Live Simply Simply Live
  • Blog
  • Studio
  • Home
  • Cards
  • Coronation Wood

Simply..from seed....

31/5/2022

6 Comments

 
I grew lupin My Castle from seed last year. Perennials from seed are such good value. I have about twenty good plants for a couple of pounds. These are for my daughter's garden and I think I will grow some white ones for mine.  They were very easy, and came from Chiltern Seeds

Picture
6 Comments

Simply..planning....

30/5/2022

4 Comments

 
I have plans for some sunshine!
Picture

Isn't it wonderful to make plans again, with a reasonable expectation that they will come about? Do you have plans? Do you find that the planning part is almost as exciting as the event?
4 Comments

Simply..what a diffeence....

30/5/2022

2 Comments

 
.. a sunny day makes to how I feel!  Are you like this?  Suddenly I am smiling broadly and am full of energy and try to fit two weeks gardening chores into two days (am aching of course). I do sometimes wish I lived in  kinder climate...

The flowers in my last post, which Weebly still will not allow me to illustrate, are lilac and this delightful white buttercup ranunculus aconitifolius.   I love this plant and plan to have a lot more of it.
Picture
3am and all's well.
Picture
Today is cloudy again, but the paths are mown and the hedge is cut and the garden and I are ready for summer!
2 Comments

Simply..contrived....

28/5/2022

6 Comments

 
..planned, curated. I enjoy the dynamic in the garden between the serendipity of the parts I allow to grow wild, and the parts I very consciously design. To my eye the success of it very much depends on the clear contrast between the parts. To that end I have been trying to cut the hedges, clipped plants and mow paths through the longer grass but the weather is against me! Wet and windy so I can't use the electric mower and new cordless hadge timmer.

I have photos to illustrate this point, but have been trying for two days to post them without success - like the weather Weebly is against me!

Will keep trying...



6 Comments

Simply..white....

27/5/2022

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
4 Comments

Simply..serendipity....

26/5/2022

8 Comments

 

All the aquilegia in my garden are volunteers. They just appear, do their pretty thing, and disappear again.  They never smother other plants or get in the way or make any demands. Totally trouble free and with their fairy-like  charm are lovely in a little vase on the bedside table or the bathroom windowledge.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
8 Comments

Simply..beautiful....

25/5/2022

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
4 Comments

Simply..city buzz....

24/5/2022

7 Comments

 

The Anchor Line is still there. Best affogato. Glasgow has some beautiful buildings.
Picture
Picture
I can't believe I have never noticed this one before. I forget to look up!
Picture
Picture
I went looking for a straw hat and came back with a cushion cover. I really like H&M homeware - lots of natural recycled fabrics and very moodest prices. (This was £3.99)
Picture

Filed under Simply Fun :-)
7 Comments

Simply..changes....

23/5/2022

2 Comments

 

..in the city. I felt quite disorientated in the city today. So many empty premises, so many shops moved, so many disappeared without trace.

Monsoon has even run out of cloothes!

Picture
2 Comments

Simply Beautiful....

21/5/2022

3 Comments

 

Beauty sustains me. Even in the worst of times there is beauty all around - a  comforting gestrue, a sympathetic glance, a snile.

I remember being struck by writings and poetry from the first wrld war about people in  truly hellish situtions stopping, even at great danger to themselves, to notice something beautiful.  Violets In Plug Street Wood by Roland in Vera Brittain's Testamennt of Youth comes to mind.


3 Comments

Simply Beautiful....

20/5/2022

5 Comments

 
Picture

Here is my first post under Simply Beautiful

And I wonder how this beautiful project is going?


I do hope you wil have time to browse Simply Beautiful. I have had a lovely morning looking through these happy memories.


Thank you so much Susan in Dorset for this link. I loved this podcast in particular - Yarn, Yarn, Yarn
5 Comments

Simply TV or not TV?

19/5/2022

8 Comments

 
That is the question. (I know. That's corny.)

I've not had a televsiion for over 30 years, but I now watch some TV on my laptop, and during lckdowns I probably made up for lost time!

It came about more or less by chance. We moved house and found ourselves without a TV  set and found we didn't really miss it. Instead we spent evenings reading, listening to music, walking, coking (my husband loved to cook), talking to each other, gardening, going to concerts. We had lots more time and I  realised that I often felt that watching television was like living at second hand.  I wanted to be living  my very own life  not watching other people live theris! It was that simole.


Next - Simply Beautiful..



8 Comments

Simply..don't have....

18/5/2022

6 Comments

 

Simplifying my life was and is perhaps as much about what I don't have and do as much as what I do choose to have and do in my life.

