This evening, coming out of Ennis, I noticed a couple of whitethorn (aka hawthorn, or Maythorn - Crataegus monogyna L.) bushes finally coming into flower. So, given the muggy steamy weather we’re having, I expect the countryside will explode in white blossom in the next few days.

This year it’s 2 weeks late - I recorded first seeing the first hawthorn blossoms in 2007 on 30th April.

Bealtaine shona dhíbh uilig!

It’s Beltane today and traditionally the first day of Summer in the ancient Irish and pagan calendar. May we have a good one this year - hopefully we won’t experience the washout we had in July-August 2007 again for many a long year.
The blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is late in flowering this year - I noticed the first blooms only yesterday (30 April) - due to the unseasonably cold weather we’ve experienced throughout much of April. Last year it started flowering on 5 April 2007 - see here. I recorded first seeing the Whitethorn (aka May Flower, or Hawthorn) - Crataegus monogyna - coming into flower last year on 29 April 2007. This year there is no sign of it yet, though it is sporting a full set of leaves.

Of course today is Samhain and the first day of Winter down under (Australia and New Zealand) according to the pagan calendar. Samhain shona dhíbh uilig ansin! Hope you have a good one.

I was woken up at a very early hour this morning - it was still pitch dark but something told me it was somewhere between 4 and 6 am. I thought I was hearing things at first, but when I listened carefully there was no doubt - a cuckoo was doing his thing (going cu-cu cu-cu cu-cu) incessantly somewhere nearby. It was the first cuckoo of 2008, and judging by the unearthly hour of the morning, it must have been the mad cuckoo of Kilmaley who comes every year and cu-cus at the weirdest times. So for the record I heard the first cuckoo of 2008 before dawn on 23 April 2008 in Kilmaley.

He’s earlier this year than he was last year - I recorded my first cuckoo of 2007 on April 27th last year.

October is here! September didn’t hang about for long this year! Here come the shortening days and lengthening nights - and frost (hopefully), storms (the less the better) and such like. Here comes the yearning after the memory of long sunny summer days and moon-drenched starry nights and the sweet scent of coumarin. Welcome in the approaching winter.

Every year these masses of small pink roses sprout from amongst the ash saplings and fuchsia at the back of our house. At some point in the past (in the 1920s or ’30s if I were to hazard a guess) they were planted by the mother of whichever family then inhabited the house.

One year I put in quite a bit of effort to harvest the petals with the intention of using them to make rose-petal wine. I never got round to making the wine and a tupperware container tightly-packed with frozen delicate-pink rose petals lies forgotten somewhere at the bottom of our top-opening freezer. Maybe it is just as well since these roses are as lacking in scent as they are vibrant in colour.

I often wonder about the woman, now long-dead, who planted and cared for them. What was she like as a person? Did she lead a long and fruitful life or was she cut off in her prime by TB, Cancer, or child-birth? The one thing I do know is that she loved bright colours.

A few years ago, I bought one Feverfew plant from a garden centre. While that plant is long since dead, it did a great job ensuring a healthy progeny before it expired, with the result that Feverfew pops up all over the place every year, including in other plants’ pots. Since I like the flower and the peppery scent the leaves give off when rubbed, or even brushed against, I leave it do its thing.

Feverfew, whose scientific name is Chrysanthemum parthenium (Bernh.) or Tanacetum parthenium (L.) depending on which book you reference, has been a popular herb in physic gardens for centuries due to its effectiveness as a cure for colic and fever. The name is a corruption of the Latin Febrifuge which means something like “fever chasing”. Mrs. Grieve in her seminal work A Modern Herbal (Penguin Books, 1980; ISBN: 0-14046-440-9) has this to say about its medicinal uses:

As a stimulant it is useful as an emmenagogue. Is also employed in hysterical complaints, nervousness and lowness of spirits, and is a general tonic. The cold infusion is made from 1 oz. of the herb to a pint of boiling water, allowed to cool, and taken frequently in doses of half a teacupful.
A decoction with sugar or honey is said to be good for coughs, wheezing and difficult breathing. The herb, bruised and heated, or fried with a little wine and oil, has been employed as a warm external application for wind and colic.

The full text entry on Feverfew is available on Botanical.com.

The very wet “summer” we’re having with the relatively warm temperatures has ensured burgeoning plant growth. The fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica [Lam.]) which grows all along the hedge at the back of the house and at one end at the front, is absolutely loving it. I’ll have to do a serious cutting back in the Autumn.

The weather might be absolutely sh1te right now, but some of the skyscapes are amazing. Like the one below I spotted last Saturday evening (14 July):

Another phenomenon is the steam rising from a “hot” road surface after a shower of rain. An extension of that is steam rising from wet grass - I spotted the following rising through the trees, again on Saturday evening last:

In the minutes succeeding this photograph being taken, the mist or steam cloud became a full-blown fog that all but engulfed the area. Very atmospheric and beautiful!

I had the unpleasant job of digging a grave for our oldest cat and burying him this evening. Felix, who was one of the family and my daughter’s favourite, was killed by a car or lorry sometime on Friday night or Saturday morning last. Needless to say, we are all a bit sad, and my daughter is very sad indeed. Such is life!

With the help of my son, I buried him deep in the rich black loam in the garden at the back of the house and put a large mound of stones on top to prevent foxes and other vermin from digging him up.

As if to underline the loss of our favourite cat, the weather has turned very gloomy with heavy rain and a blustery wind.

Today was the first day I took off my light summer jacket and walked around outside in short sleeves, therefore it must have been warm! I am unusual in that my normal body temperature at around 35.5 degrees C is 1 degree lower than the average person’s. So I feel the cold more acutely, and am more tolerant of high temperatures than the average person. My body’s cooling system (ie sweat glands) is highly efficient and keeps me cool even at temperatures in excess of 45 degrees C, the only proviso being that I drink copious quantities of liquid.

I estimate that the temperature got to 24 or 25 degrees C this afternoon. I love this weather and hope it continues for the rest of the Summer with the odd rainy interlude to keep the grass green, the plants growing, and the dust down! However, the forecast for Saturday night is for the weather to change with a Low front coming in over the Atlantic. This is unfortunate in its timing given that this weekend is the May bank holiday weekend, with Monday off work for most people.

I’m hoping that the rain will hold off until after dark on Saturday, as we are having our Beltane ritual and celebration at a friend’s house in East Clare on Saturday evening and it would be lovely to be able to do it outside. We are also planning to visit Limerick City on Sunday as the RiverFest is on this weekend and we missed it last year.