A short walk today at Benmore Botanic Garden. Sheer delight, and we seemed to have all 150 acres to ourselves in the late afternoon sunshine!

Edward de Bono in his book Simplicity says:

                      The lazier a person is, the more likely is that person to seek simpler ways to do things.

Well!
 
(He might be right..)

On to Simply Beautiful - probably my favourite Category. See here, and one of my own favourite posts here.

I hope, if you have time, you will enjoy a browse through Simply Beautiful. (Scroll down to categories in right hand column.)

Does beauty sustain you?

I expect it is anything but simple to produce beautiful flowers like these in Britain in January....

But here they are 'proudly grown by Philip Collison in Norfolk'

The branches of flowering currant will blossom in the house in a week or two. The flowers will be white or pale pink indoors - beautiful!

Georgie, the Flower Farmer at Common Farm writes a good blog about growing cut flowers in Britain..

Read about it here. I think her 16th January post about how flower farmers are getting together to promote British flowers is especially interesting .

See what you think..

There are some wonderful photographers among bloggers and I am loving all the snow photographs lately.

I have always used only my own photographs on my blog, but can't resist posting this one taken recently by James Shooter (good name for a photographer?) and found on the BBC's weather page, which tells me we can expect more snow for the next three days - there were some flakes falling on my way home tonight....I still get so excited.

I shall have my camera ready, and if I ever take a photograph as beautiful as this one, I shall be in seventh heaven. The composition is superb and the subtle pattern of the snow with just the faintest trace of the trees in the background, and the majesty of the animal....Wow!

Winter bites....

Unable to sleep I got up in the early hours of this morning, put on a thick dressing gown and furry slippers, went downstairs and stepped out of the door, onto the porch and into the chill night air.

Mist hung above the bare soil of the front garden and turned the trees into ghosts, and the tremulous Whoo-woo-woo-woo of an owl was so loud I was sure I must see it.

Looking up I was astonished to see above the tree tops a clear and brilliant sky, thick with thousands upon thousands of stars!

A good-to-be-alive moment, and perhaps the subject for some paintings for an upcoming exhibition....

A funeral today, in the midst of the festive season, was not as sad as I had thought it might be. Celebrating the long and fully lived life of a dear friend and reminiscing about, as her son in law put it, the 'Margaretness of Margaret' was both moving, humorous and peaceful. The church was filled with Christmas evergreens and a young grandaughter played a haunting tune on the clarinet as the beautiful coffin, woven from wool and covered with flowers, was slowly taken from the church.

Passing the bedroom door this morning I glanced in and was struck by the dramatic arrangement of light and shadows which a shaft of watery wintry sunshine was creating..just had to stop what I was doing and fetch the camera....

Something familiar and taken for granted can be transformed into something that momentarily stops you in your tracks.
 
Magic. Makes you look with new eyes.

I keep thinking there is nothing left to pick in the garden, then I remembered the schizostylus and went out in the rain to pick a few, and found a cluster of rosebuds too.

The rosebuds are quite marked by the rain, but the leaves are so perfect with their red central vein and evenly toothed edges touched with red...

Sarah, your name came out of the hat! Do send me your address and I'll post 'Getting Things Done' forthwith - hope it proves useful..

There's a sharp intake of breath each morning as I draw back the curtains - the rowan tree is so beautiful!
 
I've been having my morning cuppa at this window lately to make the most of it.

There is a tradition in Highland Scotland that the rowan tree brings luck (luckan rowan) and keeps evil at bay (particulary witches!) - this is my neighbour's tree, but I think it probably protects us too. It is sorbus sargentiana, a very handsome specimen.


(Shhh...today I looked at the box of wrapping paper and Christmas cards - just a quick look, and just so that I know what I have got, then back to the out-of-the-way cupboard....)