I can't say I'm too sorry to see the back of February, though it's not been all bad; here as promised is the end-of-the-month collage to illustrate some of it.
- Molly enjoys la vie en bleu
- A wintry day's end, walking without Molly when she was poorly, which felt odd.
- Bluebell bulbs temporarily living in a pot since we dug them up and didn't get as far as rehoming them.
- Wonderful Monserrat F; the Song of the Sybil has been proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The list of these is fascinating reading, yet there seem to be glaring omissions and inaccuracies: really, nothing whatever in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, any of Scandinavia, Iceland, the USA? While Aubusson Tapestry is hardly intangible...
- My 'Nothing to Hide' Hitchhiker scarf. Not sure if that link will work if you aren't signed in to Ravelry, but the yarn and its story are here, and the details of the pattern are here. Now finished and I have more or less bonded to it - it is rarely off my neck.
- A white pink, still flowering occasionally, and a sprig of rosemary.
- A nice tidy sock draw. At least two pairs, the Bugs Bunny ones and the grey ones top left with the jacquard pears and cherries on them are a good twenty years old and not worn too much. Yes, I am someone who can attach sentimental value to socks.
- Cotoneaster against hazel catkins.
- Fingerless mitts.
- The engendering of toads. I know, it's gross, and Lucy from Attic24 from whom I took this idea certainly would not feature copulating amphibians on her blog, but it's still part of the seasonal round herabouts.
- Hellebore.
- Molly by the sea.
No food this month, though we've eaten well, including lovely fish and seafood curries, and an excellent general purpose korma sauce which involves boiling the nuts then blitzing them, and hot oysters grilled with beurre noisette at Le Vivier. I just didn't get around to photographing any of it.
So here's to March.
9 comments:
oh what a colourful month!
love the hitchhiker and the mitts, but the socks! lucy! the socks! here i thought i was alone in my love of insanely coloured socks, and there you are. i always say that life is too short to wear white socks…especially since mine never seem to stay white.
as to all the foods you never took photos of, can i come over for dinner some time? the korma sauce sounds divine and beurre noisette is something i could easily eat with everything.
welcome to march. it's -41ºC (with windchill). not leaving the house once, if i can help it. glad of your news of green and flowering things.
Enfin Mars: le printemps , les fleurs et les petits oiseaux!
Mais tu as fait de jolies choses en Février! J'adore ta collection de chaussettes. On verra ton snood mercredi ?
I don't think an image of amphibians copulating is gross - they always look so happy and shiny whilst in the act. I remember a whole pond full of frogs doing the same thing at Heligan a couple of years ago, and it was a joyful sight! AND they are amongst the first creatures to celebrate the rebirth of the year. Hope this doesn't make me sound too strange...
Thanks.
PC - In fact I was trying to cull my socks, but this proved quite difficult, the only ones I could throw out were in fact some plain white ones. I don't normally buy white socks if I can help it but these must have come in packs with other colours. Le Viv normally just serve their oysters straight and raw with a wedge of lemon and some shallot vinegar, but they must have decided to branch out into grilled ones for winter. They were very good.
Lyse - merci! Oui, je vais porter la petite écharpe mercredi; ce n'est pas énorme mais très agréable à porter.
Francesca - Don't worry, I don't think you're strange, or I'm sure only in the nicest possible way! I have posted about the engendering of toads before, I'm afraid I do find it rather repulsive in some of its details, but as you say, it does herald the upward turn of the year. Frogs are altogether much nicer in all their ways; I remember seeing a large shallow area near a lake somewhere near here - much later in the year in fact, full of hundreds of the small dark green pool frogs all singing and jumping and mating for all they were worth, and it was quite a charming little orgy!
To March! Prost!
Collages encourage free association. Without using the crib first I imagined the greenery in Pic. 3 was something culinary (Of course it may be; you live France where they eat anything and everything, even gudgeon) and then noticed its nearness to Pic. 5, the ball of wool. From this propinquity I imagined a recipe where boiled wool was one of the constituents. Taking advantage of the mind's ability to time-travel I allowed my thoughts to leap fifty years into the past there to re-sample my mother's revelation (shuddering as she spoke; clenching her fists) that the idea of someone chewing wool induced a cerebro-physico reaction rather akin to that resulting from squeaking chalk on blackboards or (in my own case) having to watch someone using a sanding board on their nails. The OO-eee-don't sensation. I hesitate to record this. One or all three of these events may raise a similar twitch in you.
So let's turn to Mol, in investigatory mood at the side of the path. I must have been out of the room when you explained that piratical red duster she wears. Whatever the reason I prefer to see it as the badge of bringing succour, somewhat analogous to the red cross of the.. er.... the Red Cross. That she will arrive slowly and surely for those who are heartworn, look questioning but affectionately at them and invite them to consider normalcy. And that being neither in the first flush of good health nor sprightliness herself, she ensures a greater poignancy thereby. Partager, indeed.
Too long, as ever. But Box Elder encourages expansiveness as well as free association.
R - prost ègalement!
RR - I wouldn't advise eating bluebells, bulbs or greenery. I feel very similarly to your mother about chewing wool, though it's not something I think about very often. Your fantasy about Mol and her orange veste de secours for the heartworn is absolutely lovely and will be treasured.
Thanks for the hellebore. They grow wild in these parts, though less pushily and paler than the cultivated varieties. Apart from other names including "rose" Grigson lists Buckie-Faallie
Oh gosh, I have so missed reading your blog, and today I clicked it open and there was one of your beautiful photo collages. So colorful and intriguing. How I wish we had an nth of the color around here these days. Also, glad to see Molly there. Glad.
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