Spring is Blooming Lovely

The Spring tidy up is well underway in the garden though parts of  the borders look bereft of height and form until the herbaceous plants start to put on more growth. 

Tulip Kaufmanniana Shakespeare - Waterlily flowers

Fresh green, red and silver buds are appearing daily on the bare branches of many of the shrubs and trees.  

Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea  "Rose Glow''

The grass is a mixture of greens and yellowish hues as fresh new growth can finally be seen intertwined between the discoloured swards from winter. 

 Crocus "Spring Beauty" with purple flamed flowers

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com.  You can receive updates of each post by subscribing to my feed www.http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom

Wildlife Sightings

We've had some beautfiul spring days where the spring flowers have been basking in the heat of the sun.  
 

 Pulsatilla alba

It was so warm here that even the Peacock butterflies were fluttering about and that is so early! though I'm still on the lookout for my first ladybird sighting in the garden.  

It certainly has made the garden tidy up a much more pleasant job in weather like this.

 Fuzzy wuzzy Pulsatilla alba blooms

Hearing the buzzing of the bumble bees and the bird song in the garden is such pleasant music don't you think rather than listening to the ipod. The Mallard ducks are constant visitors to the garden normally with one female flanked by many an admirer. The local owl has regularily been tu-whit whooing in the evenings and the bats and moths are now resuming their night recces. 

Tulip Kaufmanniana Shakespeare - Waterlily flowers

I hope spring is blooming just as lovely in your part of the world.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today and make sure you come back in a few more days to see more spring blooms.

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

©2010 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

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The Pigeon Hole

 A Wood Pigeon

Cracking on the ice to make a drinking hole.

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Will the real St Patrick please stand up?

It's St Patricks Day and people soon across the world will be celebrating with parades and jovial partying but I wonder if they know who the real Patrick was?  Sadly Patrick has become more about myths, legends and traditions that have been passed down through the centuries.  This happened due to the decline of the Celtic Church in Ireland with the onset of the dark ages. He's not the person that the world would like us to depict him as - being on parade with leprechauns and all the shades of green but this one.......

So come on and let's walk in the footsteps of the saint. I've waited nearly 12 months to publish these photos on the blog. Last year if you remember I shared our Real life Narnia trail - a memorial to CS Lewis  and now it's time for the real Patrick to feature on leavesnbloom.

We spent many hours at the St Patricks Centre in Dowpatrick in Co Down and it's from the notes I took that day that I have collated the material below.  I took lots of video footage (taken on my camera) but have placed just the very short ones here letting Patrick tell his story here on my blog.

Where was He from?

Patrick was born in Britain during the Roman occupation around 390AD in Bannaven Taburniae.  Somewhere along the west coast of Britain though no one is sure exactly which region. His family was a middle class Christian family, was well educated and he lived on his father's small estate. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest though Patrick himself wasn't in the slightest bit interested in religion.  

This post was written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com . You can receive updates of each post by subscribing to my feed www.http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom

Patrick in his own words

When the Romans started withdrawing their armed forces from Britain the Irish raiders began to plunder along the British coastline looking for booty.  It was during one of these raids that Patrick aged 16 was taken captive and brought to Ireland as a slave shepherd. 

The Life of a Slave

Overnight his comfortable lifestyle and education vanished and he had to herd pigs and sheep alone on the hills and mountains for six years suffering the ravages of winter and hunger.  Through those dreadful  lonely six years of slavery Patrick became close to the God he had rejected as a teenager.  He believed that it was through this rejection that he now found himself in Ireland. 

"I would pray constantly during the daylight hours" and "the love of God . . . surrounded me more and more." Patrick

The Escape

One day God told him to walk to the coast where a ship would be waiting to take him home so he fled his master even though the penalty for trying to escape was probably death.  Patrick walked the 200 miles to the south eastern coast and sure enough a ship was waiting for him to take him back to Britain.

God Before Me

Driven by his new found spirituality he later became a bishop and through one of his many visions was told to return to Ireland and preach in a land which was full of druids, human sacrifice and paganism.   

Ireland thirty years after his escape from slavery was still on the edge of the known world and housed a people considered as dangerous and as unpredictable as the terrain. Forests and bogs covered much of the land and the people were tribal Celts dominated by warrior chieftains. 

He wooed the Irish chiefs with precious gifts in exchange for protection and safe conduct.  His mission had considerable opposition by his peers and his unusual methods brought controversy but despite that criticism Patrick insisted that his work was worth every single penny.

