A Mysterious Loss

Just over fifty  years ago when I was about fifteen I bought a fascinating book called ‘The Reader’s Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts’.

The book was an almanac of random stories and unlikely mysteries with tales of the supernatural, mythical beasts, feats of improbable strength, a glimpse into the future and it was divided into chapters such as “Strange customs and superstitions”, “Hoaxes, frauds and forgeries” and “Eccentrics and prophecies.”

I mention this because the weather has improved sufficiently to resume walking across the footpaths around the village where I live.  A day or so ago we were in the fields quite a long way from any houses or roads and this caught my eye propped up against a gatepost.

It wasn’t dumped, it was in excellent condition.  How, I wondered did someone manage to walk into the countryside with the help of a crutch and then lose it?  How did they get home again?  Did they meet a Saint who performed an unlikely  miracle?

Village Walks – Solitree

I have mentioned before that where I live is very flat and the farming is intensive arable.  Hedges and fences have gone to make bigger more economically productive fields that grow wheat and barley and rape.

A few trees have managed to survive the removal of the hedgerows and the expansion of the fields.

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This is a tree that really intrigues me.  It is a solitree in a big field and for some reason it has been left there and not only that it has a metal tree guard around it to protect it…

This is the field where it stands,

I have no explanation…

In The Garden Today – The Tulips

The name Tulip was first applied to the plant by a man called Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq who was a Dutch ambassador in Turkey in the sixteenth century and was also a great floral enthusiast.  One day he was talking to a sultan and he noticed that he was wearing an attractive flower in his headwear.

When I say talking what I mean is that they were communicating with each other in the way that people do when they can’t speak each other’s language with lots of funny faces and wild gesticulations.

Busbecq was curious about the flower and pointed to it and enquired its name.  In Turkey the name of the flower was a Lale but the Sultan thought he meant what is the name of his hat so he told him it was a Tulipan or turban and Busbeqc, who completely misunderstood, acquired some bulbs and sent them back to Europe with the information that they were called Tulipa.

A good job that he wasn’t wearing a pork pie hat or tulips would be porkies!

Now, this is important information in case we run out of food during the lock down…

All parts of tulips are edible and the bulb can be substituted for onions (although they are a little more expensive and less flavourful). The Dutch ate tulip bulbs in the hard times of WW2 even though the petals have little taste but can be used to garnish a dish, chop a few petals and throw them in a salad, sugar them to decorate a cake or use the entire flower for a fruit bowl, pinching out the pistil and stamen in the middle.

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