Far From the Madding Crowd: January 2013

Thursday, 31 January 2013

Snowdrops

Snowdrops, a photo by Linda Yarrow on Flickr.

Snowdrops in my garden. These little beauties are like jewels in a crown, shining brightly despite what the weather has thrown at them. I have several in my garden and each year I add new ones. They are all flowering even those whose bulbs I accidentally dug up during the summer and replanted them else where in the garden.

My Blog

I have taken the title of my blog from Thomas Hardy's fourth novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' which he wrote in 1874. He took his title from Thomas Gray's poem 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' completed in 1750. Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset where he lived for most of his life and where he based the stories in his novels. The word 'madding' means frenzied and there is a sense of freedom I get being out in the countryside and being close to nature away from the frenzied atmosphere of the towns and cities. I live in Dorset and like Thomas Hardy, it is where I have lived for most of my life, my blog is mostly about nature in Dorset. I am a member of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I will include my garden and anything of interest about the natural world in Britain.