Friko's World

Yes, yes, I know, it's only March and I live in the northern hemisphere where March often has a sting in the tail, but, come on, my jonq...

All the windows are shut, on both sides of the house. Curtains are drawn, as are blinds. The only door wide open is the kitchen door, mainly...

First it was Brexit, then the floods and now Coronavirus. The various news media have all been obsessed with just one subject at a time and...

It is time for all the heroes to go home if they have any; time for all of us common ones to locate ourselves by the real things we l...

Valley’s End is flooded for the third time in just a few weeks; storm Dennis was worse than last weekend’s Ciara. In my twenty years here I ...

After three hot days the rain is back. From my window it looks like the whole world is weeping. Summer? What summer? I have that English dis...

my friend said. "Enjoy yourself, stop worrying, I’ll look after Millie for the day." The man who arranges such things in Valley’s ...

Aconites  Hellebores  closed crocuses  jonquils  open crocuses all pretending it’s spring. The last few days have bee...

in spite of feeling that I have nothing to say. I am feeling a little sheepish about having been away for so long. It’s been up and down, ...

but it's not easy in the depths of winter, at this late stage in the season. I had a post planned about the turf wars breaking out among...

. . . . . . a bit of this and a bit of that. Still spending hours reading rather than writing or doing anything else creative. Still obses...

with skies of unrelieved grey; wet and grey and muddy underfoot. As if Christmas on its own weren’t bad enough. However, I survived, as I ...

Winter floweringViburnum Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round. And, while ...

For the average German the forest is more than just the sum of the trees. When trees are threatened, Germans go on the warpath. I well remem...

Millie and I go for little walks again, mainly around the castle. She is quite happy to revisit her favourite nooks and crannies and avid...

An early spring day, soft and mellow, a slight haze in the air; too good to spend all of it indoors.  We start off at the...