Barendina Smedley

Here's my new uncanny tale — the title is A May Day Story #more-6479" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newsfromnorfolk.uk/2026/03/13/a-m…

My copy arrived early, so I've now very nearly finished reading this. I can confirm that it's a fascinating, generous, thought-provoking book — one of those rare things, a scholarly work that also makes our world seem even richer and more wonderful than it did before.

@CleoB4 I agree - or at least, cats certainly know that, so I expect dogs do, too. Even cats that are pretty wild will sometimes become very tractable when they understand - correctly - that a person cares about them and is really trying to help. Well done for being so kind!

@fugitiveink He was a character, we missed him when he went home. I think they can sense where they will be safe, he wasn’t the only stray to find a way to our door!

Claude the cat sometimes has a slightly apologetic air, as if he's not quite sure whether he's doing the right thing. Claude, I am always glad to have your company!

@rosamund2606 It's really beautiful seeing the blue and white versions together. We have one spot here — near an old mulberry tree — where that happens, but for some reason they aren't out here yet. I should really plant some more as they are just so delightful.

@fugitiveink Beautiful harbinger of spring. I planted both blue and white ones in my little woodland garden and seeing them appear gives me great joy.

Anemone blanda is hardly the most exotic plant, or the most spectacular, but for some reason it always delights me to see these little blue flowers shining like tiny brilliant stars amid the fallen leaves of the beech wood

@AdamPollock Enviable Durham (?) Cathedral mug there — I didn't realise that Matthew Rice had designed a cathedral mug! Absolutely gorgeous.

Proper dinner tonight None of that foreign muck

@MartinCald77022 Beautifully expressed, Martin.

@fugitiveink Every year it happens, and yet it still feels sublime. The drab, grey grip of winter loosens, and from once-frozen, lifeless, soil emerge fragile, vibrant shoots of life. Their quiet persistence never fails to work its magic, just as it has throughout the ages.

@pgoodfellow He really is very sweet - a gentle giant, big and handsome but also very diffident.

@fugitiveink I've never even heard of Alexander plants before -- we don't have them here in Canada. It is the turn of Claude's ears, along with the set of his chin, that makes Claude seem as if he is questioning things. He seems very sweet.

@themellowing I agree!

@fugitiveink Claude is beautiful

@KenWargames So do we!

@fugitiveink I like Claude!

@CleoB4 He sounds rather lovely - I’m glad you were able to give him a safe place to stay until his impromptu holiday was over and he went back home again!

@fugitiveink We once had a Claude (our name for him), temporarily. A stray dog (small, black, long legs and small thin body). He turned up on our doorstep and would not leave. The rest of our menagerie accepted him. After about 5 days we managed to find his real home, just round the corner!

@SimoninSuffolk Yes! I'm quite happy just grazing on the shoots as I wander around the garden at this time of year — rather like a low-key but more fragrant celery, they are delicious even without the steaming process (although later on, that's obviously an improvement).

@fugitiveink And you can eat every single part of them. Steamed young alexanders stems are like a cross between celery and fennel, and melt in the mouth. The Romans had the right idea.

@suemacduff Thank you —  I hope that your spring turns up soon — I am sure it will, eventually.

@fugitiveink What a beautiful picture- I envy your green spring - it’s still brown and dry here

@SimoninSuffolk You're absolutely right about the alexanders — and I also love the way the flowering stalks honestly seem to grow a few inches every day at this time of year. That, and their strange aniseed smell, which now of course afflicts Claude, too!

@fugitiveink Is there anything more beautiful than the green of alexanders at this time in the year? He obviously knows the best place to sit to show him at his best!

@mrupertdermody @MercerCait Haha yes, that's an important distinction to make!

@MercerCait @fugitiveink Henri. Not Jean-Jaques😉

@robertemit2 True, that.

@fugitiveink Strangely in and out of his element.

@SallySmith_pdx I agree — and he's got the sweetest temperament, too.

@fugitiveink What a handsome boy!

@MercerCait Ha, lovely idea!

@fugitiveink Norfolk’s version of Rousseau’s tiger!

@AnthonyGri10669 @guardian I’d never been until earlier this week, but like you, that Guardian piece persuaded me. The chocolate and pistachio croissant was very good! (Just as well that it was an act of aggression rather than a pastry as otherwise it might have been rather calorific too.)

Just been to Gail’s for a pastry. I’ve never been to one before, but since @guardian told me I mustn’t go, I just had to do it.

@HiddenYorkshire Embrace it — this is where all the real fun starts.

Silver hairs at 27...it's OVER. Entering my hag era