Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Golden Apples of the Sun


In honour of Amy and her wonderful blogging of a poem a day, I thought I would share one of my favourites, by W B Yeats.

I love Yeats' work and visited his grave when we were in Ireland - forcing the Accountant to drive miles out of our way so I could go there.

The Song of Wandering Aengus


I WENT out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.


Of course, the `golden apples' of mythology were thought to be quinces, which came from possibly Persia, and perhaps even further afield. The picture above is of our quinces, just now ready for picking. In fact, just after I took this, I picked them and baked them with port, white wine, a cinnamon stick and some honey (and a little water) and we ate them with clotted cream. Yum!

I decided to give the Knitlotto tm a miss for a few days after I finished the Lighthouse Gansey socks (and told Anne Hanson of Knitspot how much I liked them - she says she may be coming up with some more gansey type sock patterns) and monogamously knitted on these.




These took 6 days - can you believe it! They are BlackRose socks from Knitty.com, and inspired by how gorgeous Bells' were, I cast on some Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR in Thraven. The bottom pic shows the colour better, I think. These were such fun to knit and grew so fast because I would be waiting for something or standing still for a few minutes and think`Oh, I could do a quick pattern repeat'' and I would. It was also Easter and not much was going on, so I could actually knit a bit during the day!

They were a lovely knit, perfectly matched to the yarn and I may make some more because I loved them so much!

In other news, I have organised my flights and accommodation to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show, so I now, with Zephyrama, the Knightly Knitter and Donyale, form part of the Hustler Street Posse (Hustler St is the address of our house in Bendi). So exciting!

This morning there was a mammoth storm, with wind gusts of up to 114kmh (that's 70mph in the old money) and much lightning and thunder. And rain. Lot and lots of rain. This is the first decent rain for a long time and the first thunderstorm. There are likely to be one or two more before winter.

We have had Easter and I did eat some chocloate, but was reasonably restrained. We took the kids to the nearby National Park, Narawntapu, and visited the bird hide which is usually on a lagoon, but there is no lagoon. Hopefully, some reasonable winter rain will bring back the lagoon and swamps. Currently, kangaroos are grazing where the lagoon usually is.

We were lucky enough to be there for a snake demonstration and talk. Tasmania has only three types of snake, all venomous and occasionally difficult to tell from each other. In fact, if you are close enough to undertake accurate identification of species (from a single scale between the eyes) you are almost cetainly too close.

The Tiger snake is the 4th most venomous snake in the world and the Copperhead the 10th, but the White lipped snake is small (and just as venomous). Tasmanian snakes should be treated with great respect. They are also protected, but killed nontheless.

It is only 10 days now until I finish work. I have lots of plans, and am quite looking forward to my approaching unemployment. I have decided to try and have spinning and sewing days once a week, and to do some small moves towards further decluttering, and making the house look less like a bomb site and more like a place where people can actually live, and find their possessions!

Off to play snap with Destructoboy, and attempt to wrangle him into some clothes....

14 comments:

Rose Red said...

The blackrose socks are fab! Now I want to make them immediately - but I'd better finish at least 1 of the 3 pairs I've currently got on the sticks!!

Oh, I hope your upcoming plans include a little entertaining in May...I've finally booked flights!! will email you...

Oh, and that is a great poem, by the way - thank you for sharing.

frog ponds rock... said...

It is still raining here but i am nice and cosy with the fire going and chicken soup bubbling away on the woodheater mmm... I like the socks. Each time I look at something you have knitted I am very tempted to try to knit something myself.Then common sense prevails and I go and play in the mud instead. cheers Kim

Leonie said...

Cool socks.

Have you made quince jam? Friends of ours used to every year and it was lovely.

Bendigo sounds like it is going to be full of bloggers this year!

2paw said...

Good sock suggestion and I love that you are in a Gang!!! I like 'The Second Coming' myself.
What myriad joys await you in your enforced retirement. Glad a Happy Easter was had by all!!!

MadMad said...

I miss quinces so much, from back in the olden days... love the socks, too! Glad you had a peaceful Easter holiday!

amy said...

Thank you for the poem! And isn't making plans almost as fun as carrying them out? I am calling restaurants in Northampton today (home of WEBS) to see if I can make reservations for Mother's Day, because I am running away for mother's day this year--with my family, of course!

Bells said...

You have your very own quinces? Oh how I envy you.

My blackrose socks are nearly done. Seeing yours finished is a huge impetus to get mine done.

Alwen said...

70 mph winds, whew! The last time we had winds like that, our metal storage shed blew away into the trees.

Love the Blackrose socks. We have a flowering quince, but it usually blooms so early that nothing pollinates it.

Gae, in Callala Bay said...

Quinces: Go to the Cook and the Chef website and look up Maggie Beer's recipe for Savoury Quince Jelly. A bit of extra trouble, but the result is wonderful.

Gae, in Callala Bay

Jan said...

Quinces? Yummy and as for the beautiful aroma which spreads everywhere as they cook... I'm nostalgic for my mum's house in the mountains. She had quinces there. What I can buy down here often needs large bits cut out and the quality is yuk.

DrK said...

yeats and blackroses in the same post. very good taste, in socks and poets. i bet you will make those quinces into something tasty too!

Amy Lane said...

The poem was lovely--and I adore Yeats myself! And as for your Easter--WOW--the snake talk? Freaky! (We've only got one venomous snake hereabouts-- rattlesnakes--they've got a bad rep but at least they come with a built in alarm.)

The socks are awesome--and I'm starting to think about monogamous knitting myself... the dating pool gets a bit tedious after a bit.

Donna Lee said...

Are quinces like pears? I don't think I've seen any around here. They look like pears to me.

I am still spinning the yarn for my blackrose socks. I love that pattern and would like to start soon. Too many things at once!

Melinda said...

Beautiful poem! Very atmospheric. I like your idea about an asparagus and rhubarb bed