 The print 'Canvas on Chrome' is by the late Sandra Blow. I do love it - it lifts my spirits and I always hang it here about this time of year. (It is more vibrant a yellow than it looks in the photograph.)  I have a bookmark by Julia Johnstone which says enigmatically - You are here. Simple hmm?
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Is it cheating
to use up all your calories
on your low calorie day
on ice cream and chocolate sauce?
I was moved by this four minute video, and very interested in the Cleveland Clinic's model of care. I'm impressed that the head of the institution is a doctor - the reason being 'It is easier to teach a doctor to be a businessman than it is to teach a businessman to be a doctor'. There are a series of videos from the clinic. I hope the NHS decision makers are looking.. ..No, not of things to say. (No-one is more amazed than I am that I have so much to say!) I ran out of flowers. None to pick in the garden and I'm a long way from the shops, and this shelf looks so bare without something in a vase.  Don't you find that it's when you think you have nothing in the house that you make the best meals? Running out of anything makes you use your imagination. I found these branches lying by the side of the road.. I don't know what kind of tree they are from.  Until the leaves open this looks a little bare too, so I added the little battery lights, then after dinner sat back (actually I stretched out on the rug) and listened to this new CD. Read, and listen, here. Woodsmoke and cello. Blissed out for a whole hour.  Thank you for reading. i hope you managed to find an hour or so to relax....  In January's storms Coronation Wood was flooded with seawater..  We wondered if the snowdrops would survive....  but here they are, sliding up through the seaweed!  Walk is my word for 2014.  It's fresh and invigorating,  brisk and breezy  and good for seal spotting.. Will you be walking this week-end? I wish you good weather!  I've been writing quite a bit about love this week, but also earlier in the month about objects in the home - 'still lifes'. The two subjects come together here and I've been thinking about how we value things. A recent visit to the V&A, that vast repository of objects, 2,241,718 at the last count, (I wonder how long that took to do) had me pondering the stories behind them. There's a story behind this old candlestick, but I'll save that for another day.. As I've done a lot of decluttering over the last few years (part of simplifying my life) I now find that I've pared down my objects to the ones which really mean something to me, so in a way they are more valuable to me than ever. I still have quite a lot of things, which I have not counted I have to say. The surfaces might be quite sparsely adorned, but the cupboards are pretty stuffed! The thing is I don't have my treasures all out at once. I try to do as the Japanese traditionally did, and have certain things for certain seasons. This keeps my eye fresh and allows me to change things often, without extra expense (shopping in my own cupboards where there are only things I love!) Do you only have things you love around your home? Maybe your dreams are more of sunny tropical islands, but I loved these remote cabins from a huge collection of photographs at http://cabinporn.com/ Which would you choose?          I can imagine myself staying for a month of writing in that first one, and I was lucky enough to spend Midsummer in a smaller version of the one above in Dalarna, the traditional heart of Sweden in a meadow just like this. It was magical. And romantic.. Thanks Julia for the link - you do find some lovely things!  A romantic view of my garden.. Romantic love. What does it mean really? And how important is it? Is it realistic to want it, or is it a fanciful waste of time? Not the sexy, hormone fuelled kind that has the drive for the survival of the species behind it, but the more light-hearted fun (and funny) kind - charm, magic, enchantment, whimsy, tenderness, delight, fascination, with a hint perhaps of the absurd. The very opposite of - serious, earnest, worthy, dutiful, careful, efficient, planned, of checklists and to-do lists, of the humdrum and the boring. You know the kind I mean! Romantic needn't refer to a relationship to another person but can be an attitude to life as a whole: to literature, art, music, gardening - I wrote a little about it here. Are you a romantic? Do you, or would you like to, indulge your romantic side? See Sarah Ban Breathnach's 2002 book Romancing The Ordinary, or Pia Jane Bijkerk's charming book My Heart Wanders (I love the photgraphs) or her blog Enhance The Ordinary. There's a gentle side to these that's rather attractive - if we can slow down long enough....and although there is a tendecy to see romance as a feminine attribute consider the romantic poetry, music and indeed art installations that have been created by men. Maybe the men in your life would like the chance to indulge their romantic side too. ..love what you do, and you will be a success! Do you think this modern mantra is true? Bruce Munro (see yesterday's post) clearly loves what he does and his book gives an interesting insight into the kind of open, creative thinking that got him, eventually, to where he is today. The people who make Flensted mobiles appear to love what they do and have been running their successful business for 60 years. You haven't seen the videos? Click here!  