Blog Archives

Simply Move..ouch!

30/6/2015

Today is the last day of my 30 day challenge. (See here)

I did 22 days of it, then hit a problem.

My knees hurt!

Must be getting old...

Any advice appreciated. Do you grin and bear it? Or can that cause damage? You will have guessed I'm not of the 'No Pain, No Gain' school of thought. Or do you rest up for a few days and see if it gets better then start again, which is what I seem to be doing?

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Simply..An Ode To Alchemilla....

29/6/2015

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Let me count the ways....(though that was a sonnet I believe)

Frothy, billowing..

softening,

goes with everything.

Especially hardy geraniums!

Love the contrast of fluffy and smooth.

Adds a bit of zing to little posies..

with its acid lime green flowers.

Classic with roses both in the garden and the vase.

Fresh as fresh with white.

And a wow in a vase on its own!

I wouldn't be without it in the garden. It gives it a billowing, abundant, generous look - what I think of as a romantic English Garden look. You could make a whole easy to look after garden with alchemilla, hardy geraniums and hostas - a bit of a cliché perhaps, but none the worse for that. It does seed itself everywhere (but isn't hard to remove) and whole plants can collapse after heavy rain. Then you either wait for it to pick up, or cut it hard and wait for it to perform all over again at a time when fresh foliage is most needed in late summer. This vaseful is only half of one plant!

I'm told there are people who don't like it!

How can that be?

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Simply..a good question....

28/6/2015

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Apart from your thinking, are you OK?

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Simply..Open.....

27/6/2015

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I'm enjoying having the studio open every weekend and we've already had some visitors and some sales. We're on a very quiet single track road and I have not advertised yet - apart from a mention here on the blog.

I'm so glad I did mention it as if I hadn't I might not have had the fun of meeting Viv from Where The Journey Takes Me. She and her husband visited the studio last week and we chatted as if we had known each other for years (which in a way we had!) We had a really lovely afternoon.

I really like my slightly quirky sign, but a group of young girls passed and one of them read it out as she approached. 'Open - Studi - O' she said, then 'Oh that's so annoying!'

Well, you can't please all of the people....

Paintings large and small, oils and watercolours, cards and collages with prices from £30 to £800.

Should you be round this way do join me for a coffee and have a browse - no obligation!

For details of how to find me see under Studio below the banner photograph.

I look forward to meeting you.

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Simply..midgie!

26/6/2015

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No question of sitting out tonight - the warm moist still evening brings out the midgies by the million! I'm about to re-order my favoured midgie deterrent (different things work for different people). Alfresco is lovely - no parabens or deet, and a really nice perfume and moisturizer. A bit pricy I think, but does last for ages.

Do you have midgies or other biting insects where you are? One of the less attractive aspects of country living!

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Simply..surprised....

25/6/2015

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and delighted..when I found my husband 'Kondoing' his clothes!!

I paid attention when Marie said only sort your own things. I bit my tongue often, never suggested he follow suit, and resisted offering help, but I did show him the results of my own sorting. (I was so pleased with it all.) I sang Marie's praises and read bits out from the book occasionally. No, make that often!

Harmony exists when you are both singing from the same hymnsheet!

I am concentrating on removing all the Not Joy stuff from the house and the boot of the car before I move onto the next category - kitchen goods and food supplies.

Mindful that Marie suggests you do the whole job in six months I am kind of longing for it to be over but I can see it will be seven....and am telling myself that's OK.

Is the end in sight for you? Are you there yet?

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Simply..rus in urbe....

24/6/2015

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Simply..Midsummer Day....

24/6/2015

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This is not the post I was going to write!

I was so very tired after our Midsummer Eve guided walk/climb with Friends of Benmore Botanic Gardens. (Think octogenarian mountain goats.) I didn't have time to find the photgraphs of the wonderful traditional Midsummer Day I once spent in Sweden, which I was going to tell you about, I thought I knew exactly where they were but we haven't 'Kondoed' the photographs yet and I could not find them!

