What comes first the title or the photograph? Sometimes when out and about in the garden a plant or an insect will catch my eye and a line of poetry, quotation or a phrase will come to mind. On other days it will be the light shining through a leaf, the form or colour of […]
tomatoes
From Autumn to Winter
Sunday: it is quiet today. The wind has abated and the sea settles as the squalls are pulled northwards to chase round the eye of the storm as it heads for Iceland The November sun is too weak to banish the early morning chill so fingers remain cold and clumsy, thrust deep into the worn […]
Garden of Plenty
There are a series of landmarks in my gardening year and, however intemperate the weather, by late July, the croft vegetable garden has been transformed into a garden of abundance. The empty trugs of the hungry gap months become horns of plenty and we are sated with green comestibles. A pretentious little literary allegory which […]
The Fruits of the Vine
Describe the humble tomato as a love apple, pomo di mori, pomi d’oro, or pomo d’amori and it immediately conjures visions of beautiful fragrant, juicy fruits, Mediterranean skies and the mingling aromas of basil, garlic and fresh grassy olive oil. A far cry from the perfectly engineered, orange globes manufactured in Dutch mega glasshouses. The […]
Whiff of winter
The days are shortening and the northerly winds bring a cold nip to the morning air. Time to find the woolly hats, fill the log baskets and get ready for Samhain which begins on 31 October. This is one of the Celtic fire festivals when the doors on the hills open and the wee folk visit the realms […]