The Enchanted Forest

This time of year brings the flowering of the Wisteria. Once the showy blooms impose themselves on buildings, walls and even in one case drowning and entire tree in purple pendants, it's impossible not to notice their ancient structures girding wood and timber. Yet just a few weeks earlier, the gnarly grey limbs were good as invisible to the careless eye of passers by.

I love the flowers- they are unapologetically abundant. Like sugar confections on wedding cakes they drip in sweet scented fronds over my path. But it's the creaking limbs on which they rest that really fascinate me. Like the forest surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle, they encroach like witches fingers on doorways and windows, tap-tapping on the glass in the wind. Disguised by the beautiful decorations, they present Snow White with her fatal apple, steal away Cinderella's slipper and then retreat once more, lying unobserved over unsuspecting front doors.