Saturday 19 September 2009

Call in for a ruminate!





































On this equinoxal (?) week-end, wouldn't it be nice if you popped in? Knock on the door (don't ring the bell, it is very temperamental and only works when it feels like it), come and and say hello. If the sun is still out we'll sit on the bench on the lawn with a cup of tea and a cheese scone amid the last few flowers and ruminate together.
How has your Summer been? No, I don't mean weather-wise; we have talked enough about the weather. I mean how have you been this Summer. Have you been well and healthy, or have you had to fight illness like poor TFE with his nasty attack of swine-flu? We are all a year older than we were this time last year - do you feel a year older or are you weathering the storm of old age?
Have you kept going through thick and thin, always putting on a brave face - like my Spirea Antony Waterer (if you are reading this BT, please ask Twisted Willow if he knows who Antony Waterer was!). Or have you fought against adversity and still made it through the Summer, like my Japanese Anemones which I chop up every year. As their roots go under the garden path they manage not only to survive but flourish.
Have you been determined to put on a brave face, like my tiny Gertrude Jekyll rosebud here, which has popped up in spite of the plant being pruned back almost to ground level.
Or are you still putting on a brave face despite what lies ahead, like my rose which is covered in new buds, hoping to make it before the first frost.
Have you sparkled and been the belle or beau of the ball, like these splendid kaffir lilies, which spread around the garden like the wildfire they so copy in colour?
I expect, like me, there have been good times and bad times. In my case any bad times always seem trivial when I compare them with the bad times others of my acquaintance seem to suffer.
All I can say is thank-you for calling. I hope you enjoyed sitting on my bench and chatting - and having a cup of tea and a scone (if you are not a tea drinker then coffee or hot chocolate is always available (or even blackberry whisky TFE and Derrick!). It has been lovely chatting to you. I know that, like me, you will go forth into Autumn next week (or Spring if you live down under) full of hope and looking forward to lots more bloggy chats. In the meantime, have a good weekend.

24 comments:

Pondside said...

Very nice cheese scone and cup of tea - Wouldn't I love to sit with you for a while on such a nice day. It's a bit rainy over here right now, and the sun hasn't yet come over the trees.
I didn't sparkle too much this summer, but I did try to glow as consistently as possible. There was a lot of company by the pond, so lots of cooking and playing hostess when I wasn't at work. To be honest, this summer I felt as though I'd donned the yoke and pulled through, like some dependable draught horse.

Jane Moxey said...

What a lovely invitation! I'd like milk and one lump of sugar in my tea, please. I've had an odd sort of year but when September comes, it always feels like a New Year. I suppose that feeling has hung over from my own school days and then having two sons to send off to school in September. I started blogging this year which I've been enjoying, that was one nice new thing I did. I haven't created enough little quilts. But that all changes with my newly energized hands, post surgery, so I'm feeling like the blackberries pictured on my blog today -- just ripening away as the days roll on!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Ooh, I do wish Edward and I could ramble over to knock on your door in the real world. He's very well-behaved and wouldn't ask for a scone of his own.

Our summer was fairly quiet, rainy, with lots of books read and garments knitted, lots a good meals cooked, and lots of love. With all of the hardship around, we feel fortunate. I am optimistic about the future...but then, I always am.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

If you say your title, "Call in for a ruminate!" really fast - it almost sounds like call in for a roomate. And I would love to be one - enjoying your beautiful views, your flowering bushes, your tea and scones, and above all a cozy, little chat.

Delightful post Weaver!

Grizz………… said...

When I call by for our tea and rumination, I'm afraid you will have to hear a bit of weather news. The summer hereabouts has been the coolest in my memory, with almost perfectly spaced rains. And this has suited me to a tee and made the season glorious and green and ideal for sleeping and growing plants, and therefore made me happy.

On top of which, the riverbank seems more interesting each day—doubtless because I learn more and more of its ways as the years roll along.

Since you asked, I'm not getting younger or healthier, but I'm holding my own and time passes us all equally…so no complaints.

I must say you have a lovely home and garden here, and I always enjoy visiting. And that would, I think, be the highlight summation of my year—that through the magic of blogging, I've made the acquaintance of such fine folks as yourself.

P.S. Great cheese scone!

Heather said...

Your garden is lovely Weaver and still has plenty of colour to enjoy. Mine has been disappointing this year and I think it needs replanning. The tea and scone went down a treat - thankyou - and I have had a good year really, apart from my ever present affliction of a lack of energy. I am constantly trying to work up enough of it to take more exercise!! September certainly seems to be trying to make up for July and August in our neck of the woods at least.

Lucy Corrander said...

I'm a bewildered moaner - but I can drink tea till the cows come home.

Speaking of whom - I get things wrong. (I was puzzled by your title - which I miss-read as 'Call in for a Ruminant!')

