A view up my back passage [click to embiggen].
Fifty years ago, as a little five-year-old on a family holiday in heatwave-hit Cornwall, my interests were in making sandcastles, singing, and writing silly little stories. In the middle of the night (nobody slept very well because of the heat), I remember I had just finished one story about a bear who pushed down a tree to make a bridge across a river, and I was so proud of it I ran into the living-room of the rented cottage where I could hear that my parents were still up watching telly, scribbled notebook in hand, to show them my achievement.
I was a little upset that they both shushed me up, and could not understand what was so much more important then me - until my father took me outside to look at the moon and to tell me that there were men walking up there. He then took me back indoors to stare at that now-historic grainy black and white footage of Neil Armstrong in a spacesuit planting a flag in the dust. All thoughts of bears building bridges were forgotten, and a long-lasting memory was ingrained...
As the media goes to town on commemorating the half-century since that momentous occasion (just about every UK channel, TV and radio, has some moon/space-themed programming going on, and there's even a Sci-Fi Prom next month), it is a happy coincidence that today also happens to be the birthday of one Stewart Armstrong Copeland. And thanks to him, with his erstwhile band The Police, we have the perfect song to play:
Moon landings 50th anniversary
your "back passage" is loverly; does it bring all the boyz to your yard? or just bees and butterflies?
ReplyDeleteI have had all sorts of wiggling creatures pay it some attention. Jx
DeleteHow perfect for the moon landings! Though I'd much rather walk through your garden [I am not going to write back passage in this instance].
ReplyDeleteSx
You're more than welcome to have a sniff of my prime blooms, Ms Scarlet! Jx
DeleteWhat a nice memory. But I really enjoyed standing at the threshold of your back passage!!!! Bravo dear...it is truly spectacular.
ReplyDeleteAnd ps. When we were in London over night to catch the train, I had completely forgot that it was gay pride in London. The sights made for a wonderful drive to the station. I was just upset we couldn't partake. I did get one picture of a group though and a beautiful wall of flowers hanging from a art gallery.
sigh
Thanks, sweetie - it's always good to have an admirer of my blossoming rear!
DeleteJx
PS You'll need to trawl back a few blog posts to see us at Gay Pride...
Our back yard is looking blooming marvellous. I must crack on and bring my blog up to date, I have gotten rather behind due to pride and wot not.
ReplyDeleteWe have been rather preoccupied - by the garden itself as much as our burgeoning social calendar! Jx
DeleteOh my giddy aunt! What an absolute stunner you've put together!That gold-coloured dahlia with dark leaves is a stand-out. And lots there that I can't quite identify from the picture, but it's a classic example of "good" crowding.(As opposed to all sorts stuffed in a weedy muddle) Please tell me what the tall pink ones are.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm sure your story about the bear was very exciting.
Thank you, sweetie. We are very proud of the dahlia ourselves (it's from seed; from a "Bishop's Children" mix) - we even talked about asking the Dahlia Society if it's unique, and therefore we can name it. There's a little bit of everything here in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers - fuchsias, salvias, monarda, ipomea, agastache, campanula, geraniums and so on - but the big pink inflorescences are the beautifully-scented Phlox paniculata. Jx
DeleteAh-it looked like phlox, but the size threw me. And I've just been up the back with Madame A. and seen even more. But I'm off to sulk now as I have little success with salvias here and I WANT that one.
DeleteAh, yes, "Nachtvlinder" [which translates as "Night Moth"] - it's a hybrid whose parents Salvia greggii and microphylla are both from the desert regions of Mexico, so I would think might do well in your tropical environs... Jx
DeleteThank you. I had quite a few Salvias at the last place, including S.greggii, but it's the humidity-and-bugs that are a problem.At least with recent cultivars. We do palms very well!
DeleteDon't let's talk about bugs - the caterpillars at the moment are chewing the tips out of everything, including fuchsias, dahlias and even the rose. Thank heavens for the tiny wrens, who spend ages every day climbing in and out and under all the plants picking them off! Jx
DeleteYou should open it to the public, for an entrance fee of course.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, dear - and none of this "for charity" malarkey, either. Got to keep the gin fund topped up. Jx
DeleteThe garden is stunning!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've the same memory about the moon landing!, My father worked for the government mapping and aerospace agency and took me outside as well. I can still remember to this day the scene in our living room!
Merci!
DeleteIt's funny, isn't it, how we remember these things from when we were tiny - yet how many times in adulthood have I gone into a room and realise I haven't a blithering clue what I went in there for..? Jx
So true.
ReplyDeleteI read on a t-shirt recently...
"My ability to remember song lyrics from the Eighties far exceeds my ability to remember why I walked into the kitchen"
I should get one. Jx
DeleteMy, what colourful, flourishing growth you have going on up your back passage. Absolutely stunning! I hope those wrens continue to keep the caterpillars in check.
ReplyDeleteI was a few years too late for the moon landings, but I remember the excitement of the shuttle launches in the 80s. I was even allowed to stay up late to watch one of them!
Whipper-snapper.
DeleteJx
PS I love the array of wildlife I get up my ginnel - but wrens are far too fast to capture on camera, more's the pity, otherwise I am sure I would feature "our caterpillar-eating champions" in pride of place...