..so I rescued some.

Any day now the council cut down the verges - just as they are at their most beautiful.  Another Ah well moment MaryB.

..a David Hockney original print. While still a student  at Glasgow School of Artt I sold a design to Pringle for £22, which was the price of a  Hockney print I really liked in a gallery in the city. We had just moved into a flat and had no cooker...Reader you guessed correctly - I bought the cooker, which is probably rusting in a hole in the ground somewhere now. I wonder how much the Hockmey print is worth.  :-(

Ah well..

..to David Hockney. I was sad to hear of his death. I am full of respect for his skill, his wit, his courage. His willingness to keep trying new things. But perhaps more than anything else I admire his discipline and total commitment.

Here he is writing Love Life, which could have been his motto.

..goes a long way towards a happy and productive day.  I knew that we were about to have the first dry day for ages and that all the grass needed cut, so the night before I made a big bowl of Greek salad, hard boiled a couple of eggs and put a small bottle of white wine in the fridge.

A full days work imterspersed wlih lovely food and wine and a brief nap in the hammock has been most enjoyable! Tired but happy and off for a hot soak and early bed.  Hope you had a nice Sunday.

..before breakfast. Tan so far.

And one brief glimmer of sunshine!

It is supposed to be dry tomorrow..

A walk to the postbox.

A pause to look up the loch

and down the loch. Have you taken a pause today?

These I have to control!

I would not be without the lovely alchemilla mollis, but it would take over the garden if I did not weed out self sown seedlings -easy when they are small, much harder if they get established.

I want the pink campion but not the montbretia - hard to separate!

The new corms of  crocosmia Lucifer go deep - quite hard to get rid of.

I wish I had never planted alstromaeria - almost impossible to get rid of and taking over a whole bed - any tips anyone?

There are some self sown seedlings which are welcome to grow where they will in my garden - welsh poppies and aquilegia do their pretty thing then disappear, erigeron sprinkles itself about under the eaves (not fully hardy here) foxgloves grace odd corners, and the dainty geranium robertianum Celtic White is adorable and can be cut back hard if it gets too straggly.and will flower agaain.

I didn't plant any geranium in this pot - they just decided to seed themselves there, to very pretty effect. I like the random and natural look all these volunteers give the garden.

..said David Hockney. For me good art is restorative and regenerative, and if nothing else takes me out of my own busy head for a bit.

I have to say I do not often have the patience for video installations, but we chanced on one called  Moth Kota by Hannah Imlach and something about it made me sit down and watch. Gentle, beautifully filmed, it was about attracting moths to a sculptural structure in a clearing in a wood. It was described as having stereo sound but was silent, which I really liked. I found it poetic - an insight into how someone else sees the world.

Do you like to visit art galleries? What do you get out of it? Perhaps it moves you to tears, to question things or even to rage!

..at the RSA in Edinburgh is a very good show. There is a big sail

a large pink wedge,

an Elizabeth Blackadder,

three Ian McKenzie Smiths (a man with almost a full alphabet of letters after his name!)

sorry about the reflections,

and a very unusual Barbara Rae.

It's a huge exhibition and I could happily visit it again.  It is on until June 14 and is free. See it if you can!

..

..Shepherd's Warning. I leave you with this view from my summer  bedroom. Back soon.

..see yesterday's post...I am giving lots of tlc  to the lonicera nitida ball after pruning it by almost a third as it had become so scraggy. Been meaning to do it for years!

Clematis Freda really needs taken in hand. A good haircut required.

I missed the right moment to tidy up the bamboo, so tomorrow I will cut it to the ground and give it a seaweed feed and see what happens.

One of my favourite jobs in the garden is to mow the paths through the developing meadow areas. They barely show at first, but that gives me the chance to change them a bit at the next cut if I want to.

To my categories of jobs in the garden - ongoing, start and finish, rescue and job I want to do I have added  something brave.

Examples to come...

..and I have spent the weekend catching up with some much needed housework. May  gardening is very demanding. Suddenly things are growing faster than I can keep up with.

I have been filling pots with these petunias. The subtle, slightly sombre Ray Shadow and Indian Summer to lighten things a little. Unusual and I think  I am going to love them.

Two buses and two ferries to visit a friend with a wonderful garden. Our book group meet there once a year and we have always had good weather! We also have a delicious lunch made for us.

On the ferry from Dunoon to Gourock we were followed by a pod of dolphins. The captain came out to tell us they were in the wake of the boat.

The Firth of Clyde is lovely. Have you had a day out recently? Can you plan one? Hope you get sunshine.

..and waiting for rain. Do you know that tension when after several days of heat and sunshine the garden really needs some rain, but it doesn't come? I am almost holding my breath.

Unable to upload photographs, I thought I would share two items of good news  I have come across this morning. Have you seen Humans of New York?  Heartwarming. And a new roof garden for intensive care patients has been created at King's College Hospital in London.

Good people are doing good things.

Sorry I can't create links to the above! Is it me or is it my ageing computer? It's driving me nuts... I shall post this anyway.

..is what all the hard work in the garden is for. A friend to  stay, wine and chocolates (thank you Tim) a walk along the beach and up the river, meals outside and a nap in the hammock - all in a very pleasant 2o degrees.

How is it where you are?

The black pots are going to be  fillrd with blue and white this year. I was given blue and white sweet pea seeds  and have bought blue and white trailing lobelia and petunias. The canes have been painted blue and I am ridiculously pleased with the blue string!

..from my daughters. I think I have mentioned this before - feeling a bit stressed I said to my daughter 'I feel I am not keeping up, to which she replied 'Mum no-one is keeping up!'

I received an email recently totally in Chinese and was expressing my frustration to my younger daughter, who said 'Technology is exhausting us all.'

Of course without it I would not be telling you this....or showing you this first full bunch of flowers from the garden. :-)

Still enjoying this delightful birthday card.

..and on to the shore to see if the thrift is in flower. Surely one of our hardiest plants, battered all winter by wind and waves.

I love plants with a horizontal form and viburnum plicatum Maresii is looking stunning just now, with cornus controversa  variegata to the right echoing the form.

Regarding yesterday's post and another kind of horizontal - what works for you in coping with illness, or just feeling unwell. Do tell us what you think aids recovery.. I know that some of you are dealing with serious ilness and wish you well. 

n
Firstly I must say that I am raely ill. I've been fortunate to have enjoyed good health most of my life. When I am unwell,  I try to do all the sensible things but find the hardest thing is to be patient and to accept that it takes time to recover.  I have a mere cough but there are so many ecxiting things to do in the garden I am feeling very frustrated! I  also feel I can't meet friends for fear of passing on this infection.

Solace has been found in an unexpectedly good book.

In Letter from Japan, Marie Kondo of Tidying fame explains Japanese culture and her own
philossophy in some depth. I am finding it fascinating. She dedicates the book to those who see beauty in the everyday...that's us I would say!

Between the red gate and the shore the blubells are thick and lovely, though hard to photograph I find.

I have tried different times of day and different light conditions but I can never capture the amazing intensity of their colour. Does anyone have any tips on how to photograph bluebells?

..a sunny morning and a plate of home made scones and I am feeling more like myself again.

Still coughing but not so much. I just had to go out on the porch at about 2am (well wrapped up!) and gaze in wonder at the brilliantly starry sky for just a few minutes - a whole different perspective on everything. Back to bed and woke to bright sunshine - so beautiful, so cold.

I ate all three scones for breakfast.

I  do hope you are all well.