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SW London
A semi-mature, hardy individual who tries to get away with doing as little as possible in gardening as in life, still expects the best results & wonders why she is frequently disappointed! She likes to keep a photographic record of everything, good & frequently bad!

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Remembrance of things past

No, this is not a 7 volume autobiographical novel containing a lengthy description of eating petite madeleine with tea.** More a gentle reminder of a little of my past. Well, I can indulge myself on my own blog!

You have probably forgotten dear reader, but some while back I mentioned how my mum had moved from rural Norfolk to a care home in busy SW London. Recently we returned to her house to begin clearing stuff; always a difficult task but also one that evoked many memories of times long gone. Hankies out!

Amongst the many things we came back with were some garden memories.

DSCN1154We gave this little potty chap to my step-father several years ago & he sat on a pillar in their garden since then, falling off once & having to be carefully resuscitated with glue & garden wire. He could not be abandoned to an unknown fate.

The other memories go back to my grandparents & their garden.

DSCN1155  This little plaque always sat in a little sunken section in the middle of my grandparent’s garden at their house in Carlisle before following my mother from Cumbria to Norfolk.

My grandfather was a carpenter & made lots of little wooden toys & other items, most of which have long gone. These 2 birds remain. My daughter thinks they are creepy.

DSCN1151  DSCN1153

But best of all …..

DSCN1149 This frequently re-painted policeman twirls & whirls in the wind & used to stand on top of the gatepost at our house when I was small, & medium come to that. I believe I have mentioned that I lived in extremely rural part of N Cumbria where my parents were teachers at the small village school, although there was no actual village. We lived in the school house, a little way down the road from the school. Those were the days when doors weren’t locked & one day my mum sent a 6 year old down to the house to collect something & bring it back to the school. He was a little longer than she thought & he ran back puffing & panting. “Sorry Miss” he said on being asked why he had been so long, “I had to wait for the policeman to let me go through the gate.”

So my garden memories will now find a place in my garden & the policeman will always bring a smile to my face.

**I am just so chuffed at that literary reference; you all know it of course!

5 comments:

  1. I like these garden memories and objects. I think the birds are lovely, not creepy. Thanks.

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  2. Dear Ms B, Gardens do indeed, as you say, seem to be a repository for our memories. For my own part, although I often forget a face I always remember the provenance of a plant. Sometimes just the scent of a flower is enough to transport me to times long past.

    Your posting today reminds me of Rupert Brooke's poem 'These I have loved'.

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  3. I love the birds too. BTW, are you interested in joining the Wandsworth Gardening Group? I've been meaning to ask you for ages. We meet once a month and the next one is at my house on Thursday 26 August at 6.30pm at my house (just before I open for the NGS). I do an intermittent blog at http://wandsworthgardeninggroup.blogspot.com/

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  4. Thanks for the comments.

    Victoria, gosh, does the Wandsworth Gardening Group want a Lazy Trollop gardener? Thanks for asking. Could I hide at the back?

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  5. I think every gardening group needs a Lazy Trollop gardener. Victoria, ensure it's put in your group's constitution immediately! ;)

    Judging by the ultimatum recently given to me by the allotment committee (clear and dig half of my plot by 20th August) I fear I must be cultivating my inner Lazy Trollop!

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