The young Swedish owner of this lovely shop in Edinburgh loves what she does and knows about the things she sells - who made them and where. Isn't it a pleasure to do business with people who love what they do, and not only the creative types: the guy at Edinburgh train station who appears to know all the timetables off by heart and cheerfully points you in the right direction seemed to love what he does. The problem solvers who if something is broken, can't wait to figure out how to fix it; almost anyone who takes pride in a job well done whether that is an efficient system of some kind, a clean house, a child comforted, or a contract won. Do you love what you do? Or is there one aspect of what you do that you love, and could you make more of that part of your job or life? There is scope for a lot of simplifying when you think about these things. For example is there anything you really don't like to do that you could actually drop? Or get someone else to take on? As a painter I'm lucky to do what I love but in all honesty making a living at it has not always been easy. The first whiff of a recession and most people stop buying paintings! (I do too..) I always say that I make enough to keep doing it, which is enough for me and my simple life.... What do you do that you love? PS Do read Laura's comment tonight on the post about Syrian refugees - click here  Even before it was switched on at dusk,  it was rather lovely, with pale crocus growing in between,  and the late sunlight casting long shadows as we waited quietly for the dark.  People were still arriving in little family groups - lots of babies it seemed - when a musician began playing ambient twinkly music.. and the lights began to softly glow.  Almost imperceptibly changing colour....  In his book Catching The Light the artist, Bruce Munro, says 'The Field of Light is a personal symbol for the good things in life'.  Subtle, gentle, magical - this romantic artwork is in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh until late April. Tomorrow : people who love what they do. ..and so many ways of showing it.  In my daughter's sitting room/warehouse! -warm clothes for Syrian families in a refugee camp in Bulgaria. At this point (last Thursday) there were 39 men's jackets, 22 pairs of men's shoes, 39 pairs of men's trousers and 40 women's jackets and coats. See here for how this started. All these 18 boxes are now filled, a local company palletted them, wrapped them and labelled them on Saturday, and will fork lift the pallet onto the courier's vehicle on Tuesday A second pallet is being prepared....will keep you informed.
People are generous. People care. Someone said 'I'm glad of the opportunity to do something'. You could call it love.  Now that is romantic. Elsewhere traffic is at a standstill, blizzards have closed schools, the power is down, people are digging their cars out of snowdrifts, chaos reigns. And here, in the middle of a park in Winchester, Virginia, Gilberto Lozada spends a few quiet hours with a shovel making a big pink heart. Aren't the human heart and spirit just wonderful? Love it. (photo BBC)  I did not expect to have a romantic Valentine's Day....  With both of us sneezing and coughing and blowing our noses every ten minutes it didn't look promising on the romance front. We're taking a rain check on this one - rain being the appropriate word! Wettest winter in 250 years? I can believe it. (But I have plans....) I hope you had a truly loving day. Posts on love all this week 
love, simply
This idea began as a typing error a few days ago, but I thought I'd keep it for Valentine's Day. As I corrected love to live I thought What a beautiful idea! If only we could love simply - without complications, expectations and conditions, less head and more heart perhaps, honest and unambiguous. We think of love as special (and of course it is) but what if it was ordinary, in the sense of everyday natural and easy, requiring little effort or thought? The way a happy four year old I know loves. Love is just what he is. I shall try all day today to 'simply love'. Romantic love? That is another story.... Skandium influence again! (Have you been watching Scandimania here in UK?) I love this new Danish Flensted mobile which I've hung in the sitting room. Click here to see the most enchanting videos! If you've had a really hard day watch the 8 minute film.... How does it fit with my Live Simply philosophy I hear you ask? Well I think of my home as a sanctuary, a place I love to be in, a place filled with things which make me happy. I like a room to have some life in it - a growing plant or fresh flowers, the flame from a fire or a candle flame, and the mobile comes into this category moving gently as it does, changing all the time (but in a much more soothing way than a television screen!) This particular design is called 'Flowing Rhythm Yellow' and I moved some paintings off the wall near it to 'honour it with its own space'. I think the shapes are rather Matisse like, very graphic. It is beautifully made and of a much fresher yellow than in my photgraphs - taken on another dull day....yes, the beautiful snow lasted one day only....but as Cath points out in yesterday's comment the green is gaining ground outdoors - literally. 
