Recipe for Blue

                                                                                         Garden gnomes

 

Dear Reader,

I am sure some of you will be pleased to know that garden gnomes are back in fashion.  I am equally sure that some of you will not be pleased and think that having gnomes to decorate your garden is very naff.  For myself,  I am very fond of gnomes.  They are cheerful beings and lucky so they say.

The first known garden gnomes were produced in Germany in the early 1800s.  Then they were made out of clay. In the 1840s garden gnomes became particularly popular in France and Britain.  Originally gnomes were thought to provide protection, especially of buried treasure and minerals in the ground.  Myths claim that gnomes are sensitive to sunlight and some legends think that the light of the sun will turn a gnome into stone.

But there is a shortage of gnomes at the moment.  Raw material have become increasing difficult to come by and the blockage of the Suez canal has contributed to the national shortage of gnomes.  Many garden centres have contracted suppliers across China and Europe to help ship the gnomes to the UK.  There has been a massive swing in the sales of gnomes this year and definitely a different clientele wanting them in their gardens.

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There was a letter int The Telegraph newspaper this week which absolutely accorded with my feelings about the Duke of Edinburgh. ' I am an ordinary man,' the letter said, 'and not particularly a royalist but I felt an enormous sadness when I read of his death'. I knew very little about Prince Philip but felt sad when I heard of his passing.  Subsequently I have read of the many wonderful things he did for so many people and am now a fan.

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Recipe for Blue

 

Take blue from the mountain

and dye my bones,

crush lapis lazuli,

mix it in my hair.

Plunge my heart in forget-me-nots,

soak my maidenhead in blueberry juice,

add a pinch of larkspur.

Wrap me in the Blessed Virgin's dress,

shake over star sapphires,

fold in the clouds,

and bake slow.
 

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With best wishes, Patricia