violet rant

the dog violets have been out for several weeks but it is time for their annual photo. We are all off on our holidays for a week, so, although Spot is staying behind to guard the kennels he will not have the time to post any new pages for the next week.

He also wants to know why Microsoft have made Vista (Home Premium) so incredibly difficult to use; are they the worst most unthoughtful anti consumerist company on the planet? Answers on a postcard, please. Could we connect a projector to our laptop? It would have been easier to travel to Mars. If I buy a new car I expect it to work (that means move when I want it to), not to sit there asking me if I am appropriately networked to the rest of the automobile industry, or to tell me to contact my local garage dealer. Apologies to all the ladies of the Kelly Bray WI for a much circumscribed illustrated talk on the wonders of our local area.

great spotted woodpecker

one of my favourite occasional visitors to our garden, looking rather goony today, with a very striking black moustache.

first of the season

the first marsh marigold (one flower in a sea of green) and the first greater stitchwort appear by the side of the Inny. We record these first sightings for future reference. Yellow and white flowers are difficult to photograph in the wild without a filter. The raw images have been modulated to exaggerate the detail and reduce the highlights.

stellar flowers

the beautiful flower of magnolia stellata, easily blighted by late frosts but bursting out now as the ground warms up. A native of Japan but very welcome in Cornwall.

slow to worm up

meanwhile, rising above all this colourful confusion and doing its best to look like a drab brown twig is this indolent slow worm warming up in the sun. So indolent indeed that it allowed me to move the leaves (of herb robert) covering its head to take a closer look, blinked a bit and went back to sleep.

white red green blue alkanet

green alkanet is a handsome plant with a vivid blue flower. The naming of the plant seems to suggest some degree of colour confusion; the name alkanet is thought to derive from the arabic al henna (arabic is very guttural) for red from the red dye extracted from its roots; I would have called it blue alkanet myself. Growing alongside this plant is a very unusual white variant, no doubt best called the white green blue red alkanet. The leaves are deeply fissured and the plant is described as "roughly hairy".