One wall of our house has many pitted bricks, like this one. Some of the damage may have been done in World War II air raids on the nearby railway. It’s good to see how this hole has been adopted as a shelter by this daddy-long-legs or harvestman. He fits in very well with the cracks in the brickwork!
Tito is a Yorkshire Terrier who is spending a few days with the Turnstones while his mistress is on holiday.
In view of the weather he came out with me dressed in his day-glow jacket, matching mine.
‘Look Mum, it’s a builder’s dog!’
It was raining when I visited Miss Turnstone’s class of four and five year olds to talk about trees and plant a couple.
Talking about trees was really enjoyed by the children and by me. I don’t know that, aged 5, I’d have dared put my hand up to say, ‘We’ve got a pear tree at home, Mr Turnstone.’ It showed that the child was making connections, but in my time in primary school it would have been about the right connections, as defined by teacher.
Still, we talked about roots and shoots and nuts and fruit and leaves and soil and plant food (bone meal being porridge for trees) and worms.
Worms fascinate four year olds; I don’t think one of the twenty or so who came out to plant trees in the rain did not pick up a worm and have a good look. We had to be reminded that they live in the ground and help the trees grow!
The children are excellent at taking turns, or we could not have planted the trees safely; three people with hand forks and trowels is enough at any one hole at a time! But the holes were dug, thanks to someone’s ten year old big brother who came to help with the heavy work; the soil at the bottom was loosened and bone meal worked in; the trees, a hazel and a peach, were planted; muddy boots were taken off and muddy hands washed, ready for home time.
And something for everyone to talk about over tea: a lovely afternoon we had, despite the rain!
Thomas Hardy
The land around Sandwich is very flat; much of it was under the sea less than a thousand years ago, so it makes excellent links for the golfers. On a day of showers, like yesterday, it is reminiscent of the Low Countries and Millet Van Gogh’s winter landscapes. A different sort of beauty; the low light glistening on the puddles and wet railings; it’s just the bright green of the winter wheat that those two artists might not have seen so often in the 19th Century. It really is bright!
Will Turnstone 