Saturday 3 November 2012

Post-Haste

          I've got to be brief this week, as I'm the middle of various work deadlines, and also, am not feeling too well. Like a lot of other people, I've a bit of a cold, a bit of sore throat, bit of headache... And it's Davy's birthday meal-out this weekend, too, so I'm saving myself for that.
          First, I'd like to share this short film with you. I've copied it from YouTube, where it was posted by the BBC Wildlife Trust, but it was filmed and sent to the BBC by a friend of mine. I'm not saying where it was filmed, for fear that government sharp-shooters get to hear of it, but it was somewhere in the deep, dark depths of the West Midlands concrete wilderness.


So there's hope that even if the government stupidly persist in killing one of our oldest native species, despite very little evidence that doing so will stop the spread of TB in cattle, badgers will simply join foxes in our backgardens. This one already co-exists with a family of foxes and several cats.

          And then there's this lad:- 



 Not the best photo, I admit. He now has a frost nibbled maple leaf in his crown - an English maple, Joan, sorry - and oak leaves sprouting from the corners of his mouth in best Green Man style. A bird of a species unknown to science has built a nest against his right cheek. There will be eggs in it, but at the moment the glue's still drying and I don't want to add extra weight.
          I spend as much time looking at him and thinking as I do adding anything. I'm thinking: apple-blossom above the nest, and an apple against his left cheek, opposite the nest. Too obvious? Maybe. But then, the seasons are pretty obvious. Not much point trying to be original about them.
          As soon as I get my hands on some paint - couldn't find any in my local poundstore, Madwippet - I'll add some colour, just to make it easier to tell what I'm doing.


 


 

6 comments:

Joan Lennon said...

The Green Man is FABULOUS!!!!!

madwippitt said...

The Green Man is coming along well! As well as seasonal, don't forget that many plants have symbolic associations in folkore and tradition too - oak represents strength, apple = magic and hapiness, rowan - good luck and protection, cherry blossom (admittedly Japanese rather than English) = mortality and the transient nature of life. So you can also pick leaves to express all sorts of thoughts ...

Lovely to see the badger. There is evidence to suggest that it is the cattle which infect the badgers rather than the other way round: and that the cows then spread it to others because they are transported all over the place whereas badgers tend to largely stay put unless disturbed by the morons who decide it would be a good idea to cull them. Thank goodness there's a stay of execution at the moment.

Susan Price said...

Thanks, Joan. It is encouraging to feel that the Green Yin has a fan.
I was thinking of the symbolic aspects, Madwippit - with folklore coming out of my ears, I could hardly avoid it. That's one reason I wanted to put an apple in - the folkloric resonances of apples go on and on for ever. Rowan, yes, I'd thought of Rowan - keeps the witches from their speed - but I think I'd find constructing Rowan a challenge. Still pondering your suggestion of drying things. Oak is not only strength, but Thor's symbol.
Yew! Could I include yew? Ash and Elm should be in there too (man and woman were made from Ash and Elm). And can't have holly without ivy...

Susan Price said...

Barley too. Barley in his beard.

madwippitt said...

Maybe you need several Green Men otherwise he might choke on his own foliage ... :-))))))

Jenny Alexander said...

He's looking gooooood! Can't wait for colour now!!