I'm not claiming anykind of high ground here, this is just what works for me. I don't have a microwave, a dishwasher, a tumble dryer, a coffee machine, a television, exercise equipment, or many gadgets, which it seems to me often just take up space and time to maintin them adds up too. And they can be very noisy. I dom't have a car either, but that is not from choice, it's because my eye condition (AMD) means I can no longer drive. I do miss my car!

The only thing I want to be all-singing-all-dancing in my house is me.

:-)

There are also things I don't do. Twitter, facebook, Instagram - they all take up time I would rather spend on other things. I watch and listen to very little news. (I sometimes wonder who decreed that we should get so caught up in all the worst things that are happening all around our world on a daily, or even hourly basis?)

We are all different! What works for you?



Picture
The last daffodil Pipit' is one of the most beautiful.

 
It's ineresting to see that Miss Minimalist is still going strong - 300,000 books sold! And The Minimalists are also looking back over 12 years. What innovative career paths they have had.  Blogs, YouTube, podcasts, Patreon, live events and tours. They have given so much of their work free - but it's fascinating that we still love books so much.
6 Comments

Simply..rain, rain....

17/5/2022

9 Comments

 
Several days of constant rain, and I so want to be gardening. But I brought some of the outside in and am enjoying the summer rug which brightens the whole room.
Picture
Wild cherry blosson is over now, but the crab apple is abundant in Coronation Wood and on the shore path.

Picture
Picture

I am very grateful not to have lost my sense of taste or smell to Covid as scents this year are wonderful. Some fill the air like the leaves of the balsam poplar which could be smelled over much of the village for weeks. Now it is the delicious heady smell of azalea lutea  which fills the air. I have some in the sitting room and you can snell it as you come in the back door. Some though require that you get closer - peppery wisteria (mine has few flowers), vanilla scented clematis and astringent lily of the valley. Most flowers have some scent though it may be faint. I was surprised to find that a bought bunch of parrot tulips can scent a room.

I read about paperwhite narcissu being wonderfully scneted but when I finally grew some found the perfume so overpowering I coudn't have them in the house!
9 Comments

Simply..simpler?

16/5/2022

7 Comments

 

Is my life simpler since starting the blog? Oh yes! I was already on that journey to a simpler life - I became self employed  and moved to the country, I felt less stressed and loved making my own decisions. I became aware of people having to give up work they loved because they had reached a certain arbitrary age, whether they wanted to or not and determined that I would be the one to make that important decision!

Have you made, or are you thinking about making big changes to simplify your life? It's not always easy, but I have no regrets about these two life changes.

A word about categories here on the blog. Live Simply and Simply Live are my default categories. There is a lot of overlap. Simply Bin It and Simply Get Rid should really be one of course, and there are more inconsisitencies than there should be. There's probably a lot of repetition too, for which I apologise. I have thought, now and then, of correcting some of these faults, but life is short, and there is wisteria to enjoy...







Picture
7 Comments

Simply..why blog?

15/5/2022

18 Comments

 


We read to know we are not alone.  (so says the chracter of C S Lewis in Shadowlands.)  I write to know I am not alone.

The blog is often where I think things through (see this early post where I think through what I mean by simple). It's a little focal point in my day. It keeps me alert to things that amuse me, delight me, inspire me, entertain me, educate me..

In the early days Karen frm Cornflower Books commented  Thanks for being a bright spot in my day. That was it. I was committed. The very idea that I could be a bright spot in someone's day  made me smile from ear to ear and filled me with delight. Thank you Karen.

It's all about sharing, and throough the unfathomable complexities of the web (the irony is not lost on me!) like minded people have found Live Simply Simply Live and enrich it, and me, with their comments so that I know I am not alone.

Picture
Bluebells across the road are at eye level from the study window!
18 Comments

Simply..free gifts....

14/5/2022

8 Comments

 
..of the best kind.

I love self sown seedlings, or volunteers as a friend calls them. On the gravel floor of the greenhouse I keep some welsh poppies both orange and yellow, pink campion (not too many) and my favourite geranium robertianum Celtic White which I grew from a packet of seed decades ago and which have sprinkled themselves all around the garden, giving it a relaxed (some would say untidy) look!

Picture
Picture
Picture

Writing about living simply in what feels like an increasingly complex world has kept me happilly occupied for more than twelve years now! Who knew I had so much to say? I didn't. (I know I have said this before but it truly still astonishes me.)

The category Simply Grow dominates, but some categories are very neglected, so I thought I would revisit them one by one to refresh both myself and the blog a litttle.

