By Bernie Bell

Pics by B&M Bell

The owner of a nearby farm has two set-aside fields every year, wherein grow a mixture of wildflowers – some of which are absolutely beautiful…

These flowers attract a lot of insects – which in summer attracts birds – who then stick around for the autumn seeds – Linnets, Twites, Greenfinches and Chaffinches – whole flocks of them.

Last year, Mike took a photo of one particular flower which caught his eye – Phacelia – a vivid blue flower with an intricate structure…

We’re both from large families, and so send out a lot of greetings cards for birthdays, congratulations etc.  We usually buy cards by local artists, and get them when we’re out and about – The Orkney Brewery shop always has good ones – but since March 2020 we don’t go to those places, and won’t until we feel comfortable about doing so.  So, we resort to ordering on-line, sometimes still locally …  https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/10/19/kairds-by-card-et-al/

We recently ordered some cards produced by the British Library which feature images of cartoons and rhymes by Edward Lear, from his ‘A Book of Nonsense’, and ‘Nonsense Botany, and Nonsense Alphabets’……..

https://www.museumselection.co.uk/all-stationery/20-edward-lears-nonsense-cards/

When they arrived I was pleased to see that the single use plastic wrapper for the pack of cards says “Compostable starch-based bags. Please put into your food waste/compost bin”.  Hurrah!  Quite a few large charity magazines now use compostable wrappers, and it’s more encouraging still if card manufacturers are taking on board the need to use less and less single-use plastic.

And now I’ll get to the point. One of the cards shows a drawing of Edward Lear’s ‘Tigerlilia Terriblis’. Which looks to me like Edward Lear was inspired by the Phacelia flower!  Maybe yes?  Maybe no?  I think so…

What do you think?

The other cards in the pack are very jolly too, and they’re from the British Library, so not filling the coffers of some faceless corporate card manufacturer!