Dear Dave

Woodmouse

I was planting a few Wallflowers in front of your Blackcurrant bushes, and weeding so that I won't let you down by a lack of tidiness on the border next to Brian's Rhubarb. You never told me about your Woodmouse. I must have disturbed her.  She kept us all interested as we quietly watched her for half an hour until she went home when we had turned to look at the Comfrey bed. The family had all arrived to inspect my new allotment  , where I am steward, and you were creator. Small boys , though I wont be able to say that for much longer , as Zak is as Tall as me now, and Reuben as verbal . They ran round the plot , up and down all the paths, saying it was brilliant, and we could have a Barbie, and the sheds are amazing . Their Dad gave them a lecture on health and safety and railway lines , and their Mum sat in one of your plastic chairs on the shed base you constructed. She was glad to sit and see their Grandmother was absorbed and occupied and their Grandfather more than happy to walk slowly to the site  and look at the view and make tea. 

Ive done quite a bit in my haphazard and yet planned manner. One bed is already sporting a 2" growth of Phacelia. It didn't rain at all for the first 12 days of my tenure. I had the pleasure of walking every evening and watering . I even had to fill the baths up , never done that in October before. 

Ive also planted a Wildflower Meadow in the bed next to the K**e .Two packets of Chiltern Seeds Special Pollen and Nectar Meadow Mixture only covered half the bed. Ive measured it now , 8 square metres, so have bought another 2 packets  and 2 packets of extra Yellow Rattle.  I'm not going to buy a Scythe or take the scything lessons I saw advertised in the Summer Edition of the Plantlife Magazine , but i'll manage my Meadow according to HRH guidelines but I'm calling it a Micro Meadow. 

Heres the list from the Catalogue

 I might ditch the Strawberries Dave! The ones on the ground I mean . I'm planning to grow more Dye Plants . The Irton manure man  John and his wife , have said I may have the wool from their Soay Sheep , and though I know it wont need to be dyed, it will get me into Spinning again  . Here I admit it was nearly 50 years since I last used a Spinning Wheel , I am planning to buy one and take lessons . Eventually !Eventually! Eventually ! I do plan to have all my Dye plants ready for when I'm proficient again and have bought in white fleece .

I'm hoping to keep my new plot in the pristine order you left it. I've tidied up my other tiny plot next door . I've finished the last 2016 cut of your Comfrey bed and tipped it into my barrel of fertiliser soup  . Im going to be very careful with the end of the plot near the Railway line and watch for MaresTail . As Bernard has managed to  mostly eradicate it from our joint plot, I will burn every bit that I see and make sure that the ground is covered to suppress it. 

So best wishes to you and Jen, wherever in the world you are now. THANK YOU  for YOUR WONDERFUL PLOT!

Whats App and Avocets

There is a dot on the island here. It is an avocet . I walked to Filey Dams and went in the hide and spotted it easily even with my 10x25mm Field 5.8 binoculars (whatever that means). If I had arrived an hour earlier , the bird would have been 10m away at other side of hide. I was however thrilled to see it from a distance , and thankful that the experienced birder already in the hide could point it out to me. Its only the second one I have ever seen as I am just a beginner birder. I have been trying to find my childhood copy of a paperback 'Birdwatching for beginners' Bruce Campbell 1952 but its gone . I've only got Malcolm Saville's 1946 'Seaside Scrap-book for Boys and Girls'. Those of us growing up when paper was scarce, had books  whose quality of paper  was deemed War Economy Standard . So we treasured the few books we had .  

We were not bombarded with info , pictures , vids and musak and allaround colour in the 1950s. We had no TV in the day time except for the Woodentops et al  after lunch for 15 mins. It didn't seem a colourless world  , the hues were in our neighbourhoods, gardens  ,skies and geraniums , delphiniums , glace cherries ,Omo roses and tin buckets and spades. No wonder we all loved Hull Fair and Bonfire night , so much brash colour to look forward too. 

Now  Information Super Highways are called something else, every small child can use a smart phone for app amusement when Mum is chatting to a friend for real, instead of chatting to her friend online whilst small child gives up asking questions. Noise is everywhere, paper is so cheap that wrapped goods are the norm , and restaurants all have to give away colouring sheets and hats and the postman delivers useless adverts in high colour for Farm Foods when we don't have one within 10 miles. 

AND YET I AM VERY GRATEFUL FOR WHATS APP. This marvellous way of communicating with colour, pictures, vids, and the spoken word across the internet at little  cost is uniting not only families like mine instantly and inclusively. That is as  long as a smart phone is at both ends . AND Now it is working a treat for the Birders and Nature lovers of Filey . Not only was I alerted to the Avocet, but the last few weeks have also reported sightings of a Spoonbill, a Bluethroat, flocks of this and that passing through Filey , vast swarms of the Cabbage pest the Diamond Backed Moths, the fledging of the first House Martins and assorted Warblers . If there is one way to get me into birding big time its a message that something is at The Dams or on Carr Naze or East Lea . These messages are not from Twitchers , the train spotters of the Bird World , but of knowledgeable , interested enthusiasts , ecologists, who are not ticking off species but making valuable contributions to the Scientific Data of our Coast and training up the next generation . If only we could find a way of getting children and young people  to join FBOG or the Small Mammal Trapping Sessions  or get them out and about on the Country park with Field Glasses . A promise of cake and drink at the Country park Cafe might do it , but we need to wean them off their Roblox Studio, Minecraft and Xboxes for an hour or so.
 A biologist friend of mine in Filey taking groups of Filey Schoolchildren on to the beach to look at Marine Life and seaweeds  was astonished to find that when asked , many of the children said they  had never been on the beach before .

