Saturday, April 23, 2011

lovage, organ, dry






















Visitor on lovage  leaf. It is at this time of year that I usually plan and then don't get round to making soup from this herb which taste strongly celery.

Parked in Berkeley Road is a handsome blue van which declares that it belongs to Martin K Cross Church Organ Builders of Grays Essex. The thought of church organs inspires hope and pleasure.  As I pass the van I imagine their resonance. Mozart called the organ king of instruments. But all I can hear in my mind as I walk on J S Bach's No 1 hit, the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

 Despite the thunder in the distance, Mrs Plutarch is watering the potted plants and the newly sown patches of grass seed. There has been no rain for weeks. I think of Jean de Florette waiting for the rain on his remote Provencal farm where his carnation crop is about to collapse for want of water. The sky darkens. Thunder rolls.Jean (in the person of Gérard Dépardieu) and his family rush out to welcome the rain but the clouds pass overhead on their way to the next valley.  It is like that today, only not as desperate. Not nearly as desperate.
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3 comments:

CC said...

Like your Lovage leaf with Ladybug.

Hadn't thought of Jean de Florette for ages.
One of my favorite films ever with the sequel, Manon des Sources.

Lucy said...

1)Lovage is at its most handsome just now, it gets rather ramshackle later. We planted it to provide the always welcome celery element in chicken stock - a staple of my existence, but I too usually don't get around to using it. In fact I find it's really a bit too strong in flavour anyway.

2) Otherwise known as Vincent Price's theme tune!

3) I've had the book on the shelf waiting to be read for ages, I did like the films. Perhaps time to seek them out on DVD...

Roderick Robinson said...

One problem with organs to my untutored ear: they never sound rhythmic.