Sunday 9 February 2014

If a snowdrop can come through the frozen earth, I can be persistent too - and write again.

Britta Huegel

Yesterday I started to clean up our balcony. 
"What? You did what?" gasped a friend of mine. "That's way too early!" Maybe. 
But the weather was fine. I don't want to insult true Berlin-born inhabitants, but we had a blue-white Bavarian sky smiling down on us. No snow, temperatures about +5°C - and a weatherforecast that predicts it will remain so for some time. 
I longed to have my tiny little slice of nature back! Had looked long enough on opaque blister foile which did its job, but wasn't beautiful. 
So I lifted the veil. 
AH! The scarlet blossoms of the Chinese quince have survived! Bliss! And, and, and... 
This winter I did a lot of hard thinking. 
- 1. I saw that a lot of people still read my blog, although I haven't written since November. 
- 2. I told myself that it is absolutely ridiculous that I feel like an imposter - because my garden is (still)  in Hildesheim, but I am in Berlin. So what? Can I still 'publish' some of the texts I wrote there? You bet! All fiction is - fiction. Though my garden-fiction has real roots - to stay in the garden metaphor. Might see those texts as a sort of seed. 
- 3. Balcony alone is not enough. But I hate it when people always moan about what they don't have. I have so much: in Berlin and elsewhere I'm showered with botany. 
So I decided: 
        a) I will tell you about the plants on my balcony - hence the  snowdrop, which I will deal with in the next post - hopefully to amuse you and enrich your knowledge - though it might well be that you will enrich mine - you are oh so welcome to comment!  
        b) I will try to add my own photographs 
        c) and sometimes add quotes and poems of real poets  
        d) and - when I find them (and am allowed to take a picture)                 show you how painters and artists saw the flower. 
        d) and give you tips on beautiful gardens and parks -                           Germany and Great Britain, or As My Wimsey Takes Me, meaning wherever I choose to go. 
Sounds good? 
I will write (about) every second week. 
This way I can further indulge in my love to flowers, plants, and botany - and we can exchange our experiences. 
I know that contrary to the common prejudice gardeners like to talk. At least those in blogland. 
So let's start! 



6 comments:

  1. That sounds like just the sort of thing I want to read, Britta. Real life - no matter how small the garden - intrigues me. I'll always be drawn more to the small blog with original photos, original thoughts than to the glossy borrowed-from-everywhere-else blogs that proliferate in Blogdom.
    Waiting for the next one.............

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  2. Dear Pondside,
    I will make an effort! I also often wonder in blogdom how big the wardrobes of some people must be :-) Though I have to confess that I often saw my garden in much brighter light than some visitors, though I excuse that with the 'eye of love'.

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  3. Dear Sidney Shop Girl,
    I'm sifting through books! You won't have to wait long.

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  4. Oh Britta... Would love to hear about your balcony garden, your surroundings in Berlin, and whatever lovelies you might encounter in your travels. Totally agree with Pondside...enjoy the smaller blogs with original photos! More, please!

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  5. Dear Susan,
    such a nice surprise this morning when I opened my blog and found your comment! And your link to Google +. Thank you! At the moment I try to find out how to use the time for blogging - and which one of my blogs gives me more satisfaction - gardening (even in a very small style) definitely does. So I'll hop around between them :-)

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