Thoughts for the start of 2011

I notice that a number of my friends have arrived at some wonderful intentions for the New Year, which has set me thinking about finding some to. But I must confess to not being in quite the right frame of mind to do this yet - too many things carried over from 2010. The time will come - soon no doubt & I too will have list of things for 2011.

Until then I resolve to write to everyone who sent me a Christmas card - a new year Thank You & Best Wishes. To neatly put away the decorations for use next Christmas season. To sort through 3 boxes of misc paper/cards/articles/seed catalogues etc.

Two new things for 2011 have already settled themselves - 4 geese & a cockeral to be accommodated (my Christmas present) and a strawbale shelter at the church site to be built. The latter is a break-through as Mr PoppyM is very traditional but this option, in theory, should not upset any Planners or Heritage Depts! (picture from CAT).

I'm looking forward to the arrival of the bean seeds I've ordered - all part of my plan to improve the garden soil at the site, which I think is a little low in nitrogen.

The Environmenty Agency's site is full of valuable information & from it I've learnt that part of the church site is officially prone to flood - no real surprise as the adjacent field is a water-meadow. But it's good to see the formal extent of the flood area and it does explain why water dowsing at the site is a rather odd experience!

So onwards into the second week of January 2011 eagerly awaiting the books I've ordered from the Mobile Library - mainly from the Common Ground website ( http://www.commonground.org.uk/) - well worth a visit.

.

.

Things to do in 2011 - busy busy

Christmas has come & gone. The rain is washing away the snow & ice. 2011 is here. Time to take stock & plan for the coming months & years.
.

The church project has reached another very busy phase that I anticipate continuing into the next 6 months or so:
.

* An action with the Local Goverment Ombudsman re: the appalling behaviour of a local Councillor.
.

* Continuing clarification of our Rights of Way (hopefully avoiding the need for recourse to the law).
.

* Continuing clarifiation of boundary issues (ditto).
.
* Management of the English Heritage Grant & resolution of issue with the scaffolders (ditto).
.
* Establishing a "hut" to drink tea in (no mean achievement on a Scheduled & Listed site).
.

* and of course - the REALLY important, hands-on work on the site itself! Tree planting, hedge & wall repairing, setting-up the wildlife zones, general tidying up & getting ready for work on the monument itself.
.

I joked to Mr PoppyM that we should try & resolve all these issues by 2012 as I dont want to have to deal with these and, the impending revelation of the truth about aliens Aliens & big domestic dramas in one year is just TOO MUCH!
.
Then there are new pieces of legislation to keep track of:
.

* Draft Bill on Easements & Covenants - matters very relevant to our ownership of an ex-church property.
.

* Changes to the Listing & Scheduling of monuments.
.
* Changes to Planning Rules nationally & locally.

.

* Changes within the Land Registry
.

Moral - Owning an ancient monument is not an easy option!
.

One task I am really looking forward to, is getting the boundary hedges along the lane leading to the church surveyed & dated. I'm hoping that Herefordshire CPRE can help here. I am sure the hedges are hundreds of year old.
.

Happy 2011 to one and all. May you encounter kindnesses & fairness in your daily lifes and end the year in high spirits ready for 2012.

* - *

Suburbia

Every now and again I came across an article that answers a question I had not realized I was asking. I often walk around where I live & wonder what motivates people to do the things they do to their gardens & houses, things that neither my self or husband would dream of doing. And are these actions and decisions indicative of how other parts of their lives are lived. I am talking about privet hedges, washing cars on Sundays, neat tidy gardens and clean windows with net curtians. This seems to go with small pretty dogs, paving slabs or gravel on the drive, regular trips to the supermarket & of course regular visits to the garden centre. I realize now, after reading the article, that I am describing suburbia.

.

