Froth of gold

I could hardly believe my eyes: cowslips are something of a rarity now but here were two fields carpeted in them. They were one of the commonest late spring flowers until changes in farming practices put paid to the traditional pasture. The name cowslip (one of many by which the flower was known) comes from the slops or pats among which it bloomed.

Shakespeare mentioned cowslips several times, notably in Ariel's song in The Tempest,
Where the bee sucks there suck I
In a cowslip's bell I lie
[In the original orthography the 's' resembled an 'f''...]

It appears in Midsummer Night's Dream too when a junior fairy explains
I serve the Fairy Queen
To dew her orb upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

In the next field a couple of shy donkeys grazed knee deep in yellow froth with the carmine spikes of early purple orchids too, however I could not congratulate the land owner on his conservation: he is excessively proprietorial and has already marked me down as intrusive. The knowledge that I had been there would have had him frothing at the mouth.

No time for comments I'm afraid : it's been a busy day and after supper we watched The Master, an absorbing if enigmatic film.