Sunday 2 September 2007

My garden is Mordor on a bad day

Okay, so I've posted a few pretty pics of the multitude of photogenic wildlife in my two and a half acres. But it isn't always sunshine and the scent of honeysuckle here - oh no! Often the place drives me mad and I wonder why I'm bothering to stick it out when I could be in a nice normal house where Pizza Hut delivers and I can walk out for a coffee.

I was re-reading Lord of the Rings last winter (a nice wintery evening thing to be doing) and I came across this passage in The Return of the King. I am now convinced that J.R.R. Tolkien must have been on holiday near here when he was writing this bit of the book because it is spot-on:
Upon its outer margins under the westward mountains...was a dying land, but it was not yet dead. And here things still grew, harsh, twisted, bitter, struggling for life. In the glens...on the other side of the valley low scrubby trees lurked and clung, coarse grey grass-tussocks fought with the stones, and withered mosses crawled on them; and everywhere great writhing, tangled brambles sprawled. Some had long stabbing thorns, some hooked barbs that rent like knives. The sullen shrivelled leaves of a past year hung on them, grating and rattling in the sad airs, but their maggot-ridden buds were only just opening. Flies, dun or grey, or black marked like orcs with a red eye-shaped blotch, buzzed and stung; and above the briar-thickets clouds of hungry midges danced and reeled.
Do you get the feeling that he was having his revenge on some ghastly holiday? I bet it was near here!

4 comments:

Wild Flora said...

Dearest Puddock, like your eponymous friend, you can be hard to find. Did you know that your profile doesn't have any of your blogs listed on it? When you left a comment on my blog, I tried to find you by clicking through to your profile and ... you had hopped off the lilypad.
As for your land, dear Puddock, I'm sure it's swell. Of course, I could probably have found something to love about Mordor, too, but why not? Maybe you will return to the land of pizza and coffee and maybe not, but don't forget that land does take care of itself.

Wild Flora said...

Oh, wait, I meant to tell you that I have a Wild Gardeners group on Facebook now. We have only 5 members, but one of us is from Norway so we're very cosmopolitan. Facebook is highly disconcerting (at least I find it so) but worth checking out, so come visit us.

Puddock said...

Thanks FLora. I didn't realise my blogs weren't showing up on my profile - they are now!

McQuade's two and a half acres said...

Wow, My husband and I were just enjoying watching, Fellowship of the Ring to comfort us on a cold winter night at -25. I was wanting some inspiration or even just a glimpse of beauty from the Shire. I'm in love with the Hobbits life and habitat.