Easter

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x 

Spring

I forgot to do an Easter post! 

The lovely lady at the hospital did a beautiful display.

It's her way of helping to cheer people up. She told me that a few members of staff sit with her for a while and talk about their problems with the NHS.

oOo

Spring is springing and the weather is improving.

Our walk this morning was delightful, bright blue sky, warm sunshine and darling birds singing.

It's the time of cherry blossom and magnolia, such beauty.

The arrival of spring, more daylight hours, slightly warmer weather, birdsong, and getting out into the garden. I'm feeling better about being back from holiday.

∼ Be safe and well∼ 

Polly x 

Easter

I like hot cross buns as much as I like mince pies but I don't eat as many, and I don't usually do comparisons, but Aldi's luxury range are very good, they're not squelchy like some are.

The history of hot cross buns is a bit fuzzy, but they likely date back to the Middle Ages when it was a cultural institution to share sweet sacrifices with the gods. Many believe that monks first developed hot cross buns in the 1300s, then distributed them to feed the poor. In the late 1500s, when many English citizens believed the buns had magical or healing powers, Queen Elizabeth I began restricting their sale to only Good Friday, Christmas, and funerals so the magic wouldn't be abused. That's when many home bakers began whipping up their own hot cross buns.

Easter is synonymous with hot cross buns. Traditionally eaten on Good Friday, they mark the end of the Christian season of Lent, and different parts of the hot cross bun have a certain meaning - the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, the spices signify the spices used to embalm him and the orange peel reflects the bitterness of his time on the Cross.

As well as Christian origins there are links to pagan beliefs as well. The Saxons baked buns marked with a cross at the beginning of spring in honour of the goddess Eostre, which could very likely be the origin of the name Easter. Eostre was a fertility goddess of humans and crops. The traditional colors of the festival are green, yellow and purple. The symbols of rabbits and eggs represent fertility, and the cross represented the rebirth of the world after winter, and the four quarters of the moon.

Some historians believe that the contemporary hot cross bun originates from St Albans in England, where, in 1361 Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a 14th-century monk at St Albans Abbey, developed a similar recipe called an 'Alban Bun' and distributed the buns to the poor on Good Friday.

The first definite record of hot cross buns comes from a London street cry: "Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs. With one or two a penny hot cross buns", which appeared in Poor Robin's Almanac for 1733. This then became the popular 

Hot-cross buns!

Hot-cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot-cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons;

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot-cross buns!

∼ Be safe and well ∼

Polly x

May

May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It's spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Late May typically marks the start of the summer vacation season in the United States (Memorial Day) and Canada (Victoria Day).

May is generally thought to have been named after Maia, the Greek goddess of fertility.

The first day of the month is known as May Day. In Britain, as in most parts of Western Europe, May Day marked the end of the harsh winter months, welcoming warmer weather and optimistically looked forward to brighter and productive months. For our ancestors, largely in rural areas, it was a major annual festival and was celebrated throughout the country, with music, dancing and games. Traditional May Day celebrations included dancing around maypoles.

According to old superstitions, you should not buy a broom, wash blankets or get married in May: “Marry in May and you’ll rue the day”. 

It's difficult (nigh on impossible) to know the exact reason why the Romans avoided May weddings, it could have been due to the festival of Lemuria, which paid tribute to the dead and lasted most of the month. Therefore some believed it would have been frowned upon (and considerd unlucky) to wed when you were supposed to be celebrating the deceased.

In the nursery rhyme “Here we go gathering nuts in May,” the word “nuts” was probably a corruption of “knots” meaning bunches of flowers.

Sears Tower, now known as Willis Tower, is a 108-story 1,451 feet (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion on 4th May 1973, it was the tallest building in the world.

Amy Johnson was the first female pilot to fly solo from England to Australia on the 5th May 1930. Aged 26 she set off from Croydon in a Gipsy Moth aircraft named 'Jason', and landed in Darwin on 24th May, a flight distance of approx 11,000 miles.

The official opening of the Channel Tunnel by Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterand took place on 6th May 1994.

VE Day marks the end of the War with Germany, on Tuesday 8th May 1945.

On 13th May 1995 British woman Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas. She was only the second person in history to reach the top of Everest unaided; the first person was Reinhold Messner in 1980.
The summit of Everest was first reached on 29th May 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

On May 20th, 1927, Charles Lindbergh piloted his small plane, The Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in less than 34 hours.

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on 12th May 1820.

The Golden Gate Bridge opened to to pedestrians on 27th May 1937 and vehicular traffic the next day.

Ian Flemming, the creator of the best known fictional spy James Bond, was born on 28th May 1908 in London.

Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. It first started ticking on 31st May 1859.

