Thank you Julia for this link!

My first reaction was Oh it's so beautiful!


If you are interested in juicing a must-see is the documentary Super Juice Me. You have to subscribe to watch it but (so far) they don't then bombard you with emails!

My simple for today..

Have you noticed how much water tulips need? I top them up every day but even so...

Sorry little tulips!

Meanwhile some of the ones in the garden munched to stumps by the deer have produced buds (all protected now by perfumed soap pieces). Exciting!

Three carrots, two small apples, one small pear, cucumber, celery, spinach, kale and ginger..

Phillips Viva Collection juicer 700W XL feeding tube, Easy Clean.

One for now, one in the fridge for later or in the freezer for a day when I don't have time or am travelling. I do this about 9 days out of 10 and have supermarket fresh pressed juice for the 10th day.

Lovely.

For me the incentive to get healthier began with my eyes.

I am an artist and when the optician told me I had macular degeneration and gave me a leaflet saying it was the leading cause of blindness all I could think was 'No. Not my eyes. Please not my eyes.' I waited for her to tell me what would be done but she was very quiet (and wouldn't look me in the eye. It must be hard to tell someone this I guess). So I asked what could be done and she said there was no cure and no treatment but I could try eating more colourful vegetables and take a supplement called Macushield that was thought to maybe slow down the process. And, she added, if there was a sudden change in my sight to get myself to the hospital straight away.

Mercifully the degeneration has been quite slow, but to cut a long story short, I recently thought if eating more vegetables is the only thing on offer how can I get the maximum amount of vegetables into my body? I browsed the web and chanced on this health retreat! I thought about it a lot (I'd never been on any kind of retreat and thought I couldn't afford it), but after some months and at a rather low ebb I gulped at the price, and went ahead and booked it in January this year.

I think it may be the best money I have ever spent.

I made the decision that if I was going to be blind I was going to be slim and healthy and energetic and blind!

.. hopefully to yesterday's link? Thank you Sarah from Down By The Sea  for this uplifting short trailer....

Has anyone seen the film?

Aaaargh! No wonder people are stressed.

(Marie Kondo the world needs you.)

See here.

Cards, messages, gifts, sunshine, snow, hailstones, rain, gales (and 13,145 steps) on my birthday today!

After a few days those vivid pink flowers fade to the most delicate and pretty shades....

Rhododendrons make a lovely cut flower....

I wish I'd known when I was first diagnosed with macular degeneration  that -

Blind does not mean total blackness with this condition.

AMD often develops very slowly.  (Something else might get you first!)

Not everyone who has dry AMD goes on to develop advanced AMD or wet AMD. It is possible that some people may be living with early AMD over decades without serious effect. We can't know because as the opthalmologist pointed out, these would be the ones who don't attend clinics...

Some of the best minds are working on a cure as I write.  Just in the few years since I was diagnosed there have been developments in stem cell therapy and implants.

Big Pharma is spending Big Money to find a cure.

Meanwhile the best hope appears to be good nutrition....and supplements such as Macushield.

I wanted to know what a 10000 steps day felt like..

I gardened and walked all day yesterday and did 9854.

Boy was I tired.

This morning I am aching - just a bit.

So, my aim now is to keep moving more until a 10000 steps day feels fine, BUT I shall work up to it slowly over say 6 months and see how much fitter I feel (and how good the garden looks) by the end of the summer.

Are you trying to get fitter?

And what motivates you? Results motivate me. It feels so good to be aware that I am moving easily and to know that i am stronger and more supple.

I am liking Louise Parker's approach in this book (except for the suggestion that you do it all in 6 weeks!).

I am taking it SLOWLY from now....

I've been given a Fitbit and it has motivated me already to move more.

Instead of loading myself up with everything that needed taken downstairs I found myself thinking 'I'll just make two trips it will be more steps'.

6,743 today.

Without really trying.

Wonder if I can make the recommended 10,000....

Getting up earlier is one of my new habits since I went to the wonderful  health retreat in January (see this post).

That was such a good decision! At the time I booked it I felt as though I was running on empty and I can truly say I haven't looked back. More good decisions and good habits followed. By making a few simple changes I eat better, sleep better and move more.

