IHF – New Proverbs

 

More stormy weather brings squally sleety rain and relentless raw gusting winds, so there are more bits and pieces of trees and branches down but no substantial damage. There is snow on the hilltops but it does not last. Fingers crossed we have got away with it for another while.

 

Instead, the ground is saturated, and either frozen or  slippery sludgy underfoot. However the snowdrops and aconites are now properly through and in full display, jostling in clusters of white and yellow, as the alien-looking flower heads of butterbur emerge through the understory in front of the Grotto and by the Hand Grenade Finials.

 

The last of the leaves are gathered off the grass in the Parkland by the Virgil shadow at the base of the Italian alder tree. Once their dark slimy litter mess is gone it is a great improvement, a hint of renewal to come.

 

The drystone wall at the entrance is repaired where it was uprooted by the adjacent fallen tree. We need to think about this entire stretch of wall which contains the inscribed plaques – as time goes on these are starting to bulge out and are almost certain to collapse at some stage soon. At the moment it looks like A Drift of Alysse will be the next to go.

 

A large sycamore by the gable end of the cottage is taken out where it was rubbing against the overhead electricity power supply cable – hopefully one less future disaster averted. It was also leaning badly from some previous wind damage, so is cut right down to a stump. The tree sat just by the chimney pot Parsley Temple planters, which were temporarily removed, and will now also need to be properly levelled and rebuilt. This substantial removal does though improve the view through the brick columns here, and again, as light replaces shade and shadow more new growth can come along and fill in.

 

A lot of time this month has been taken up with damage limitation and recovery after the flood. Repairs in the cottage are well underway – filling and painting walls and ceilings, with new flooring planned for the kitchen. Some of the wooden shelving in the bedroom study may need to be replaced as in some places they warped as they dried out, but for now makeshift repairs mean all will still be functional.

 

Many of the affected books are moved into the main library room as a temporary triage setting, whilst others, the worst affected, are taken into specialised storage – to be frozen, which seems ironic given how the damage to them came about. At least by the time they are defrosted and returned we should be in a better position to assess what is recoverable. It is always a fascinating procedure though, being among Finlay’s books, his first hand material, all packed with little bookmarks to lure you in to some significant sentence or nugget of information which presumably at some stage became transformed into an artwork.

 

The days are rushing past now and with spring (hopefully) just round the corner, a long list of tasks in the garden need to be prioritised and realised.

 

After some brief promising glimpses a proper shift from greyness to brightness would be most welcome…