Gosh. It was so blustery outside today. Very much the sort of Tassie weather I love. Admittedly it’s not much chop for doing garden things, but it’s good for feeling cosy inside, for cups of tea, for lovely fires.
All that said, I did go out for a wander. I did not take a hot drink but instead took my phone. I suppose because I knew that it would be too windy to stay out for long. Still, I thought turning over a few rocks and getting down to ground level might be … well … grounding. So that is what I did.
lazy and chilly ants + Apostrophe + Michael
My very small adventure revealed about two dozen ants. (It’s so cool they seemed to be asleep, just moving very slightly.) I also found lots of millipedes, curled like commas punctuating the earth. And a slug. Just the one. I’ll call him Michael. He was under a stone beside the old pond, appearing to soak up his surrounds like he was on a slug version of a tropical holiday. He had a friend along too. ANOTHER millipede. I believe her name is Apostrophe.
Next, I found a moss-covered stone which immediately made me think of The Signature of All Things … and I found a huntsmen spider who had a very plump thorax. I did not take a picture, never fear. He was quite lovely though. Or she was. Or they were. You know what I mean.
(That is not a cigarette butt above. It’s a moss-fancying LEAF.)
In less leggy news, there is wattle tree and it’s just starting to do its sunshine-y thing. I can’t wait. There are lots more over the back fence and I find this ridiculously bolstering. All those sprays of green and gold brightening the right fence line and the back track.
I’m hoping to plant some things over the weekend and also to yank some things out. There’ll be cups of tea and biscuits … and more photos. But none of spiders due to possible reader sensitivities (unless by special request!)
Before I go, I wanted to say thank you to all the folk who messaged me with their own stories of being a bit/a lot sidelined by their mental and/or physical health. We can have small adventures all together, can’t we? Noticing the things in our midst and letting our minds wander is a smashing way to get started on that, whatever our circumstances.
I’ll leave you with this lovely bit from a letter Virginia Woolf wrote to her ailing pal Violet Dickinson:
“My Violet,
You drive me to write. O melancholy creature why do you see specialists? I wish to god you wouldn’t. What you want, probably, is air and food and good society: here you should have a couch beneath an apple tree, and sometimes I would sing to you, and sometimes I would leap from branch to branch, and sometimes I would recite my own words to the Zither.”
Perhaps I need a Zither? Or an apple tree, even?
What do you think?
What kinds of apple trees are good, do you think? I could get one now, perhaps? I think winter is a good time?
x Pip
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Oh Pip, I am so happy to be reading your words again🌻they cheer me up a lot. ( and I will resubscribe too)
Thank you for not sharing any photos of the huntsman spider.
I love wattle, but it does turn me in sneezy dwarf.
Did you get the table and chairs moved into the garden, I hope one or both of your lads moved it for you, leaving you to only point and direction the positioning of the item.
have a lovely weekend
cheers kate