It was a Good Idea!

General Interest

There was a previously unnoticed feature, called “Favourites” in the Photos application in Windows 11 that I hadn’t noticed previously. It could well have been in previous versions of the Windows operating system but it hadn’t ever caught my eye until earlier this week. This feature allows you to click on a photograph and add it to a Favourites Folder. It doesn’t get moved away on you but, whenever you wish to do so, you can visit this very special folder and there they all will be waiting for you to admire again.

While I was reflecting on this newly discovered feature on my laptop, feeling it was an instance of my own inadequacy dealing with technology, it brought to mind the occasion of the first computer arriving to our small rural school. It was a giant of a thing, really huge, and I recall the advice received from a Department of Education computing specialist that if we could manage/afford it at all we should buy a model with 1G of hard drive storage as “it would serve our purposes for the rest of your life”. The monster was unpacked with a string of alarmed comments from me to the helping pupils, “For goodness sake, don’t drop it/be careful/don’t break it etc etc” and all went tensely until one of girls – and I can still recall her perfectly well – turned to me in exasperation and said, “For god’s sake, Paddy, will you f..k off and leave me put it together. You’re too stupid to have a computer!” I left and was called back shortly afterwards to find everything connected, turned on and in working order. Country children always had this direct style of communication! So, with such a track record, I suppose it isn’t surprising that I hadn’t noticed this wonderful feature on Windows but it gave me a good idea.

Favourite Snowdrop Views this week:

I gave a talk to the Hardy Plant Society in the U.K. recently, via Zoom, and was asked to give another talk as part of their coming winter programme. Of course, I was flattered and delighted and accepted the very kind invitation immediately and it was only in the following weeks that I began to think of how I might arrange this talk and it entered my mind that if I started now and selected my favourite snowdrops and favourite photographs I would have made a good start in my preparations.

We have had a run of very pleasant days, bright and mild days with clear skies, sunshine and temperatures rising above the magic 10C at which snowdrops open and look their best and I have been out taking photographs of the snowdrops every day, even twice each day and have been adding steadily to my new and very special Favourites Folder. Of course, a snowdrop can look well over several days and a pretty grouping of plants – say, snowdrops with cyclamen and winter aconites – can be very attractive and will be photographed on consecutive days with each day’s photograph being added to “Favourites”…so, already, in the space of a very few days I have multiple images of the same plant or the same scene and realise that, at some stage, I will have to do a further winnowing to find my favourites among my Favourites. Ah, well, it was a good idea while it lasted!

The warmer weather during the week has brought the snowdrops on in their droves; there were lots and lots of photographs and I’m sure I will repeat some of those shown in the last post.

WARNING: If snowdrops are not your interest, you should leave now.

Published by Paddy Tobin

Published

16 thoughts on “It was a Good Idea!”

    1. I posted a similar photograph of ‘Aunt Agnes’ on Facebook last year and a lady called Olive Mason (very well known in snowdrop circles) commented that it was one she found in her garden and had named for her aunt Agnes who introduced her to gardening as a child.

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  4. Hello Paddy,
    Absolutely stunning sequences of photos, enough to persuade even the most sceptical to grow more snowdrops.
    I wonder what you do with the inevitable seedlings that arise over time, and whether anyone has yet visited and named one in your honour? (Since I believe it’s not allowed to do this oneself?) There surely must already be some lurking in the Tobin grounds which merit dispersal to the great and good in the galanthophile world. Or maybe there already is a Paddy’s Pearl, Tobin Treat, or similar? I envy your warmer temperatures – ever seeing the insides of the flowers is a rare treat for us.
    Best wishes and keep snapping.
    Julian

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    1. We are inclined to deadhead the snowdrops and, as a result, don’t have a great number of seedlings but there have been several which have arisen over the years. I’m not given to naming but have named a few. One named this year, tongue in cheek, was “Galloping Horses”. You will understand the reference which is especially applicable to the naming of snowdrops but when I showed it, people thought it was very good – and it is good but do we need to name another one? There are so very many named varieties which are not at all significantly different. I have a nice yellow plicatus which I named after two grandchildren, ‘Annalivia’ also.

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      1. Hello Paddy,
        WOW – deadheading snowdrops… you are a sucker for punishment, but then I have my own foibles…
        I love the ‘galloping horses’, which if it’s linked to what I think it is, is something I shall always remember as a great piece of Irish wit, and something to return to when I need cheering up. Annalivia for a yellow is wonderful.
        I still keep thinking the wheels will come off the snowdrop trade soon, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of it yet, and at its roots (sorry), anything that gets people outside in the worst of Jan/Feb has to be a good thing, doesn’t it? Plus as I now tell people, they’re a great natural carbon store…
        BW
        Julian

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      2. Yes, you understand my naming perfectly! Newly named snowdrops are being added to the lists on a daily basis and most would defy separation from many others already on that list – galloping horses etc!

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  7. You must be proud of these wonderful snowdrops so beautifully displayed, they really do look good in the sunshine. Never seen a bee on one before, do they provide nectar or is this bee just using the snowdrop as a parasol?

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    1. That photograph was taken on one of our recently very rare sunny and warm days and there was a lot of bees on the snowdrops and they appeared to be feeding as they travelled from one to another. It’s an early start to the year for them.

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  8. Outstanding! I truly enjoy visiting your blog even if just to get a tour of your garden. And now I’m wondering where I’ll tuck in some more snowdrops.
    But one more comment on the country girl and the computer – what a very harsh remark from her!

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