I love the line in the film Dr Zhivago when the embittered Pasha, now Strelnikov, asks Zhivago what he is going to do with his wife and child at his dacha and Zhivago answers
JUST LLIVE
I love the line in the film Dr Zhivago when the embittered Pasha, now Strelnikov, asks Zhivago what he is going to do with his wife and child at his dacha and Zhivago answers JUST LLIVE Narcissus February Gold tends to flower in March here!
10 Comments
..seems to help clear my mind somehow. Ptofessor Gustavsson in Sweden used to say if yu had something special Honour it with its own space. I hesitated to press Publish on that last post. I am still not sure if it was the right thing to do, but war weighs so heavily that I feel compelled to mention it although I know it is not the kind of content you expect here. Being an informed citizen is important but watching people kill each other, as it hapens, crosses a line... Meantime, thankfully, the tulips suffuse with yellow and the chaffinch visits the bird feeder. Beautiful.
..as I am sure we all are with the state of the world. It's hard, isn't it. This morning I remembered this- Grant me the serenity to accept the thngs I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Some serenity and courage and wisdom might be good. If I could find a little of each in my days it might be helpful. I do have a moment of serenity at breakfast and at dinner when I light a candle on the table. That little pause is peaceful. Watching the colour suffuse the tulips is calming and beautiful, and beauty susutains me as I have often said. And then of course there is the off-switch on the news... Why is that such a big issue? How do you cope? ..what colour these will be. Isn't it amazing that even severed from its bulb and the earth, the tulip has within it whatever it is that makes it colour? ..is really quite exotic, almost glamorous when you look closely.. I accidentally knocked it's beautiful head off when trying to clear weeds from around it (I am a clunsy gardener now, unable to see clearly what I am doing). I felt bad about it but like to think I have redeemed myself by honouriing it with a close up and publishing it here, knowing that many people all around the world will marvel at its beauty! ..you don't succeed, have some cake, said Mole. Does it work? asked the boy.
Every time, said Mole From the wonderful book The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy ..has been fun to do. Maybe a bit premature but away with the fur throw and the brushed cotton bedding and in with a bit of spring colour (extra layers still to hand of course!) I do think what you see when you first open your eyes in the morning should delight you..picked from the garden and sparking joy.
Since I wrote this earlier today it has snowed! Have you read Dr Hannah Ritchie's recent book Not The End Of The World? I'd love to know what you think of it. A dara scientist, she seems to have taken up the baton of the late and great Hans Rosling. (I first posted this more than 10 years ago.) As with Hans Rosling there are lots of YouTube interviews, TED Talks and videos of Dr Ritchie and her message that far from being the last generation of humans on the planet we could be the first generation to create a sustainable world. Two facsimile editions bought at Sissinghurst many years ago. Re-reading these will help me fall in love with gatdening again I am sure.
..and a variation on the kitchen shopping makeover. Free and very easy. Is there a place in yourc home that could do with a bit of a refresh? Maybe a shelf in the siitting room, or a corner of the bedroom? Or a table top in your entraneway. Decide on a colour you love that will give you a lift and go around the house and into all the cupboards to find objects of that colour and make a little arrangement of them in their new space. This surface in the sitting room has had the same things on it for years, and although I still like it, they say a change is as good as a rest and I think there is some truth in that.. I had not intended to chamge the painting until I remembered a series of green paintings I did when I was learning how to use Chinese brushes then I just had to add the red candle - a little bit of opposite colour always sparks joy, and it echoes my red 'chop' which I used on the chinese brush inspired paintings, and which reads 'still learning'. What colour will you choose, and I wonder what you will find.. ,..the kitchen is decked in red. The instant makeover, courtesy of the weekly shop and a tea towel, clutters the surface a bit but of course it becomes clearer as the week goes on and the food gets eaten. Meanwhile, it sparks a little joy! Hae you tried it? Great Western Road is a fascinating street. Hoos and Niki Jones are particularly beautiful. Curated and expensive - lovely for a specia gift. I resisted the exquisitely embroidered linen cushion and spent £7 in the market-like Tiger on Easter eggs and tiny cactus shaped candles. The cafe with the generously embellished almond croissants is the Cottonrake Bakery should you find yourself in the vicinity. We did splurge on a lovely dinner at The Annchor Line. Oh, the High Life! I so enjoyed it. Vibrant lime green hellebores. In the glasshouses are lovely old fashioned displays of coleus, hyacinths and petunias, beautifully cared for and along with the jasmine smell divine. ..fills the well. A good dinner out, a walk in the Botanic Gardens, coffees and croissants and browsing in some very stylish shops. Thursday lunchtime concerts at the University of Glasgow are wonderful (and free). Four members of the Dunedin Consort played some lesser known Bpieces on cello, viola da gamba, violin and organ. It was superb. Watching the wet world go by with a capuccino and an almond croissant.
My new favourite word. I only discovered it recently. It means the warmth of the winter sun. I Do you have a favourite word by any chance? First the howling gales awoke us
Then the rain came down to soak us Then, before the eye could focus Crocus! A morning of sunshine, kind words of encouragement from lovely blog friends and all is well.
First lunch out of doors this year. I hope you had sun where you are, and time to relax in it. Unable to sleep I scrolled through all the photos of the garden under Simply Grow. This was one of many moments of magic.. The little collection of inspiring photographs of the garden are certainly helpful as all the jobs in the garden just now are muddy ones. The paths and steps have been power-hosed, the black pots scrubbed, the greenhouse door washed and the table and four chairs cleaned, some roses pruned, some leaves raked up...and I have put in the first yew of the new hedge. It's nine days since I decided to do a job in the garden every single day. So far so good! Wht I really want is to fall in love with the garden again. Is that possible do you think? I looked at yesterday's photograph and thought what utterly different worlds the three parts of it represent. The World of the Imagnation. Oil paint on canvas - created from inside someone's head (mine in this case), a fantasy, a fiction of a kind, unique. The World of Nature. Narute which sustains us all. In the wild are these exquisite things food for some creature? Or do they just exist to be stunningly beautiful? The World of the Internet. On this small neat device on my table in my quiet house on the loch in Scotland, I communicate with hundreds of people on our planet from Texas to Japan, from Switzerland to New Zealand. I have no real idea how. My mind is truly blown! I may have to go and lie down in a darkened room :-) |
Categories
All
AuthorAn artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!) Archives
April 2024
|