folklore – Page 3 – don't confuse the narrator

magpies

One for sorrow, two for joy; three for a girl and four for a boy; five for silver, six for gold…

There were six magpies bickering in the trees by the river last night. Sadly, I fear they weren’t foretelling the imminent receipt of a large fortune, just the arrival of sunset over the lake:

nostalgia

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and was looking for an excuse to post it to the blog.

snake's head fritillary Fritillaria meleagris

When I was checking what the flowers are – Fritillaria meleagris, the snakes-head fritillary – I discovered that tomorrow, April 27th, St Bartholomew’s Church in Ducklington is celebrating Fritillary Sunday. There will be “Morris dancing and musical interludes”, as well as cream teas and ploughman’s lunches in the village hall.

L.P. Hartley was wrong: the past is not a foreign country; it is where I was born and I’m feeling quite homesick.

clap your hands

Do the children of today believe in fairies? Do they know they should be caught in flight and the wish will only come true if the “fairy” – the seed – is still at the heart of the thistledown?

Last week, I found a veritable fairy factory along by the river, although most of them hadn’t yet left the plant – pun very much intended – so they weren’t quite ready to grant any wishes:

Now I’m off to find a copy of Peter Pan to re-read. And although I’m afraid I gave away my copy of Charlotte’s Web years ago, maybe I can track down the ballooning spiderlings scene online.

St Swithin’s Day

St. Swithin’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain;
St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ’twill rain nae mair

Judging from the colour of the sky behind the apples, we’re in for a long hot summer.

Mind you, the (Spanish) Catholic santoral doesn’t seem to list the very English St Swithin, so perhaps it doesn’t count here.

Instead they tell me today is San Buenaventura, a saint known for his “simplicity, humility and charity”. Since he seems unlikely to provide the rain needed for apple christening, perhaps it’s just as well we fixed the tap in the orchard at the weekend.

visitors

This creature was buzzing outside my window this morning, investigating all the cracks and crannies that might give access to the space that the old blind used to roll up into.

Folklore says that if a bumble bee comes into the house it means you’re going to have a visitor. I don’t know what it means if a hornet comes into the house via the pelmet box. But perhaps I should be prepared for a lot of visitors with nasty stings.