In our 'hen area' at the end of the garden we have a very old damson tree. On a fairly regular basis large branches fall off it so it never ceases to amaze me when the blossom reappears early in the spring. Damsons feature right on the edges of my first memories due to a very scary old lady neighbour of my parents called Mrs Fazakerley. She used to tell us, 'Tell your dad to come and pick my damsons.' And my dad would go and spend the afternoon picking her damsons, without any thanks and not even a cup of tea. She would later call over the fence to my terrified big sister, hand her a bag of damsons and say, 'Tell your mother to make me a pie.' And of course my mother did because they were different times and Mrs Fazakerley was very old. I do remember her muttering that it wouldn't actually kill Mrs Fazakerly to hand over some of the booty so that she could make a pie for us!! Sadly I don't like them so they all go to the hens...
Three good things:
1. The days are getting longer if not actually warmer.
2. I'm reading an interesting new book on how parents nurture children who are different in some way.
3. The Archbishop of Canterbury enthronement sounds interesting on the wireless.
Good story - 'Mrs Fazakerley' is surely a name straight out of a Dickens novel and not a real one! We had 10 damson trees in our garden when I was little - that was a lot of jam that got made every year!
Loverly focus, a hint of spring. Unfortnately unless this weather improves you will have no damsons this summer. The bees are certainly not out pollinating (wise things). My neighbour has a damson tree and made about 20 pots of damson chutney, she gave a bag to me and when I cut them open EVERY single one had a maggot in it. I had to tell her and her face just dropped - I guess the chutney is still on the shelf!
oh i love your story, can actually picture her and Damson always make me think of my child hood too we used to scrump them and yup we had a old girl over the road old Dot mad as a hatter
I would think that the thought of Mrs Fazackerley would taint damsons forever for anybody...bad vibes !!! It was my job to pick the damsons at our other farm & really you took your life in your hands....the trees were so brittle & you were always frightened of the ladder slipping!
Love;y to see the blossom though, none up here yet & of course the Lythe Valley in southern Lakeland is damson country.
Harry loves homemade damson jam but he doesn't get it!!
Lovely picture and I enjoyed your damsony anecdote. Unlikely name though it is, I do know a family rejoicing in a name phonetically identical, if spelt differently. They've never required me to make them any pies, though.
oo well done on getting a perfectly focussed shot on such a windy day. I had a friend as a kid called Ian Fazakerly. Faz for short. why do I have the feeling that he died young? Can't remember why now...
I love our shot. And I enjoyed your story about the aptly named Mrs Fazakerly. We have a wild damson tree but it's very tall and overhangs the stream so we never get anything from it. Shall you tell the title of the book, please?
This is beautiful Judith and a Fav. My mother used to make damson pies for us when we were children because we had damson trees in our garden. I loved the pies but you don't very often see damsons these days!
We're have your damsons - make fabulous jam. But this poor blossom is going to suffer this coming week. We put up plum moth traps. They have a pheromone that attracts the adults to a sticky end. Catches hundreds :)
The answer my dear is damson gin.......now that IS delicious!!! Sounds a really scary neighbour .......really leaves an impression on a youngster.......beautiful focus and actually a gorgeous shot...deserves a fav!!
Lovely blossoms -- spring may yet arrive this year!
Of course the shot was made even better by your story. What would our childhoods have been like without odd neighbors and relatives? People today are just far too conformist!!
@happypat I will Pat if the bees come out .... Good point @tishpics and snow forecast for the weekend won't help. What joy - and the temperature reaching the dizzy heights of 5C by Weds. Doesn't seem like Easter - last year all my flowering currant was out.
Wonderful photo and story! All the buds and blooms are in focus. We had grumpy elderly neighbors as a child and we lived in fear of sending a ball into their yard.
this is so beautiful Judith, it is captured so well. and what a great story, we had a neighbor like this as well, but she was very nice and gentle, looking back she was probably not much older that me but had a very hard life.
Great shot! Had to google damson...not an Amercian variety. I can't believe you have flowering trees already - we are still under inches of snow and it's cold. Bleah. Keep the spring pictures coming!!!
A gorgeous spring shot. Looks like spring is underway there, I hope it's journey North doesn't take too much longer. I hope you're having better weather down there for the poor old bees to get around or there won't be any damsons for the hens!
@quietpurplehaze It's 'Far from the tree' by Andrew Solomon. A hefty tome literally & metaphorically. Makes some v interesting points though I don't know how I'll feel after 700 pages!
Very lovely. Spring hasn't quite sprung yet here in the north. We nearly have daffodils, but that's it. I LOVE damsons, wish I lived a bit nearer you!!
This is a beautiful shot. We have an old fallen down but sprouted again from the base damson tree in our chicken run too - coincidence eh? I use them for jam, chutney and damson gin
What a waste!!!!! to the hens!!!!!!!! My mum makes the very best Damson Juicy jam (runs all over the place and needs mopping up) and Damson cheese ( behaves very nicely).....and we don't have them here!!!!! Absolutely terrific shot ( wouldn't have been that nice with sun and blue skies!!!!)Fav!
Love;y to see the blossom though, none up here yet & of course the Lythe Valley in southern Lakeland is damson country.
Harry loves homemade damson jam but he doesn't get it!!
great to see your 3 goodly things still happening.
very nice sharp focus and lucky hens.
Of course the shot was made even better by your story. What would our childhoods have been like without odd neighbors and relatives? People today are just far too conformist!!
Colonel Fazakerly Butterworth-Toast
Bought an old castle complete with a ghost... It goes on a bit - quite a big bit.