10.10 a.m., 52°F, 12°C; sun filtered through a high veil of cirrostratus: This bindweed escaped from the hedge and started climbing the golden hornet crab apple. Hopefully in the new year I’ll be more consistent in pulling the strands of bindweed out of the hedge as they appear.
This is hedge bindweed, Calystegia sepium, the species with the large white trumpet-shaped flowers. We’ve fought a successful battle against its smaller relative field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, in the front garden where it was spreading over the flower bed, the lawn and the pavement, simply by mowing it and cutting it back over the years.
As I draw, a robin and a dunnock hop about in the hedge and a chirruping rabble of sparrows erupts into the branches of the crab apple above me.
The crab apple looks at its worst at this time of the year; all the apples have turned to squishy brown pulp.
Your art and reflections are so gentle and observant in the spirit of Frederick Franck and his seeing-drawing.
I am pleased to continue to receive your notes about blog updates.
I first browsed through a copy of ‘The Zen of Seeing’ in c. 19787/8, in W H Smiths in Huddersfield, and later decided I must buy a copy, so I cycled into Wakefield – they didn’t have it there – so I cycled back home but as I passed the end of the road thought, I really need a copy so I cycled on to Huddersfield – a 28 mile round trip! My bicycle had only one gear on it and there are some long, long hills on the way. It was worth it, I’ve kept re-reading it over the years and the binding is coming apart now.
It’s a gem of a book, well worth those hard earned biking miles. As a person who gets about by bike most of the time and as someone who sketches and loves Franck’s art and Way your story is pitch perfect.
I once met Dan Price (Moonlight Chronicles) and he said that he called on Franck at Warwick but Claske wouldn’t let him disturb the great man. She said that he was tired and she suggested that Dan call back the next day. Dan regretted that he didn’t change his plans and call back.