Gardening

    

Gardening

Jay (Garrulus glandarius) taken a few years ago

It was a beautiful day yesterday, and the sun is shining brightly again, today. though not as warmly. Therefore, out into the garden we ventured to bring the wilderness into some sort of order. That entailed pruning (polite word for savaging) several innocent shrubs and trees. We have an hour’s extra daylight now. I jest – it’s only half an hour.

Anyway, it looks a little tidier now. There’s still much to do, but, oh, boy! I ache. I must be getting old. (Must I? Do I have to?)

There is much activity outside. Butterflies flutter by, birds sing fit to bust and chase each other round and round, and squirrels scamper through the still bare oak tree highways.

For three days now, a jay (Garrulus glandarius) has visited our garden. It’s unusual at this time of year. We see them in the autumn, when they’re collecting and caching acorns, a habit responsible for the rapid spread of oak trees after the last Ice Age, around 115,000 to 11,700 years ago (that was a cruel, harsh winter!)

It was probably eating insects. Fortunately, it is too early for the stag beetles to emerge – they are in enough danger without becoming a tasty snack.

Jays are the most colourful of the European corvids and always a joy to see. They are shy, woodland birds, unlike their bold strutting relatives, the smartly dressed magpies, and the clever, cunning, soberly clad crows and jackdaws.

Jay is an archaic term, from the early seventeenth century, for a foolish or dim-witted person. In the 1900s, in the US, it was used to describe an unworldly person, particularly from a rural area, not accustomed to the hustle and bustle of city life, and unaware of the dangers inherent in crossing a busy road.

From that meaning arose the term, ‘jaywalking.’ Jaywalking, or crossing a road against the lights, or not at a designated crossing, or simply, carelessly, is frowned upon in many cultures and can lead to a fine.

Popinjay derives from an Arabic word, babbagha, meaning parrot. A person described as a popinjay was considered conceited and overly absorbed with their appearance. It also indicated someone who talked much but said little of import, an empty sounding vessel. It was in common use for several hundred years, from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It is a word which could be brought back usefully into the modern lexicon.

‘Jay’ is also modern slang for a joint, or hand-rolled cigarette containing cannabis.

Cat

 

This is a slight reworking of a post I wrote many years ago.

Cat

                                            Winston Ocicat 

I am Cat. I grace you with my presence when I so wish, and recline on your lap, kneading and needling with my claw-sharp paws, primal recollections of comfort and warmth awakened in my memory-rich brain.

I loosen my fur and give it to you. I smile when it tickles your nose and you sneeze.

I pull your hand to me with my curled paw, and caress it with my head, over and over, my scent mixing with yours. I lick your skin with my rough, pink tongue, and you do not stop me for you fear offending me. I bite you, gently, and you do not withdraw. 

I possess you, and you love me.

I speak to you in different voices. I cry when I am hungry, ever louder, if you do not answer my needs swiftly. At other times, my tone is gentle, pleading, kindly. My meaning is difficult to understand, but I repeat until you learn, and then I am content. Sometimes I just want you to talk to me - then I beg politely with a silent miaou. 

The silent miaou. 

I like the fireside, and thank you for it. The heat melts my bones till I lie limp and sated. Outside, summer sun saturates me while I dream of other ages and lands. I twitch my paws and whiskers, flick my ears and call out. I am Cat, ancient as time, wise with atavistic memories. Through the centuries, I have been honoured, worshipped, abused, abandoned.

 I am a god and I am dust.

 My instincts are ancient and inherent. I watch the birds and chitter. I chase the sunbeams. I capture moths. In the small, wee hours I prowl and yowl, then join you in your bed, curling against you, lightly pinning your arm with mine.

 I have no need to earn my place in your home – it is my right to allow you to serve me. I may catch a fly or chase a spider if I wish. I will hunt a rat or mouse, because I want to. You cannot train me, but I will educate you.

 When you please me, I give you my sweetest gift – a rumbling reverberation from deep inside that makes you laugh and wonder at the skill with which I continue to purr, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out.

 I am Cat. I am yours and you adore me.

 

Eyra

 

Eyra (Herpailurus yagouaroundi or Felis eyra)

                                            Eyra or jaguarandi

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Eyra is a pretty Welsh name, meaning ‘snow.’

(How is it pronounced? Eye-rah, Ear-ah, Ai-rah or some other?)

The eyra or jaguarundi is a small wildcat, resembling a large, reddish-brown, grey, or brownish-black weasel or otter. It is known as the Otter Cat of the Americas because of its long, streamlined body and otter-like tail. It is similar in size to a large domestic cat, but stands higher at the shoulder. Its head resembles that of an otter, being flattened, with small, rounded ears.

It is diurnal, unlike most wild cats, which are nocturnal, and is secretive and elusive. It can be found in tropical forests as well as deserts and scrubland. Its range covers Central and South America, with the majority living in Peru, Venezuela and Brazil.

Jaguarundis are skilful hunters and eat a varied, carnivorous diet, including rabbits, rodents, reptiles and birds. They breed throughout the year, with each litter bearing between one and four kittens.

