FREE PARK-ING

 

I think this cluster of five mature trees next to the peace garden is a variety of lime. My British Trees app lists three types. I'm guessing there are more.

Now I have a preliminary ID, I can keep them under observation for further clues. I do know that lime wood is highly prized by wood carvers. Wikipedia tells me that the Lime tree is different from the citrus fruit tree with the same name. In Europe it goes by the name Linden and in the US it's called Bass wood. Why didn't I know all this long ago?

Wiki also says there are 30 species of Tilia, which is the botanical name for the Genus. I think this cluster of five mature trees next to the peace garden is a variety of lime. My British Trees app lists three types. I'm guessing there are more.

Now I have a preliminary ID, I can keep them under observation for further clues. I do know that lime wood is highly prized by wood carvers. Wikipedia tells me that the Lime tree is different from the citrus fruit tree with the same name. In Europe it goes by the name Linden and in the US it's called Bass wood. Why didn't I know all this long ago?

Wiki also says there are 30 species of Tilia, which is the botanical name for the Genus.

 

We have new recycled plastic benches (with some metal parts) in the park. I'm not going to share a picture because they are quite ugly. The old 'timber slats with cast iron ends' have all gone.

But there are still a few all-timber benches. Most of these seem to be donations, with little metal plaques. The age varies. The older ones have wonderful textures which are hard to capture in a photograph.

I tried using the AI watercolour option and this matches reality in terms of drama and emotional impact, but in a very different way. It's just an experiment, but it reinforces my belief that conveying what we "see" is very different from taking a photograph. That's the job of an artist. To convey something intangible.

 

 

There are several of these poem fragments in my local park. Pie-shaped slabs of stone inset into the tarmac path with carved letters and small pictorial elements.

I don't know if they were purpose made, or moved from somewhere else. The poems were written at least a century ago and tend to be celebrations of the English countryside.

This one is a lament for a village displaced by gentrification and creation of large landscaped estates in the eighteenth century. Ironically it now sits in the Goldings Estate, now repurposed as War Memorial Park and operated by Basingstoke local government.

So there is a sadness for the lost ways of life but also a joy to live in a place where these traces of deep history are still accessible, an honour to belong to a continuous culture stretching back several centuries.

 

I'm getting quite good at going down rabbit holes. This morning I was working on an excel sheet giving my personal take on plant taxonomy (with a bias towards the UK)

Meanwhile I have a set of folders to organise information on trees I have spotted during my daily walks. To help with identification I have found two programs (an android app and a website) The app is the Woodland Trust guide to British Trees. The website, something called Pl@ntnet. org

The app is great for browsing through and getting an overview of local trees, whether indigenous, or common exotics. Compare overall form, leaf shape, flowers /fruit, and bark. The website allows uploading up to 4 images to a recognition feature. It gives percentage likelihood of the first few possibilities.

By the way, we finally had some rain, not enough but let's not complain.

View from my "office"