Author: Christina Hollis

Canada has always fascinated me, and that was before I saw this by Gunnarolla & Bentley. Back in the late 19th century one of my great-great uncles vanished on a madcap adventure into the wilderness. Many decades later, I nearly lost my husband to the country before we’d even met. When he was a little boy, Martyn’s family were all set to emigrate to Vancouver. They were at the packing-up stage when two of the older members of his family (no names, no pack drill) decided they couldn’t bear to leave England. British Columbia’s loss was definitely my gain.

Sweet pea seeds cost next to nothing, but their fragrance is priceless. They are easy to grow, and this year I’ve discovered they bounce back quickly when grazed by deer. That’s a huge advantage when you live in the middle of a forest. Only our vegetable garden is protected by deer fencing. I took a chance planting flowers outside the deer exclosure, and my poor plants paid for it!

The more sweet peas you pick the more flowers they produce, so I now try and gather a bunch every day.

Today’s moment of joy was thanks to a blackcap. When we took Alex for a walk at 8am, this little bird with a big voice was singing its head off from the top of a thicket beside the woodland track. It was only a couple of metres away but I can never get good recordings, so here’s a clip from YouTube, by My Birding Year.

Today’s moment of joy was completely unexpected. In 2023, I collected two ripe seed pods from lilies growing in my greenhouse. They lay around in a shallow cardboard tray, waiting to be sown. I kept forgetting about them. When I remembered it was too late in the season, or the conditions weren’t right. A few weeks ago, I decided the seeds were too old to grow and was going to throw them away.

Half-way to the compost heap I had a change of heart. I threw them onto the nearest patch of bare soil next to some sweet alyssum plants, and let them take their chance. I didn’t even bother covering the seeds, and it’s been really dry.

Even so, look what I found today. Those narrow leaves are lily seedlings!

This year, the Radio 4 programme Ramblings celebrates 25 years of accompanying people on their favourite walks. They have marked the anniversary by walking stretches of various pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain with groups of friends and pilgrims. Listening today to a group on the final stretch of the Camino, telling their stories as they walk into Santiago really brought me joy. It’s an emotional climax, so get your hankies ready! https://bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002dpnl…

This morning’s Moment of Joy was a cool breeze and dappled shade on the 8am dog walk, when the sun was already bright and hot. We take Alex out early in the day or late in the afternoon, and always take water for him with us. Walking in the heat is bad enough, and he has to do it in a fur coat!

There was a quick-or-you’ll-miss-it moment of joy today. Our mock orange flowers are nearly over, but there were still enough open flowers the perfume the air first thing this morning. The petals have been falling fast, and look like confetti when they are fresh. Philadelphus must set seed, because a bush has sprung up out in the wood. It flowers slightly later than the ones in our garden, so we get to enjoy the perfume twice each year.

I love cooking. For Sunday lunch this week I tried out a new recipe, cobbled together from several different online sources after seeing the Tatsunami stable’s chef Kokuryunami cook it here on their YouTube channel (scroll forward to 14:37 if you don’t want to watch Morning Practice). It’s chanchan-yaki – seared salmon coated in miso butter, on a bed of vegetables and braised with the addition of a little sake. It was delicious, and these left over veg were lovely in a jacket potato next day.

Even my son, a notoriously picky eater, ate every scrap of his chanchan yaki – including ALL the cabbage!