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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A little borrowed soil.......

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This is a view of the gardens in our street. It's a long row of houses which were built for local coalminers in the 1880s. There was no pebble-dashing then.... or conservatories, just modest little brick houses with the barest of amenities. At the bottom of the gardens, where the Poplar trees are, was the railway line which ran from Bishop Auckland to Durham. The railway line closed in the 1960s and is now a footpath and cycle route, and is very popular.


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This is the same view when there was a beautiful hoar frost (and an ugly satelite dish!).



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Here is our little borrowed patch of land. I say 'borrowed' because it is never truly ours. In fact I find it comforting to think of all the people who enjoyed (or possibly didn't) this garden for the last 130 years and will continue to do so for however long the house remains standing. It gives a sense of continuity.


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..... and here we are amongst the greenery, the garden transformed from the skeletal beauty of Winter. The lush growth of the plants and trees block most of the outside view and, for a while, our lives seem to run parallel with the non-human creatures that live here too. We are contained together in privacy and peace in 'our' shared territory.


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Here's the 'Multi-species Diner'. Everything that grows here feeds birds and insects..... and we even get some of it too. We don't mind sharing the crops with other creatures; we all live in this little borrowed patch of land and it makes us very happy.

12 comments:

  1. This is lovely, Lesley! We do, certainly, just borrow little patches of land. Amy loves the 'Multi-species Diner'. The garden looks beautiful and the way you describe sharing your little haven with other creatures, human and non-human, seen and unseen, really strikes a chord.

    Claire and Amy. Happy Eostre/Ostara/Equinox

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  2. Thanks Claire! :) A bit further down from the 'Diner' is 'the snail & slug hotel'. lol I'll be doing a post about that in the near future.

    A Happy Eostre to you and yours!

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  3. Now you do know that me and my whippet would probably fit right in 'up north' Lesley?!
    The waiting list for allotments and the like in London is ridiculous to!

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  4. Wow, thanks John..... I always knew my head was in the clouds. :D

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  5. You'd both be right at home Gf! The last time I went for a run along the old railway line, almost everyone had a greyhound or a whippet with them. I was beginning to think it was an outing for the local Greyhound, Whippet and Lurcher Society! Moon would have a right old time. :) You needn't bother with the flat cap though; nobody wears them here anymore.... a tin hat might be a good idea. :O) (it's not that bad really).

    The waiting lists for allotments here can be quite lengthy as well, but I should imagine that trying to get an allotment where you are is like trying to find gold dust.

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  6. Thanks for asking about my eye Lesley!

    You know that I don't like writing about it to much in my blog unless I can work a story around it!
    I still have a scar in my eye which means that one of my pupils tends to get bigger than the other one at various intervals in the day! Theres no pain but still a slight blur. I've got the hospital again in couple of months so fingers (and not eyes!) crossed!

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  7. I hope it's just a matter of time until it gets fully better Gf.

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  8. Lovely with the hoar frost...and without! What a bit of paradise!

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  9. Hello Ethel! :) It gets lively in the Summer when everyone's out in their gardens having barbecues and downing the beer and wine with crackling garden fires and loud music! :O) It's never boring though. :)

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  10. Great shots of the scene with and without frost, Lesley!
    Your garden loks so inviting when all greened up. Bet you can't wait for summer.

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  11. Hello Deedee. From Spring onwards it's lovely, when the buds on the trees begin to open up. After that everything seems to fastforward! :)

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