From Everlasting to Everlasting

I'm listening to the Dream of Gerontius. It is the perfect mix of melancholy and hope . I'm feeling maudlin with due reason , as my Aged Parent died a good death last night. For the 9 years of this Blog I've often written about my trips to Beverley to visit her , take her to Communion, to Tesco's , to the Hospital , to the bank , and then just to see her. 

This perfect little town, a hours drive across the Wolds from here, has been a welcome and interesting stimulus for putting thoughts to e-paper. I drive  from Filey,through Hunmanby ,Burton Fleming, Kilham, Driffield and Leconfield. I was going to say I know every hedge and pond, but it would be better to say I know every place where the speed cameras catch One. I know that most of the way I have to drive quite slowly as the potholes at the edges of these country roads are lethal, I've already had to have the Volvos suspension( if thats the word) seen to. It could be that I went over the bumps on the allotment road too quickly, but I blame the stretch of road between Kilham and Rudston. On my return journeys from mother when I drove past the site of the Roman Villa on the Kilham to Rudston Road, always stopped and admired the view.  From Driff to Beverley it is the Leconfield road that catches the most speed merchants. I did get some points on my licence once  for going 37 miles an hour. I thought that a bit mean , but it did make me cautious from then on . The 50 mile an hour speed limit from Hutton to Beswick seems so slow. Often I opt to go by train to Beverley. If I went  to Hull to visit my sister and Primark  I always disembarked on the return journey and visited Mother  , had a coffee in CaffeNero , a walk round M and S and then back on the train . Beverley had everything for a daughter visiting a Mother in a Care Home, and was responsible for 2 years of good visits . The ambiance and History of the town always delighted me . (Note to self -keep going back , get to know the town in a new context!)

Whilst Beverley town  has been my balm in difficult days, my allotment remains as my constant and necessary balm for everydays and alldays.

Dave's Everlasting Flower bed

Many times I go from home to water the greenhouse in hot weather, to pick berries in the mellow months, to weed in the verdant ,weed frenzied months and to generally just look around and sit alone all the months . Its my place of SPACE, my retreat , and the place where I tell the time by the passing of the trains from Beverley every 2 hours, realise Ive been gone 2 hours and hurry home hoping Herons is still open .They are used to me with a basket trailing soil and full of assorted flowers and veg which I have to move on to  the counter whilst I find my purse.
My neighbour has been growing Everlasting Flowers,  now called Xerochrysum bracteatum  since they were got at by the taxonomic botanists in 1990 . I still call them Helichrysums , but then I still call the Mint Family, Labiatae instead of Lamiacea. I know what I mean.

My Clary Bed

I sit on my white plastic chair outside the greenhouse  and look out across my plot , Dave's Plot, Bernard's plot and Eddie's plot . I know it looks colourful at the moment as my sister went passed on the train and then told me so. My Clary and David's Everlasting flowers, Bernard's Michaelmas Daisies (just in bud), all our Sunflowers, and most importantly our free seeded Nasturtiums which David and I like, and Brian two plots away hates with a Vengeance.
Its been a good year for the Everlasting Flowers. I remember when Flower Arrangers like me would spend hours wiring them all, for the Dried Flower Arrangements I so loved in the 80s, but now  hate  . I hate them even more since visiting Aged Parent in Care Home . Everywhere one went they would be lurking , the shelf in the Visitors Cloakroom, the side tables in the sitting rooms , and in Mother's room when she first arrived . I caused that particular vase to have an accident .
Now I LOVE the way my allotment neighbour has dealt with them . Having grown them so that without blemish the large flower heads , just open enough to show their symmetry and beauty they are then picked and the heads thoroughly dried .They can make the summer last till the next time summer comes . And last they will in the way that Casa David and Jen are using them . They put them in a Goldfish bowl.

I am growing Kale for the first time ever. My Aged Parent grew it in row after row in Sutton on Hull in our large garden . I used to dread her saying just go and cut some Kale for dinner please Margaret Mary. I did not appreciate the way it was cooked. It would be boiled to death in lots of cold water brought up to the boil , and then a plate would be pressed on it to get the water out. Spouse remembers his mother cooking and straining the water off cabbage in just the same way . Thankfully nowadays we realise that the young Kale leaves  may be quickly stir fried, and it is a cut and come again veg for summer through to next summer  , everlasting till everlasting . M and S it must be said do the most delicious Kale crisps which are deep fried in Cashew Butter, but at £2 a small 30 gm bag they are not going to have my money very often .

