The lavender is coming into flower and I'll soon be busy making lavender biscuits, cordial and champagne. It is also time to eat lovely salads made with home grown goodies.
And then, of course, there is Wimbledon. It would be good to see Andy Murray win but even if he doesn't, it has been great to see those traditional Fred Perry shirts and shorts.
* Okay, you purists, I know it really is really a song about Spring! But it always makes me think of summer.
Sing! cuccu, nu. Sing! cuccu.
Sing! cuccu. Sing! cuccu, nu.
Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springeth the wude nu.
Awe bleteth after lomb,
lhouth after calve cu,
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Murie sing! cuccu.
Cuccu, cuccu,
Well singes thu, cuccu -
Ne swik thu naver nu!
Sing! cuccu. Sing! cuccu, nu.
Sumer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springeth the wude nu.
Awe bleteth after lomb,
lhouth after calve cu,
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Murie sing! cuccu.
Cuccu, cuccu,
Well singes thu, cuccu -
Ne swik thu naver nu!
Thanks to erp for suggesting this:
Well sung --- but audio please next time.
ReplyDeletewhat a good idea, e. I have added the musical version - I don't sound quite like that as I sing around the garden!
ReplyDeleteI'm not at all a fan of summer but love all the things you mention, nevertheless. So perhaps I don't dislike it as much as I think I do! It's certainly lovely to sit down to a nice green salad the ingredients for which have come straight out of the garden.
ReplyDeleteThat's more like.
ReplyDeleteI have a very charming picture in my mind of you wandering around your garden followed by minstrel singers. What fun that would be.
As for summer, after months of perfect days in June, summer arrived last week with 99 degree heat and even higher humidity, absolutely no breeze, the fierce raging Atlantic as flat as glass.
I felt like Laurence of Arabia walking the fifty feet to the mailbox. Should ease up in a few days.
Cath
ReplyDeleteI have to stay out of the sun, so summertime can be difficult. I'm happiest when I can stay home and enjoy the garden.
e
ReplyDeleteThat group of minstrels can get me in the neighbours' bad books at times - especially when they tune up at dawn!
It is very humid here at present but not so hot as your weather. I am happiest at a steady 65 degrees!
My eldest has a soft spot for this poem. Probably because of the slightly rude "bucke farteth" (we have the Oxford Book of English Verse version) line, but I like to think of it too, when I see the sap rising and so on.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of lavender biscuits, very sophisticated.
m. when it's 65 deg, we get out the ski jackets. 80 deg. is our preferred temp.
ReplyDeleteThe hotter the better for me, M. You know, proper summer with scorchio temperatures. Great excuse for a siesta . . .
ReplyDeleteCan vouch for the high quality of your lavender biscuits.
Dulce D, I have my very old and tattered copy of Faber & Faber Medieval English Lyrics from my student days. This has always been one of my favourite songs from it.
ReplyDeleteThe lavender biscuits are quick and easy to make by the hundred - ideal for all those church and school summer fayres you'll doubtless be helping out at soon!
e, I become a wilted English rose at 80 deg!
ReplyDeleteD, I could never stay out for long in the sun even before my illness. Nowadays I go out early in the morning or after sunset when the weather gets warm (if it gets HOT, I stay inside with fans on in every room!)You can have my share of the sunshine and I'll enjoy hearing about it.
ReplyDelete