Depending what device you are using the categories are listed on the side bar, or you may need to scroll down a lot to find them..

I love this blog and the people who meet here. It's very much my happy place.
8 Comments

Simply..sparking joy....

13/5/2022

10 Comments

 

More colour appears day by day now in the garden.

Picture
This cineraria was a birthday gift
Picture
Clematis 'Freda'
Picture
Vanilla scented clematis 'Elizabeth'
Picture
Welsh poppies self sed in the floor of the greenhouse
Picture
Hot enough to lie in the sun the other day!
10 Comments

Simply..

12/5/2022

14 Comments

 
Picture
14 Comments

Simply..how to....

11/5/2022

12 Comments

 
..manage a garden on your own.

You may remember, on Gardener's World,  Carol Bruce's amazing three acre garden which she gardens without any help. She said that with the right tools and methods it was not difficult.  See this post.

I wrote to her asking if she was perhaps planning to write a book to help the rest of us!
I got a friendly  reply saying that one of the best ways to get a bok out, she had heard, was to get more television exposure, so I wrote to BBC Gardener;s World asking to see more of Carol and her garden.  I need this book!

If you do too perhaps you would also like to tell BBC in a quick email to this address? letters@gardenersworld.com


Picture
I scatter a few seeds of Shirley poppies in the centre of the wigwam.


PS  At the risk of sounding like someone from the Tourist Office, see here more of Argyll's  Secret Coast!
12 Comments

Simply..Carry Farm

10/5/2022

2 Comments

 

I loved Carry Farm. And I adore the image on this page of their website. They somehow manage to be both homely and sophisticated at the same time. No hype. Low key. Small scale.


Caravans and eco lodges, hens arund your feet, donkeys and rare breeds, a sailing school,  quality craft work, real coffee. The woods around full of primroses and bluebells.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

A young Dad and his two small children passed us here - they were putting up a tent for the night on this bit of machair.
2 Comments

Simply..loving where I live!

9/5/2022

14 Comments

 
Come with me on a day trip around Argyll's Secret Coast. First stop is the viewpoint over the Kyles of Bute.
Picture
Then a stop at in Tighnabruaich Gallery. Paintings, ceramics, jewellery in a frequently chaning exhibition. Bright, friendly and a great place to find a special present. I've shown work there over many years and several different owners. Ros, the currrent owner was given one of my paintings by her parents for her 21st birthday. We both lived in Yoek at the time but didn't know each other then.
Picture
See the online shop for a good range of originalceramics.
Picture
Lunch at the stylish restaurant at Portavadie Marina was delicious Freshest fish !
Picture
Picture
Picture
Are you getting out and about again? And having friends to stay? It is wonderful.

In tomorrow's post we we'll call in at Carry Farm.
14 Comments

Simply..a few days of gentle rain....

5/5/2022

0 Comments

 
..has resulted in a great rush of green! Plants have doubled in size almost overnight.

A couple of beech branches, picked just before the leaves unfurl,  will decorate the dining table for a week or more.

Picture

And it may be quiet on the blog for a few days while I help my visitors eat thrugh this lot. Have a lovely weekend, out in green nature if you can!
0 Comments

Simply..saying....

4/5/2022

2 Comments

 
Life is a song worth singing.
Sing it!


from a song sung by Johmmy Mathis


From a friend who was going through a terrible time -

There are still things to be happy about.


Rachel Blackmore on winning the Grand National when asked what it was like to be the first female jockey to win replied

I don't feel male, I don't feel female, I hardly feel human!


The super efficient Carol Bruce on gardening -

Never act on impulse - instead, plan on impulse, and then act on the plan.


2 Comments

Simply..Who?

1/5/2022

2 Comments

 




If you have not done it yet (or even if you have) Google YouTube Dr Who Van Gogh
2 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Live Simply
    Live Simply
    Simple
    Simply Beautiful
    Simply Bin It
    Simply Chill
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Christmas
    Simply Do A Good Deed
    Simply Draw
    Simply Draw
    Simply Eat
    Simply Fitter
    Simply Fun
    Simply Get Rid
    Simply Grow
    Simply Headspace
    Simply Holiday
    Simply Home
    Simply Home
    Simply Inspirational
    Simply Laugh
    Simply Learn
    Simply Listen
    Simply Live
    Simply Low Maintenance
    Simply Money
    Simply Move
    Simply Move
    Simply Organise
    Simply Paint
    Simply Routine
    Simply Seeing.. Or Not
    Simply Stylish
    Simply Venice
    Simply Write


    Author

    An artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!)

    All words and images copyright Freda Waldapfel 2010 - 2020

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.