Snowbound

02 Fri Mar 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, weather

Tags

hazel catkins, icicles, lichen, snow, Suffolk, witch-hazel

Hazel catkins (Corylus avellana)

With the bad weather keeping us indoors I find I have had time to catch up with reading my e-mails and my friends’ posts and to write another one of my own.

Before the snow arrived I made another attempt at photographing our hazel catkins and found a few female flowers as well.

Hazel catkins

My current camera is not at all good at close-ups or macro shots and so this is the best I can do.

Another attempt at the lichen on the Horse-chestnut tree

I think I am going to have to give this up!

I rather like these lichens but again, they are not in focus.

Yet more blurred lichen!

On Monday we had snow showers all day. Stronger spells of sunshine at midday melted all that had fallen on the driveway and paths but didn’t shift the snow on the flowerbeds and grass. Richard took Elinor to Norwich for her acupuncture appointment and found that there had been no snow there at all. The fountain outside the hotel where Elinor has her acupuncture was spectacularly frozen.

Frozen fountain

I had a very quick walk round the house to see that all was well. It was much too cold to go any further.

I liked these mini icicles on the tool-shed

Witch-hazel flowers dusted by snow

This was their swan-song; they are now shrivelled and frozen.

I looked down the garden. The small pond was completely frozen.

I looked over the hedge to the field beyond.

I was chilled now so I made my way back to the front door passing the bell on the way.

Poor cockerel! He’s looking a little worse for wear!

We had a lot of snow on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning I had to phone my mother to cancel our usual shopping trip. She was fine and had all she needed for the time being but gave me a short list of things she would like fairly soon.

There had been no wind overnight and snow was heaped on telephone wires and windowsills and every tiny branch and twig.

You can see our new gates at the end of the drive in this photo. Richard was able to paint them last week.

In the photo you can see the dangling cable that provides us with our broadband!

We have stayed at home while the winds have picked up and blown most of the snow from the trees and caused deep drifts everywhere. The roads to the other villages and our local towns are all blocked. The depth of the snow in the garden has reduced, not from melting but by being scoured away. We are hoping that we will be able to get to town later this morning before the next snow arrives. We need to buy supplies and collect medication for me and for Mum. Our gas delivery hasn’t arrived and we have nearly run out. I don’t fancy a few days without central heating! We have turned the thermostat down and the water heater off to conserve power.

The joys of living in the countryside!

My music selection today is ‘Song to the Moon’ from Dvorak’s opera Rusalka sung by (I believe) Lucia Popp. I chose this because we have a full moon today.

Thanks for visiting!

A Walk Round the Garden

21 Wed Feb 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary

≈ 85 Comments

Tags

bee hive, bee orchids, cornelian cherry, crocus, discs of ice, February, garden, hazel catkins, ice, ivy, Jelly Ear fungus, landscaping, lichens, moss, pond, scrub clearance, seedheads, snowdrops, Suffolk, tree surgery, Viburnum, wild cherry, willow, witch-hazel

We had a bright but chilly day recently, so I took the opportunity to photograph a few interesting things I saw on a stroll round our garden.

Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)

We have two wild cherry trees and I noticed the buds beginning to swell on this one.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

There is a rough patch of land beyond our compost heaps, in-between us and one of our neighbours which has patches of snowdrops.

Hazel catkins (Corylus avellana)

The catkins were blowing about in the strong breeze and I gave up trying to focus on them. The female flowers were just beginning to show as well but again, my camera wouldn’t take a clear picture of them.

I liked the look of the Ivy (Hedera helix) growing up this Horse Chestnut (Aesculus Hippocastenaceae ) tree trunk

I like the colours on the ivy leaves and the pattern of the veins.

As you might be able to see, there are any number of lichens growing on this tree trunk. I couldn’t get a clear shot of any of them so I copied the photograph above and then cropped it. The result wasn’t too bad though not good enough to identify the lichens. This was only a very small area of the original photo.

Lichens and green algae on a tree trunk

Jelly Ear fungus ( Auricularia auricula-judae)

A few dead trees have been blown down in recent storms and I found this fungus growing on one of them.

More fungus.

This moss was shining in the bright sunlight

One of our neighbours has started keeping bees.

Just after Christmas we had a landscape gardener come and cut back this willow which had grown lots of suckers and had spread too much.

The little island in the pond was given a haircut too.

This is the island where the Greylags have always nested. Last year the nest was abandoned after it was attacked by something. We had hoped that by clearing the island the geese would have better visibility and would have earlier warning of danger from otter or mink. They have usually visited by mid February but there has been no sign of them yet this year. After a very wet winter the pond has re-filled and the reeds that were threatening to take over have been swamped. They will survive under water so we will have to dig them out eventually if we wish to retain the pond as it is.

Discs of ice

The pond had been frozen but the sun had melted most of the ice. Just these tiny discs of ice remained. Out of focus again, I’m afraid.

Ice disc

These papery seedheads belong to the Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera) that grow in our garden.

I was pleased to see the green rosettes of new leaves at the base of the old flower stalks.

Another view of the pond. Richard has been working hard clearing most of the brambles and other scrub plants from around the pond during the last week. The dead grass and brambles in the foreground of this photo are no longer there!

Our corner pond still has plenty of ice on it.

Not many days before this photo was taken I had seen newts swimming in this pond. The water is cleaner here than in the other larger pond as there is no chemical run-off from the agricultural fields.

The Witch-hazel I have growing in a tub near the front door is blooming.

As are the crocus…..

