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Posts Tagged ‘nature’

Tulips in Rosemary Sutcliff historical novel for adults Lady in Waiting

Posted in Lady in Waiting, tagged on 15/04/2012 | Leave a Comment »

At Sherborne, Bess had made a still-room out of one of the groined store chambers and gradually her shelves were filling; a hound bitch had puppies, and the new flamed and feathered tulips came into flower, and these were the things that contented her.

From Lady in Waiting by Rosemary Sutcliff

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The garden must be wondering what’s hit it … (Diary, 15/4/88)

Posted in Diary, tagged , on 15/04/2012 | 5 Comments »

April 15th Friday. Sheila bought some seeds from the ironmonger, and this evening Ray has gone off to Shopwyck to get a couple of clematis for the new fence. The garden must be wondering what’s hit it. Lovely show of tulips, the golden ones turning apricot under the dining room and bedsit window, but of course the cream and wine ones I got last autumn have been trampled out of existence when the fence was done.

© Anthony Lawton 2012

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A chiff-chaff in Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novel Dawn Wind

Posted in Dawn Wind, tagged on 11/04/2012 | Leave a Comment »

Chiffchaff (illustration from RSPB)

As he did so, there was a small fluttering in the heart of some overgrown bushes beside the gap in the wall. His heart lurched unpleasantly, and then steadied as a chiff-chaff darted out, and the fluttering was explained.

From Dawn Wind by Rosemary Sutcliff

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… The chiffchaff busy in the garden all morning … (Diary, 11/4/88)

Posted in Diary, tagged , on 11/04/2012 | 1 Comment »

April 11th, Monday. Ray gave the lawn its first cut this afternoon, without the box on. So now, the fumes of petrol having gone, there’s a nice smell of cut grass. The chiffchaff busy in the garden all morning.

© Anthony Lawton 2012 

Rosemary knew the colouring, shape, flight and song of numerous birds, part of her deep knowledge of the natural world. I, on the other hand am most ignorant. So it is the RSPB site that helps me explain (complete with recording of its song) that a chiffchaff is small olive-brown warbler which actively flits through trees and shrubs, with a distinctive tail-wagging movement. It is readily recognised by its song, from where it gets its name. It picks insects from trees, and flies out to snap them up in flight. All this evoked for her diary  and herself, perhaps, by Rosemary’s reference to the bird being ‘busy’. (An intriguing curiosity is that in her diary she writes chiffchaff, but the copy-editor in the OUP version of Dawn Wind has chiff-chaff!)

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Rain with the odd streak of sleet (Diary, 9/4/88)

Posted in Diary, tagged on 09/04/2012 | Leave a Comment »

April 9th Saturday. Rain with the odd streak of sleet in it this morning, turning brighter this afternoon. The dogs very pleased to be allowed into the garden after tea.

© Anthony Lawton 2012

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My cherry trees are just breaking … and Lady’s smock in the hedge (Diary, 8/4/88)

Posted in Sutcliff Discovery of the Day, tagged on 08/04/2012 | 1 Comment »

April 8th Friday. Had a lovely run with Ray, on Dunton & along under the Downs via my cherry trees, which are just breaking, and home via Midhurst, the countryside suddenly veiled in green chifloss (?) , primroses &  celandine & Lady’s smock in the hedges. But at Dean, the storm wreckage as heartbreaking as ever.

© Anthony Lawton 2012

‘Had a lovely run’ refers to a drive out in the car – Rosemary did this most days, driven by whoever was being her driver-handyman-gardner at the time. That is why The Tifffy could not remain (earlier entries); she could not have a drunk driver. I am not sure of the transcription ‘chifloss’: not in the dictionary, what else might it be?

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