Friday 4 July 2008

Wildflowers & windows

WELL WELL, the sun has visited us for a brief glimpse and so we grabbed the chance to hang out washing, walk a little and cut holes in the side of the truck!
Summer here is in full wild bloom. Everywhere there are yellow buttercupped fields, white cow-parsley'd waysides, and the tall gentle warm-whispering mauve grasses are hiding all manner of little flowers and scuttling things.
That orange flower down there on the left is growing by a curling stone that sits at our front door. Back in the days when the winters here were more wintry, the villagers would go up to the frozen reservoir and whizz these stones across the ice.

I have never seen so many buttercups in one place. Do you remember holding them under your chin as a child to see if your skin glowed yellow telling that you liked butter?
I've just weaseled out some other little superstitions surrounding buttercups ...

  • The common name 'buttercup' was derived from the yellow color of the flower. It was also believed that the richness of butter's yellow color was the result of the number of buttercups in the pasture; however, this was only a myth since tall buttercup is so bitter that cattle avoid eating it.

  • According to superstition, holding a tall buttercup flower against one's neck on the night of a full moon, or simply smelling the flower, causes insanity, hence the folk name 'crazyweed'.

  • Flowers tend to track the daily movement of the sun in the sky.

  • Beggars used to blister their skin purposefully with buttercup juice to arouse the sympathy of passersby.

  • Fishermen of the 1800's poured buttercup tea on the ground to bring worms to the surface.





Tui took me on a wee short-sleeved walk around behind the village to where he'd been busying away on the latest and excitingest addition to our wheeled home: The Kitchen Window!


And now the starter motor is fixed, we can think about venturing out.
I'm still hard at work on my new secret creation ... all will be revealed soon.
Wishing you all a happy sunny buttercupped weekend.

16 comments:

Rachel Green said...

What a beautiful place you live in.

Anonymous said...

The kitchen window! Yay! You're going to have the poshest EVER van!
We've got those orange flowers growing wild all over our garden. They all started off yellow a few years ago and one red one appeared. Since then, the 2 colours have got to 'know eachother better' and we now have orange ones like yours!
Buttercups - even the name evokes warm days of summer. :o)

Lady Em said...

Beautiful!! I love the window, it's gorgeous!!

Shelley Noble said...

What heavenly photos of meadow and flower! And how darling and happy you look in your new charming window!

Valaine said...

Beautiful photos and the window is very charming - even sweeter with you looking out of it :) you look extremely pleased!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Lovely photos, and that kitchen window is just divine!

d. moll, l.ac. said...

This horse van (norse van) is really coming along, it is more than just a home on wheels, it is a piece of mobile art as well. Can you accommodate guests? Guests with rabbits?

Unknown said...

LOVE the buttercup tea story. Yuck, bitter buttercup tea for worms. sounds like something Roald Dahl made up. The animation below is gorgeous.

tlchang said...

To be in a place with wildflowers....(other than the ones I pull out of my lawn) ah....

The window with all of its diamond shaped panes looks like something out of Snow White's cottage.

BaileyZimmerman said...

Lovely whimsey with a touch of mystery!!
Thank you for a few moments in the countryside of Scotland!
Your blog is a wonderful place to get lost in the poetry of life!
L

http://baileyzimmerman.blogspot.com

tui said...

That Tui fella has made a fine job of that kitchen window :)

Carolee said...

Gorgeous wildflower photos, and yes, that is indeed a fine kitchen window! What a magical home you two are creating....

~ Carolee

Ciara Brehony said...

What a magical combination: fields of wildflowers and a wanderly wagon...sigh...

Willow said...

Lovely photos of the countryside.

I remember buttercups from my childhood in the Pacific Northwest of America. We always picked the blossoms and put them under our chins, not to make us crazy, but to see if we liked butter--our chins would reflect yellow if we did.

Gwen Buchanan said...

I am a window and door lover and yours is beautiful.. you will treasure it everytime the light flows through it... whether you are inside or out..
It is good to live with beauty and care!


ps.. Hope you home is in travelling mode soon!!

Rima Staines said...

Thanks for all the lovely comments folks... glad you like flowers and windows. And yes we do live in a lovely place don't we :)
We'll be on the move when it's a bit more ready and I'm sure a guest or two might be accommodated :)