I slept like the proverbial log and have just woken up (9.30am).

No cake and home-made decorations and candles either.

We are going up to the city where I shall just check if my flower theory still works....

Have a happy Midsummer Day!

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Simply..confused....

22/6/2015

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..between the summer solstice and Midsummer Day.

For a very thorough explanation see here. Suffice it to say that Midsummer.
Day (legal calendar) always falls on the 24th, whereas the summer solstice (astronomical calendar) varies.

I thought I'd missed it, and I do like to mark Midsummer Day.

I shall make a cake.

Though since the weather forecast is for continuous rain we may have to celebrate in the greenhouse again (see here...)

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Simply..moving....

21/6/2015

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Of all my categories (and by the way Weebly is currently having a problem with them - sorry!) Simply Move has been the area in which I have had least success.

Until now.

Thanks to Leo's challenge and Angela's encouragement and enthusiasm I have completed 21 days of doing this ballet training video, and I'm enjoying swimming lessons.

For me, this is a really big deal.

I feel stronger and, would you believe ... taller!

Really.

How is your 30 day challenge going? Photoshop/yoga and meditation/French/plant names/exercise/other?

I'm already thinking what I shall do for my next 30 day challenge since I've realized that for me this is fun and I can do this!

A little bit of sun this midsummer day....

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Simply..speechless....

20/6/2015

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Simply..a Kondo turn of phrase....

19/6/2015

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'...the space I live in is graced only with those things that speak to my heart. My lifestyle brings me joy.'

Marie Kondo.

Getting closer to this ideal, and it is getting easier too, with practice.

JOY/NOT JOY That is the question!

How are you progressing?

Mixed feelings about this lovely early morning garden visitor. I was torn between just watching, going for the camera, or chasing it off the roses....I did all three!

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Simply..neat, huh?

18/6/2015

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Had to show you what they have done with the entrance to the Glasgow School of Art while it is closed for restoration after last year's disastrous fire.

Can you see the new door?

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Simply..arty partying...

17/6/2015

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..at Glasgow School of Art Degree Show in the wonderful Reid Building. See posts here and here..

GSA was recently voted one of the top ten art schools in the world. (I'm proud to be a graduate!)

I'll let the photographs speak for themselves (click to enlarge) but if you can get there to see the real thing it is very impressive. Professional, confident, vibrant, innovative, friendly....I loved the textiles and silversmithing.....Go see!

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Simply..wild about....

16/6/2015

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..wild flowers.

If you watched Gardeners' World (still on iPlayer) you may have seen Monty Don's Writing Garden with a froth of white flowers. These were another silene (see yesterday's post) and I searched for seeds of them.

I love gypsophila but the perennial variety doesn't last here. Neither have I succeeded with crambe cordifolia which gives a similar frothy effect, (They both prefer limey soil and dry conditions and I have acid soil and wet.)

As pink campion abounds in the wild here I thought I might get the effect I'm after with the white version. I've ordered seed of silene fimbriata, silene nutans 'Confetti' and silene latifolia. All from World Seeds.

Can't wait for them to come - I love growing things from seed!

Do you?

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Simply..honour it....

15/6/2015

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...with it's own space.

Professor Gustavsson in Sweden gave this advice (which I've mentioned before) about what to do with something special. He was talking of landscape design, but I've found it to be good advice in lots of situations.

I love the way the flowers link visually with different parts of the two paintings by the table - with the green birds in the first (Dreams Of Flying) and with the pink bird in the second (Freedom).

Have you been given any good advice, about anything? Advice that you remember? From someone you admired or respected perhaps?

Thank you for your thoughtful and kind comments on yesterday's post. And for reading. x

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Simply Seeing..or not....

14/6/2015

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Most of the time I can see very well, but I can't anticipate when I will be able to see and when I won't. (I have Age-related Macular Degeneration).

