What a social whirl ! Today we catch a glimpse of the man with anger management issues heading off to work, the builders wife hanging out the washing and the old mayor on a tractor mowing the grass on the village green. A car goes along the lane before dawn. Apart from that nothing. With the sun out this solitude is enjoyable. If it was the depth of winter it would be eerie. 11 cases of the virus in the department and the hospitals now 48 hours from maximum capacity. The Air Force has flown patients from Paris to our local hospital, filling it up in the process. America seems to be moving to a situation where some States with low incidence will be taken off lockdown while other areas like NY will have it maintained.
What we do notice is that the birdsong is particularly clear and the garden birds much more active than usual. The bird feeder is like Coney Island on Labor Day. At one point we have three woodpeckers feasting merrily away on the grease balls while an assortment of blackbirds, finches and thrush look alikes wait impatiently for them to go.
The verges covered in wild flowers. Angus knows nothing at all about wild flowers . He thinks the yellow ones are euphorbia but has no idea what the white ones are.
This sound from more innocent times was playing on Radio Nostalgie this morning : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEzfhclKO8Q
Sophie doesn't do yoga. She prefers sausages : https://twitter.com/marklowen/status/1243495759313547264
15 comments:
I'm thinking the white flowers could be stitchworts?
Bertie too prefers sausages.
My hectic social round these days involves socially-distanced chats with neighbours who have discovered a sudden enthusiasm for tending their front gardens in the hope that another neighbour out walking their dog will stop for a chat.
Cheers, Gail.
Hari OM
Yes, the birds are definitley brighter. I for one am loving a silent Edinburgh - but know that it will just fall back into its noisy habits the minute the leash is released... YAM xx
Those yellow flowers look like St John's Wort [millepertuis in French]. Our little village is alive with tractors - the cycle must go on. I'm also happy to see the work in the vineyards to assure this year's crop.
Today is quiet but for the blasts of gunfire. The sanglier season was extended to the end of March. The fast growth of housing developments mean the boars are squeezed into smaller spaces and thus "cause damage."
Thanks yet again for choosing just the right videos! This spring is just bursting with enthusiasm - lovely to be able to slow down and enjoy it to the full. I hope I remember this when our lives return to "normal".
The birds in the morning mean spring is coming here in Canada.
Our octogenarian and arrogantly grumpy hunters have been told by the new mayor that they can't use the village hall kitchen to dismember their prey. Their ' We've always done it' and 'It doesn't apply to us. We're in the fresh air' excuses ignored. They have reluctantly, and with much ill grace and threats to write to the Prefect , retreated for the duration. The profile of the hunting community may be radically different when this period of trial is over. This may be good news for the wild boar.
Who knows? When all this is over, as it will be, we might have discovered a quieter less frenetic and more blalanced way of living. A kind of dress rehearsal for dealing with climate change.
Angus wonders if things will ever quite return to the way they were before . Governments will have to think about how resilient the infrastructure is and spend more on health and welfare. Selfishness may not disappear but an understanding of the common good might, just, reappear. There might be an understanding that ignoring nature leads to all sorts of unexpected and costly consequences. Government advisers who ignore experts might think twice before opening their mouths. Perhaps that last one is too much to hope for.
Amen to us all remembering this glorious Spring when normalcy returns.
Our clocks change tonight which is a sure sign the world is turning.
Been very quiet for the Early Morning Walks....not even birds...but the stars have been magnificent.
Milo's chicken meatballs is Lola's doggy crack. She would flip for a real human food sausage!
Hari OM
Angus, I share your ideals in this - but as a keen history watcher, I also know that, even if these things take place in the short term, a generation down the line it all falls back into the line of greatest ease. But yes, wouldn't it be wonderful if governments did indeed get the message? Trouble is governments are elected and therein lies a whole other torrent of nonsense... Yxx
Yellow flowers are euphorbia. The white flowers are stitchwort.
Post a Comment