It is illegal to hunt them, but they are often persecuted because they kill poultry. The population is declining through loss of habitat, human encroachment, unintentional trapping, and road casualties, though it is considered as of least concern on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List.

Natural predators include puma, jaguar, ocelot, large snakes, eagles and large hawks.

In captivity, this attractive mammal may live up to fifteen years, but in the wild its lifespan is thought to be around seven to ten years.

Live and learn (3)

 

Live and learn (3)

                                            Tawa 

                                    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons 

 Two words this week, both relating to New Zealand.

Tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa) is a tall evergreen tree in the laurel family. It bears sprays of pale green flowers which develop large, purple fruits resembling damsons or plums. 

Tawa fruit 

Image source

The fruit can be eaten, but is said to taste of turpentine! The stones, or kernels, can be roasted for food, and the bark used to produce a drink.

The timber is widely used for furniture and flooring.

Tawa 
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons 

Tawa is also the South Asian name for a large, flat, circular griddle, used to cook chapattis and other flatbreads, and for frying meat, or paneer (often called ‘Indian cottage cheese’)

Weta 
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons 

The second word is weta. Weta is a large, flightless brown insect in a group of about one hundred species in the grasshopper family. It is mainly nocturnal and omnivorous, often scavenging, though the giant and tree weta feed on lichens, leaves and fruit.   

It is native to New Zealand, and has few natural predators but has fallen foul of introduced mammals. Consequently, some weta species are now considered critically endangered.

Black arm bands

 

Black arm bands

Queen Victoria 1819-1901

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

When Queen Victoria’s beloved husband, Prince Albert, died in 1861, she dictated that her servants should wear black arm bands for eight years.  She went into deep mourning for forty years, wearing no other colour than black, though in the latter years with touches of white.

However, black was a traditional mourning colour in Ancient Rome (753BC – 476 AD), though the dark-coloured toga, or toga pulla, may have been any dark colour. In any case, it would have been a strong contrast to normal clothing, and an outward sign of mourning, worn to honour the dead. The mourning period of nine days ended with a feast.

The wearing of dark clothing to show sorrow and respect became an accepted tradition in Europe. For those who could not afford a complete set of dark clothes for a period of mourning, a black arm band was acceptable. It was usually worn on the left upper arm, closest to the heart.

Although Queen Victoria wore widow’s weeds for the rest of her life, she requested that her funeral should be white. Her body was dressed in her white wedding gown and veil, and her coffin was covered with a gold-embroidered white satin pall and was drawn by white horses. She also asked that the usual black drapes should be replaced with purple, a symbol both of mourning and imperial rank.

The majority of the crowd watching the procession wore black.

Though it is still customary for people to wear dark clothing at funerals, increasingly there are occasions when the family asks that bright colours or certain items should be worn, in celebration of the dead person’s life.

Grey Heron

 

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

This photograph was taken a few years ago, through glass.

 Twice this afternoon, in the space of twenty minutes, a heron has flown down to land on the fence surrounding the pond. There are a couple of small fish in the pond, survivors, who knows how, of the big deportation of a few years ago. We suspect they proved to be tasty morsels for visiting herons, though some may have fallen prey to our local crows.

Herons eat a varied diet, including fish, rodents, amphibians, reptiles, and birds as large as wood pigeons. They have been observed using their yellow dagger-like beaks to stab large rats before drowning them and then swallowing them.

We have seen a couple of rats on the patio recently, so wonder if they are the current attraction for our visiting heron. Normally, rodents are dispatched by one or other of the cats, but it has been wet and chilly lately, so the cats have foresworn the great outdoors for the comfort of a cosy fire, human lap, or large dog.

Herons are such alert and wary birds that it is difficult to photograph them. The slightest movement causes them to take flight on their enormous wings to escape danger. Until I saw a dead heron stretched out on the grass at a friend’s house, I had not fully appreciated the sheer size of them – the largest are a metre tall, with a wingspan of almost two metres.

It passed me by

 

It passed me by

I came across an expression I’ve never heard before; this is not in itself unusual, but, since it’s been in use since the 1970s, I’m surprised not to have encountered it. Perhaps it’s because I’m neither Scottish nor Irish. Maybe some of you are familiar with it and possibly even have used it.

‘Has the cat died?’ or ‘Is your cat deid?’ are Scottish or Irish expressions used to mock someone wearing trousers that are too short, that is, well above the ankle.

‘Half-mast parallels’ is a phrase which amused me, and is another with which I’m unfamiliar. It refers to short, narrow trousers. Maybe they are considered to be at ‘half-mast,’ like flags that are lowered in mourning.

Another suggestion is that a person might raise their trouser legs to stop mice running up them, because the cats, being ‘deid,’ were not available to dispatch them.

A further explanation is that poor people could not afford to buy black arm bands, which were worn as a sign of mourning, so cut off the ends of old trousers.

Incidentally, when I was growing up, in the Dark Ages, it was not uncommon to see people, usually men, wearing black arm bands. The last time I saw anyone wearing them was at the late Queen’s funeral, when many of the attendant participants wore black bands on their left arms.