The Burial Place of St Patrick

 Down Cathedral Church of Ireland - The Burial Place of St Patrick

"Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ inquired, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."  Patrick

One myth today is that he banished all the snakes out of Ireland.  Ireland may never have had snakes but snakes were a symbol for the serpent goddess Pythia and Cernunnos the fertility god who both were worshiped by the Celts before Patrick brought Christianity into the land. Such cults were banished by Patrick hence the association of driving snakes from Ireland.

The Gravestone at Down Cathedral

Photos taken of St Patricks grave 2 weeks after St Patricks Day 2010

 

His ministry lasted 29 years and he baptized more than 120,000 men and planted 300 churches who in turn sent out missionaries all over Europe.   Patrick was honoured by God and his legacy was bringing the gospel message of Christ to those pagans and turning Ireland into a country of saints and scholars.  

 Oh how the sun shone that day - too strongly for photos

He is the best remembered Christian missionary to Ireland though his legacy seems to have been taken over by tourism and commercialism like so many other things today. I hope that I've given you a little insight into the man behind the myth and that you'll look on this day a little differently in the future.

You can read more historical info at this link

  Who was the real St Patrick?

Thanks for visiting today,

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

©2010 2011 Leavesnbloom  ~ All Rights Reserved.

If you link to this site please provide appropriate credit. All Text, RSS Feed and photographs protected and monitored by DMCA.com Protection and Takedown Services

.

March Spring Blooms

The blooms in my March garden have had a bit of a setback this week with a little reminder that winter still is clinging on.  For most of the last few days we have been treated to sleet, hail, snow and rain here in Scotland so the ground is soggy under foot and very cold.  It's not the type of weather to encourage any gardener to do anything outside other than view from the window and plan for the season ahead (well that's my excuse anyway!).  Despite the weather I still ventured outside to capture a few of the March blooms in the garden though I had wet knees by the end of it as most of the little blooms hug the earth.

 Iris reticulata bulbs - before the snow arrived

 Crocus before the snow

Top: Pulmonaria rosea,  Erica alba,  Leucojum vernum, Eranthis hyemalis - Winter aconite, 

Bottom: Crocus, Hellebores, Galanthus - snowdrops

winter scented Daphne mezereum "rubra"

 

 crocus

 

double snowdrop

Once the weather improves I have to start the garden tidy up and get on with my "to do list" as it is getting longer and longer. I didn't want to start too soon in case there were still some little insects hibernating in the hollow stems of last years flower stems.  Last year I had already had my first sighting of a ladybird but this year I still have yet to find one in the garden.

crocus

My first job of the season will be to cut the Potentilla hedge by at least half its height so hopefully by the weekend the weather will be good enough to at least get 1 item off my list.

Cyclamen coum

Other flowers in bloom in the garden on 15th March 2011 are:

Witchhazel Jelena

Witchhazel Pallida

Witchhazel Diane

Witchhazel Orange Beauty

Various other colours of crocus
The first of the tete a tete daffodils
Various primroses including Emily and Heritage Erica pink heathers 

Finally a big thank you to Gloria from Dakota Gardens for nominating me for a Stylish Blogger award - quite a compliment and  timely too.  I'm sure many of you have noticed that things have changed around here recently (new colours, new header image and larger photographs) though I still have a few more tweaks to make to the html code.  I don't participate in awards and tags on this blog as I try to keep a little anonymity on the Internet.  One thing I will share with you all is that I have 2 "to do lists" this year - one is a gardening list and the other is a wedding list as we will be gaining a daughter-in- law very soon.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today.

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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A Spring Reminder

 

 A little song thrush singing to her hearts content.

Now that the weather is improving there will be more opportunities for me to capture our local wildlife on camera so this little blog will be starting to have more regular postings again.

© 2010 Centre of Interest

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"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

Blotanical Bloggers Beware - feed scraper alert

Thanks to Melanie over at Northern Gardeners Almanac   I discovered that another blogger blog has been scraping many blog posts from fellow bloggers that I know and many of them are Blotanical members.

I've tweeted about this and left a few messages on some peoples blogs but I just don't have the time to be able to go checking all of the archives.  

If you are interested in how to combat these scrapers start with putting a message like mine at the top of each of your posts - but if possible go to your settings in blogger and from settings go to site feed and change your feed from long to short and save. 

There is lots of information here which I keep up to date with on this subject:

Feed scrapers I
Feed scrapers II
Feed scrapers III
Reporting copyright violations on blogger blogs

and 

Tin Eye

Copyscape -free plagiarism checker

I've postponed my original blog post for today on spring bulbs as I think this is important information to share with everyone.  

As you can see there is only one feed scraper around here that I can tolerate!  This is the original feed scraper.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today. 


 

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

.