∼ Happy May Day∼

Polly x

April

 April  

Originally April was the second month of the earliest Roman calendar, but about 700 BC Ianuarius and Februarius were added by King Numa Pompilius, thus making it the fourth month.

It is thought that the name April comes from the Latin word "to open" and describes the trees opening at springtime. It could also be named after the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty.   

   The month kicks off with April Fools Day when people play practical jokes trying to get someone to believe something implausible and then call out "April Fools". I don't know how it originated.

April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day

April 2nd also marks the start of Ramadan 

April 6th is my lovely youngest daughter's birthday 🎂

April 15th is the start of Passover 

Easter is late this year. I've never understood why it moves around, I know it's to do with the moon but it seems ridiculous to me. It was one of the first questions I started asking as a child.

If it was meant to be a religious date why wasn't it static like Christmas? Anyway, moving on,

Good Friday is on the 15th, Easter Sunday is on the 17th and Easter Monday is on the 18th.

The 22nd April is Earth Day when events around the world are used to help teach people how they can help our planet by supporting environmental protection.

St George's Day is celebrated on 23 April, in honour of St George, the patron saint of England.

Here in the UK the month of April is National Pet Month 😍

For many people the arrival of the cuckoo is the signal that spring has come. It arrives some time in mid April.

I think April is a beautiful month. As the weather improves, and the soil warms up everything is waking from winter slumber, bringing with it the promise of gardening and warmer days. We musn't be complacent though, April weather can be unpredictable with anything from a heatwave to ground frosts and sleet. I have known snow at Easter in April!

 Be safe and well   

Polly x

Rufus' Diary

Well I don't know what's going on, this is the third week that Polly has been at home all day long. She's been cleaning windows, emptying the shed of lots of rubbish, gardening, and making lots of quilts. Usually at this time of year, and especially as the weather is so glorious, she is out and about with her friend M.

Anyway life is much the same for Buster and myself, walk, sleep, play and eat.

The weather has been gorgeous, Polly isn't even wearing a coat when we go out for our walks! She went from coat to gilet then just a long sleeve T-shirt.

The horses don't need their coats either

They're enjoying the lovely weather

Dear Busty is still limping. He was due to have a biopsy taken just before this staying indoors thing started but the vet then closed except for emergencies. He's still taking a painkiller, and he never yelps or whines when he stands, walks or runs. He's a lovely stoic old boy.

We were washed the other day, we weren't best pleased but we did need it, and we look much better. 

The bluebells are starting to bloom

Spring is here

~ Be warm and well ~ 

Rufus 🐾

Harbinger of Spring

The cheerful yellow flowers of Forsythia are always a welcome sight in the garden.

Managed to mow the back lawn and dry some washing outside today before the next downpour!

~ Be warm and well ~ 

Polly x

Spring

Spring is all around

new beginnings

re-birth

it lifts the soul and makes me feel optimistic

warmer days aren't too far away
I crave sunshine
I'm happy and motivated when the sun is shining
I'm morose when the weather is dull and cold

a vase of cheerfulness

sweet birds are singing their little hearts out

and in just a few days time this wood will be resplendent with sweet scented bluebells

Courtesy of http://www.powerpointhintergrund.com

~Be warm and well ~

Polly x

Budding and Shooting

shoots shooting

buds budding

catkins dangling

birds singing their little hearts out

 and I've heard a few woodpeckers pecking 

Spring can't be far away

In a few weeks time the floor of this wood will be a carpet of sweet scented bluebells.

Feeling Perky

Add sunshine and warmth, voila - perfection, and the rest of the week is looking good too. 
I feel so much better when the weather is warmer. 
Everywhere birds are singing their little hearts out and the sparrows living in the bamboo plant
in my neighbour's garden are looking plump and healthy as they hop around the garden. 
Sunshine and bird song perks me up, how about you, what perks you up?

Reasons To Be Cheerful

New Life

Glorious Blooms

Warm (occasionally hot) sunshine - in-between the showers!

Spending more time outdoors

Drying the washing outside

Spring is Getting Closer

Or am I just a hepless optimist?

As mentioned in a previous blog I’m not a winter person and could easily hibernate for most of it, only stepping outside when absolutely necessary. This morning however I was quite pleased to be out, it was cold but the sunshine was gorgeous and the sky was a beautiful shade of blue with not a cloud in sight. As I was walking to the shop I thought how nice my neighbour's ornamental crabapple tree looked with that blue sky in the background. If I had been out and about more regularly I would have noticed it when it had more fruit on it but the birds have been feasting on it, which is good. Each garden I passed showed signs of spring with small clusters of shoots emerging from their winter beds.

Back in my own garden these lovely tete a tete daffodils will soon be in bloom. The pretty little cyclamens have been blooming all winter.