Some memories of April 2020

There are projects to collect people’s memories of these strange times. I have only referred to Covid-19 indirectly on this blog. Looking through my photos for inspiration for this post, I found a post mark and two photos recording a mystery in the garden.

Postmark with more than one purpose

The postmark is perhaps of some historic significance. It shows the three sentence instructions from the UK government, which were in force for several weeks. On 10^th March they were replaced by:

Stay Alert. Control the virus. Save lives.

The mystery concerned a camellia, which hubby had bought at a supermarket just before the lockdown was announced on 23 March. He planted it in a bigger pot, using the soil it had arrived with and home-made compost. (Kitchen waste from the compost-caddy and  weed-free garden waste rotted down with  horse manure from the local stables.)

Very quickly lots of dicotyledons appeared. We waited until the mystery plants revealed their identity before weeding. The question is, had the seeds passed through the horses’ digestive systems?

Mystery plants

Trefoils

 

(They were clover seedlings.)

Curiosity can be good for the mind!

A local walk

After several weeks of taking my daily walk around the garden and street– I devised a route of about 220 paces and repeated it for 30 minutes or so – we went for a local walk. Our planned route was impassable due to a closed footpath, so we found an alternative one in a different direction. The quiet lane we had chosen was popular with dog-walkers, joggers and cyclists!

I had forgotten to check the week’s challenge topic for #wildflowerhour, so I took lots of photos. (It’s carrots and peas. That’s all right; there were different species of vetch and some possible carrot-family members.) This post is not really about wild flowers, but the views on a very clear day.

The path we intended to take used to be known as Lovers’ Lonning. The one we actually took is now known by that name. We didn’t meet anyone on it.

The busier road back into the village was less popular with non-vehicular traffic than the quiet lane.

Cow parsley on the bank

Path under construction

Bluebells along the lonning

Low tide

Towards the fish garths

Sycamore trees coming into leaf

The fish garths are constructions in the sea, which were used centuries ago by the monks to trap fish. They are just visible in the low tide photo at the left hand side and are in the centre of the penultimate photo. (Clicking on the images expands them.)

On the Hunt for Joy – Week 19 – Plant sunflowers

This week’s On the Hunt for Joy Challenge from Cee Neuner is for pictures of sunflowers. Other plants are also allowed!

Using the search facility on my computer and the keyword ‘yellow’, I found a photo of a sunflower. We haven’t grown any for a long time. This year we are growing wallflowers from seed I collected and hubby planted and tended. He has prepared a strip of garden for them later. (When I looked round the garden in March I thought we had lost our wallflowers!)

A sunflower

Wallflower seedlings