Flying on...

If you left a comment on my last post, this is just to say that I will reply!  I love getting comments and love replying, but also I like to visit your blogs and see what you are up to as well.  I can't quite do it all because I haven't been much at the computer for the last two weeks.  Must admit I do presently feel a bit like Alice being dragged along by the Red Queen in Tenniel's illustration.

I'm not complaining, because it's a good reason for rushing about.  I've suddenly been gripped by a project that pulls together a few aspects of my life, and right now I'm gathering material which will decide its exact final form. As I said last time, I can't really share it just yet, because I'm still putting it together and it might change, but it does involve a bird like this,

and also one like this. I wonder if you can guess what kind of bird it is. 

I did go out to Oxfordshire at the weekend and on the way I looked at the OS map and saw "White Lion" marked. I thought it must be a pub (since "The White Lion" is a common pub name) but if so, couldn't imagine why they had put its name on the OS map, which never usually marks pub names.   Then I saw this,(below) in the vicinity of the village of Whipsnade, and realised it was a chalk figure.

I'd never heard of this lion, but as you might be able to tell by the style,  it is modern - that is, it was built in 1933.  Which counts as modern by chalk figure standards.  It was a clever advertisement for Whipsnade Zoo, as it was then known (it's a branch of the London ZSL Zoo).  The chalk figure lion isn't accessible to the public but I read up about it here and loved the idea of a colony of wallabies living on it - don't you?

Also saw an old windmill. Don't you agree this is a strange place for a windmill, right in the middle of a field when it could be up on the hill?  I've been to working windmills before, one in Holland and one in Lincolnshire, the wonderful Maud Foster Mill in Boston, which I thoroughly recommend if you are in the area. The one below is picturesque but its sails were not turning and I didn't have the chance to pass by and see if it is ever open to the public.

As I walked around I wondered if those were beech nuts or sweet chestnuts I was crunching underfoot, and just deciding they must be beech nuts, when ....

...I realised a lot of insects seemed to be flying around. Mostly they were going in and out of the hole beneath that white stone.   

I suddenly realised the stone was covering a wasp's nest and so I beat a quick retreat, after taking a photo.

I thought it was a rather elegant insect and looked it up in case it was a special sort of wasp, but no, it's only Vespa vulgaris, "common wasp."  It is always worth looking at nature close up, though in the case of wasps, not too close.....

Cunning Folk and London Trees

Went to the launch of my son-in-law George's folk CD the other day, in an underground room in a pub, just the kind of place folk music should be heard.  George's passion is British folklore and landscape, and the CD, "Cunning Folk" had this theme.  Although I'm sure you'll think I'm biased, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and hearing the songs performed live, and was very sorry when it was over.  The band's also called Cunning Folk, and if you look on the website here you'll hear one of the CD tracks about the Pendle Witches, and see it's accompanied by an animation by Richard Mansfield.  As you see the film's graphic style is 17th century broadsheet woodcut style - something I've certainly never seen before in an animated film!

George is also keen on craft beer so he arranged for some special Cunning Folk ale to be brewed for those who came to the launch. Only 400 bottles were created, so, I guess this is a collector's item - though I do intend to drink it soon. 

Here's another pic of George, this time in the New Forest in Hampshire, recording ambient sound near the Rufus Stone for a project he was doing about ancient trees.  Interesting trees are one of his passions and at birthdays and Christmas a gift for him is usually perfect as long as it has a tree somewhere about it. 

If I had to say whether I was a tree person or a sea person, (have you noticed that people are usually one or the other?) I'd opt for the trees.   The following photos were all taken in the last two or three weeks in Kenwood, a public park on Hampstead Heath, London. How nice that they're there for everyone to see. 

Magnolias and daffodils...

Catkins

...  and blackthorn, the latter 2 both taken about 10 days before the magnolias.  I liked how they seemed to be reaching out to the world, eager to be up and off. 

And, when I come down in the morning at the moment, the cherry tree outside the window is the first thing I see. For a moment I feel as it if has been snowing in the night.  

  

I never thought particularly of cherry blossom before visiting Japan - I mean, it is beautiful but so are other blossoms.  Then I learned a bit about what it means symbolically to some Japanese (see this link) and so I always notice it a bit more now. 

So I am really happy, appreciating the spring, my favourite time of year, all about hope and new beginnings.  Sure, it is transient, and winter comes, but life continues. 

What's your favourite season and what do you like about it?