The flowers on the Black Pear of Worcester are just about over, but the first few flowers are opening on the Worcester Pearmain apple, which keeps the bees happy.
blossom
Author: N W
teatime on the patio
Having looked at the weather forecast yesterday, I put tigernuts in to soak overnight. Horchata de chufas is a favourite summertime drink, and a couple of glasses on the patio went down well at teatime. I don’t think that lemon-and-cardamon cake is a traditional accompaniment, but it’s what I had to hand …
blue letters
The sound of the riso is heard in the air, heralding the spring local election season! Although we don’t have elections in Worcester this year, many of our neighbouring Green Party groups do, and we do our best to help out where we can. This is part of a batch of “blue letters” for the eight candidates for a Borough Council over in Gloucestershire.
birds-nesting
It’s a little hard to see any difference between the lawn and the “wildflower patch” behind the pond! Not laziness, and not “no mow May”. I’m effectively barred from the shed so can’t get the lawnmower out – a robin is nesting on the shelves there, and when I went in a few days ago to get the stepladder she gave me such a filthy look that I’ve avoided going in ever since!
Still, it’s pleasant to sit on the patio and watch the parents rushing in and out through the shed window. I assume the eggs have hatched, as visits are much more frequent and hurried than they were a few days ago.
amaryllis
Way back in 2017 I hand-pollinated my amaryllis, as an experiment. It set seed, which I planted, and grew on the resulting few seedlings. The assorted vicissitudes of life meant that only one survived to flowering, which it did, rather half-heartedly, for the first time two years ago, with nothing last year. So this, nine years after I did the hand-pollination, is the first proper year of flowering.
OK, not the most beautiful amaryllis in the universe! But still, something to celebrate.
difficult few days
It’s been a difficult few days. Good Friday is always a day I set aside for contemplation, anyway (I also set New Year’s Eve aside for the same reason), and this year it was on 3rd April, which was my mum’s birthday.
At the end of last week, brother Simon told me that he had minor but curable skin cancer. On Good Friday I had an email response to a card I’d sent from my sister Jane – she’s having enormous pain from the wrist she broke at New Year (it’s CPRS again), and is having to have paid assistance in the house.
Today – Easter Monday – is 6th April, which is the first anniversary of committing my mother’s ashes to the River Evenlode that she loved.
A bright spot was being invited to Clare and Ian’s last night. Roast beef, which was glorious, and good conversation: a welcome break.
The river Evenlode, after scattering mum’s ashes in 2025.
pretty …
We’ve had blustery high winds over the last 24 hours, and I’ve had to go out twice to rescue the potted Christmas tree that had been blown over. Despite that, the Black Pear of Worcester has kept all its petals, and today is in its full glory.
A turning point
I’ve been a Green since January 2012. It’s been a long hard slog, both locally and nationally: we owe a lot to the charismatic leadership of Zack Polanski, of course, but also to the many thousands of devoted people who have created newsletters, delivered them in rain or shine, stood for election both a real candidates and as paper one (to ensure that as many people as possible did at least have the option of voting Green), and all the other tasks needed to keep the party running.
This is a cause for celebration.
garden bits
Sunny spells this afternoon brought the first forget-me-nots into flower. They’re always a joy to me! Sure, they self-seed everywhere, but they’re very shallow rooted and easy enough to pull up from unwanted places, and that glorious blue is such a welcome and cheerful sight.
In other news, the bloody bindweed has started to emerge. This year, I’m hitting even the smallest shoot of it with the non-glyphosate systemic weedkiller, even if it means a spot of damage to adjacent plants (as long as they’re not massively important ones).
rock on ..
The kitchen is still in a state of turmoil, due to constantly moving the table round to get at assorted bits of walls and ceiling to prepare them for painting. That meant that things like the Kenwood mixer, cake tins and so on were not accessible, but I was determined to test bake something to see how the top oven worked in practice – I don’t imaginge I’ll be using the bottom oven much!
The answer seemed to be rock cakes (made with chopped apricots rather than sultanas). I’m pretty happy with the results. Regrettably, it’s a recipe that calls for one egg, so can’t be halved … I will be munching my way through a dozen of these large objects over the next few days.
