Hawthorn's May Photo Scavenger Hunt

Once more I am putting my photos for Hawthorn's Photo Scavenger Photo Hunt into this blog (which did not exist when I started to take part in April 2016).  It is primarily for my record but you might be interested to have a peek.

Once more there were 10 categories.  If you click here you can see what other people posted.

Path

I have trod many paths in my varied life but the one I take great pleasure in walking now is along the River Zambezi, not the real river but the little stream that runs through my garden.  I find it calming to walk up and down it, as well as cleaning my wellies at the same time.  I even have a brush so I can keep it clean.....

Hairy

One of my favourite plants is Geranium palmatum.  It flowers for ages, the bees love it and it has lovely hairy stems.  The flower stalks are covered in purple, sticky hairs!

Edible

My strawberries are in flower!  Better still I have espied some developing fruits; soon we can have freshly picked, home-grown, organic strawberries as part of our breakfast fruits!  

Small

What does small mean?  Tiny, undersized, insignificant?  After much head scratching I decided to concentrate on small in the sense of physically small.  Lucky my Beloved has an engineering interest and was able to provide me with the big bolt (huge bolt) and the small one was removed from my spare set of glasses (I must ask him to replace it as the spare set live in my car!).

 Poem

I have always loved red poppies, be they growing by the road-side, in farmers' fields or where ever.  In April 2013 I attended a quilt show at Bilsborrow Community Centre and had to buy the poppy in the box.  Years previous I was at another quilt show, saw something I liked and did not buy it; I have been kicking myself ever since.  So when I saw this poppy I knew it had my name on it.  In 2014 a friend told me about the poppy installation at The Tower in London and I acted quickly to buy one.  I was one of the lucky ones to get a poppy.  It is too precious to put in my garden but lives on a shelf next to my poppy in a box.  They are poignant reminders of the poem In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae, written in May 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

 Hands

Another one of my favourite plants is Rheum palmatum (an ornamental rhubarb, definitely not edible).  I have called it Gloria as it is truly glorious.  Many people have asked me what it is, as it is not seen in many gardens.  I have had this plant for at least 17 years but my photos of it only go back to 2002.  It has never failed to return each year and just gets bigger.  It is at least 2.5 m tall and has a spread of about 1.75 m (but I have never measured it) and it likes a damp spot.  My Beloved does not care for it, as its height meant (in his opinion) that it interfered with the satellite signal!  Also when he walked past it after it rained (and it rains a lot here), the big leaves would wet him.....  poetic justice I used to think as he was so rude about Gloria.

A few years ago, since I refused to destroy/move it, he extended the pole to which the satellite dish was attached .....  problem solved.

Last year we moved to our new house and this year I am slowly moving my old garden down here.  Even though he commented 'That plant is not going to the new garden' I have managed to smuggle in 7 chunks of Gloria!  The other day he noticed 3 of them but I've not told him about the other 4....  

If you have the space I can recommend it but try to get one with the best purple leaves as that makes a wonderful plant.

Vintage

What a tricky one! So many definitions of Vintage.  So I went my own way....

One of our favourite places to drive to is Ribblehead Viaduct.  What an amazing structure.  Click here to read more about it.  We went there on 12 May 2016, the sun was out, not many people were there, skylarks were to be seen and heard as well as Wheatears.  As we walked back to the car a two carriage diesel train went over the viaduct; we waved and the passengers waved back!  Simple things   ..

We even went there on Christmas Day 2015 to have a picnic lunch; it rained most of the way there and back.  When we got there and parked up we noticed two chaps sitting on a low stone wall, in the pouring rain, eating their lunch.  We waved at one another.....  seems we were all having a good time.  I know we will return many more times and one day we might see a steam train go over it....

Shadows

Gosh, I'd taken so many photos for this category but in the end it was easy to select my favourite one, Ribblehead Viaduct.  On our return walk back to the car, I noticed the sun had moved round and the arches were throwing beautiful shadows of this lovely vintage structure.  I just wish I could have got up onto the line, leant over and taken my photo but there were signs saying it would be very naughty to do this, so I behaved myself.  Perhaps a drone with a camera would be the answer?

View From A Window

Another tough one Hawthorn!  So many windows, at home, in my car, shopping etc etc.  In the end my heart was swayed by this owl.  The previous computer/study room in the old house had some ash trees about 2 m away and several years ago I was working at my computer when I heard an owl hoot.  It was so close, as if it was sitting on my shoulder.  Out of the window I could see a Tawny Owl sitting on a branch, watching me.  From that point onwards I would regularly look out to see if I could see Boris (yes he has a name).  When the leaves fell off he would find a better place to sit during the daylight but he would return.  I swear he would call to me to let me know he was there.  In our new house, whilst we occasionally hear an owl I have only seen one once but I live in hope!  I have many photos of Boris and it was very hard to select just one photo.

Own choice

Back in 2003/2004 Beloved announced he wanted to buy a field and had sorted this out.  In fact he bought 3 fields but let's gloss over this.  We like to 'play' there and have had some wonderful memories as well as hard work (eg, building roads by hand, mixing cement to finish off the shed, etc etc).  I assume that it is normal behaviour on a sunny afternoon to go and hand pull thistles, build a road .....

Anyway, moving on, we are treated to a superb wildlife show, flora and fauna, but my pick has to be the brown hare.  This one was running towards us, stopped and sat there (about 15 m away) while photos were taken; then after a few minutes it ambled off across the field and over the stone wall.  I never, never, never tire of seeing hares in our fields. The most we have seen in one sighting has been 7 and one year I glimpsed a pair boxing.

Well that's my selection for May.  I hoped some of them made you smile or think.