. I’ve never seen her hatch a chick but I admire her sense of aesthetic, her building skill and her determination. She’s there again, silently diving into the pollen smeared soupy depths as I walk past.....
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April, Mare's Tails
Life is full of anticipation at this time of year. Looking forward to the natural progression of things. The quiet reassurance of all being well when things arrive in their allotted order and place.
The swallows returning is a big mile stone. They swoop in, sleek and so well dressed after their long journey. Chattering their news in their foreign sun drenched accents. I feel light headed...
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April, Blackthorn
The blackthorn has finally come into bloom. Like smoke it appears from nowhere and is gone. The tiny, tight greenish white buds boil up on the hard, dark, thorny branches and explode into snow. They open and open and open sending out long stamens which make the blossom look as spiky as the plant. As if a lacy tablecloth has been laid over it and endlessly perforated by the thorns. It’s...