tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7058484359631249331.post8725650472657227040..comments2023-10-12T06:15:43.466-07:00Comments on grannyfiddler-northofsanity: Winter Dreaminggfidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08452490194253665370noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7058484359631249331.post-4478118780543274382012-12-31T08:30:25.330-08:002012-12-31T08:30:25.330-08:00your contrasts were incredibly moving to me...than...your contrasts were incredibly moving to me...thank you for reminding me of my many blessings this new years eve...the sun is shining brightly this morning through my bedroom window, the tea is freshly brewed and bella just took her kefir and went outside to touch noses with the cows...i wish i could capture a moment but have yet to be sneaky enough...all is pretty right in the world right now! xoxL'Adelaidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10725322054223364858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7058484359631249331.post-703709978066754042012-12-20T23:54:43.917-08:002012-12-20T23:54:43.917-08:00Su - i agree with you - what's the purpose of ...Su - i agree with you - what's the purpose of a 'Public Garden' that's open to the public garden for 2 weeks of the year? there are a group of 3 or 4 huge pyramid shaped greenhouses in the river valley in Edmonton, called Muttart Conservatory, that are similar to what you imagine. i haven't been to them in several years - last i heard they were getting a bit run down because funding was getting difficult to find. <br /><br />i'm SO looking forward to beginning to dig and plant and prune and scheme over my lovely Miramichi House's yard. there will be flowers everywhere one day, berries and northern fruits, meandering paths and lovely comfy places to sit and just enjoy it all. i'm determined that life will, from now on, be much saner an aesthetically beautiful. <br /><br />i love the poem. my heart aches at the thrush who had "chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom." sometimes the creation of beauty feels exactly like that, doesn't it? <br /><br />Lindsay - i'll think of you carolling in the bleak brown midwinter, going home to a feast of home grown zucchini, shallots, lettuce, tomatoes and pumpkin this Christmas season. it will warm me as i lumber eiderdown clad through blinding drifts of white, with as little bare skin exposed to the razor sharp wind as possible. <br /><br />all of the things you mention are on my wish list for the 'new' garden next summer..... along with flowers of every description. <br />gfidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08452490194253665370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7058484359631249331.post-52888974756787575062012-12-19T17:16:23.082-08:002012-12-19T17:16:23.082-08:00As your world is blanketed in white, ours is turni...As your world is blanketed in white, ours is turning brown yet we stil relish singing as a choir “in the bleak midwinter”. <br /> <br />My little vegetable patch is thriving this year with a good harvest of zucchini, shallots, lettuce, tomatoes and pumpkin. <br /><br />Your colour sketch looks very nice-along with you sage comments in the previous post. <br /><br />Best wishesLindsay Byrneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11030132436987752741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7058484359631249331.post-27064331688492431022012-12-17T17:26:45.868-08:002012-12-17T17:26:45.868-08:00Your gardening books sound wonderful and I can wel...Your gardening books sound wonderful and I can well understand your need of them living so very far north as you do. I've always thought every northern city should have a botanical garden where people can go year round to enjoy the sweetness and beauty of a permanent large garden. Wouldn't that be cool? The Public Gardens here have large greenhouses but the only time they open them to the public is two weeks in June when you can see all their flowers planted outdoors. I mean what's the point of that? <br /><br />The only time I've ever really gardened was over the course of eight summers in Portland when we had a large and beautifully situated balcony. That was when I collected garden books and plant catalogs during our dark and rainy (but rarely freezing) winters. I'm not sure if I'll plant one here but may be considering it in a few months. <br /><br />I loved your thoughts about contrasts. I have a favorite poem by Thomas Hardy you might like:<br /><br />The Darkling Thrush<br /><br />I leant upon a coppice gate<br /> When Frost was spectre-grey,<br />And Winter's dregs made desolate<br /> The weakening eye of day.<br />The tangled bine-stems scored the sky<br /> Like strings of broken lyres,<br />And all mankind that haunted nigh<br /> Had sought their household fires.<br /><br />The land's sharp features seemed to be<br /> The Century's corpse outleant,<br />His crypt the cloudy canopy,<br /> The wind his death-lament.<br />The ancient pulse of germ and birth<br /> Was shrunken hard and dry,<br />And every spirit upon earth<br /> Seemed fervourless as I.<br /><br />At once a voice arose among<br /> The bleak twigs overhead<br />In a full-hearted evensong<br /> Of joy illimited;<br />An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,<br /> In blast-beruffled plume,<br />Had chosen thus to fling his soul<br /> Upon the growing gloom.<br /><br />So little cause for carolings<br /> Of such ecstatic sound<br />Was written on terrestrial things<br /> Afar or nigh around,<br />That I could think there trembled through<br /> His happy good-night air<br />Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew<br /> And I was unaware.<br />susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747450215034568033noreply@blogger.com