Wysteria...

As promised...

Wysteria!!

And some crab apple blossom, for good measure....

Size Matters....

March 2009

I don't feel entirely comfortable about the concept popularly known as a zoo. Nonetheless, my boy needs to see these animals for himself. He seems to feel pretty much the same way as I do....

....the animals are magnificent; the zoo....not so much.

Anway, here are his favourites...and mine. The bears were wonderful too...no photo, alas.

Michael thought the best exhibit of all was...the train!

More Spring....

Here,

Spring is visiting all parts of the garden....as does Michael, pointing out with splayed fingers...


"Mag..nolia"

"Mi..mosa"

But the pear tree has got him stumped....although he likes it anyway...

Last year this tiny tree offered one pear...its mates having been stripped off as babies by a hail-storm.

Magnolia You Sweet Thing...

....Back in the days of the Goldstone, JJ Cale was an essential element in a formula that rarely failed. I have no reason to listen to JJ now, and have not done so for over twenty years. But I thank him for his contribution to my downfall.

This magnolia tree was a feeble effort planted last year with little hope, and even less expectation. A miserable cluster of gaudy pinkish 'leaves' spluttered out last summer, against all the odds. This year there are at least twenty beautiful flowers on this tree. It may stay here as long as it chooses. it is a most beautiful triumph of nature...

Back to JJ....'Magnolia you sweet thing,
You're driving me mad,
Got to get back to you Babe,
You're the best I ever had...

You're the best I ever had...'
you're the best I ever had

For Paul

In back of my Spanish garden there’s a stool
Below where the leaves of several trees conjoin, and conspire to keep it cool
It’s Michael’s secret garden, beneath the eucalyptus tree
It’s where I raise a glass to help Paul’s spirit to be free

It hasn’t always been an easy thing to have Paul Mansfield as a friend,
His lonely inner fear of folk was with him ‘til the end…
…No, not so, not so, not to the very last
He opened like a late spring flower,
One sure the winter’s past...

I wish that I had seen that side of such a complex soul
Some years before my verdict swore
He’s no part of my goal;
it was truth he spoke
When our vessel broke
"One day you’ll see me whole"

Beneath the eucalyptus tree I fell into a trance
And images of bygone scenes before me ‘gan to dance
Sometimes a word, sometimes a phrase sometimes it was a face,
And then it was a person’s voice and then some other place.
Two Taylors, Joe and James both said you’ve got a friend,
May you never lay your head down, we teach old hearts to mend.
Tony gave a pint of blood; Lenny gave us litres; Tommy gave a cup of mud…watch the parking meters.
The Goldstone was our home from home, Woodies was our haven, and
We always had a hand to hold although our nights were craven

‘The little bird…’, said Candido; ‘La di dah’ said Jim, ‘The English Maurice’, another
Dad said ‘You two’ve got it made’; John said, ‘He’s my brother’.


You said she was your Jersey Girl
No question, she’s a Giver
Two Drifters off to see the world
So long Paul…

Moon River!!