Still Life With Daffodils

Who can fail to be cheered by the sight of daffodils gracing a table or window sill? They are the golden harbingers of a spring which will come soon enough ;they give us hope that these dark cold winter’s days will not last for ever, light and colour will come back into our lives in a few weeks. The Orkney poet George Mackay Brown described daffodils  in one of his poems as ‘shawled Marys’ and that exactly how they look as the blooms emerge from their protective sheaths.

How arctic the air was this morning as I made my way to the Ivy to meet my school friend for our monthly coffee with chat. My hat had been left at home which was a big mistake so I was delighted to find a warm welcome in the restaurant. It being January it was relatively quiet and maybe that was the reason we were issued with refills of coffee and toast without asking.

Once home, no lunch was required and I could sew in the sitting room with the sun blazing through the south facing windows. The Princess and the Pea seemed more than happy to turn their faces to the sun and grow apace. Princess’s tap root has grown so long it has inveigled its way  through one of the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot she grows in which must mean it’s too small and I will need to repot her. I imagine that the operation will be tricky to do so that the roots are not damaged; Princess might die on the operating table and that would be a sad ending for her and for me.