Algy was thrilled to discover a large and magnificent rhododendron in a shady woodland area of the garden. He found himself a comfortable perch in the handsome bush, and remained there for some time, gazing at the wonderful deep red flowers…

Algy hopes you will all have a happy weekend, filled with beautiful flowers 🙂

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The garden was full of beautiful rhododendrons and azaleas, in a dazzling array of colours which glowed in the bright spring sunshine. Algy was entranced, and he moved slowly round from one bush to another, inspecting each lovely flower as though he were a bee…

Algy left the ancient oak wood and flew inland, in search of a beautiful garden that he often visited in the late spring. Arriving in the early evening, he settled down to rest in a warm patch of sunlight under the trees, where bluebells grew wild among the grasses and ferns.

Algy perched on the roof of a wee stone bird table, close to a pretty mauve azalea, and gazed at the garden around him. In the distance, massive, ancient oak trees towered over the rhododendrons, while closer to his perch there were several huge, exotic conifers reaching high into the sky. But at the lower level, close to the ground, there was a bright sea of fresh green and colourful flowers, with no disturbance except the flitting of birds among the bushes. It was so peaceful in the garden; Algy could hear no noise except the trickling of a burn and the sweet sound of birdsong. He was reminded of the opening verses of an old poem:

How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays,
And their uncessant labours see
Crown’d from some single herb or tree,
Whose short and narrow-verged shade
Does prudently their toils upbraid;
While all the flowers and trees do close
To weave the garlands of repose!

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence thy sister dear?
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men:
Your sacred plants, if here below,
Only among the plants will grow:
Society is all but rude
To this delicious solitude.

No white nor red was ever seen
So amorous as this lovely green.
Fond lovers, cruel as their flame,
Cut in these trees their mistress’ name:
Little, alas! they know or heed
How far these beauties hers exceed!
Fair trees! wheres’e’er your barks I wound,
No name shall but your own be found.

[Algy is quoting the opening verses of the poem Thoughts in a Garden by the 17th century English poet Andrew Marvell.]

The garden was very beautiful, especially in the spring, and it was sheltered from the strong winds that constantly battered his home on the exposed coast. Algy flew around happily, exploring all the different areas. In one peaceful spot he discovered a strange, huge metal urn, and perched on its rim for a while, looking at the flowers and spring leaves, and listening to the smaller birds singing in the trees and bushes around him.

Algy was getting fed up with waiting around while his assistant finished the production work on his book. She was too busy to assist him with his adventures, and the weather was dreadful too: it was cold, wet and windy, and spring still hadn’t fully sprung. It really wasn’t any fun at all.

So Algy decided to go in search of some bright flowers to cheer himself up. He flew over to an old garden that he knew, where – despite the weather – there were many beautiful azaleas and rhododendrons in bloom. Perching in a tree beside one of the most fragrant azaleas, he was thrilled when a moment’s sunshine lit up the flowers.

Algy hopes that moments of sunshine will brighten your weekend too, even if the weather is gloomy where you are 🙂 Have a happy, relaxing weekend, everybody xoxo

The West Highlands were enjoying an unusually warm spell of autumn weather, and Algy felt comfortably lazy. As he was flying around his friends’ garden, he spotted an invitingly vacant deck chair, so he decided to take advantage of it while no-one was looking. He settled down in the soft sunshine with one of his favourite volumes of verse, but he just couldn’t seem to find the poem he was looking for…

Have a wonderful, peaceful and relaxing weekend, everybody :-))

Suddenly, there was a burst of vibrant colour in his friends’ West HIghland garden. Algy was intrigued by a large clump containing many tall spikes of red flowers. He climbed gently into the middle of the flowers and sniffed to see whether they had any perfume. A-tishoo! … A-tishoo! … Oh! The flowers smelled just like pepper!

It was also lilac time in his friends’ garden, and Algy loves lilacs perhaps best of all the flowering shrubs. So he settled himself among the lovely pannicles of flowers and dozed off contentedly in the bright sunshine, drinking in the heady lilac scent. Some lines from T. S. Eliot’s poem Portrait of a Lady drifted through his mind:

          Now that lilacs are in bloom
          She has a bowl of lilacs in her room
          And twists one in her fingers while she talks.
          “Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know
          What life is, you who hold it in your hands”;
          (Slowly twisting the lilac stalks)
         “You let it flow from you, you let it flow,
          And youth is cruel, and has no remorse
          And smiles at situations which it cannot see.”
          I smile, of course,
          And go on drinking tea.
          “Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall
          My buried life, and Paris in the Spring,
          I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world
          To be wonderful and youthful, after all.”

[Algy is thinking of the first stanza in part II of Portrait of a Lady by T. S. Eliot.]

It was azalea time in Algy’s friends’ West Highland garden, and Algy was utterly entranced. Not only were the flowers beautiful to look at, but their perfume in the early evening was just heavenly. He could hardly bear to tear himself away to look at the other flowers in the garden …