A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'J'

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.

J – Jackdaw, Jay, Juniper, Jack, Jasmine

There is a bird who, by his coat,

And by the hoarseness of his note,

Might be suppos’d a crow;

Jackdaw

 The famous poem, The Jackdaw of Rheims, ends with the jackdaw being made a Saint; however in a much earlier Conclave than the recent one for the selection of Pope Francis.

The Conclave determin’d to make him a Saint;

And on newly-made Saints and Popes, as you know

It’s the custom, at Rome, new names to bestow,

So they canoniz’d him by the name of Jem Crow!

 When at my daughter's home in Michigan:

Blue Jay

The Jaybird he's my favourite
Of all the birds they is!
I think he's quite a stylish sight
In that blue suit of his:

But as you can see the jays we see in the local woods are not blue at all. Often all you see is the flash of their white rump as they disappear in the trees.

Many of you will know the English nursery rhyme –

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
So early in the morning.

However I’ve just learnt that in Scandinavia the ‘mulberry bush’ is replaced with a:-

Juniper Bush

Somehow I get the feeling that Jack would find that rather tiring.

Jack at rest

 This year he will have a long wait to see this climber flowering:-

Winter Jasmine

Poems:

• The Jackdaw – William Cowper
• The Jackdaw of Rheims – Richard Harris Barham http://www.bartleby.com/246/108.html
• The Jaybird – James Whitcomb Riley
• Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush – An English nursery rhyme and singing game.

Photo attribution:

• Winter Jasmine – Wildfeuer – CC BY-SA 3.0