Aster (September)

Found a yellowed ‘Home at Grasmere’ (Penguin, 1978). Dorothy writes Friday September 24^th 1802, “We dressed ourselves immediately and got tea – the garden looked gay with asters and sweet pea.” Our beach house is gay, in the Wordsworthian sense, colourful couches, tumbles of books, tea on the boil, &c. Ditto the garden, what with trees of gold banksias, flowering gums popping their corks, wax Bendigoing about, &c. Sometimes a relief Dorothy had a gay garden, what with William off on long walks, inspired by dismal mountains, and Coleridge calling over, talking non-stop theory by the fireplace into the small hours.