As I get older, the topic of how we sleep, how little we sleep, and how tired we are seems to be coming up more and more in casual conversation with friends. Waking shortly after going to sleep and not being able to get back to sleep again; or simply […]
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At this time of year when gardens demand so much of our attention it is interesting to consider why we put such an effort into making even the smallest patch lovely. A garden may be defined as an area distinguished by its layout and the plants that grow there, all […]
I have cautiously started to set seeds, the glasshouse has been scrubbed and is ready for the new growing season. There’s not much in there as of yet as the rumour of the return of the ‘Beast from the East’ is holding me back. Rumour or no rumour, nature is beetling […]
There is an old Russian communist joke that goes something like this: a local communist meeting is taking place in a village outside Moscow and the party leaders are attending, to indoctrinate the local peasants. The leader asks the assembled crowd, ‘If you had ten cows what would you do?’ […]
Noted in Irish folklore for its swiftness, alertness and agility, the hare was also regarded as a fairy animal associated with deception and witchcraft. In myth, the hare was linked to Celtic goddesses of fertility, both of spring and of the harvest. One widespread belief among Irish country people was […]
I’m not sure why, but every year January takes an eternity to get through rather than just a month. It feels like it will never end. Maybe it’s a delayed reaction to all the excess of Christmas. Maybe it just takes a while for our hibernating brains to react to […]