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Thursday 4 April 2013

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'D' - Daffodils



My A-Z posts this year are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – a sort of wish they were here.

D - Daffodils, Daisy, Dandelion, Dove, Dunnock

There is only one way to start this post; with William Wordsworth, of course,

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hill,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Daffodils
 Wordsworth spent of lot of time in the Lake District which enabled him too write:

In youth from rock to rock I went,
From hill to hill in discontent
Of pleasure high and turbulent,
Most pleased when most uneasy;
But now my own delights I make, -
My thirst at every rill can slake,
and gladly Nature's love partake
of Thee, sweet Daisy!

Daisies

Somehow I think these were not the type of daisy meant by Wordsworth. 

Daisies in the lawn are not to be encouraged nor is the dandelion is a plant we want to see:

A Patch of Dandelions
 With locks of gold today;
Tomorrow, silver grey;

Dandelion Seed Head
 Then blossom-bald. Behold,
O man, they fortune told!

 The hedge sparrow (dunnock) is a common garden bird that enthrals you with its song:

Dunnock
 A dunnock perched content on outhouse beams,
Plump-feathered in striped brown and misty grey,
That I disturbed from drowsy dunnock dreams
To startled flight. Away! Escape! Away!

If we are to escape let’s have some fun before we go:

Let's take off all our clothes. It's time for shamelessness.
On nights of self-reflection, we go skinny-dipping with our self-perception.
We join the stars dancing on the water
and we emerge, red-skinned not red-faced. A collared dove coo-coo-coos

Collared Dove
At one time the collard dove was a very common visitor to our garden; now it has been crowded out by the ubiquitous wood pigeon.

A late candidate for inclusion in this post is:
A Dog in Disgrace
 Poems
  • I wandered lonely as a cloud – Wordsworth
  • To the Daisy - Wordsworth
  • The Dandelion – John B Tabb
  • Dunnock – Alan Hartley
  • The Collared Dove – Alexander Hawkins
Photo attributions:
  • Patch of Dandelions – By Robert Engelhart – CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Dandelion Seed Head – By Tony Hisgett, Birmingham, UK – CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Dunnock – by Dr Raju Kasambe – CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Collared Dove – Adrian Pingstone – Public domain

8 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob .. I'll be back to read properly .. the daffodils don't need no clouds! .. constant grey - but it's lovely to see their various heads pop out to give us a glow for our frozen souls.

Poor dog - dejected dog .. perhaps is a better description .. let alone ditching boot owners!

Cheers and have a happy day - off to London town .. Hilary

aw said...

Another interesting selection, Bob, and that dog in disgrace is a fitting end. We have collared doves visit the garden still but they are quite cowardly and easily scared off by birds much smaller than themselves.

Bish Denham said...

I love daffodils and wish they grew here where I am in Texas, but it's just too hot and dry. But dandelions we have.

I suppose disgraced dog found a way back into favor?

Bob Scotney said...

Bish, he's working on it!

Jo said...

Ah poor dog. It will be a while before we see the daffodils although they are showing green above the ground.

I love to see dandelions, I think the preponderance of green and gold is beautiful to behold. Chemical weed killers are banned round here now too.

Have you ever looked at son in law's paintings of birds. There is a link on my blog site.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Bob Scotney said...

I'll check them out, Jo

viridian said...

Hurrah for the garden A to Z. I found another A to Z participant who is blogging on her garden - commonweeder.
Our daffodils are just blooming.

Cassmob (Pauleen) said...

Oh I can relate to the shoe debacle -my friend's dog recently destroyed one of my favourite shoes...mind you the dog was completely unconcerned.

Pauleen at Tropical Territory
A to Z 2013