Why, I wonder,
does snow
make me feel
so CHEERFUL !
Vitamin C, jolly flowers from Ikea, and the studio is filling up with thick warm beautiful coats and jackets - thank you and keep them coming please!! All this talk of treasured objects makes the plight of those who have lost theirs all the more harrowing. Whether in floods here in UK or because as refugees people have had to walk away from all their belongings, it's hard to really comprehend what that means. I look around and try to imagine having had to walk out of the door, away from my lovely home, my job, my country, carrying my children and little else. My youngest daughter was so moved by an interview on radio (also see here in the text) with a British woman Gil Clasby, who lives in Bulgaria and volunteers every day at a refugee camp for Syrians, that she persuaded her work to pay for the transport of a palette of urgently needed warm clothes. What are needed most right now are men's jackets and coats, men's trousers, men's shoes size 8 + and women's jackets and coats. If you live near me and have any of these to spare, do drop them off or call us and we'll collect them this week.  Another 'still life'. Because the lamp is not working I trailed a few twinkly lights around. (I rather like it so the urgency has gone out of the task of getting the lamp fixed....) The book is 365 Ways To Save The Earth by Philippe Bourseiller and I turn to a new page each day. The photography is superb and although every page reminds you of something that is wrong in the world, there is always a suggestion of what you can do to help - simple things in the main. I'll probably not leave it out for a whole year but we're enjoying it so far. A kind of thought for the day.  Each time I buy flowers, once a week or ten days in winter, I choose a vase and look for things which will look good beside them - a card, a candle, a leftover twiggy branch with Christmas stars, so I change things quite often. The basics are very simple but this satisfies my need for novelty and variety. Teresa Maria wrote a nice post here about how you can stop seeing things just because they are so familiar.  Some birch twigs support the growing hyacinths..  Red or yellow cornus stems would be lovely if you have them, and stronger ones may have to be added as the flowers develop. Your thoughts on 'still lifes' at home (see Wednesday's post) made me think that perhaps because so many things in the world are completely out of our control, we love that we can make a little bit of our world exactly as we want it! Those of us who arrange our things with precision are in good company. The famously flamboyant Matisse would position his many objects most carefully, even when ill in bed he would apparently have his cleaner move a thing an inch or so - till it pleased his eye perfectly. A simple pleasure, which harms no-one and costs nothing at all. I don't obsess about it but I have been known to get up and cross the room to move things just for my momentary delight....good to know I'm not alone!  I've just remembered an expression of my Swedish professor of Landscape Design. When you have something special, he said, 'Honour it with its own space'. He was referring to a tree or sculpture but the same could apply to objects in our homes..don't you think? Artist Bruce Munro has been commissioned to make a light installation in the lovely St Andrew's Square in Edinburgh. I'll be planning a special trip to see this - it looks magical. (It is there until April.)    I think this is my favourite image from his folio. It is Checkwood Gardens Tennessee. Enjoy the one in Ohio Julia!  Influenced by my recent visit to Skandium, definitely. An artist friend visiting my home said laughingly 'Still lifes everywhere!' And I do arrange things. In groups, a bit to the left, according to colour, with an eye to proportion.... Do you have still life groups in your house?  Card of the diplodocus skeleton from the wonderful Natural History Museum. This enormous and astonishing creature was a herbivore. It stands in the middle of a huge hall - I was rather overawed but I think standing beside it I came up to just past it's knee! Some of you may remember that February is my writing month (see under Simply Write) so posts will be short, and sweet I hope, and I thought I'd focus on the little things around the house that help make February fun, lighter and less gloomy....  Starting in the bathroom - wild mint soap and pine..  The card came from the Natural History Museum (I did get out a bit in London!). One of my delights in this house is to have a deep hot bath with the window open to hear the owls hoot in the forest.  Pine fresh - real, not synthetic.  Watching.... |
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