running late

It’s been a beautiful day and, for once, I’ve spent very little time at my computer.

It’s the local folk festival this weekend and there has been music and a general festive air throughout the town. At the end of the road, groups played Led Zeppelin and David Bowie covers, neither of which count as folk to me, though I admit I enjoyed them rather more than I did the Morris dancing.
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summer

Summer open-air festival It’s that time of year: we’ve had the solstice and we’ve had Midsummer; at Glastonbury the festival continues until Sunday; there are concerts of music and “performance” in the nearby city and, in the town, four generations of women have silk flowers threaded through their hair…
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holidays and holy days

Nowadays, most people seem to overlook Good Friday, but I thought it was an excuse to leave my desk for a while.

It’s been a glorious sunny day, but I didn’t take my camera when I went out, so rather than my usual habit of seeing things through a lens darkly, I actually looked directly at all the yellow flowers of spring: the daffodils peeking over garden walls, the primroses nestling in the uncut grass, the brighter yellow of celandines and, perhaps brightest of all, the shaggy-maned dandelions.

This lovely camellia stood out as such a different colour that I was tempted to try and capture it on my phone.

pink camellia bloom
With wind and rain forecast for tomorrow, I don’t think those blossoms will last long, so I am glad I was brought up to think of Good Friday as a holiday.

enlightening and entitling

Christmas lights

I mentioned a while back that my poetry is full of references to light, whether it’s fireworks, stars, moonshine or street lamps, so I suppose it’s unsurprising that, however little attention I pay to Christmas in other respects, I enjoy seeing the festive lights and decorations around the streets and in people’s windows.
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still reigning

briar rose

Today* has been the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. I’ve never really understood why she gets two birthdays, but assume she chose a date in June in the hopes that it might be better weather for Trooping the Colour than her actual birthday, which falls in late April.
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