Thursday, September 16, 2010

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY


DAFFODILS  !

You may think this is a strange thing to write about here on FTF.
It probably is...
but as a Baby Boomer who was born and educated in Queensland, I've spent my whole school life reading and studying about England.

Oh , we studied Australian history and literature  too - what there is of it.  Our country was, after all, only settled 230 years ago... ( and remembering I was at school 45 years ago - OMG !!!)

Anyway, our literature studies were full of images of daffodils !

Poems, stories.....

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

...........................................

I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing.

..................................................

So as an adult I always had a burning desire to go to England to see the daffodils!

In 2008 I finally got my wish and we flew off to England on the 1st of April - in time to see the daffodils!

Oh, I was not disappointed!






As we travelled around they were everywhere ....
and when I came upon these near Chipping Campden I was finally satisfied!


They were just as I had imagined.
  


  


Now I have my own little English daffodil preserved forever as a momento.
  
Cheers.

22 comments:

  1. Aren't Daffodils cheery? I can understand the allure of gardens full of them.

    One day when I start to like gardening and get the energy to tackles ours I'm going to do the random daffodil thing under all our trees.

    How did they get the daffodil in that ball. Is it resin?

    Thanks for sharing your FTF!

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  2. I don't think it's silly at all to post about daffodils for FTF. They're beautiful! When I lived in Kansas (and where I'll be living again soon) daffodils are a harbinger of spring. So happy!

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  3. They are beautiful spring flowers, aren't they? I'm glad you got to fulfill your wish to see them in England. Your photos are gorgeous.

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  4. Bright and beautiful is about all I can say for your favorite this week. :)

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  5. I can understand why they are a favourite Helen, they are such a cheery flower. I love your photos from England, they are stunning.

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  6. they are beautiful! i have never seen an actual one and i'm amazed how they can preserve it

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  7. Lovely Helsie - is that Stourhead in one of the photos? You'd love it here where I live as in spring the main roads nearest to our house are lined with them and I posted about them back in March. Have a good weekend.

    Jane

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  8. The first sign of Spring Daffodils are. Daffodils where I live have a strange phenomonen they are always out in the first week of January! This phenomonen has even made the national news in the past!
    Julie xxxxxxx

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  9. Always like daffodils, there are other flowers I like more, but they are a lovely site to see them in the garden.

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  10. You were'nt far from my old home when you were in Chipping Campden, about 1.5 hours drive.
    I absolutely loved the daffodil paperweight, wouldn't that cheer anyone up!

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  11. Helsie,
    beautiful post
    I had a bouquet from work for my 21st. I had one of the roses put in glass.
    Also when My husband travelled 20 miles on the bus to see me 30 odd years ago. I had two of the roses then put in glass. He carried them all the way, and by the time he got to mine they had started to wilter. bless him.
    Where did you have yours made?
    Just wondering!
    have a good weekend,
    love Suex

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  12. Great photos Helen - I love daffodils too and when I lived in NSW grew them in the lawn then just mowed them down when they finished flowering. My hubby doesn't like them as he went to boarding school in the Blue mountains and was required to spend many a weekend roadside selling daffodils from the school grounds!!LOL

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  13. What a great keepsake. I love daffodils too, there's nothing more cheery than a bank of them. Have a lovely weekend x

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  14. What a sweet post! While I can appreciate them, Daffodils and I have a sordid past. The first year I moved into my current home, the Daffodils were all abloom around the house and yard. Then, the chipmunks came to live. I swear they moved every blasted bulb over the Winter. I never know where a Daffodil is going to pop up each new Spring. It kinda makes me crazy. :o) You've given me a new appreciation for their beauty though. Visiting from FTF. Thanks for sharing. Happy Friday! Larri at SeamsInspired

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  15. Oh, they are beautiful... I feel that way about daisies... I dont get to see them here, And my deepest wish is to get a huge bouquest of them from someone... I can so understand how you feel!!!
    Cheers from India
    Shruti

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  16. Hi, pleased to meet you. Wordsworth apparantly got the inspiration for this poem not far away from us in the lake District - a lovely part of the country. We live in Yorkshire, cold today!

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  17. I love daffs, they are the happiest flower. They are part of my happy place and are one of the two only good things that grow in my garden. Along with a few bluebells in the spring they make me very happy. Then the weeds take over again!

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  18. Beautiful photos of England!

    "A golden row of daffodils shone, Maggie and danced like the leaves on the breeze"

    That's what your photos remind me of - a beautiful song...

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  19. They are a lovely sight to behold :-)

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  20. I love daffodils too, so cheery and bright after a long winter.
    Thanks for visiting my blog again, to answer your question brambles are what we call blackberries round here. I'm going to take a pannier with me tomorrow and collect some more while I'm out on my bike.
    Have a good weekend!
    Anne.

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  21. Lovely post. Daffodils are a type of narcissus, really (but you probably knew that already).

    If you ever get to the U.S. of A., the town of Puyallup, Washington, near Seattle, has fields and fields of daffodils in the spring, as they are grown there commercially.

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  22. Daffodils have always been my favourite flower and that first photo is one beautiful bunch of them. Pity I was never able to get them to grow successfully cause it just wasn't cold enough.
    My dream is to see them in Tassie! I know there are native fields of them - I have seen photos ☺

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