Thursday 25 September 2008

Necessary distractions



So today I had the second part of the dental treatment. Unlike last week I knew what to expect and was therefore much more anxious and nervous and had been losing sleep over it too. Fortunately the grey skies that greeted me first thing this morning had cleared by the time I set off. I remembered last week how lovely it had been to walk through the park. Armed with my Ipod (yes, yet another Miss Marple to solve whilst sitting in the chair) and camera I took a leisurely stroll to the dentist. I decided to photograph the dahlias that I had so admired last week.



As I walked through the park with my ears concentrating on the goings on in an English village in 1940s and my mind choosing which photos to take, I found myself at the dentist's in no time.



Well enough said about the dentist, on my way back I wandered through the park enjoying the solitude and the relief of knowing that I was dentist-free for a whole month. I walked past the Edwardian Manor house that sits at one end of the park, oh how I love this place, the shutters do it for me everytime!



Through its gates and into its gardens, the secret garden we use to call it when my daughters were little.



Up and down the brick paths I ambled, enjoying the peace.



There is a walk in the path that has dahlia planted on each side. Two long rows of dahlias - a riot of colour and shape.



They reminded me of rows of jars of boiled sweets in an old fashioned sweet shop. Something for everyone, a taste to satisfy us all.



This white one reminds me of the white witch in Narnia, spiky and glacial.



You can't be miserable for too long when these are staring you in the face.



I can't grow dahlias, the slugs seem to like them too much in our garden, but oh how I would love to have a garden full of them. Their symmetry just fascinates me, the tight pompoms, the blowsy blooms, there's nothing shy about a dahlia. Confident, sometimes brash, but always fun.



Other people had stopped too to look at the flowers and we smiled. (it was only a couple of hours ago that I realised how stupid it is to try and grin when your mouth's numb, I'd obviously overcompensated in the cheesiness department and taken a big bite out of my bottom lip, that'll teach me!).



So I carried on walking and Agatha Christie continued to describe the intrigues, poison pen letters and dramas of village life and it struck me how very little the scenes I was seeing now in the park would have changed over the years. People out for their daily constitutionals, playing tennis, the white uniforms of the members of the bowls club, toddlers pushing dolls in prams, swinging in the playground, swaggering about on the grass. Friends meeting in the cafe by the rose garden drinking tea and chatting, the park's gardeners busy tidying up the beds for the Autumn, I was so deep in my daydream that it wouldn;'t have surprised me if a village bobby would have cycled past me in hot pursuit of a sultry murderess, bitter blackmailer or petty thief!



I use to spend every day in the park when my daughters were little. Sunny days, cold days, blustery days and fine days. Hours spent in the sand pit, out the sandpit and shaking sand from our shoes. I have very vivid memories of me playing in the local park when I was younger, tearing round the roundabout, hours on the swings, playing with our dog on the grass. It is one of life's coincidences that Mr Ragged Roses and I, although we grew up miles and miles apart, spent our early years living very near to each other. When we met twenty years ago we discovered that we use to play in the same park at the same time as toddlers. We both remember the squirrels and the boating lake, - did he chase me round the playground I wonder?



Today was the first time in a long time that I walked through the park and really noticed it. Park life had really won me over, aren't we lucky to have these spaces? I needed a distraction, and found one, I came home happier and relieved that it was all over for a while, and, if it wasn't for all the injections I'm sure I would have smiled.

35 comments:

Elizabethd said...

I'm glad it wasnt too bad this time.
What `lovely photos of the dahlias, like you I cant grow them, and prefer to see them in a large garden where their somewhat 'upfront' character is used to its best!

Pam said...

Lovely photos - what's a tooth or two compared to all that colour? (Easy to say when it wasn't my teeth!)

Anonymous said...

Those pictures are just gorgeous!My daughter had dentist issues too right now and is dreading it, my sympathy to you.
Diane

{oc cottage} said...

Soooooooooooooo beautiful!

M ^..^

meggie said...

Those dahlias are so beautiful. They remind me of my girlfriend's stepdad, who had the most beautiful collection I have ever seen. Christchurch NZ seemed to have the perfect climate for them to grow to glory.

Redwoodhouse said...

what a dreamy post, lovely, made me smile and to smile at the start of a day is a brill thing.
Jan

Anonymous said...

I was happy to share your delightful walk with Miss Marple but oh so relieved that I didn't have to share the dental experience.

mountainear said...

Not sure about dahlias - don't think their brash vulgarity sits easily in weak English sunlight. (They are the national flower of Mexico.)

Childhood memories of finding them full of earwigs don't help either. Eurgh!

April said...

glad to hear your dentist trials are over for a while. I love your photos

April xx

MelMel said...

Sorry for your visit to the dentist....i went yestaday and had to have a back molar pulled....not the best hour of my life......abd all because i ate a piece of pork crackling!!!
Hope your not feeling to sore today....i can eat now...really was not in the mood or able to all day...today better!
xxxxxxx

MelMel said...

Your trip there and back looks lovely...i had city traffic and pollution!! :>)))xxx

Anonymous said...

