beauty

FANLIGHTS IN CORK CITY

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A fanlight is a feature of Georgian architecture, it is found of course in England, but it is also found in Ireland, and I think it is a beautiful feature.  It is a semicircle window above a main door, it is called a fanlight because several panes radiate like a fan outwards.  While it is a useful addition to any hall, it is also very decorative and in Ireland efforts are made to preserve these features in the many Georgian style houses.

While I was in Cork city the other day, I took some photos with my mobile phone.  I think these features are so nice and interesting.  I had to go and look up information on them and did not even know that they were called fanlights, I only knew that you see these features a lot in Irish cities.  Fanlights originated in England during George I (1714), and fettered by the year 1901. But in Ireland, the use of these fanlights lasted longer. Especially in the eighteen hundreds though they were a frequent architectural feature to be seen in Dublin, also in Cork and other cities.

During the nineteen seventies a poster was produced featuring some of the beautiful fanlights in Dublin, it is very popular to this day.  There are still many Georgian houses found in Dublin, also quite a few in Cork, fanlights only being one of it’s Georgian features of course.  Many of these houses are now neglected and some are almost derelict, efforts are being made to restore them, many, however have been demolished in the past.  But equally many have been restored and there still remain quite a variety of fanlights and they are very appealing to the eye.  It is also good to know some of the history behind it.  The fact that they started out as a useful feature, then became a decorative feature and remain like that today.  What I see today in modern doors is that the idea of a fanlight is actually build into the door and in this way throws light into the hall, that is, of course, not half as beautiful (just my thought).

I took my photos along the Dyke Parade in Cork city.  At some future date I would love to explore the city much more and make many more photos.

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EMERALD GREEN FOLIAGE

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Sometimes Ireland is called ‘the emerald country’, and it is no wonder, it is called this way because of the regular rain, this green is always a most beautiful, fresh and profuse colour. Seen from the sky the landscape does look like an emerald jewel.

So it was no surprise that I found young green foliage today along the side of a country road.  Though early in the year, there are signs of a rebirth, and of green in the hedgerows.  The Fuchsia hedges have brown branches with here and there young leaves opening up.  The ferns are enjoying this particularly wet winter, a delight for the eye, their lacy leaves unfurling with a vigour that would surprise you, though having said that, some of the leaves had fringes of brown.

Nature is waking up slowly, spring can start very early in South West of Ireland.  Even the birds songs are changing just lately.

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The lesser celandine plants are almost ready to flower.

MEMORIES OF FLOWERS

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What better to think about and plan while the weather remains wet and stormy, and yet we feel that the new gardening year will soon enough be upon us. Flowers, wild and cultivated, beautiful and colourful, reminding us of summer, of sunshine and warmth.

Looking back at many of the flowers we had in the garden last year, I know that some of them I will certainly repeat this time around. The sweetpeas gave us such pleasure, we picked bunch after bunch, the scent was heavenly and made for a very cheerful breakfast table, so that is a definite Yes. The coriander and oregano  are also a definite Yes! These are herbs my kitchen simply cannot do without, and the flowers, though small are pretty, when plentiful they can be used as part of a herbal flower decoration. The nasturtiums are always there also, I sow them yearly, they are pretty for their flowers but I also use both leaf and flower in salads, or I might eat some of the leaves while walking in the garden. As for the hydrangea, I have four different bushes growing, a deep lapis lazuli blue one, a pretty pink one, and two pure white ones. Some years ago I tried to change the colour of one of my white hydrangeas with a product I bought in the garden centre, but I did not succeed, and it did not matter, I will try again some time. The Ph of the soil here in my raised beds is 7, so total balance between alkaline and acid, and the colour depends on the Ph of the soil.
Marigolds grew profusely in the garden last summer, they just kept on flowering, I like the orange types, they are definitely on the list for this season also.  The poppies are self seeding, they are beautiful and great for the bees and other flying creatures, but they do have a habit of coming up among the vegetables and become too large sometimes.  The fuchsia flowers are seen all over West Cork, in a good year some of the hedgerows are coloured red with them, lovely.  They flower from May onwards, and might still be in flower in November.  I have them only at the back of the garden, in the hedge.

The big bright yellow flower was going to be a lovely round pumpkin, only last summer all my pumpkins rotted, so while the promise was there in the flower, it did not come to fruition.   The blackberry flowers are frilly and white, they also just form part of the hedge and I let them grow mainly for the bees and butterflies.  It is great to see all the insects and butterflies come and feed in the garden.

Finally after about three years my wall flowers have started to produce lots of dark rose velvety flowers, nice, and they give off a faint scent, it brings me memories of gardens and flowers in another period of my life, precious memories of flowers.

