Stirring from hibernation

Pussy Willow (Salix sp) against a blue sky

I'm starting to stir from my winter hibernation and get out into the garden as new life burgeons all around - how hard I find it to do so when days are short, windy, wet and dark! But I'm horrified to see I haven't blogged the garden since July...

The other morning frogs were croaking in the patio pond - lo and behold, there was the frogspawn heralding this years tadpoles.

The birds Susanna has been assiduously feeding all winter are developing their breeding plummage and becoming even more agressive around the feeding stations. It's sad to record that tit numbers were greatly reduced in the hard weather. A pair of Blue Tits and a couple of pairs of Great Tits remained all winter with us, but the Coal Tits disappeared altogether, though I'm glad to say I saw one again yesterday. In consolation however we have been overrun all winter long with Goldfinches feeding on Niger seed.

And one of our hares has returned, a doe I think - I hope it does less damage than a couple of years ago.

Here are some photos of Spring flowers in the garden today, blooming their little socks off - how it raises the spirits! The only dark cloud on the horizon is that I can't get the mower to start to clear up the last of the autumn leaves.

Primula vulgaris sibthorpii

Helleborus orientalis in the wilderness

A drift of yellow dutch crocuses in the meadow

Clump of yellow dutch crocuses

Blue and yellow dutch crocuses

Daffodils about to burst

Cream-coloured Crocus crysanthus

Catkins on Corylus contortus

The mission is a bucket of well-rotted compost!

What a strange season we are having. Today is Halloween, and we have not had a frost yet. I am still harvesting green climbing beans and romanesco broccoli, the Salvias and Dahlias continue in flower, many of the roses are having another go, and mauve Primula vulgaris sibthorpii, which normally flowers in Spring, is blooming its socks off.

Yesterday was rather wet and gloomy until late afternoon, when the cloud cleared to the North East and the sun broke through. As the last drops fell from the trailing edge of the cloud, a full double rainbow burst forth against the slate grey retreating cloud. A simply amazing spectacle, a reminder of God's promise after the Flood. If I had had my wits about me, like Daniel Owen I should have rushed for my camera. Instead I went out to pick the last of the tomatoes in the poly-tunnel, which need to be cleared out to make room for the tender Salvias and Dahlias. Susanna has taken the green tomatoes to cousin Lygia, who will make them into her renowned chutney, made to a recipe from her Indian childhood.

The Bishop has bidden everyone from all the parishes in the Diocese to come to St Mary's Cathedral in Limerick on Mission Sunday, November 15th, for a great celebration of mission. We are to choose and bring with us a symbol of mission from each parish. People in ours have been writing suggestions on a flip-chart in Church, such as Salt, or Bread. But the symbol I should like to see is a bucket of well-rotted compost! Surely as Christians our mission is to maintain the fertility of this beautiful garden of Eden on which God has been pleased to place human kind and so many other creatures, and to improve the texture of the soil in which God's kingdom is continuously taking root.