The Open Road
Ash is the predominant tree in the hedgerows around home; this one, just up the road a bit from our house, has a bumper crop of ash keys - just beginning to turn a rusty brown (ok! ok! you have to use your imagination) ...
ash keys turn
as lockdown eases -
the open road
For the first time since last November we’re hoping to grab a few days away from home. We’re all excited - oh for a ‘life of ease on the open road’ ...
Not in a canary coloured gipsy caravan with an old grey horse to pull it - but in our motorhome - our home from home. ‘Poop poop!’ I wonder what Toad would make of it.
I swore I wouldn’t write one about the covid pandemic but this one sort of just popped into my head so I’m running with it. And not a sight nor sound of a bird ... Mind you a pair of Bullfinch take ownership of this tree in winter much like the Mistle Thrush jealously guard the old yews in the churchyard.
Please take care and stay safe.
Enjoy a bit of freedom. This covid does creep into our lives so will enter our writing too. I like the ash keys and link to lockdown and now the difficult decisions we have to take to be more free and friendly.
Have a great time away!
Thanks Ashley – just for a few days – change of scene.
No working now! Hopefully you’ll not be driving too far for a different view.
I love the haiku! We are also surrounded by ash trees, mostly female with keys which block our gutters and down-pipes during the winter! Such beautiful trees!
I hope you enjoy your time away from home. We had hoped to be able to use our caravan this autumn but it doesn’t look at all likely now. Heigh ho, for the open road next year, maybe….
They are such graceful trees – ‘Venus of the woods’ – but I fear their loss. Less dramatic perhaps than the catastrophic loss of Elm from our hedgerows, which left a withered and desolate landscape, in years to come our hedges and woods will potentially look very different.
The ash keys have turned yellow here. And we are hitting the road too – only for days out here and there but it’s always good to have a break…
Oh yes – grab those days whenever you can!
In view of recent spikes in COVID cases I may have been a bit premature with this post! Take care and stay safe.
I heard that these days Mr. Toad is into jets paid for by the American taxpayer. Oh! And golf. He gave up the open road to become a super spreader in airport hangers.
And yes – ash trees are lovely. Spotted a barred owl on the morning stroll perched on a branch by a stream and two great blue heron yesterday. Standing – separately – in the middle of a field. Fishing for grasshoppers?
That’s so funny but rather naughty – Toad will never be the same again!