Books

THOUGHTS OF SPARKLE

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While I am recovering from covid infection my thoughts were turned to things that normally do not catch my attention so much. Of course I’ve had much more time to think, although during the first week it seemed my head was empty of any real musings and the fever probably was the cause of that. At the end of the second week now and finally starting to become human again. It was my first time having covid and it truly felt like a monster virus.

And so while sitting at my kitchen table, seeing some of the last of my Christmas decorations lying there waiting to be put away for another year, I was thinking… what gives me intense pleasure from the bling that I’m seeing? I’m not normally a typical bling person and in our tree my favourite bauble is no bauble at all but a little handmade piece of lace in the shape of a candle. And yet when my eyes chance to glance over these sparkling baubles it sets off a sort of childlike pleasure… is it the childhood memory of sparkling sweet wrappers which we only seldom were able to feast upon, or is it something more basic, is the reminder of a frosty morning when a winter’s sun makes branches and leaves sparkle like diamonds… I think it might be the latter, the beauty of nature when the sun illuminates the frost covered plants is definitely one of my great winter’s joys.

During this past Christmas I was given three books as presents, three wonderful books which I’ve already started to enjoy. All are about nature, one about the heartbeat of trees, one about the land and soil, and one about a journey into silence. In this last book the author talks about the search for the perfect moment, when there is a confluence of time and place and serendipity, all conspiring together to render a perfect moment (his words), He’s talking about his times he spent in nature and his meeting with the wild, with animals, birds and anything else he finds unexpectedly in wild places. I’m very much enjoying this book.

A lovely selection of reads for the foreseeable future that’s for sure.

MEMORIES IN PICTURES

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Yesterday my sister left Gozo to return home to Lier in Belgium. We enjoyed two weeks of chat and sightseeing, though I must admit a lot of our time was spent enjoying coffee and cake in a variety of places around the island. Nevertheless we did manage to fit in walks and visits to various sights, but mainly we soaked up the spring feeling, the massive amount of wild flowers and the charm of Victoria’s historical narrow streets. As there is only one year between us we grew up quite close and shared a bedroom most of our childhood years, at night my sister would tell me stories which at the time fascinated me, they were of adventures we would find ourselves in. She still always brings me books, and much of our chats would evolve around book discussions, the love of reading we both share. We also both spent our working lives with books and people, she as an editor working for a magazine catering for libraries, and I as a branch librarian in a small town in Ireland.  Both have been very rewarding and enjoyable jobs.
20180304_143113-EFFECTS.jpgAmazing to see the banana trees on Gozo, Josefine could not believe her eyes.

Two sisters, Josefine and myself among the Mimosa flowers which are now opening.

St.Georges square where we spent time drinking coffee and listening to the bell ringing.

Tower of St.Josephs in Qala, and an example of a roundel found on a house in Ghajnsielem.

The fig tree already showing fruit and opening its leaves, poppies are flowering now too making the meadows very colourful, and a hoverfly on a lovely sunny day.

This Gozitan lady working her lace in the doorway of her house, a lovely sight.

More wildlife, this on a narrow pathway at Mgarr.

The narrow alleyways in Ir-Rabat never fail to charm anyone.  Josefine too loved them and we spent quite some time walking them, every time you do you discover more things of interests.

It’s quiet now around here, Ian and I going about our various tasks and peacefully enjoying the life.  The excitement of Josefine’s visit is over, a space is now empty, but memories will stay and lots of thoughts remain of our various chats and discussions.  A rewarding time it was, that is for sure.

AUTUMN JOBS IN THE GARDEN

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Today was tidy up day in the garden, among other things. I finished planting out the salad leaves, and beetroot. Then I sowed, also in the cold frame, curled parsley, and some winter lettuce, seeds that I had over from last year, we shall see what comes up. I followed this with tidying the garden, putting away a lot of summer things into the potting shed, also took measurements as need to get a light tar paper to attach to some of the outside of the shed. It is one of the jobs that I have had on the list for over a year but did not get around to. I finished outside with putting some stray pots of herbs like basil into the cold frame to overwinter. The table and chairs which we only used once or twice during the bad summer remain on the patio for the moment, not that I expect to use them to eat outside, but because there is a container of sweet peas on top and some other plants.
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I am reading this brilliant memoir by Joy Larkcom, it’s a large work, so interesting.  She fills the pages with so much information about the history of vegetable growing in Europe.  She also talks about the year she and her young family spent travelling around Europe in the seventies, exploring what vegetables were being grown and used and writing about this, also collecting seeds and much more.  I have now nearly read half of the book and am still enthralled and learning some bits.  It is also interesting to see how the author discovered growing organically.  At the moment, every night I go to sleep with my head full of these stories, it is a great ‘down to earth’ sort of thing to read after the long discussions with my partner about the current state of the world.

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Soup being cooked, vegetables copped and heaped up with dandelion, nettles, garlic, cumin and other herbs and spices.  Next the resulting goodness, very tasty, this is food I really like.

DSCF9958   A calm moment after work outside.  The poppies have almost all finished flowering and the seed heads are very decorative inside the house.