I have good friends who live happily in some form of suburbia but I have always know that it is not where I can comfortably reside & even less so my husband. Why is this - it is where a majority of the UK's residents live. Just one reading of the key features of suburbia, as described in the Independent's article (8th Oct 2009), explain this easily. Now I list these not to criticize as they are fine values but they are values for some reason I do not have even though they are things my family hold dear. There's the privet hedge, social uniformity, safety, security, comfort, fitting-in, have something "in reserve", living within your means. A sense that safety, suspicion & survelliance are the valued norm. My parents did have a big thing about "drawing the curtains" when the lights were on & having nets at all the windows, locking doors & having no valuables on show - not that there was anything or value that I can particularly recall.

.

I am currently living in one of most socially uniform counties in England which starkly contrasts with the cities, towna & villages I have previously worked & lived in. And I miss the colour & variety that more soxially & ethnically mixed places have. I am fully aware that I am extremely fortunate to live in this county with it's chocolate box black & white market towns & orchard-rich, truely beautiful country-side. Sometimes it seems like I've been transported back to the 1940's! I've recently acquired from the library several of Monty Don's books. Dipping into the "Ivington Diaries" (Bloomsbury) I came upon a piece about cities (and moles) and felt it resonnate:

.

..."Most Britons live in towns or suburbs and most get their countryside from a car window, Emmerdale or The Archers. I am out of kilter, unrepresentative snd hopelessly marginalized.

This does not bother me in the least. But I do have to restrain myself from time to time from writing about things that have a major impact on me & my garden but which probably have no relevance to the majority of people's lives".

.

So I feel good knowing for sure where I do not belong (with suburbia), the tribe I dont belong to. And the tribe I do belong to - well I'm sure that to will name itself when I least expect it.

.
.

Sunny November Day

What a difference the sun makes. After a week of grey stormy weather the sun appeared & the PoppyM household "went out to play":

* The hens sun-bathed

* I took the horse's coat off & she rolled & rolled in the mud. A very relaxed horses greeted me this evening.

* The dogs both had leisurely walks.

* Mr PoppyM did something important up on the scaffolding at the church

* I put up the temporary cloches for the lettuces & dug up root veggies

And we've all gone/are going to bed tired & happy. Marvellous.

On ephemeral things. One of the architects involved with our ruin made an interesting observation about ruins in general . Discussing our ruins he was saying how much we had changed the environment that they are now set in. I commented that some people had bemoaned the fact that they are no longer "romantic ruins" and are on their way to being preserved & eventually incorporated into another building. The architect's comment was that "ruins are moments in time". I'd not thought of that - a ruin come into being from a "whole building" & then degrades into nothing. So our ruin's moment is passing - what a poignant thought - well not for us but certainly for some. Our covenant states that it should be kept as a monument - which is "anything intended to preserve the remembrance of a person, event, action" - the opposite of a ruin. It is also Scheduled & Listed - so definitely not a ear-marked as a "moment in time".

I'm a fan of BBC's Autumn (and Spring Watch). Yesterday's programme contained an astonishing passing event. They had an amazing piece about hungry waxwings sitting on the arms of a person and eating apples. That must count as a "once in a life-time" experience. ( fair-isle.blogspot.com)

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday. I find it a confusing day as I am naturally a peaceful person - vegetarian, liberal, Green etc etc. But the truth I have arrived at is the humans, like most other mammals, have an in-built ability to fight & kill. There is no use in denying this aspect of human nature - it is no different to cats & dogs that will kill small- furries if the opportunity presents itself - we dont love our pets any the less for this part of their nature. Most mammals will also kill members of their own species if circumstances force them to behave this way. Now I have accepted this aspect of human nature I can mourn & honour those who have died & suffered as a result of conflict. I can also admire those, who in these conflict situations, display the best aspects of humanity and hope that if I ever find myself in such a situation I can behave in this manner to.

.

.

What a busy few months. This week scaffolding is going up around the chancel of our ruined church - so far so good. Much to my surprise it does not look that intrusive. The protective fencing goes up in the next few days then the real work can begin on stabilizing the structure.

It is a pity that other changes at the site have not gone so well. Various formal complaints to official bodies & help from the police have just about kept things under control. It's strange how normally sane people can behave so oddly about something that does not really concern them when roused by untruths dispersed by a person in authority (in this case a local counsellor) - it must be a weakness in the human condition. Maybe the blessing ceremony scheduled this weekend will spread calm & truth amongst the villagers. It is All Hallows this w/e - I feel that it is going to take a full compliment of saints to achieve this.

