The first of April, some might say,
Is set apart for All Fool's Day,
But why people call it so
Nor I nor they themselves do know
From Poor Richard's Almanack (1760)
April flowers from the 'Illustrated Country Year" by Celia Lewis. From left to right they are Bluebell, Yellow Archangel, Bugle, Forget-me-not, Petty Spurge, Wood Spurge, Ramsons, Cuckoo Flower or Ladys Smock and White Dead Nettle.
April was Aprilis in Roman times derived from aperio to open. Giblean in Scots Gaelic. Apryle in Scots, Aibrean in Irish Gaelic, Averil in Manx and Ebrill in Welsh.
April weather, rain and sunshine both together
April wet, good wheat
April has 30 days, and if it rained on 31 no harm would be done
A dry April is not the farmer's will
April wet is what we should get
Till April's dead, change not a thread.
April full moon tomorrow in the UK - it has many names in the past, the Pink Moon, Budding Moon, Seed Moon, New Shoots Moon.
The mobile library will be bringing me a nice lot of books - fingers crossed, then Easter weekend coming up, a very quiet one for me. Easter Events are almost all for families, no fun if alone. The nearest car boot starts as long as we don't get inches of rain, then ED and the two grandsons are coming up from Surrey for a few days as long as they can get fuel for their car OK. One garage here had no diesel at the weekend.
Once they've gone I'll be able to get the windowsill electric propagator out and get seeds started.
Mid month I'll be another year older - all downhill towards 80 then!
On the financial side of things it's always an expensive month with TV Licence, House insurance, birthdays and this year a bill for the boiler repair too.
And before we know it May will be on the horizon.
Back Tomorrow
You are having a couple of expensive months with unavoidable repairs to the car etc. I get dispirited when I'm trying so hard to save in small ways and we get whacked with a big repair bill. Having a house and car is much better than not having them of course but rising costs for work done does get me down sometimes. Sorry, shouldn't be gloomy! Hope you enjoy the family's visit.
ReplyDeletePenny
I'm realising (although I knew anyway) how much money we saved when Colin did all the car and house repairs!
DeleteWhen in Carms, we had a local chap who did car repairs evenings/weekends and was very cheap and good. I miss having him nearby to fix the car. Keith would of course, like Colin, do all the house repairs and it hurts to have to pay someone to do a small job - but one I can't do.
DeleteI love your monthly countryside sayings and wild flowers etc.
I'm glad to have found the guys at the car repair place, friends of BiL so they don't rip me off!
DeleteNow I'm in my 70s, it's not the downhills that bother me, it's the UP hills (even here in Flat Norfolk) 🧗
ReplyDelete😀😀 same here
DeleteVery true! : -)
DeleteSome cracking April Fool's Japes about, one very convincing one by my friend on FB, and she nearly got me!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard any April fools jokes - only listened to radio 2, I can listen early now Scott Mills has gone - I always found him too childish and silly.
DeleteThere is more Gravity about now than when I was younger, noticeable in dropping things and falling down. DH had a dramatic fall over the heavy rucksack I asked him not to leave in the middle of the lounge.
ReplyDeleteOh that sounds like a nasty fall. Lots of the exercises we do at the Keep Moving Group are to help with balance and avoiding falls, I hope they help us all.
DeleteAlways something in house and garden that needs money throwing at it.
ReplyDeleteI love seed sowing time, so hopeful and positive.
Alison in Devon x
I shall be a bit late starting seeds but they usually catch up
DeleteLoved Angela's comment about the uphills! I definitely don't take the stairs at the speed I once did.
ReplyDelete5 years in a bungalow and my knees aren't good at all!
DeleteLovely April - my birthday month, too. We have forget-me-nots, violets, wallflowers, bluebells, and the forsythia and kerria japonica are a blaze of colour and full of flowers.
ReplyDeleteIt's very strange how so many bloggers have birthdays in April - there must be a reason!
DeleteYes, it's here our month. Both another year older, and hopefully wiser. I seem to be spending big money on so many things at the moment and saving small money on a day to day basis. I've almost fell for so many April Fools jokes this morning. My niece shared on Facebook that they would be appearing on 'One Born Every Minute' later in the year. She has just had her third baby, but as she only took an hour to deliver, even I thought it would make for a very short segment of the show.
ReplyDeleteGoodness that was a speedy new arrival. My youngest daughter was only a couple of hours and that felt pretty speedy at the time! Just in time to hospital - phew.
DeleteFor those who don't include Sue:
ReplyDeleteOh, to be in England
Now that April's there
Whoever wakes in England
Finds some morning unaware
That the lowest boughs and. brushwood sheath
Around the elm-tree bowl are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England. - now
Robert Browning, Home Thoughts from Abroad. Roderick
I'm sure that poem has been included in may of my April 1st posts in the last 13 years
DeleteIt is true, April showers bring May flowers in Massachusetts.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I see in my garden right now are tiny green points peeking through the soil and showing the start of daffodils and iris.
You seem to have many more lovely blooms in April.
Enjoy your time with Ed and your grandsons and have some good family fun.
The daffodils are finishing - onto bluebells next.
DeleteI just read an article on the BBC online news site about the Norwegian custom of reading crime novels over Easter weekend. sounds right up your alley-and mine.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how that custom started, yes crime fiction for me this weekend definitely
DeleteI turned 75 last year and it has been one stress after another lately. My great-aunt used to say, "Getting old is not for sissies!" and "The golden years are tarnished." She was right!! ;)
ReplyDeleteMy Mum and Mum in Law both died in their early 70s - it's a worrying thought
DeleteStatistics show that the birth rate is high in April, 9 months after the summer holidays and also September, 9 months after Christmas!!
ReplyDeleteI think back in the 50's there was some sort of tax break for having a baby in the spring - might be wrong but I think that's what Mum said
DeleteAh yes, I recognize many of those wildflowers. We have bluebells, archangel, spurge and forget me nots in our garden, and sometimes I see cuckoo flower when I walk on Hampstead Heath.
ReplyDeleteYou have more interesting things growing in your London garden than we have out in the countryside
DeleteI see you are advised to hang on to warm wear through April. Here it's "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out".
ReplyDeleteThe same rhyme here so best stay warmly dressed until June!
DeleteI'm going to be over the 55 hill sliding down into 60 this year lol. It doesn't seem to bother me. I feel a lot older when I realise how old the 'children' are.
ReplyDeleteApril here means things are starting to grow!
You are a spring chicken still!
Delete