The Secret Garden

On the way to the Yorkshire coast, we often stop at the tranquil Buddhist centre at Kilnwick Percy in the Yorkshire Wold Madhyamaka Kadampa Meditation Centre. A walk round the lake, a picnic or a drink in the friendly World Peace Café is a welcome break. 

This time we visited, the usual car park was full and we were directed to the overflow. This happy accident brought us to the woods which is the entrance to a walled garden which we hadn’t previously known about. We met a man foraging for the leaves of various plants who explained which were edible and how to use them.  This peaceful haven with its ponds and benches has two paths, a inner and outer path, encircling a circular lawn.

 

 Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Yom Hashoah – 27th April 2022 / יוֹם הַשּׁוֹאָה 5782

On Wednesday 27th April at 7:30pm, the UK Jewish community will gather to remember together the loss of six million and to pay tribute to the Survivors and Refugees for the remarkable contributions they have made to the Jewish community and wider UK society.

The theme this year is

“Remembering the past

 honouring the memory

shaping the future”

Many events are taking place to promote this.

The Talmud says:  As long as someone’s name is remembered, his name will live on forever.   To remember the past, I am lighting a yellow candle to honour the  memory of  Welwel Wajman of Lodz, Poland who was murdered at Chelmno in 1943 aged 28  …. for being Jewish.

May his memory be a blessing.  יהי זכרו לברכה

Shaping the future is proving more difficult when senseless killings, prejudice and displacement of people are still occurring.  

This year each candle lighter has been sent a sunflower seed, which happens to be the national flower of Ukraine.  The flower produces many more seeds to ensure the future of the species.

Yorkshire in April

 No wonder it's known as God's own County!

Just wanted to share a few locations worth a visit if ever you're in the neighbourhood.

Hornsea

 Valley Gardens, Harrogate

 Garden of Serenity, Harrogate

Golden Acre Park, Leeds

 

Burnsall, Yorkshire Dales

 

Parcevall Hall, Skyreholme, Yorkshire Dales

 

Parcevall Hall is the retreat house of the Anglican Diocese of Leeds.

 

Six on Saturday: “Spring is the time of plans and projects.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.

Here are my SoS

My first two choices herald Spring for me:

Flowering Blackcurrant 

A pot of Bellis

The next two have given colour all winter so deserve a mention:

Hebe

Saxifraga

Some Ammi seedlings potted up - sown in October

I have searched near and far for Corydalis without success, so I was delighted when a member of our gardening group brought me this plant which he "found" in a field near his home.

F

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.

Keep calm and garden on

Six on Saturday - “Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle" Barbara Winkler

“Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle … a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.”  — Barbara Winkler

It’s been bright and cold but that’s much better than dull and damp. I scour the garden for signs of life and I am reminded what bloomed in the garden last year.

No exciting offerings here, but they gladden my heart. 

Winter Jasmine continues to brighten up the entrance.

The first Bellis flower which promises more to follow.

Calendula grown from seed.  Lots more seedlings in the wings awaiting the warmer weather

Polyanthus also grown from seed a long time ago

The variegated Vinca Major has clambered up the fence

The Abelia is a good doer and has been flowering since July

 Bring it on!

The Propagator generously hosts Six on Saturday.  Click on the link to his blog to see what he and his followers are growing and doing in their gardens this week.  Perhaps you feel you could add your own six too.

Thanks also to the contributors who have cheered up the bleak winter for me.

New Year or more of the same?

 

New Year or more of the same?  Whatever, hope it’s a happy and healthy new year for you.

The shortest day has passed and there are fresh buds and snowdrops showing, which always bring me joy.

The Bank Holiday saw us off to Lytham, St. Anne’s and Blackpool with our flask, sarnies and puppy.  Although very cold with a bracing wind, the sun shone briefly, it was dry and we had the roads and the resorts to ourselves.

We visited Crowther Park in Lytham

 

St Anne's

..... and Blackpool where the illuminations were rather bland as businesses and trams usually add to the atmosphere but we did have the Golden Mile to ourselves.

How did you celebrate?

The Season of Giving

 

This story is in response to the regular call for shared storytelling  on the blog https://isawlightningfall.blogspot.com/in 100 words for advent from Loren Eaton.

The blog is described “as a place for people who like stories in general and genre fiction in particular. It's a place for folks who prefer to read and write fantasy and horror, science fiction and crime fiction”.

So here is my 100 word story:

Sarah wasn’t feeling festive.  Seemingly nor were the other shoppers although masks made facial expressions inscrutable.  Toiletry gift sets for those who could well afford such items with their weekly shop seemed superfluous. Worn out and dispirited, Sarah purchased a coffee to go when she noticed a young woman huddled in the doorway of a closed-down shop.  Impulsively she bent down to offer her the drink and saw, there in the blankets, an ashen-faced baby. Although exhausted, Sarah dashed to buy baby food, wipes and nappies, returned to the doorway only to find it abandoned except for a baby doll.   

To read more stories, check out I Saw Lightning Fall