Monday 1 August 2022

August Country Days and Country Ways

 The August Country Diary plate is now out of the cupboard and on the bookshelves and I bought a bunch of the most summery flowers available off the market stall .... Sunflowers. I've got no flowers to bring in from the garden now - everything is struggling through our dry weather. (we had some rain yesterday morning, it was the sort that you can go out in and not get wet so didn't help the plants much)
 
 
Edith Holden painted poppies in the August pages of her diary and although there might have been field poppies around in August 100 years ago, nowadays they are usually all finished flowering in July at the latest.

The name of this month  comes from Roman Emporer Augustus, because this was the month when he had his greatest good fortune. An extra day had to be added to August so that it wasn't inferior to July.......... named after Julius.
For the Anglo Saxons August was Weodmonath - The month of weeds - a prompt to keep hoeing?
 
Today is Lammas, the 1st of August was one of the Celts 'cross quarter' days. The dates that fall between the solstices and equinoxes that were used to mark the agricultural year. Lammas or Loaf-Mass marks the wheat harvest. In early Christian  days a loaf of bread made from the new crop would be brought to church to be blessed.
It was an important day in the country, as land which had been harvested could be made available for village people to graze their animals. It was once a public holiday when fairs were held.
 Perhaps that was why the first Monday in August was a holiday for years until it was moved to the end of the month. 
I decided to find out more........................ and discovered ..............

  1. Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed approx. 33 saint’s days or religious festivals and took them as holiday.
  2. Bank holidays were first introduced by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 and reduced public holidays to 4 days (Easter Monday, 1st Monday in August, Boxing Day and Whit Monday).
  3. The act was introduced by Sir John Lubbock, the 1st Lord and Baron Avebury, (30th April, 1834-28th May, 1913), English banker, politician, naturalist and archaeologist.
  4. The 1871 Act was repealed 100 years later and its provisions incorporated into the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which remains the statutory basis for bank holidays.
  5. Bank holidays designated since the 1971 Act are appointed each year by Royal Proclamation.
Currently England, Scotland and Wales all have eight public holidays per year, whilst Northern Ireland has ten and some countries have many, many more days off which has always seemed very unfair. (Not that it matters to me  anymore - as everyday is a holiday!)

There are not many weather sayings for August apart from some linked to St Bartholomew's day on the 24th but here's a warning..............

If the first week of August is unusually warm, 
The winter will be white and long.
Back Tomorrow
Sue

28 comments:

  1. What a pretty collection Sue. Who knows but we may need the long winter of snow.

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  2. When we lived in Gibraltar when I was a child, we seemed to have loads of Saints days off school. Yes, poppies finished here ages ago. Must be climate change!

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    1. I used to feel very hard done by regarding Bank Hols when I was working

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  3. Love the two little jugs on the left of your picture.
    Although we have had some rain here (but not the usual amount, reservoirs are very, very low), my garden is still green. But the first flush of buddelia flowers are completely over and I have cut them off in the hopes of a second. Surely that is way too early? What is going to be left for the butterflies to feed on at the end of the month?

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    1. This is the last month for the two pretty jugs to be out, then they'll go away until next June!
      My buddleia are the same

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  4. We had rain yesterday - lots - we got Very Wet and had to change ALL our clothes (even underwear) when we got home

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    1. There was a bit more rain here late evening here but added nothing to the water butts

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  5. My garden has suffered too. The cucumber is most unhappy after a good flush and there are not many flowers. The tomatoes and corn seem to be going strong but that's about it. We need rain! xx

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    1. My cucumbers have slowed down and I'm talking to them as I need two for the produce show!

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  6. What a lovely display for August.

    Strangely enough I have a little Poppy flowering in my Herb Bath at this very moment. I was weeding in the back garden quite a while ago and recognised the leaves of what I thought was a poppy so I replanted it into the herb bath thinking I could pull it out if it was something else. But it's been flowering sporadically every since, about three flowers a month.

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    1. No poppies here and so many perennials here have just keeled over due to drought

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  7. Beautiful mantel display and I love the sunflowers-may just buy some later today for myself. Very dry here too in mid Scotland-the rain yesterday was just some drizzle which made my hair go fuzzy but didn’t even wet the ground. Catriona

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    1. I thought the sunflowers were just right and a nice change from garden roses

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  8. 'white and long' will be fun if we have power cuts and gas rationing! I'm stocking up on batteries and candles.

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    1. I got in some batteries after the electric was off in February specially for the radio

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  9. Love the August display
    White and long might suit me better than the wet and long winters we get here in west Wales!
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. I agree, although the latter is better for getting around

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  10. Great post. I love that plate. It is gorgeous. I was surprised how dry everything was when I was over. Reminded me of the other year (before Covid lol). The grass was like straw. The flowers in my sister's garden were doing fairly well. They were kept well watered though.

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    1. I'm concentrating on keeping the edibles watered - thats' keeping me busy. Flowers and shrubs looking very sad.

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  11. Your August display is lovely. My poppies bloomed throughout June and it seems unusual for a bloom in August. Today is part clouds with light sporadic showers. We really need a downpour. With all the heat we've experienced, I'm wishing for lots of cold and snow for the winter.

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    1. There's not a lot of rain in the forecast here - it's getting quite serious

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  12. Thanks for the info about August! I like your display and it inspired me to put my sunflower wreath out on the front door. Thanks for the reminder!

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  13. Your sunflowers are very cheery. Arilx

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  14. A lot of winters will be white and long, it seems. I like the little ceramic cottage in your August display.

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  15. My neighbor has one large sunflower that's blooming in front of her house and 2 by side of her driveway. Megan found one on east side of our lawn yesterday so I dug it up this afternoon so Phil wouldn't mow it down! I put it in a bucket with some soil and will transplant it Tues when I get home. It's finally cooler today and this week. Friday and Saturday were hot...100 degrees F both days. Have a good month.

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  16. Oh dear, if the forecast is anything to go by we had best stock up on thermal underwear and woollen blankets!

    A street-house down the town (painted a dull purple) has some really tall Sunflowers growing out the front, along with hanging baskets and things in pots. They have a good display every year on their bit of pavement.

    I'm despairing of home grown cucumbers this year as there was one with a flower on it and then a blasted slug came along and removed the top half of the plant!

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