Robin @fetchrobin@mastodon.green

Some of the flowers blooming in our allotment right now.

'The benefits of wallowing in uncomfortable places' - a thoughtful essay on mud.
https://stories.slowways.org/muddling-with-mother-on-composing-mud-and-memory/?s=09

Fabulous flower spikes on the ajuga over at the allotment.

Ransoms like a carpet in the woods. Those white, starry flowers still to come.

A very pleasant Easter weekend so far. We've been over at the allotment two afternoons where my partner had replaced the leaking pond liner on Thursday while I was still at work.
Among other things, we planted up a new purchase from the plant sales outlet of the county agricultural college - a Saskatoon / Juneberry tree. I've never heard of anyone growing these berries in the north of the England (and we might find why!) but it had a pretty blossom and we are willing to give it a shot.

We saw ducklings and deer yesterday on a circular walk from Downham in the shadow of Pendle Hill.

'Suriname is in a constant balancing act in relation to sustainability. And it is aware of this'.
Another insightful entry from this excellent blog.
https://fossilfreearoundtheworld.org/country-of-contradictions-suriname/

Born today in 1845 Wilhelm Röntgen - the professor who discovered X-rays. Me posing, rather stiffly, in 2019 by a street-art mural to him in Schwerin, Germany.

Our bulbs bringing cheer

I heard Adrienne Rich's poem "In Those Years" for the first time on an old podcast I was listening to either last week or the week before, yet it's still making a impression on me.
"the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged
into our personal weather".
Such a powerful piece.
https://www.best-poems.net/adrienne_rich/in_those_years.html

Today we went to Brockholes Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Preston. It's the crowning glory of our local wildlife trust, of which we are members, and somewhere we go once or twice a year. A former sand and gravel quarry, it has a floating visitor village, moody woods and backs on to the River Ribble.
We saw wigeon, goldeneye, shoveler, reed bunting, an egret and a great flock of curlew overhead. Significantly drier and warmer to be outside than we have experienced lately - ever so pleasant.

We witnessed a significant amount of running and standing water on the roads and fields today on our afternoon trip over to Cliffe Castle Museum at Keighley.
We go, periodically, for the temporary exhibitions. However it was the fun and rather fabulous 'evolution' tapestry from the permanent collection today that caught my eye .

34 metres in six years. I can't imagine the practicalities of working-on and storing this ongoing project.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60403281

A trip over the border last night to Todmorden for the Handmade Parade's 'Lamplighter Festival'. Some truly magical creations.

A hair salon that has the ruins of the basilica of Roman London through a glass door behind the end stylist's chair.
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/02/10/the-ruin-at-the-hairdresser/

I confess to not being familiar with 60s/70s renegade nun and pop artist Sister Mary Corita Kent. I was reading that last year Los Angeles City Council granted landmark status to her former studio.
Her art department 'rules' are kind of neat.
https://www.creativelivesinprogress.com/article/corita-kent

Phew! The scaffolding came down on Thursday and repairs to our roof are now complete.
The team were interrupted by bad weather, illness and juggling other householders with problems greater than ours. However the photos they have taken all point to them having done a really fine job.

Sadly I can't find the cartoonist of this gem to add the credit.