Ⓐ - Ⓩ - 18. april - Ⓠ - Quince and Queens

Ⓠ ... som der står skrevet: Q er et bogstav i alfabetet, man bruger det sjældent, men her kan du se det. (Halfdans ABC - efter hukommelsen) Og så en tegning af folk, der leger med en masse Q'er.
     De eneste der giver bare nogenlunde mening er Quiche, det hedder vist også tærte, og dette mundrette ord bliver brugt i Uglebo, så er der Quilt, men Uglemor har ikke den slags tålmodighed. Og så en Quiz, men de foregår altså ikke i haven. Så Q på dansk er ikke så godt. Det var en af grundene til at jeg truede med at måtte prøve på engelsk. Lad os se: Quaff, Quagmire, Quandary, Quarrel, Quarry, Quest, Queue, Quiet, Quiver, Quilt, Quince, Queen ... det bliver straks bedre.

     Quince betyder Kvæder:  Vi har vores smukke, men forvirrede kvæde. Fra nu af og til den første frost bærer den blomster, små frugter og modne frugter mellem hinanden. Uglemor laver kvædegelé, der spises med fornøjelse af de andre indbyggere i Uglebo.

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 Ⓠ ... My house poet, Halfdan Rasmussen, once wrote a rhymed ABC for children - and their parents. Under Q you saw a lot of people having fun throwing, climbing, going through, and in general fooling around with the letter Q. The verse said something like: Q is a letter in the alphabet. It's used very seldom, but here you see't.
And that is the trouble with Q. Apart from strange, chemical compounds and queer names, Q is used for Quiz, Quiche and Quilt.  We have no quizzes in the garden, MotherOwl's patience is not of the quilting sort - Quilt in Danish being only big blankets, smaller things are called patch work. Quiche, yes we eat that now and again, but they're always pies or tarts, never quiches.
Let's see. Q is much more used in English, that was why I threatened to use English for those obscure letters. Let's take a look: Quaff, Quagmire, Quandary, Quarrel, Quarry, Quest, Queue, Quiet, Quiver, Quilt, Quince, Queen ... now this sounds more promising, at least Quince and Queen.

Quince, we have a small, very flowery quince bush in the garden. It is a bit ... erm ... confused I'd say, in so far as it carries flowers, small fruits, and big fruits all through Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Blomstrende kvæder i aftensol - - - Flowering quince in the evening sun.

     Queen er jo dronning, og sådan nogen har vi haft adskillige af i de forgangne år. Bidronninger forstås ;) Men der er ikke flere tilbage nu. Det er både et savn og en lettelse. Et savn fordi vi ikke får bestøvet så meget eller så godt, som vi plejede. Der er helt enkelt ikke vilde bier og humler nok i haven. En lettelse fordi Uglemor jo er allergiske overfor bistik, omend vaccineret med god virkning, men alligevel. Frygten sidder stadig lige under huden.
     Himlens Dronning, Polens, Dronning, Martyrernes Dronning, Fredens Dronning ...  er alt sammen tilnavne til Jomfru Maria. Så måske skulle jeg bare vise, at jeg nu har fået malet hylden og vasket relieffet ude i haven.

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Queen. Queens we've had a load, queen bees that is. But not any more. MotherOwl is in two minds about this. She misses the pollinating job done by the bees, the wax and the honey. She totally do not miss having to fight recalcitrant, let's just call them angry, bees when tending them, or the fear of being stung. Maybe in some years bees will make a comeback in the Owlery.
But Queen: Queen of Heaven, Queen of Martyrs, Queen of Peace, Queen of the Apostles. Yes it's the Virgin Mary. Maybe MotherOwl just has to show that the relief in the garden now has its shelf painted white, and a much needed washing.

 Se, det pyntede da!     Yes, much better now.