Today I believe summer really is coming. I'm not going to get too excited about it because I know what a witch Lady Spring is. She lures you into tossing aside your winter woolies then hits you with a wintery blast. Just because she has been around for two glorious days without a cloud in the sky doesn't mean she is ready to roll over and make way for summer just yet.
But while she was in a good mood I got out into the garden, did a heap of weeding and mowed the lawn (for the first time in months, the ground has been too wet to get the mower over it).
I'm bitterly disappointed with my spring flowers this year. The first have just started to appear but where are the rest of them? Oh, alright, I know that when my granddaughters helped me plant out the bulbs a lot went in the ground upside down but they have had time to go to the other side of the world and come back again by now.
On the bright side the two little Japanese Maples that I thought were dead and gone are springing back to life. Love it when that happens! Especially as I lost so many of my treasured plants to old Jack Frost this year. I will be more careful about what I replace them with now I know that we get much heavier frosts here than in most places in the north.
It's Fathers Day here today and I'm still not used to not having a dad, although this is my third father-less year. Last night in the early hours of the morning I was listening to Talk Back on the radio, where the discussion was about fathers. I was gripped with such a sense of loss that I got up and sent an email to the Talk Back host telling him about my father and his favourite songs, knowing he would play one. I was barely back in bed when he read out my email and played "Danny Boy" as sung by a young Kiwi with a glorious voice, Hayley Westenra, as nice a rendition as I've ever heard. It's not like me to indulge in self pity but I allowed a few fat tears to roll down my cheeks before telling myself to get a grip, I'd had a father for 62 years of my life, what more did I want?
And now I'm off for a walk around the farm in search of the aged and weathered.
Happy Fathers Day to fathers everywhere.
And now I'm off for a walk around the farm in search of the aged and weathered.
Happy Fathers Day to fathers everywhere.
I've just had an email from friends who are orchardists in Hawkes Bay and they are having a terrible time with the heavy frosts: the fires are lit, the fans are on and the choppers are out.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough after Brahms' German Requiem this morning I played Hayley Westenra's Odyssey CD. But neither that nor Pure have Danny Boy on it. I do have Joseph Locke singing it though.
I never really had much to do with Father's Day because it was a commercially inspired day. Nor did my children. As soon as my Dad died it suddenly became significant and I am constantly reminded on that day how much I miss him. It's a funny old world as my older son used to say.
I think it is OK to still miss your Father. I know I still miss mine after 6 years without him. Thank you for your kind words on my blog. We put Patsy down today and that is actually a relief for me to not have to watch her suffer any more.
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