PUMPKIN
BLACKBERRY
FUCHSIA
HYDRANGIA
WALLFLOWER
NASTIRTIUM
SWEETPEA
CORIANDER
DOUBLE POPPI
OREGANO
BITTER GOURD
PETUNIA

A WATERY WINTER SUN

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The garden’s trees as seen through a rain drenched window today. And a watery sunshine illuminating the rain and storm clouds in the early evening sky.


The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore

Sullen clouds are gathering fast over the black fringe of the
forest.
O child, do not go out!
The palm trees in a row by the lake are smiting their heads
against the dismal sky; the crows with their dragged wings are
silent on the tamarind branches, and the eastern bank of the river
is haunted by a deepening gloom.
Our cow is lowing loud, ties at the fence.
O child, wait here till I bring her into the stall.
Men have crowded into the flooded field to catch the fishes
as they escape from the overflowing ponds; the rain-water is
running in rills through the narrow lanes like a laughing boy who
has run away from his mother to tease her.
Listen, someone is shouting for the boatman at the ford.
O child, the daylight is dim, and the crossing at the ferry
is closed.
The sky seems to ride fast upon the madly rushing rain; the
water in the river is loud and impatient; women have hastened home
early from the Ganges with their filled pitchers.
The evening lamps must be made ready.
O child, do not go out!
The road to the market is desolate, the lane to the river is
slippery. The wind is roaring and struggling among the bamboo
branches like a wild beast tangled in a net.

HOPEFUL LIGHT

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A golden sun was setting soon after four thirty this evening, it had been a dark day but, as often happens, around sunset the sun came out and like a wizard transformed everything with a golden glow. The roses which are still flowering abundantly took on a magical luminosity, that’s the only way I can describe what I saw, it was magical, I was so happy that I happen to glance out through the window and saw what was going on. This made my evening and banished for a while the sad thoughts going through my head with what is happening in the larger world right now, how whole families and little children are now looking at these same skies scared of what is to come, scared of, not a beautiful sunset, but of what destruction and death may be coming their way. I’m learning to find peace deep inside me so that I can be strong in sharing out peaceful thoughts in the hope that it will help bring about peace on a larger scale. Is this possible? I am not sure, but ‘peace’ does start with each one of us, in our immediate circle, in ourselves.
Let there be only peace!

GARDEN SURPRISES

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It’s amazing what can be of interest or beauty in the garden even in December while all the tree branches are bare and stark against the winter sky.  For a while I have been watching the barks of our five trees, and the knots one can see in them, I actually never knew the connection between a knot in the bark and a branch, and that a knot is a branch that got enclosed in the wood of the trunk during years of growth. I see these knots all the time in the wood panelling inside the house. Today I took note of them outside in the garden. My Hawthorn tree has many knots, the douglas fir, chestnut, oak and birch less so. While observing the fir tree bark I found a variety of colours, some quite red, the bark is also covered in white in certain areas, not sure if it is lichen, fungus, or even bird droppings, there are quite a few birds that like to use this tree, this morning a lot of twittering came from it, there was only one starling sitting on it’s branches though.   On the fir I came across a tiny little snail, and on the hawthorn bark around the knot there was a slug to be seen, so I guess bark is quite important for wildlife.  Once I was thinking that I would have to cut down the fir, but during last summer I observed so many of our garden birds using this tree, I decided to keep it despite having to sacrifice a little bit of vegetables due to less light, as birds are after all so precious, and some of them are declining, sad to say.

At this moment another big storm has been forecasted for Ireland, we have had more stormy days than quiet ones the last week or two, but today was a perfect day, wind still and 10C.

As Barbara Winkler once said:

“Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle. . .
a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining
to unfurl.  And the anticipation nurtures our dream.”

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GLOW OF THE EVENING SUN

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What a most beautiful day it has been, full sun and quite warm for the time of year. This evening I happen to be in the garden getting in the washing and noticed what beautiful light surrounded me, and how the evening sun was bringing out all the colours of vegetables and herbs alike. Magnificent especially as not long after that the moon came up, large and beautiful.

I feel so blessed with all the beauty that surrounds me. Really good to counter balance all the sadness and strife that is going on in our earth.

Feeling grateful.

LIVE IN SILENCE

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“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence. Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.”
Rumi, The Essential Rumi
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AUTUMN MIRTH

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“To-day I think
Only with scents, – scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed,
And the square mustard field;

Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;

The smoke’s smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.”

From a poem called DIGGING.”
Edward Thomas, Collected Poems

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