This makes using screens difficult when there is not enough contrast - bank ATM's, mobiles, texting, It is a bit like when you come indoors from bright sunshine and momentarily you can't see much, but it can happen to me at anytime and my eyes don't adjust quickly. If the weather changes suddenly which it does often in UK, I might not be able to see for a bit, or driving along I come into an avenue of trees or the sun comes out from behind a cloud or....

I noticed on our trip in February that I could read some road signs perfectly well, then change direction and not be able to read the next one at all - it would be blank - even huge motorway signs. And sometimes, a grey car on a grey road is all but invisible. A deciding moment came when I was approaching traffic lights and couldn't tell which one was lit. No amount of looking harder made any difference. (Fortunately I was in the passenger seat at the time.. but it scared me!)

So I've had to give up driving. You can't drive when you can only see some of the time.

There have been tears..

(But don't send me sympathy, though I really appreciate your kindness, as it will just make me teary and then I won't be able to see what you have written!)

Today I could see this beautifully!

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Simply..a mature garden....

13/6/2015

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I find it hard to believe we have gardened here for 15 years.

It's the longest I've ever lived in one place.

I've created a lot of gardens from scratch but looking after a quite mature garden is a different skill, and fascinating. A mature garden has a mind of its own, and on the whole I like to let it have its way...(though some thugs have to be kept in check.)

Iris sibirica has made a sizeable clump now. A completely low maintenance plant its fleeting flowers are a source of wonder every year. I have enough to pick a few buds for the bedside table or under the lamp in the sitting room.

Because we are a country garden I like to let wild flowers have their place. The mini-meadow has never had as much pignut in it before, and I've left it where it has spread into some of the flower beds. So pretty. (The root is a nut-like tuber presumbably loved by pigs.)

Another wild flower which has spread itself around prettily is pink campion. It flowers for quite a long time and is easily removed if necessary. I collected seed from it last year and am growing about 80 plants to add to Coronation Wood next spring.

The acer just to the back of Astrantia 'Hadspen's Blood' is in a pot. Someone misheard me and said 'Husband's Blood? That's a strange name for a plant!' I'm just deciding whether to plant it in there or not...maybe they are a bit too similar?

What do you think?

There are just two clipped shrubs in the front garden. This one is lonicera and we keep trying to make a perfect ball out of it (it's very wobbly - I'm just showing you the best side here!) I love the contrast with all the frothy mounds and lofty spires. This is over 5 feet high now. The other clipped one is box - it is cut in an oval shape. It's a soothing job clipping them once or twice a year.

The three cornus controversa variegata (wedding cake trees) will eventually, if they survive, be the stars of this garden. They have been slow to grow and have only flowered in the last couple of years but I love them for their horizontal layered form and their fresh colour.

These lovely lupins are about 5 years old now. They often only last 3 - 4 years and I wasn't expecting much of a show this year especially as there was quite a bit of slug and wind damage earlier, but they are covered in stout buds. I will be growing some new ones on from seed for next year, though it occurs to me that basal cuttings in early spring might be a good option as they have proved to be such robust specimens. I've not done this before - I always seem to miss the moment.

Centaura montana, the perennial cornflower, is spreading too far and too wide! The leaves get badly mildewed after flowering and I cut it to the ground and wait for fresh foliage.

All our hostas have grown into large clumps now and their beautiful foliage really makes an impact (we try to get slug pellets down as soon as the leaves appear and once they have unfurled they don't need any more protection.)

I took all these shots at about 7am yesterday morning and it was interesting to see them in the morning light. My usual time to photograph the garden is in the early evening light slanting in the opposite direction.

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Simply..unravelling the hat....

12/6/2015

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..again!

I love this hat and have worn it to several weddings. The brim was huge when I bought it and I found it unravelled easily so I made it smaller. But it still looks like a formal occasion hat and I want to wear it as a sunhat, so I unravelled it a bit more, and a bit more (strangely satisfying!), trying it on until it felt like a sunhat.

I hope we get some more sunny days now that I have the perfect hat!

Have you looked out sunhats, sundresses and sandals yet?

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Simply..Kondo Friday....

11/6/2015

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Electricals.

Sorted.

