Roots

Today we planted a Hawthorn hedge with saplings from friend Bridget. I was fascinated by these delicate roots - a severe test for the resolution of my lens - and even in large, the blip image algorithms haven't coped too well when compared to the original.

Mythical Hawthorn...

The whitethorn or hawthorn, whose many other names include May tree, Thorn, Bread and Cheese tree, Ladies Meat, Quickset has a long and strong association with myth and legend, in the Celtic world and well beyond. In Ireland it has long been seen as sacred to the fairies, to be respected at least, feared at most, due to the belief that fairy spirits inhabit the tree. It is bad luck to cut down a hawthorn tree standing alone. Even today, farmers work around them.

Of all the associations of the hawthorn, none is more significant – or controversial – than the story which connects it to Jesus and the Holy Grail, the goblet used at the last supper.

Jesus was the grandnephew of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich businessman who, according to Cornish fokelore, traded in tin with miners on the west coast of England.

Apparently on one of these trading journeys he brought Jesus along and they visited the legendary Holy Isle of Avalon, now associated with Glastonbury.

Then, apparently, at the crucifixion, Joseph collected some of the blood of Jesus in this goblet and later returned with it to England. On landing, he thrust his staff into Wearyall Hill where it took root and blossomed into a hawthorn tree, known today as the Glastonbury Thorn, a form which flowers twice a year.

Source: Ann Fitzgerald - Irish Independent

Many, many thanks to everyone who helped to send by blip from yesterday to the top of the spotlight. I really appreciate it.