How I love those Agatha Christie mysteries! There is something timeless about parks and you described your walk perfectly...

Glad to read that your dental treatment is over for now at least.

Enjoy your weekend.

Marie x

Gone to Earth said...

Hope the dentist was kind. The flowers are glorious. So perfect in the late summer/autumn sunshine. That park must have been a real boon when your girls were small. I love that archway. I've collected so many photographs of gates through stone walls, archways, garden gates..... all tempting you through. What does that say abut me? Ummm!

Goosey said...

I have never beeen a lover of Dahlias....until now! Your pictures have changed my mind! Lovely pictures

LinenandRoses said...

Glad you've got the horrid dentist out of the way again for a while. Miss Marple can always be relied upon to make things feel a little better. Love all the dahlia photos. They're one of my favourite flowers. And the description of the park is lovely. They really are special places.

dottycookie said...

I'm glad you survived the dentist - you can get some sleep now!

I love dahlias. I don't really have a favourite flower, but if I did, they'd be very close to the top of the list!

Sal said...

I needed a good walk and that was wonderful,Kim! Thank you..lovely photos ;-) x

Anonymous said...

Oh Kim! What gorgeous colours, like jewels. Don't we just need them after such a dismal summer. I have the same slug problem with dahlias as you. I have successfully grown them in pots so they can be placed in bald bits of the border when required . Stored in their pots in the greenhouse mine over-wintered. Happy gardening, Eli

Petticoat Lane said...

Thank you for letting me join you on your walk, how lovely to have such a beautiful park nearby, kind of compensates for the dental visit at the end...well ok...maybe not....
Jane. xx

Country Bliss said...

Absolutely beautiful dahlias at least it is some compensation for going to the dreaded dentist!
Yvonne

Kim said...

I really sympathise with the dentist fear, no matter what I am having done I always dread it. You have my sympathy - and agreement on the dahlias. They are living works of art, sculptural.

This Vintage Life... said...

Another post full of nostalgia...I don't how you do it but you instantly brought back memories of my childhood, where we spent days on end in the local parks. They all had something different to offer. They didn't look as pretty as yours though!
What beautiful dahlias; they look to perfect to be real don't they?
Hope memories of your time 'in the chair' are fading fast!
Deb x

Cape Cod Washashore said...

Such lovely photos, Kim! You live in such a beautiful, magical place! It all looks so storybook-ish! =)

Hope all went well at the dentist yesterday. My daughter had her final of three visits yesterday as well. When the dentist asked her if she wanted to stand and take a little break during her appointment, she said, "No. Finish it so I can go home." lol =)

Anonymous said...

Was it necessary extractions or distractions???!!!

Love the dahlias.

Love Emma

Thimbleanna said...

Beautiful flowers Kim! What a perfect ending to all the unpleasantries of the dentist!!!

Selfsewn said...

gorgeous dahlias! I want to grow the two tone one.
What a beautiful park. How lucky!
Clare

Mary-Laure said...

What a divine post...

I've never had a cavity (I'm 31) but live in FEAR it may happen one day.

Pondside said...

Waht a lovely walk you've got to your dentist's office - much better than a drive up the highway and the struggle to find parking!
Isn't it interesting how our spatial/local geographic environment changes as our children grow up. Like you, I spent hours in the park every day of my childrens' growing up years, and now rarely go near a park.

Gill said...

Lovely post Kim, sorry you're having to spend rather too much time at the dentist's, you've found some lovely things to distract you though. I love Dahlia's, they remind me of childhood days spent in my great aunt's garden, she had a "proper" garden with flowers and vegetables. Enjoy this wonderful weather, my favourite time of year, I agree Autumn doesn't disappoint whereas we expect so much from Summer and usually don't get what we hope for!

Teena Vallerine said...

I"m with you on those shutters! and OH!!! those dahlias! Fantastic pics! t.x

Cowboys and Custard Mercantile said...

I have so enjoyed this belated walk with you through your secret.. or not so secret.. garden.
I think there is something wonderful about of Mr Ragged Roses playing in the same park as you ... there is another case of Kismet!
I spent many happy days with my son in the local botanical gardens when he was a baby and toddler.. maybe his intended wife was learning how to walk a few yards from us..
Much love
D xx

Country Cottage Chic said...

What a lovely park & aren't we lucky to have such peaceful green spaces to enjoy?

Greedy Nan said...

Think I may have missed something here or just not reading properly. Where is this? It reminds me of lots of places and I'm intrigued.

Heidi said...

Thank God that is over for you now Kim! Do you really have to go again in a month? Mine next appointment is not until November and that is all too soon.

I love dahlias also. I grew them for the first time this year with success in a large pot. That worked while in the full ground, they get eaten up. I loved walking with you in this park! Thanks for taking me along. If those iron gates ever disappear, you know to look for them here at my house...LOL!

Hugs ~
Heidi

Jennie said...

Poor you and hideous dentistry! I hope you are okay now.
The pictures are lovely and how you describe everything is wonderful too!