Here is our February Horse Chestnut...
Not looking much different to last month, perhaps just a hint more bud, and a couple of crows. Of course with every passing day, we get a few minutes more evening light to appreciate its still skeletal form.
As it is February, I thought it appropriate to explore some of the Horse Chestnut's romantic connections.
Indeed it has been the subject of song...
"There beneath the boughs we used to meet
All his kisses were so sweet
All the little birdies went 'tweet-tweet'
'Neath the spreading chestnut tree"
(The Chestnut Tree by Glenn Miller)
and verse...
"Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There they lie, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree"
(George Orwell)
And what could be more romantic than a proposal of marriage?
In chapter XXIII of Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester proposes marriage to Jane under "the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard,"...
...."here is the chestnut tree: here is the bench at its old roots. Come, we will sit there in peace to-night, though we should never more be destined to sit there together"...
..."My bride is here," he said, "because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?"
...."here is the chestnut tree: here is the bench at its old roots. Come, we will sit there in peace to-night, though we should never more be destined to sit there together"...
..."My bride is here," he said, "because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?"
(Best not to dwell on the impending 'sign' from nature in the form of a lightning bolt which splits said tree in half in the night!)
Well she was obviously a Horse Chestnut lover!
