The Morville Hours

I knew I was in for a good read when I saw the glowing comments on the cover, but wasn't prepared to be hooked quite so soon. It began 'Some people watch birds. I watch clouds. Sometimes it's the same thing, as when buzzards soar on a rising thermal above the garden.' I could have written this myself! We are fortunate that the uninterrupted views from our windows are perfect for both cloud and bird watching and in particular, for many years, it is the buzzards that have been soaring over our own garden. I can remember the hot summer day when I first spotted them, high above me. Since then their numbers have increased considerably, but it's still a thrill to hear their cries and watch them circling high above. As for clouds - well they rate very high on my list of favourite things, possibly on a par with trees.

Then, in the following paragraph, Katherine Swift moves on to mention the items found in the earth in the garden of the Dower House, Morville Hall, Shropshire 'fragments of blue-and-white willow-pattern china, white marble floor-tiles, rusted iron nails ...a litter of broken clay pipes in the flower-beds, their air holes stopped up with soil.' How many gardeners, like me, have come across similar items - little reminders of past lives. Since my first experience of field walking, with a local archeaological society, when I lived in Derbyshire, I can't walk alongside a newly ploughed or harrowed field without scanning back and forth for anything interesting. On that particular occasion, after a tip off from a local man, we found numerous mesolithic flint tools and cores, and the result was a full scale excavation on the site. Fortunately this was close to home, so for days, after the children were off to school, I was able to join the archaeologists, and given my own little square to work on. The results of the dig proved that this was the summer camp of these hunter-gatherer people and the highlight, for me was, after carefully trowelling away the earth, to find a posthole in my square. A group of children, from our sons' school visited the site, and I was given the job of bringing the results to life, by explaining how these mesolithic hunters set up summer camps, on top of hills, where they could watch the animals travelling along the banks of the rivers and streams far below. Amongst items found on site was a lump of red ochre which, it was suggested, could have been used on their faces, as camouflague, not unlike the American (or 'Red' as it was then) Indians.

So, back to the book 'The Morville Hours' by Katherine Swift - a birthday present from my sister K, who obviously knows me very well, and couldn't have made a better choice (thanks K). I'm only on page 11 and wondering why I'm writing up a blog, when I could be enjoying a good read.

Down on the plot, yesterday, I managed to pull up all the frost blackened nasturtium plants, untangle remains of the Morning Glories and squashes from the arch, and likewise the beans from their canes. It would have been a very pleasant morning except for the racket from a helicopter, flying back and forth overhead, for nearly 3 hours. I wouldn't have minded too much had it been the Police or Air Ambulance, but I suspect it could have been taking photos of the farmland, on behalf of a developer, which would be rather worrying. If there's anyone who knows otherwise I'd love to know. Things have been happening on the allotments - good and bad. To start with the bad things, a large number of sheds were broken into, but apparently nothing much taken, but money was taken from the store shed. I couldn't understand how my shed had escaped, but Hadyn suggested that 'they probably didn't like the curtains'. No one has owned up to performing the three point turn across Eric's newly planted onion sets, and I doubt if they ever will. Still, as mentioned in an earlier blog, they have probably sustained some damage to their vehicle! There has been some swopping and changing of plots, and as a result of the introduction of new quarter plots, there are some newcomers to the scene. Wendy and Carl, who had the amazing quarter plot, opposite the gate, have now 'expanded', so we can expect an even better show next year.

As I haven't any suitable photos to go with this blog, I thought I'd include some very, very old shots of us on our first ever plot at Sheffield Road. Those cabbages look pretty good. Don't we look young!