Recycled - one old computer, two old mobile phones, one small radio never used because we don't get a good signal, one coffee maker which doesn't keep the coffee hot enough, one iron, various cords purpose unknown.

More space both in the house and in my head!

Do you find Marie Kondo's book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying really is life changing?

I do.

Maybe Lucille does.. (See here)

And on the weather front - I know it probably won't last which is why I am enjoying every moment of it!

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Simply..a few of my favourite things....

10/6/2015

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Eating outside

in hot sunshine

with favourite jugs and coffee cups

a glass of Italian white.

Summer!

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Simply ..dream....

9/6/2015

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I asked in yesterday's post about unfulfilled dreams and got to thinking that it's good to have dreams or ambitions, but also that they needn't be grand like swimming with dolphins or trekking the Himalayas. They can be small and simple but precious to and unique to you, and private to you.

I am fulfilling one as I write.

Sarah from Down By The Sea Dorset has often posted beautiful photographs of the sunrise and I thought how lovely it would be to see that event (I am a night owl and very rarely see dawn!). It is 4 am and I came down for a drink and I am looking at an apricot blending to duck-egg blue sky reflected in the loch, changing every minute. I went through to the studio to fetch the tripod and saw the half moon still shining brightly - in a different, cooler shade of blue - utterly beautiful. I had to open the back door to experience it fully, the sounds and the smells as well as the view.

Alas! The camera needed charged up so I didn't get the photographs but I did get the experience, which is a little dream fulfilled, and I got the pleasure of sharing it with you.

Have you fulfilled any little dreams lately?

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Simply move....

8/6/2015

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How is your thirty day challenge going? (See here.)

I'm on day eight and feeling good. So good in fact that while watching five year old Scott having his swimming lesson I found myself signing up for a few lessons myself!

I can swim a bit but need to build up confidence to be able to actually enjoy it more.

I know it's not much but its more exercise than I've had in years and I still have this dream of swimming in one of the lovely sandy turquoise bays in the Outer Hebrides - maybe next year...

Do you have any unfulfilled dreams?

Can you take a baby step towards making them come true?

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Simply..sunshine!

7/6/2015

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The first of the tender plants to go out..

and an early evening drink in the sun.

At last.

A whole afternoon of warm sunshine, gentle winds, lovely visitors and a good forecast for the next few days. We watched a great tit, dunnocks and the mother and baby robin hunker down and spread their wings the better to soak up the heat, and I took off two of my usual three layers - yay!

I hope you got some sunshine too, and time to relax in it.

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Simply..what is your garden for?

6/6/2015

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This is a question I ask clients when I am designing a garden. The answers are surprisingly varied.

To relax in, to entertain in, to be in touch with nature, for the children to have somewhere safe to play, to grow our own food in, to let the dog out in, to grow flowers for cutting, to add to the value of the house, to create something beautiful, to dry the washing in, to lie in the sun, to keep up with our neighbours, to feed the birds and encourage wildlife, to grow prizewinning leeks/chrysanths/sweet peas/carrots, to park the car in, to tinker with motorbikes in, for parties/barbecues.

Sometimes all of these.

No, not all! But most people want to use their garden for several purposes - not always compatible.

If you have a garden have you thought about what it is you want it for?

And does it serve your purpose?

Rain watching from the shelter of the porch today!

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<<Previous

Simply Move..ouch!

Simply..An Ode To Alchemilla....

Simply..a good question....

Simply..Open.....

Simply..midgie!

Simply..surprised....

Simply..rus in urbe....

Simply..Midsummer Day....

Simply..confused....

Simply..moving....

Simply..speechless....

Simply..a Kondo turn of phrase....

Simply..neat, huh?

Simply..arty partying...

Simply..wild about....

Simply..honour it....

Simply Seeing..or not....

Simply..a mature garden....

Simply..unravelling the hat....

Simply..Kondo Friday....

Simply..a few of my favourite things....

Simply ..dream....

Simply move....

Simply..sunshine!

Simply..what is your garden for?

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