Orlang: March 2019

MAD MARCH HARES

This month at Kirrie Connections we had a very welcome group of residents from a local care home. Our discussion centred around the Spring season. This month Christine brought daffodils in her basket and some pungent stalks of rosemary.

Ginny, group member and resident orator read us Wordsworth's "I wandered lonely as a cloud"

Many of the group remembered the poem, they had learned it at school.

Christine gave us a fabulous rendition of the bothy ballad "Guise o Tough" and the group joined in.

1: I cam in be Alford,
An for tae get a fee,
An there I met wi Jamie Broon,
An there we did agree.

Tum a hi tum doo, a hi tum day,

Hi tum a diddle tum a hi tum day.

2: Well I agreed wi Jamie Broon,
In the year o ninety one,
Tae gang hame and caw his second pair,
An be his orraman.

3: When I cam hame tae Guise o Tough,
It was an evenin clear,
Oot aboot some orra hoose,
The gaffer did appear.

4: Says, “I’m the maister o the hoose,
An that’s the mistress here;
If ye want some breid an cheese,
Ye’ll shairly get yer share.”

5: Then I gaed tae the stable,
Ma pairie for tae view;
Fegs they were a dandy pair,
A chestnut and a blue.

6: Then early next mornin,
I gaed tae the ploo;
Lang, lang e’er lowsin time,
Ma pairie gart me rue.
Tum a hi tum doo, a hi tum day,
Hi tum a diddle tum a hi tum day.

7: Ma ploo she wisna workin weel,
It widna thraw the fur;
The gaffer says, “There’s a better een,
At the smiddy tae gang for.”

8: When I got hame, the new ploo,
She pleased me unco weel;
I thocht she wid be better,
Gin she had a cuttin wheel.

9: Ma song’s no nearly ended,
But I’ll no sing ony more;
If ye be offended,
Ye can walk ootside the door.

Tum a hi tum doo, a hi tum day,

Hi tum a diddle tum a hi tum day.

This gave us a neat link to March from February's ploughed fields Some of the group recalled ploughing "teugh" ground, both by horses and tractor, and explained the difference between ploughing for tatties and grain (every day really is a school day!) Skene read a poem by Edward Thomas called 3rd March

It was a perfect day

For sowing; just

As sweet and dry was the ground

As tobacco-dust.

I tasted deep the hour

And the first star.

Between the far

Owl's chuckling first soft cry

Remained; the early seeds

A long stretched hour it was;

Nothing undone

Half a kiss, half a tear, 

All safely sown.

And now, hark at the rain,

Windless and light,

Saying good-night.

he remembered hand sowing seeds in fields using a "hap", known as "broadcasting" Evan showed us how to plant tatties using a foot to measure.

Christine sang us the traditional song "Sleepy Toon" Typically, like the previous song, the words all concern the farm servants lot, the bargain he struck with his employer, the conditions he worked under, his horses and his plough.

Christine then read the Russian folk tale "How the Hare Found the Moon"

Maureen shared Albert Durer's etching of a hare and discussed the seasonal sightings of the brown hares in the fields around Kirriemuir at this time of year. The group also considered the way other artists have portrayed leaping and running hares.

One of the group called this one "Skinny Malinky" and if ever there was an appropriate moment to break out in to an impromptu version of this old classic this was it!

Using the prepared painted paper from last months landscape, Maureen encouraged the members of the group to create parts of a hare, with card templates. After they were cut out she showed them how to place them together to create a running hare.