PERIODIC PHOTOGRAPH  
I will display different photographs here at fairly regular intervals.

Daisy

The name of this flower comes from the Old English "Day's eye", because of its resemblance to the sun, rays and all. It even mimics the sun by closing its petals over its yellow center when the weather is dull.

A favourite of Chaucer, it also evokes fond memories for me. It was a very common site to see a group of young girls sitting together and making Daisy chains from the longer stemmed flowers. They would then proudly put the chain around their necks for all to admire. Alas it would not be too long before an exuberant boy would appear and, while making a grasp for the chain, would "to his great surprise" end up breaking it. The chase would then begin. No matter how large the boy, he would not stand his ground against a girl whose Daisy chain he'd broken.  A girl with a deliberately broken Daisy chain would be as vicious as any lioness of the savanna. I am sure that wiser heads than mine would see a great learning experience for all parties in this behavior. For my part, let's just say that this experience has not been wasted on me and there are times when I have retired from the field in the face of a much weaker foe of the fairer sex.

Vetch

Vetch is a member of the pea family and climbs in a similar fashion. At this time of year it used to fill the hedgerows as I walked the one and a half miles of country roads to school. Later on there would be the cracking sound, as the sun dried the ripened pods and caused them to split, scattering the seed far afield in preparation for the coming spring.

Like most of these plants and flowers of the hedgerow, it is not a plentiful as it used to be.This is most likely due to the mechanical hedge cutters that are now used on most of our hedgerows. Happily in recent years, farmers and legislators are taking a keener interest by carefully choosing the time of year for hedge cutting. Therefore these plants, though not at all scarce, are making a luxuriant comeback.

Red dead-nettle.

Before looking up the proper name, I used to know this as the "blind nettle". We used the term "blind" to identify it as harmless in comparison to some similar plant that would prod or sting.

Frockin

Frockin (spelled phonetically-btw, why is phonetically spelled that way. Grin) is the common name for this plant. I have never seen the name written down and it may be an old Irish name. It is properly known as Bilberry. During my spring walks, I always make a mental note of the whereabouts of these plants, as they go on to produce tiny but delicious berries. Up on the mountain-side it is plentiful, but on the lower land it is scarcer and for that reason I take note of where the plants are growing.