Under the Walnut Tree Among the Willows~

We cherish a relationship with Mary and Joyce Martindale, sister and daughter of Herb Martindale, founder of the Neat Little Bookshop.



Willows on The Grand

In the early eighties, Mary wrote historical "vignettes" for The Grand River Sachem and many of these articles were published in a couple small booklets.*  As well as the historical, Mary often shared personal stories.  At a teachers' meeting, a Dr. Wendy Weaver spoke on how to cope with stress.  "One way is to have a special place where you can relax in your mind and get away from it all.

"To my surprise I found myself by the Grand River under the walnut tree among the willows. 

"I forgot my surroundings as I enjoyed again with my mind the stillness, the shale rock of the river bank, the blossoming water plants along the shore and the blue sky dotted with banks of white fluffy clouds.  This way of relieving stress really works."

* Historical Vignettes, Historical Vignettes II. Grand River Sachem, 1983 & 1988.
Photo:  Riverside Park, Cayuga.  lbwalker

"Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls"

"Pied Beauty"

Glory be to God for dappled things ~

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced ~fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Thank you to Laurie Miller for introducing us to the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889) and the poem, "Pied Beauty."

Quoting Laurie Miller ~ "Longfellow's poem ["The Village Blacksmith"] uses the strength of the tree and the extent of its shade, probably as emblems of the blacksmith's strength, etc., but the one [poem] I think of ["Pied Beauty"] goes to the transient heart of the blossoms themselves."

*Pied/ Parti-coloured;

  Stipple/ w/dots, small spots or flecks.

~ Canadian Oxford Dictionary

"Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls"

The Wonder of a Blossom ~

Intricacies of a Chestnut Blossom

"The Village Blacksmith" ~ Wikipedia

Please Click on Image

Heritage Grand River South of York the West Bank ~

Smile for Today !~


"I persuaded our brother Alex that he was a horse and that horses eat grass.  We were out in the lawn of the big house one evening and I got the idea of getting Alex to eat grass.  What idle boys won't think of.  It was easier than I thought.  My powers of persuasion must have been all right then.  I got him started then had to keep his manger full so as we had no lawn mower then and grass was let grow naturally,  it wasn't too much of a job.  Of course I had to make sure it was all grass and eatable.  This continued for some time till the horse got sick and started to vomit, then we were in real trouble and had to call for help.  I believe it stopped then and as luck would have it the horse recovered as fast as he got sick."


~ John A. Turnbull (1890 - 1975) East Seneca farmer
Writings dated Nov. 13, 1970

Laughing Song ~ Wm. Blake

Laughing Song ~

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy
And the dimpling stream turns laughing by,
When the air does laugh with merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene;
When Mary, and Susan, and Emily
With their sweet sounding mouths sing, "Ha, ha, he!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread;
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"

~ William Blake (1757 - 1827) English poet