Angel of the Morning
‘Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my
child, unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence.’
from The Child-Angel , Rabindranath Tagore
Angels, as I know them, come in many guises. This little one, who has endured significant travails, was a gift from one of the many angels who supported and loved us at the White Plains Presbyterian Church, Westchester, New York. In silence, I delight in angels.
Right about now, over at the home of Muse-ings , vsperry will be orchestrating order in an area of her garden which she describes as “A Fine Mess”. I would simply leave out the word “Mess” and call it “Fine”, or, as in the case of my own garden, refer to the “Mess” as ” Channelling one’s inner “Piet Oudolf” (with apologies to Piet 😉 ).
For the greater part of the summer and fall, this wilderness of mostly self-sown plantings was the scene from my bedroom window.
Wilderness plantings
It was a sight that gave me much pleasure, for all the weeds, entangled foliage and seeming disorder.
Disorder?
The garden bed was not carefully planned like one of Piet Oudolf’s masterpieces (OBVIOUSLY), but I did have a plan of sorts, which was to let the garden follow its own course and,
Following their own rules? Lightly organised chaos?
thus, provide a dense and closely woven safe haven for the monarch caterpillars, and a well-stocked larder for the bees and their larger selves, the humblebees.
A haven for a caterpillar?
My plan was a success buzz vis-a-vis buzz the bees, but a failure as far as the monarchs were concerned. Not one of the many caterpillars made it to butterfly status. That was a disappointment, after my successful monarch season last year, where I helped raise at least twenty monarch butterflies. I don’t know what went wrong this time; perhaps we had too much rain; too little sun? Or, as Russel Ray pointed out to me, my wilderness garden may have provided a haven for the social wasp, arch-enemy of the monarch.
So, with winter approaching and no longer any chance of monarchs, I embarked on a clean up of the little plot. It now looks like this. Clean and tidy….and dull. Not a “Mess” but also not “Fine”. Not yet, anyway. There’s good manure in the soil, and worms, and caterpillar plus bee frass,
so, in a few months, it may provide solace for my senses once again. And, later, much later, the monarchs may be tempted to return. I hope so. I know the bees will come.
Virginia, how is your clean up going? There is no danger that your garden will succumb to DULL. 🙂 It will be clean, tidy and finer than ever.
© silkannthreades
Continuing the story of my blogcation….( Will it ever end? Yes, but not quite yet.)
More flowers
New Zealand Cranberries in pink glass
for more guests
More guests 🙂
and for a birthday….mine!
Birthday Flowers
Update:
The sun was shining when I took these photos almost a month ago but, today, our city’s land and rivers are trying (and failing) to cope with 70mm of rain (in the past 24 hours), with more to come. My garden is a mud puddle which makes me feel that it’s an appropriate time to confess that I am a little bit of a stick-in-the-mud type, when it comes to my literary tastes. I like my “Diary of a Provincial Lady” or my Rumer Godden, and many things quiet and genteel, and gently humorous. Adventure is not my middle name (it’s Amanda, actually 😉 ) when it comes to books. But, every now and then, someone, like my good, well-read, sister-in-law, gives me a nudge and sends me books like Two for Sorrow , The Sunbird or The Distant Hours or The Luminaries; and I have a blast shaking loose from my usual reading habits.
The other day, I was given a similar, small nudge from blogger Vickie Lester at Beguiling Hollywood. She entrusted me with her precious manuscript for her soon to be self-published novel, IT’S IN HIS KISS, with the idea that I might blog about it. I wasn’t sure, at first, but, once I started reading, I was hooked. Once again, with just a teeny step out of my comfort zone, I am having a blast. How could I not? The main character is witty, believable, and has my last name, Anne.
So, now, you ask, what is my first name? I’ll leave you to guess. And I may not tell you even if you guess right because, like Ms Lester, I enjoy keeping a few secrets and a little mystery about myself. Life is more beguiling that way 🙂 .
© silkannthreades
I am playing with media settings in my post today. Thanks to a few tips from fellow blogger Maureen at http://kiwis-soar.com/ , I finally found the confidence to look at the photo settings for my blog. It was hard to decide which settings to use but I eventually selected the circles because I thought they suited the floral nature of the photos.
If you would like to try your hand at making the delicious fruit loaf in the photos , the recipe can be found here (http://www.healtheries.co.nz/healthy-and-gluten-free-recipes/healthy-cakes-and-slice-recipes/fabulous-fruit-loaf). Personally, I think my photo looks more appealing than the Healtheries’ one but…….it’s not the look that matters but the taste. And this loaf tastes wonderful. It’s full of dates and apricots, sultanas, linseed and wheat germ and, because I couldn’t help myself, I added ginger, which is not in the recipe, but should be; in my opinion.
© silkannthreades
And the heat goes on and on, at a relentless 30 degrees,(centigrade), or thereabouts, and I am feeling wilted like my animals. Would that I were supple enough to sprawl like the creatures,
or were small enough to creep under the cool nasturtium and zucchini canopy.
Here’s the zucchini in the mix, in case you doubt me.
Oh dear, living in Christchurch has turned me into a heat wimp. Long gone are the days when 42 degrees meant hot, and 30 degrees was cardigan time.
© silkannthreades
silkannthreades 