Narcissus

I love daffodils! Maybe because they are such bright yellows and oranges, at a time of year when everything is dull and dead. Or because I bought a mixed bag of bulbs 6 years ago when we moved to Kershader, planted them in an old lazy-bed and every year they produce more and more flowers for free.  Or perhaps because things are so much more beautiful when they have meaning.

I love that every bulb could turn out to be a different variant - it might be bright gold with a trumpet in the middle. Varigated with a mix of colours or have many heads sprouting from just one stalk.

The classic trumpet shaped dafodil is called the narcissus. It is frequently linked to the myth of Narcissus who became so obsessed with his own reflection in water that he drowned and the narcissus plant sprang from where he died.

Alternative names through time have been 'Daffadown Dilly' or 'Lent Lily', a signal from nature of the end of the Christian period of abstinence before Easter.

The old lazy-bed with its rich soil is ideal

I planted our bulbs when we had first moved in and were planning how to make some money from our croft. I had the idea to sell bunches of unopened daffs, so that people would also buy the surprise of not knowing what type of flower they would get.  This year I nearly managed to make some bunches to sell at a school fundraiser, but so far my golden daffodils have not produced any actual gold!

But they are so well suited to the rough grass of our croft.  Before we sorted out our fencing, we were constantly plagued with stray sheep eating everything we planted.  But the one thing they dont eat are daffodils.  Once we had stopped the sheep getting in, we then found that the indigenous grasses grew so quickly that anything we planted immediately was taken over by weeds. Except the daffodils which burst through even the thickest grass.

In fact the more I think about 'daffadown dillys', the more meaning I find.  I'm glad such a humble flower has been immortalised by an expert of communication.   William Wordsworth wrote this after a moment with his sister Dorothy, when they 'came across a long belt' of daffodils - I know how he feels, my long lazy-bed of colour inspires me to write as well.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Traveling Without Moving

LUCK! Good luck, great luck, divine intervention... whatever way I look at it, I am still over joyed by my recent win of a holiday to California!!


I entered a competion on twitter, a joint marketing promotion by Bulmers cider and Xfm radio, where I had to tweet a favourite song that summed up the feeling of a weekend. I tweeted Radiohead 'No alarms and no surprises' as a feeling close to my heart - but it gave me the biggest surprise I've ever had!

The actual prize was return flights, 4 star hotel, insurance and visa for 2 people for 7 nights to Los Angeles. As it happens I couldn't imagine not being able to share this with the whole family, so we have paid a bit more so that the boys can come with Mark and me and we have hired a motorhome for 2 weeks.  We plan to go accross to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, take in the Hoover Dam on the way back to Death Valley in California and see how many of the wonderous national parks we can take in on our dream holidaytime.

Mysterious moving rocks in Death Valley

And when I say dream holiday, we would never be able to justify spending money on a any kind of break normally.  We are just not that sort of family.  I take the boys down to my Mums every summer, Mark stays at home and this is the closest we get to a holiday.  But now...this truly is the holiday of a lifetime in the sunshine state - what a contrast it will be; the Californian Wilderness, from the Wilderness of the Hebrides, I can't wait!

The John Muir wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada

A big part of the fun of traveling is always the planning - whether you are going to Russia, or Reading!  I have found a great site called 'Roadtrippers' and thanks to the interconnectedness that is the internet, I can plan and dream and research to my heart's content, all from the comfort of home.

https://roadtrippers.com/trips/california/6641205?a1=x!-118.16660254457399,y!35.025801072860524,z!5

We won't quite be setting off into the wilderness like John Muir, with just a rucksack, a few books and a bar of soap. But it feels like a huge adventure, life changing, enlightening and an experience to always be remembered and captured on film.  Just what all family's should be able to do together.