Yellow crocus

The pink Viburnum flowers look good against a blue sky. They smell wonderful too!

Cornelian Cherry ( Cornus mas)

This tree is awaiting the right time to plant it out into the garden – it is in a large pot. Meanwhile, it has decided to flower in a small way!

We have been told to expect some more cold weather during the next week or two so many of these flowers will suffer, no doubt.

I leave you with a favourite song from Enzo Enzo – ‘Juste Quelqu’un De Bien’.

Thanks for visiting!

Old News

03 Fri Mar 2017

Posted by Clare Pooley in art, churches, Days out, Norwich, plants, Rural Diary

≈ 69 Comments

Tags

Black Spleenwort, family, hazel catkins, primrose, Rumburgh Church, Sainsbury Centre, snowdrops, spring, St Michael and St Felix Church Rumburgh, Suffolk, University of East Anglia, witch-hazel

It is over a month since I last wrote a diary post. We haven’t done very much in that time but the days are getting longer and there are signs of spring in the garden and hedgerows.

Witch hazel

ooOOoo

The central elements on our old toaster had stopped working so we have bought ourselves a new toaster and this new one manages to toast both sides of a slice of bread at the same time! It has a ‘bagel button’ (though as I have never eaten a bagel I think I would prefer to call it a ‘teacake button’) which toasts one side and warms the other. We can now re-live the old toaster experience, except in reverse.

Snowdrops in bud

ooOOoo

Another excitement has been the emptying and repair of the septic tank. Only those of you who do not have mains sewage can truly relate to this. The tank was well overdue for emptying and we knew it needed repairing a year ago but we have been let down by our usual contractor and have had to find someone new. The new contractor arrived and did what he had to do and was efficient and professional. An added bonus, as far as we were concerned, was the wind direction on the day.

Hazel catkins in the hedge

ooOOoo

We have decided to have all our internal doors replaced and a carpenter has visited and priced up the job for us. He will be doing the work over three days next week. Richard will then have to spend quite a lot of time painting the doors, as well as all the skirting boards and the banisters. We hope to redecorate the hall, stairs and landing and get a new carpet some time in the next few months.

I’m not sure how many hazel nuts we will have on this tree this year. The female flowers have appeared before the male catkins have matured.

ooOOoo

At the very end of January we had a morning prayer service at our church of St Michael and St Felix at Rumburgh. The day before the service Richard and I called in at the church to make sure everything was tidy and to set the heating to come on well before the service. It was a cold day but inside the church was even colder than out in the open!

I found the first rather bedraggled primroses of the year in a sheltered spot in the churchyard.

I also found my first snowdrops of the year

Rumburgh gravestone

This gravestone has a skull engraved on it. Richard was asked to see if it was still in the graveyard recently as there had been a report that it might have gone missing.

The west door, which isn’t used anymore.

The west window

Work will start on March the 20th on the new tower screen in the church. We have been saving for years and years to get the work done and at last it is about to happen. Once the screen is in place the tower will be shut off from the body of the church and we hope it might be less draughty and warmer.

Black Spleenwort (Asplenium adiantum-nigrum) growing in the mortar on the wall of the church

ooOOoo

Elinor has now left the City College but we hope this is only a temporary thing. As I mentioned in my last diary post she wants to enrol on a one year Art and Design course for older students and has therefore filled out the application form. We have been notified that the college has received the form and I hope we will hear that Elinor has an interview soon. At the interview she will be expected to hand in a review of an exhibition she has been to see recently and with that in mind, we went to the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich and viewed an exhibition of 20th century Japanese photography. Photography was not allowed in the exhibition hall but there is a large collection of world art on display in the main gallery, most of the exhibits donated by Lord and Lady Sainsbury.

Below are my favourites from the main gallery.

Edgar Degas – Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

A beautiful Benin bronze – the Head of an Oba; early 16th century

Henry Moore – Mother and Child

Whistling bottles from Equador – one in the shape of an owl and the other is a bird sitting on eggs or pods. Both 1000 – 100 BC

Another couple of exhibits from Equador

Sketch for a Portrait of Lisa by Francis Bacon

Standing Jizo Bosatsu – Japan (1185-1333)

The top exhibit with the ram’s head is a backstrap from a sword or dagger hilt – India late 17th century The lower exhibit is an archer’s thumb-ring in the form of a bird – India 17th – 18th century

Left rear – Image of the Goddess Kaumari, India 17th century. Right rear – Shiva as Chandrashekharamurti, South India c. AD 1100. Front centre – Figure of Chamunda Devi, Nepal/Tibet 17th/18th century

Walking Hippopotamus – Egypt c. 1880 BC

The Sainsbury Centre. One of the first major buildings designed by Sir Norman Foster, it was completed in 1978.

It is a steel clad building with one face almost entirely glazed.

By the late 80’s the collection had grown so much that Foster was asked to design an extension. He decided to build underground and this is one of the entrances to it.

The new basement has a curved glass frontage that emerges from the slope underneath the original building overlooking the man-made lake. This new wing can only be seen from the lake but as it was very muddy there and beginning to go dark on a very gloomy day, I was unable to photograph it.

The University of East Anglia’s grounds looking towards the lake

Part of the university. There are many items of sculpture to be seen here.

Another Henry Moore sculpture

The University has an excellent creative writing department and many well known writers have studied here. Tracy Chevalier; Kazuo Ishiguro; Ian McEwan; Rose Tremain – to name but a few.

My music choice today is a song from Katie Melua.