Tag Archives: greece

skylarks

Posted on February 19, 2021 by jonathan trustram

…. and a post script to the last piece, which could go on and on but here’s just one interesting picture. By early May the snow on the ski runs on Parnassos has melted and the stony base of one … Continue reading →

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Olympus Olympos 4 and an apology…

Posted on February 8, 2021 by jonathan trustram

Taking inspiration from my favourite announcement at Finsbury Park station: ‘we apologise for the late running of this service, this is due to a problem currently under investigation.’ I promised myself that I would give up pathetic old man tech … Continue reading →

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Olympus 3 Dracunculus, tortoise, the monastery, Dresden, garden notes, etc.

Posted on February 6, 2021 by jonathan trustram

Just outside Litochoro, right by the road, I came across a dracunculus – literally little dragon. When you’ve only ever seen something once it takes on special importance. I was driving slowly but you’d see it even if you flashed … Continue reading →

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Foxgloves

Posted on January 10, 2021 by jonathan trustram

Here’s another favourite, also from Slovenia, an orchid which loves mountain woodland and thrives inconspicuously even in deep shade, though this one was right by the edge of a road. It’s called Epipactis atrorubens. We call it a helleborine. Its … Continue reading →

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Garden notes 15, the corn cockle, aliens

Posted on April 29, 2020 by jonathan trustram

see also Garden notes number twelve; sex, pests, culture wars, paradise and narrow observation I looked again at a photo I put up on the bathroom wall – It’s the corn cockle growing in a field of corn, as you might … Continue reading →

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Garden notes number ten, the itch to intervene, a few lines from John Clare, Adam in Eden and DH Lawrence

Posted on April 12, 2020 by jonathan trustram

I’m remembering the radical ecologist (see Garden notes number three) and his airy contempt for gardeners. But also a few lines from John Clare: Where last years leaves and weeds decay / March violets are in blow I’d rake the … Continue reading →

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the home fire burning, and rekindled

Posted on January 15, 2018 by jonathan trustram

  After the old boys – well, chiefly Patrick Leigh-Fermor – (see the plant itself ) with their eloquent and scholarly non-stop talk of heroes, heat, old gods, pirates, ecstacies of alcohol, Venetian merchants, Frankish castles, peasant girls whose faces have … Continue reading →

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The Hill of Time

Posted on November 5, 2017 by jonathan trustram

    .   In The Hill of Kronos Peter Levi considers his various journeys to Greece. His first trip was in 1963. A night at Heathrow waiting for a long delayed flight to Milan gave him ‘romantic pleasure’. Then … Continue reading →

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Provada!!

Posted on September 10, 2017 by jonathan trustram

This is a piece I’ve been struggling intermittently to write. There are two little stories you might want to read hidden away among thoughts on names and language and ear worms that you might not want to read. As I … Continue reading →

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the plant itself

Posted on August 24, 2017 by jonathan trustram

“Abies cephalonica Grecian fir. Large evergreen tree to 30m with a pyramidal crown and dark brown bark tinted with orange, becoming darker and fissured with age; twigs hairless and buds very sticky. Leaves needle-like, spreading, thick…. Mountain slopes. May-June. S. … Continue reading →

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