I have recently been re-reading the No 1 Ladies Detective series (Macall Smith) and some books by the children's author Jacqueline Wilson. A parallel struck me between the poverty experienced by those in Africa and those homeless families living in bed & breakfast accommodation. Both live in cramped conditions, often insanitary, with no or heavily shared access to basic utilities such as water & cooking conditions. Yet those Africans living in this manner have dignity & an understanding that poverty is just the card they have been handed in this life - those in this country are stigmatized and blamed for their condition . It's food for thought.

I'm looking forward to Halloween - I've managed to grow 2 pumpkins this year & they are ready for carving & eating. Then there is bonfire night with fireworks, then there is the Longest Night celebration & Christmas. These Autumn Winter celebrations are amongst my favourites.

.

.

Change

Tonight I stepped out of the door into a dark night of wind & rain. It was quiet - not a soul moving about. Doors & windows shut, curtains drawn with light shining through cracks & thin fabrics. On the road were slugs & snails & a few frogs/toads and I thought to myself "I've stepped into another world". Tove Jansson captured that feeling of different-ness in some of her books - especially the "Moominland Midwinter". The warm cosy world of family & friends, are contrasted with coldness of the weather & the emptiness left by the sleeping family. Of course comfortable order is returned, just as it is when I walked back through the front door into light & the wagging tail of the small dog.

Familiarity can equal reassurance. Matters relating to our "great church project" have been very very fraught over the last few weeks. I fully expect the turmoil to spill over into the next few months. What was comfortably familiar is all set to change & we are meeting resistance. The church was once linked to the Cistercian Abbey Dore (Holy Trinity & St Mary) which I gather from various articles has had a chequered history. From it's creation in 1147 to it's dissolution by Henry VIIIth in 1537, it's decline to a roofless ruins (just like our church) in 1630 to it's restoration & reconsecration in 1634 & then various repairs & restorations - then threatened again with closure in 1993 but saved again and is now a much used & loved Grade 1 listed parish church. The history of this mother church make the history of our ruins seems positively tranquil. According the list of services St Mary (the church patron) is celebrated on 12th September - I wonder if that will be a date for us to remember?

Picture - wikipedia

Occassionally an everyday object shows itself as something other than everyday. I had just such an occurence with a white wild rose. It suddenly became The Tudor Rose & I finally understood the stylized heraldic rose associated with this royal house. Previously I had thought "what an odd depiction of a rose" the Tudor rose was, having in my mind the multi-petalled garden rose. It seems a small thing but this new knowledge has changed my view of the rose - taken it from being an exotic import to an integral part of the English country and locked it firmly into English history. So now when I look at wild roses in the hedgerows I wonder if this is the type of rose a woman in the C15th would stop & admire. Perhaps she would pick a few blooms & seperate the heart-shaped petals & dry them to scatter amongst her clothes or collect a small posy for her beloved. A romantic rose indeed and one of peace representing the joining of two warring Houses.

Recent activities on the church restoration project has also plunged me back in time, it's not everyday that I get an epistal or use the word "terrier" in it's non-canine way. The Epistal was an instruction from the Bishop regarding the tombstones. A terrier is "a book or roll in which the lands of private persons are described by their site, boundaries, umber of acres etc" (The "King's English Dictionary"- this edition has a picture of H.M. King George V as it's front plate). I suppose that makes those ho work in modern day Land Registery "a pack of terriers" - how apt is the phrase "let sleeping dogs lie"! Land disputes are one of those areas that go from petty to deadly in one stride.

I've had good views of three fast moving things this week:

* a Red Admiral butterfly obligingly sat still with open wings - what gorgeous colours
* a green woodpecker flew straight in front of the car - startling green, yellow & red.
* a bright green cricket found it's way into the car - it's the bright-greenest creature I have ever seen.

Finally - this week we managed to upload our own photos. Until e do thanks Wikipedia for the images.