Sunday, February 21, 2021

Unimpressed.

The wind rarely, if ever, blows from the South East. For the last five days there's been a gale blowing from that direction. Winds of 60 km/h. The old mayor says he's never known anything like it.  He's up and about early watering in the shrubs he planted in the flower border . By tomorrow morning the wind will once again have dried out the soil and he'll repeat the process.


Visitors returning to the village. Although it's windy, it's dry.  Perfect weather for ramblers and city dwellers wanting some mid-lockdown fresh air. A group of six of them pass us on our Sunday morning walk in the valley. Sophie sits and watches them go by. They greet her but fail to dispense biscuits. Sophie is unimpressed. None of them is wearing a mask.

Miniature irises springing up in strange, rarely visited , parts of the garden. We certainly didn't plant them. A dozen under the fig trees at the side of the barn. Four more under the bird feeder. How in heavens name did they get there ? Could it be we've missed them in prior years ?


 3D map of rvery building in the Netherlands coloured by age :https://parallel.co.uk/netherlands/#13.8/52.39694/4.94231/0/40


Guess, based on this review, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/nomadland-reviewed-chloe-zhaos-nostalgic-portrait-of-itinerant-america we won't go to see Nomadland     - but when lockdown is over we'll aim to see The Dig -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dig_(2021_film)



10 comments:

WFT Nobby said...

The iris looks beautiful. Could incoming birds have carried the seeds? It's hard to believe you wouldn't have noticed such a distinctive bloom before.

Angus said...

Could be birds. Could just as easily be something caught in Sophie's luxuriant fur and scattered round the garden. They're very small irises - probably 2 1/2 inches tall.

Coppa's girl said...

No biscuits! Poor Sophie, you would think the walkers would know better.
What a rare treat to find those irises - probably either birds dropping the seed, or maybe they were planted years ago and have lain dormant.

Camille said...

I brought home a pretty little potted Primrose from the grocers just yesterday which is the same color of your lovely iris. More snow forecasted for tomorrow so it will be many months before our Iris emerge in the garden.

As always, very interesting links Angus. We have both movies already queued up and will probably start with The Dig this evening.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Usually iris is propogated via rizome. Polinated flowers will produce seeds, though. Less likely birds, more likely browsers such as squirrels and deer might eat these... but they wouldn't do it again (if they learn lessons) as all species of iris contain an irritating resinous compound especially in the root. The green leaves and seed pods are also toxic. If anything were to chew and swallow the iris parts the irritating resin would cause excessive salivation, vomiting and bloody diarrhoea (but is not lethal). If there are no other patches of wild iris nearby to have given rizome stretch a chance, then my guess here is squirrels (as they raid bird feeders too!) However they got there - what little jewels of nature to discover and enjoy!!! YAM xx

sillygirl said...

We just saw Nomadland and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Carol Haines said...

You can watch The Dig on Netflix

Angus said...

Thanks. We shall watch it tonight.

Peter and Shelagh said...

We enjoyed The Dig.

Allison said...

Could I offer an alternative review of Nomadland?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/movies/nomadland-review.html?searchResultPosition=3

I'm familiar with many of the people who are in this movie from reading their blogs through the years. While we used to be full time RV'ers, we traveled in comfort with on board plumbing. You might find their life style interesting, I always did, and was very grateful I did not have to live it.