As David remembers the sunshine all through the winter , I am going to remember my beloved Mother everytime I pick some Curly Kale .

A quiet place to sit and think

  

Not something from War of the Worlds , but the remains of a couple of sunflowers promise a treat for Goldfinches when the snow comes. I've just been to get the paper and the newsagent's assistant  is excitedly passing on the news that snow has fallen in Seamer 3miles away. She's listening to Yorkshire Coast Radio  and I expect Paddy in the Morning is glad to have  something new to talk about .

I have my sledge ready , and my new snow boots are waiting for some road testing. 

Yesterday however was a glorious sunny day and bitterly cold here in Filey. I had a really productive time out in allotment hinterland. Sometimes , and often in January when SAD is affecting people around you, a series of upsets may be  magnified out of proportion to their actual importance in the scheme of things. I wanted time out yesterday. I wanted a trip somewhere. I wanted some comfort food. I wanted some space alone. I wanted something DIFFERENT. None of my suggestions en famille got anywhere. I was up for a trip to Primark , or a meal in the White Lodge or a look round the exhibition in Leeds.
At present I'm sitting at the desk in the sitting room, listening to Bach's Cantata for the Epiphany BMV65. I was listening to The Seeger Sessions , We shall Overcome , from Bruce Springsteen . Its upbeat , nostalgic and memorable but spouse doesn't like it and has been sitting in the kitchen whilst its on so I have tried to compromise. He says that the Bach is OK .
My thoughts have been reinforced by a timely blog post from The Big Forest. They reiterate all I am thinking . I am glad I gave myself some space albeit not in Leeds or Primark for I was so determined to go somewhere , anywhere, yesterday I took the compost to the allotment. Wrapped up in my down coat, my beret , two pairs of gloves and my Docs I took off. Timing yesterday was so God given for I spotted a car and trailer unloading manure to the plots . So I now have seen 'John the Muck Man 'from Folkton who for a modest sum will deliver horse manure with no straw straight to my compost bay . Ive paid him for two loads for the year and am thrilled. Its doesn't take much . If that wasn't enough I've also acquired a coveted item from the vacant plot next door, just a piece of old tin advert. but I've  loved it for years. My perfect morning continued with a stroll round the plot, plans in my head , catalogues to browse, noting the lavender needed a trim in April and the Echium was still alive -JUST in its fleece blanket. Next a sit down and a sojourn awhile in the greenhouse , a cup of tea from the flask and half a packet of midget gems , sweet heaven ,and time to just BE. Vicar Andrew said on the first Sunday of the year that we didn't sit quietly and just listen to God any more. Well! he needs a sit down for an hour in my Greenhouse.
I'm refreshed and happy, enthused and inspired today. I have well rotted mulch for my Asparagus bed, plans for Spring, a place to call my own . The last nine weeks of disappointment waiting for an op that has been cancelled 3 times, getting the fridge and laundry up to date so C has nothing to do 3 times and the inability to make any plans , fade now .
The Clarkia will have self seeded, the Chard will soon be coming back to leaf one more time, the Clary has dropped masses of seed and  soon  Rhubarb will burst forth again. I am warm, well fed, have a roof over my head and not in pain.
All in perspective again.

Just settling into winter

Echiums ready

I am wearing wool again this year. Now that I am 3 sizes smaller than last winter I am cold. Last year I wore M and S thermals , only I have had to wear them most of the year. I still have one back up item or 3 for my winter layering system . I have bought some sports tops that rugby players wear to keep warm on the field, presumably when the ball is down the other end . They do such lovely colours and are much cheaper then thermals from M and S. So I am really thrilled that the temperature is dropping . 

I shall wear M and S thermals, rugby tops (close fitting)and my new wool polo neck sweaters, and a thin fashion garment over all , from Primari  to make me look fashionable. I have never given spouse much sympathy for being cold all year as he is on Rat Poison to thin the blood. I am having sympathy for all those children in refugee camps who are now facing cold nights in the middle east. It has taken me this much to cotton on. I remember life before central heating very well, ice patterns on the bathroom window, hot water bottles the only bedroom heat, and doing homework with my two sisters  round a coke fire in the dining room. If you were too near the fire your legs went red, and you felt sleepy, if you were too far away from the fire you were frozen and couldn't do any work, but at least you were alert. These days no one would  bat an eyelid if one wore fingerless gloves and a hat indoors and a pashmina drape. Remember Chilblains!!

Echium Lurking behind the leeks 

I've looked at the weather app and tonight we might have the first frost of the winter. I had to nick a roll of fleece from Bernard's half of the allotment shed and have wrapped my Echium Pininana . I haven't had a decent 13foot inflorescence for 5 years now. I get them through all winter and they are caught in April, or the top dies out and it branches or I have a sorry sight one morning as my lovingly tended crop are all died one night when I was sure it wasn't as cold as I thought . I have not put any in the greenhouse this year. I am trying to go au naturel. I am using the Chelsea Physic garden wrapping method, more or less. Theirs are neater. At Kiaora I have found last years fleece bags and used them over the wrapped echiums .So , I'll keep you posted. I'm a nerd I know.