I love to see the summer...

Thought I'd leave you with some John Clare. I love a bit of poetic reflection!!!!

Sonnet
I love to see the summer beaming forth
And white wool sack clouds sailing to the north
I love to see the wild flowers come again
And Mare blobs stain with gold the meadow drain
And water lilies whiten on the floods
Where reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood
Where from her hiding place the Moor Hen pushes
And seeks her flag nest floating in bull rushes
I like the willow leaning half way o'er
The clear deep lake to stand upon its shore
I love the hay grass when the flower head swings
To summer winds and insects happy wings
That sport about the meadow the bright day
And see bright beetles in the clear lake play

Dig for victory

The provocative mantra of the second world war rang in my ears today, as Ste and myself sheared, mowed and dug for victory in my little slice of urban paradise. Tanked up on bottles of coke, chocolate and a cream cake at the end from my wonderful neighbour, we fought back the weeds in the battle for my back garden. At the risk of this becoming A Friday night on BBC2, I wanted to share some interesting observations from both myself and others, as we grafted away against bind weed.

Bind weed strangles things... it's really nasty stuff that was growing through from next door's heap of dug up turf. This menace was strangling my attempts to plant a hedge at the back, and soften the concrete wall which rises in front of the scrub land at the back of my house, soon to become a health and community centre.

Today I planted my first new item in the garden: some grass seed. Granted, it was wierd buying something God had created in a smart price branded box from ASDA, but it was the cheapest I could find. I was determined to plant it before the rains came. In a way, I felt a little bit like Elijah, waiting for rain to come and renew this bare and patchy corner of my garden, previously occupied by unwanted settlers (brambles and dock leaves!)

I'm really excited about my Garden. It has potential to be a beautiful space where people can be entertained, community can be fostered, and new life brought into being. There is opportunity for it be a place of family, community, laughter and friendship... exciting hey?! As unglamourous as it is, redemption is flipping hard work - now I'm going to collapse in bed.