Alys Wilfred Earl
@alysdragon
Writer, aesthete, reprobate. Writes as A W Earl (and, previously, Alys Earl) but you can call me Fred. Has sword, will travel. They/them.
Emily Gravett is brilliant - witty and anarchic, and great fun to read. Also, huge love for Jon Klassen, and Quack Quack Moo, We See You! by Mij Kelly (a terrible title, but a joy of a book.)
These are all *fairly* recent? (Really need to paint the shed door…)
Today was the day, by the way. Today was the day my garden ticked over in to being an Established Garden. Five years ago, I was four days away from moving in, and it looked like this:
NOTHING, but nothing, is as Hastag Aesthetique as cut lavender tied with gardening twine.
Hello #GardensHour! Struggling to make plans for a July garden as June has been so wild and overblown. However, I’ve been clearing some soil so there’s space to pop seedlings in - wallflowers, stocks, and snapdragons. And here’s a sempervivum which burst in to GLORIOUS flower this week.
5am start in Edinburgh. Full day in Dundee being a responsible grownup, including the inevitable, “Fred, I’ve left my wallet on the bus!” and an entirely unrelated set of administrative phone-calls. Busy train back. Home about ten past 6, in time for Mattie to go to book group. Dead.
Hello #GardensHour! I think my biggest joy this June is that the clematis has finally met the rose over the archway- it’s only taken three years… That’s clematis Blue Angel, and it’s rose Lady of the Lake, with a couple of Warsaw Nike flowers tucked in the background.
Do you know who slipped out of the house yesterday evening and refused to come in at bedtime, precipitating a lurching 3am awakening when the biggest thunderstorm I’ve seen in years suddenly arrived? Who I had to go out barefoot in my dressing gown to call in?
My GP surgery is very good and supportive and everything is fine but, in Present Circumstances, sending a trans person a letter which begins like this is… it’s not *ideal* is it?
Hello #GardensHour! The roses are in, even if they are a bit windswept, so here’s my contribution to the rainbow 🌈
Got given a penannular brooch for Christmas after having coveted one for years, and have finally had a opportunity to wear it.
Taking a break from reading something I am *not* enjoying, to reread something I love very deeply:
Had one turn up this morning, and it was boxed like a delivery of long stemmed roses?
Cow in an ice house Sparks an intensive eleven hour rescue attempt…
Hello #GardensHour - a very mixed May here, both for weather and garden activity. Lost more seedlings than any other year, which is always depressing. But today brought a little swan song for the month as the first rose of the year burst in to glorious bloom:
We have a winner! Mary Queen of Scots triumphs by virtue of simple blooms and the early morning light! Congrats to @purplequeenpub.bsky.social for calling it!
Another day of summer and we’ve got Ruby Rambler (pic 1) with a slight lead, closely followed by Mary Queen of Scots (pic 2), Lady of the Lake and the Poet’s Wife maintaining a steady distance, and a sudden spurt forward for Timeless Purple (pic 3). Tomorrow may bring our winner!
Rose Book update - it’s looking like an increasingly close race between Ruby Rambler and Mary Queen of Scots BUT strong movement from Lady of the Lake and the Poet’s Wife not to be overlooked.
Next, the outsiders: Timeless Purple - an intensely pink purple hybrid tea rose with massive, intricate blooms. Mary Queen of Scots (?) - a double burnet rose in white (a rose but only two.) and, barely showing bud, and on very long odds Deep Secret - a romantic red hybrid tea rose
Part one - the favourites: From left to right then top to bottom we have: Ruby rambler - a miniature rambling rose. Lady of the Lake - a vigorous pale pink rambler. The Poet’s Wife - a gorgeous, yellow bush rose and Rhapsody in Blue - a striking, purple floribunda.
Oh, that’s beautiful! And yes, very similar, but with clear cut there is a layer of coloured glass which is then partly cut away? Like this one:
Hello #GardensHour. I’m a bit of a container rookie and struggle with refreshing them - so like simple tough things which look after themselves. However, these old boot-planters have added a bit of joy and whimsy to the last few summers. On their last legs now, pun intended…
Wonderful evening at the #PoetryDoesn’tSuck slam! Huge congrats to the winners, much deserved!
It’s the poem from which I drew the quote on the sign I carried at Pride last year, and is about the way queer histories are both constructed and silenced. Anyway, the issue looks absolutely cracking, and very moving, so please do check it out!