Wednesday Mar 28 2007 23:11:49
By Cait
Dear Diary, This morning I drove out of thick fog to Hay to see the dentist and the news on the car radio was all about the lack of dentists and the distance some people in rural areas have to travel to see them! My dentist is a really lovely bloke but even he went private in the end after being probably the last NHS dentist in the area. As I drove to Hay I was struck by the masses of cenhinen pedr (daffodils). All was yellow, a dressing of pure sunshine on every bank and verge, all the way to Hay. A host of golden daffodils indeed. How dare the style police say they are ‘unfashionable’ and should not be included in bouquets. I love the way bulbs increase in number all by themselves every year. I can’t wait to see how many bluebells come up in my garden as we planted a vast number last autumn. They are one of my favourite blodau (flowers). Probably because they are such a heavenly shade of blue. You will notice I am sticking in the odd Welsh word. Our local newsletter prints a list of Welsh words every month for we non Welsh speakers to learn and daffodil and flowers are two of them this month. Adar (birds) is another. All are quite appropriate for my blogs I thought so I am trying to make use of them. And hoping to impress my Welsh speaking granddaughters. As well as daffs. I saw lots of lambs too, mums and babes out in the pasture together. I saw a lot of black lambs too; I always have a soft spot for the black sheep. Is it the ‘black sheep of the family’ that I am feeling sorry for I wonder? * Living the country way. Changing pace and becoming patient. Learning to slow down means honouring the time it takes to accomplish things, both by myself as well as those done by other people. I’m trying my best to practice this skill as I look out at the beautiful afternoon sunshine. It’s such a perfect opportunity to don a thick sweater, pull on some jeans and wellies and get gardening but although I am feeling much better I know I’m not well enough to do anything strenuous. The trouble is that in the dentist’s waiting room I was engrossed in a gardening magazine which was full of inspiring ideas and as usual I didn’t have my little notebook with me to jot the tips down. And isn’t it always the way? You find a really good article when you are reading in some waiting room and your name is called too soon (!) and you have to put it down! But I was fired with enthusiasm to start work on my garden. There were no Country Living magazines at the dentist’s though. There never are any wherever I go, I don’t think anyone likes parting with them. I haven’t even done any cleaning for a week so indoors is a tip. And the sun is showing up just how dirty all the windows are. So what do I do? I stay indoors, feel miserable, make a huge mug of tea and eat not one but two Eccles cakes (M bought them, bless him). I don’t feel a bit guilty as I have actually lost a lot of weight this week with this bug as both my appetite and my sense of taste have just disappeared along with my daily need for chocolate and the occasional one unit of alcohol, how sad is that? Pretty bad I’d say. And now I have put myself down for a wee nap and I am laying on the bed looking out at the river trying very hard to be patient. I am going back to work tomorrow and hoping the library won’t be too busy (I’ve never said that before). And on Friday youngest granddaughter E. is coming for the weekend so I really must conserve my strength. Mummy is going to London (alone!) to stay with her best friend for a couple of nights. A nice treat for her and E and I will have a lovely time together too. The other two girls are staying with Dad and will be on lambing duty the whole time. What stars. It will soon be Easter and I had already booked some time off work so, God willing, I will be able to catch up in the garden and do a bit of spring cleaning then. And go on some good long walks and get some more writing done. So please pray for good Easter weather, do a Sun Dance or something. Remember the Llanwrtyd Food Festival is on over the Easter weekend too. * All Finn’s fur has gone from the bird table so I think it has all gone for nest building (see previous blog). I saw a raven in the car park today collecting all manner of rubbish for his nest reinforcement. Finn and Katy are sunning themselves; they move round the garden with the sun and know all the best spots. It’s a dog’s life. I wish I had a sunroom on days like this. One day. * A lot of the neighbours have gone down with this virus, M tells me as he returns from the local garage/shop. The talk is of where the bug has come from? All sorts of strange and wild ideas are going around! My imagination starts working. Good job I wasn’t there as I probably would have suggested a source as something quite ‘way out’ and would surely have been taken seriously! The garage is a godsend as it is only two miles away and is open from eight in the morning till nine at night, sells most things including papers and magazines and has a post office too but that is only open once a week. The whole place is for sale which is a worry as it is so well run at the moment and is always busy. I just hope it sells and the right person buys it and it stays the same. Well I had better sign off now and try and get a bit of shut-eye. The boda is flying over the field, circling round, eyeing the ground below, hoping to catch something tasty for his tea no doubt. Can you guess what it is? It is a bird of prey but it is not a kite, it does not have a forked tail. Blessings today? A real mixed bunch, it’s an odd sort of day I feel. Does anyone else feel the same? Good neighbours. The scrap man. OK he didn’t come on the day he was meant to but he did come in the end and he took an old car which belonged to my son. Digital cameras and the beautiful images that are coming up on the blog pages. All the new CL bloggers starting out. I find it so encouraging that there are other people like me out there who both enjoy Country Living magazine, country living itself and also writing about it. Pillows, especially my new Ikea one which was expensive but is so so s o f t, the best I’ve ever had. I almost look forward to going to bed at night so I can snuggle up to it (now I AM showing my age!). Before I go here is a poem. Blossoming Dressed in daisies, so pretty the lawn. Lone poppy waits for night to wrap her coat around her. Meadow’s solitary windflower, half-nodding, white-flushed. Under trees’ branches by the streamside lie the wood’s blue colonies; mass bells are spread, signalling spring. The delicate fern lies coolly, bleeding-hearted, alluring, near water-spring arresting. Morning’s early glistening paints lime flowers, leaves’ beaded droplets, crinkly-edged, frail mantle of ladies. Closing petals, low, protecting body brittle, woodland’s secret celandine. Heaven-scented flower, ripening red berry, vigorous, deciduous, clinging unbroken, she flirts, such is the wildest woodbine. Even wilder, hedge-rose lifts her veil, ready for romance, foretelling nature’s delight. Lowly hidden, lying shady, muguets des bois, Welsh valley’s lily of the wood, purely white, unfolding Heaven in a bejewelled and scented posy of Love. Cait O’Connor Bye for now, Caitx