Taexalia

wild.life

Morning Sunshine

I confess I am tired of the snow.

It's hard walking a hound in a world where the motion of cars is The Most Important Thing. This translates to a street where the pavements have been used as a dumping place for snow. We have to walk on the road. Is it on the road, or in the road? Either/Or.

People are digging out their cars and throwing snow onto the pavement, ... read more

Autumn Gateway

Doorways, gateways, arches, wooden doors with big iron hinges and locks, caves, animal burrows and places where trees meet across a path... These can all be liminal spaces, places where a transition is made. I found a wonderful liminal space whilst walking at Lochore Meadows, Fife. As I ambled along the path and rounded a bend, I was taken with the vision of the natural archway that the Hawthorn and Scots Pine made, and the way they framed the Sycamore ... read more

Life Death Rebirth

Samhain, Hallowe'en, the end of summer...

The life force is ebbing inward

The oak leaf is reborn with each new colour

When it is gone

The acorn holds

A promise

First Frost

I remembered to take my camera with me this morning, but I forgot to take a pair of gloves. I will have to give in and accept that summer is officially over, and go in search of my winter warmers.

I don't think that Jack Frost arrived so early last year, yet the Hawthorn and Rowan are laden with red berries and this suggests a hard winter. Folklore, I'm told, and yet the early frost suggests there might be some truth to ... read more

Lone Pine Standing

This Lone Scots Pine stands overlooking the Firth of Forth near to where I live. I see it every day, a constant and consistent marker on the journey. Some days I don't really see it, or even acknowledge it's presence and other days, like today, I pause to look at it and take in it's stature. I wonder how this tree came to be growing here. It is the only Scots Pine in an area sprinkled with pockets and swathes of mixed deciduous ... read more

Late Summer Findings

I'm calling this post Late Summer Findings because I do not have the heart to name Autumn just yet. The trees on the hill behind my house are still green but there is a hint of rust and I wonder - can trees rust too in so much rain? Ah, rain, we have had a lot of rain this summer. So much rain that on dry days, like today, my eyes have to make adjustments as they view the landscape without the water curtain. Some of the potatoes show signs of blight - I hear it's almost unavoidable in a ... read more

Sunflowers Potatoes Tomatoes

Whilst I never really doubted it, there is something to be said for companion planting lore. When I read that peas don't like onions, I decided against planting them together - and both are thriving. Of course that doesn't really prove they don't like each other, it just proves they like where I planted them. As I said in the same post, I had also read that sunflowers and potatoes are not comfy bedfellows, but it was too late for me because I already had ... read more

Waiting For The Sun

Isle of May

A few photographs I had the pleasure of taking on the Isle of May yesterday...

Celandine Sun Worship

Yesterday we found more signs of Spring in a secluded corner by an old wall. The yellow flowers of Lesser Celandine were dotted against a backdrop of dark green, heart-shaped leaves that resemble ivy - amongst the browns and russets of dead undergrowth and rotting leaves.

Lesser Celandine seems to have little folkore attached to it, which is disappointing given it is sometimes called the "Spring ... read more

Winter Aconite Spittle of Cerberus

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) emerges soon after the Snowdrop. Although not a true aconite, it is closely related to them, being also a member of the Buttercup family. As with true aconites, all parts of the plant are poisonous, however ingestion would mean enduring a bitter taste sensation. Aconites are sometimes referred to as Wolfsbane ~ plants that were said to repel werewolves and also said to cure lycanthropy, the cause of the shapeshifting condition. It is said that these ... read more

Is It Spring?

I'm hearing this question all over the place as people wish the moments away looking for something better. I look for signs of new life emerging - the snowdrops and winter aconite shine their carpets of hope amongst the decaying humus of the woodland floor, the owls and foxes make eerie night noise as they mark territory and call for mates, buds on trees seem to swell a little more and my flowering redcurrant is uncurling leaves... The wheel is turning, but the Carlin/Cailleach has not ... read more