(That exclamation mark would have been well deserved!)

I think I'm like a Rambling Rector Rose - tough and all over the place, with bursts of fabulous blossoms which last for a while . . . then fall off. Like the Rambling Rector - I have to be cut back to size from time to time but in the autumn (and again in the spring) I push out with new energy and in new directions - but with my feet firmly in the same place.

The trouble is, I have a gluten intolerance so I wouldn't be able to eat your scones. Oh! how maddening! Wish I could sit and chat though!

Lucy

Hildred said...

A nice visit Weaver, - you have a lovely hospitable way about you!

Jinksy said...

Stand by for a barrage of knockers - at least in Blogland! (There must be a joke in there somewhere...?)

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

thank you for the invitation and do come over to me for a cup of tea and a piece of bara brith. It has been a good summer on the whole, with more time to myself than I have ever had before!

Anonymous said...

I will certainly stop by for a cheering cuppa
But will you have room for ALL OF US at once!?
Quite a large gang out there in Blogland.
Scones! yum!

A nice summer here
very wet and not too hot
in fact super and very pretty in September.

Loon said...

Lovely spot for a ruminate! Thanks for the invite. Hope to be able to return it. We're getting our short window of warm weather here on the foggy pacific coast. I'll have to share tea with you at the Pelican Inn in Muir Beach sometime--you'd be right at home. Happy Equinox from the Loon at loontoon.blogspot.com.

Totalfeckineejit said...

I'd love a cup of tea and a scone, Weaver, maybe followed by a glass of fruity whiskey while I mellow and relaxed take in the characterful plants in your lovely garden.Not the best of Summers is admittedly but a few good days to savour and salt away for the long marathon of dread winter.Let's hope, like your plants , that we're all still above ground this time next year ;) Any chance of another glass weaver before I go?

Golden West said...

I'd love to sit a spell with you on that wonderful garden bench and enjoy a cup of tea and a chat and take in the lovely views.

It's been a good year so far - much to be thankful for, good health in particular. I'm looking forward to a busy autumn. Christmas is always the highlight of the year, for which we prepare many months in advance, so we greet its arrival with great anticipation.

And visiting your blog has become a daily pleasure.

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Ooh - how lovely, Weaver - I'll have a hot chocolate please! Sitting on your garden bench ruminating (which I do very well!!) in the just-autumn sunshine would be lovely.

I've had a nextraordinary summer really - enhanced and made even more delightful by all my new bloggy friends. Some of my most ruminatory memories are of the fun waitering at the Gleeful & Greedy Restaurant - in fact most of my happy memories seem to involve good company and food!! Just like this afternoon in your garden - thank you Weaver!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Pondside - love the reference to the draught horse - I have a yoke fastened on the wall in my kitchen as a reminder of the hard work of the past!

Jane - glad your hands are getting better - it will be all stations go this winter.

Bonnie - thanks for coming to our tea party!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Scribe - thanks for calling Glad you enjoyed the cheese scone. Yes - like us all - tempus fugit and all that - the trouble is that one year older at our age means a dickens of a lot more than one year older in one's twenties!Heather - energy? That is a word that I had almost forgotten. If I wait for a surge of it I would be sitting all day!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lucy - nice of you to call again - shall pay you a return visit shortly. Sorry you couldn't have a scone though. I love Rambling Rector - one of my favourite roses - so if you have been like him this year then you are in good company.
Hildred - hope you enjoyed your visit.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Jinksy - if there is a joke in there I am sure you will find it with your wonderful, cheery sense of humour. Thanks for coming to tea.
Elizabeth - thanks for coming to tea - I love Bara Brith so shall be popping in to see you soon.
Yes Elizabeth in NY - good September here too - we deserve it after all the rain in Summer don't we.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for visiting, loon, nice to meet you. I shall pop over in a while and see you.
TFE as many glasses as you like - this years blackberry grog is maturing nicely and the sloes get riper every day - so help yourself.

Golden West - I bought my first present for Xhristmas this week, so it must be getting near.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Raph - good company and good food - what more could anyone wish for.

CHummelKornell said...

What a wonderful invitation. Sorry I missed the scones (I was out hiking with my husband). Your garden bench and array of beautiful (and willful) flowers are very peaceful. I love tea and cheese scones and do so enjoy your posts. Your blog is one of my daily highlights.

Oh, and the Farmer sounds like a wonderful man. His door turned out lovely. It makes it much more special that he has refinished it for you. Will look lovely with a holiday hanging this winter.

Margaret Gosden said...

I see a touch of Cezanne, there, with the knife on the plate!

Janice Thomson said...

It would have been a delight to sit and chat with you Weaver. I have so enjoyed your posts about a country I know little of. I would have asked so many questions...