I mention it today because I have been talking to Katrina and she tells me there is now one place due to a cancellation, on her next retreat..see here. Perhaps it is for you? :-)

I love this card which says 'Make It Happen'.

Have you acquired any new good habits?

..with rosy light..

I choose to get up earlier so that I can start my day with ginger tea and some writing.

I love looking out on the forest and opening the window to feel the morning air and hear the birds.

How do you start your day?

Can you create a little morning corner? If you don't (yet) have the view you want you might put a picture of one beside you as you enjoy a quiet cuppa and read or write for ten minutes before the family stirs or the alarm goes off and the demands of the day begin.

Happy Easter Sunday!

..but I thought this one was interesting.

Maybe because you don't hear it much.

It's not exactly a current buzzword.

Maybe that's why it stopped me, and made me think.

I wonder how many other people in the big city also paused...

..French style!  :-)

....and 23 degrees in beautiful Yorkshire!

Relaxing time with friends, gardens, cottages and castles, coffee and cakes and time in nature with clouds of blackthorn blossom and star spangled woodland - I've never seen as many wild anemones as around the lovely town of Richmond.

A perfect short break. (Please click on photos to enlarge.)

I hope you have had sunshine too!

There is a lovely buzz of good energy in the comments lately! Keep up all the fun changes till I come back to the blog next week...

I am still working through my list of needs and wants in the garden (see here).

I'm not a fan of ornaments and sculptures in my own garden. Two of the garden designers I most admire let the plants and planting structure do that job. (Beth Chatto and Piet Oudolf)

This post still says it all for me on this subject.

But I fear the birdbaths must go - too many cats. :-(

I knew I had a lot of seats in this small garden, but 19? I never thought to actually count them till now as I carry out an honest survey of my outdoor space.

Sitting thinking and looking is my favourite occupation, but even so..

The above is built in to the porch. Also in need of attention. We liked to sit on the porch in early evening and on hot days had dinner there. This little folding chair is maybe the only piece that does not need any attention! I began to paint it yellow and decided I liked some of the blue showing through. That 'shabby-chic' look? Too bad the rest look plain shabby without the chic. Hmm..

If I count my all-time favourite - the hammock - that makes 20!  Ridiculous. Except that they all have their purpose.

I am so glad to have photographs to look back on. I'm encouraged to see that I did manage the garden last year and it had its lovely moments, and will do again no doubt (if I do less sitting and more moving - good for the garden and good for me).

Is this the time of year you also take a long hard look at things? Home, wardrobe, garden whatever?,

I thought you might enjoy a look at Peter Sparrey's work here. I adore the yellow bowls. The markings on ours are like an intricately hand drawn map, the lid a perfect fit, the handle lively.

After a week's rain it's back to the garden redesign and I find that there too I am daring to be simpler and simpler....

But I am continuing first with my honest look at the current condition of things. Some of the garden furniture is in a parlous state...(I wonder what parlous means exactly?) Anyway it is not good. The bargain sets of coloured table and chairs are wearing out and/or fading.

We have three sets of these. They were fun and cost about £20 ten or more years ago and have been used constantly, so no shame to them! I will look in autumn for another (one!) bargain set and offer these to an artist friend who makes metal sculptures.

.One of the found-on-the-shore planks is rotten, the other is beginning to rot but will do another year if I give it a scrub and position myself  on it carefully..

In the wetter west of Scotland wood furniture doesn't always weather to a lovely silver..

Before you get depressed too, here's a photo from July last year..

.

But wait!

There's more!

Oh OK, I'll save it for tomorrow.

..I was a minimalist at heart, I now know I am. I had the two bedrooms which had been damaged by a leak in the roof decorated this week (didn't do it myself this time - bliss!).

I just loved them bare and almost empty.

I am thinking very carefully about what goes back in..

Tables (I may paint them), lamps and plain white bedlinen - definitely.

White cotton curtains? I swithered for a bit as there is a blind, but I like the softness. I don't even mind that they are so old they have a few little holes - call it wabi sabi..

Rug, mirror and clock.

Yes.

Birds and writing lamp too.

Beautiful raku pot by Peter Sparrey

flowers by the bedside. Always.

Barry's side too.