I love the unusual colouring of this viola..and the excitement of a trip to a garden centre!
We had our famly mid summer beach barbecue yesterday, in gorgeous sunshiine and with the beach to ourselves. My husband used to say that if the weather waas this good al the time it would be crowded here, so we savour each beautiful day and count our blessings. So happy!
My neighbour's rowan tree, sorbus Sargentiana, is smothered with flowers this year, and filled with thousands and thousands of bees. The noise of them when you stand underneath it is amazing! I picked a huge bunch of buttercups from the road verge, and felt vaguely guilty (you're not supposed to pck wild flowers, right?) Next mornng the council came along.......I wonder if the man with the machine felt guilty? I would never pick flowerss which are raare, but it is so easy to make us feel guilty, don't you think? About evereything! Are you feeling guilty about anything right now? Is it really warranted? Guilt is a fascinating topic.. ..came to stay for Midsummer. We had not seen each other for 17 months, during which she had gone through some terrible times. The weather was gogeous. We hugged, we talked, we ate, we drank. We decorated the greenhouse, we snoozed in the sun.. The moon came up.. We talked tlll mdnight It was relaxing and restorative and healing and fun!! ..Until death, it's all life.. I am celebrating Midsummer and the fact that I am alive! Happy Midsummer Day.X The bench and chair have been power-hosed and treated with Cuprinol 'Silver Birch ' stain. I am looking for deep magenta scented roses to go either side... A garden is a lot of hard work, as many of you will know. But so worth it... I just need a floaty dress instead of the torn at the knee gardening trousers (not a fashion statement!) and the old tee shirt. I am sure I once owned a floaty dress or two... I wonder what happened to them? I think we must simply live these summer days. Have you been able to find and see the magic, indulgece, poetry, freshness and vitality of them? You have to be alert - there may only be fleeting moments, or you may have to create these things for yourself! I noted the adjectives in a lecture by Bobby McAlpine who wrote The Home Within Us- lovely title. I have plans for a romantic Midusmmer Day! Is your joy in living, your enthusiasm for life returning? It is so obvious with hindsight that the missing element was contact - physical human contact with others. As I catch up with family and friends, and we hug and get around the table together it comes home to me. And the joy comes back as we eat and talk and laugh and cry. 'The retrospectoscope is an endlessly useful instrument' said a professor, whose name I have forgotten, in the early days of the pandemic. What do you see looking back? I have to dictate texts and answers to your comments, and while predictive text can be wonderful it can also be very annoying and make utter nonsense of my message. . I sent my sister a phtoto of some sunflowers I had bought and we were discussing where they might have been grown. I said 'Not in Argyll.' and the nachine sent 'Naughty naughty girl'!! She spent the afternoon wondering what she had done wrong! It rather defeats the purpose when you have to read what you have dictated to check that it is right.... Hugs and friends at my table - that's what's been missing from life. It was so hot we had to move the table to the back of the house to have some shade. And the smell of the lilac was divine. I haven't posted under this heading since my eyesight deteriorated last December. I have Macular Degeneration in both eyes and my right eye developed into what is called wet AMD. I have been having monthly injections into that eye (not as awful as it sounds!) which will hopefully slow down the deterioration, and have slightly reduced the distortion in my vision. In practical terms it means that many ordinary things are more difficult and slow, which tries my patinece no end! It takes ages to write a blog post, and reading even large print can be almost impossible. (Blue print is invisible to me. It's surprising how much is printed in blue..) Through the Macular Society I heard of Oxsight, a company who have developed 'smart glasses' This amazing technology can aid sight in people with different visual impairments by using cameras and computers to project images onto the parts of the eye which are not damaged. I am trying not to get too excited (but I am!). Comng onto the market in August..... I mention them here in case you, or someone you know might be interested. ..is the first day of the rest of your life I told myself firmly this morning. So get on with it!
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AuthorAn artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!) Archives
November 2024
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