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I'm having a technology break for a week or two (partly because it is playing up changing the font size!!)  Better not sit in this chair too long though....  I may have to be cut free! Stay warm, stay cool, stay calm and chill out when you can. x
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A strange sultry yellowish light today meant I needed candles and lamps indoors. Outdoors I tried taking garden shots from slightly different angles....it all gets a bit wild and blowsy around now but I'm putting off cutting anything back just yet.        Tonight the light is pinkish (but still strange!). I've been reading about the plasticity of our brains and how they grow new connections if fed novelty and change, like doing an ordinary thing such as brushing your teeth, with your non-dominant hand, or changing your route from your usual one, or photographing the red gate from the other side....  One man went to mow...and then he stopped. And by stopping, he created a wildflower meadow.  This whole terraced area is usually kept mown short all year.  But this year the two top terraces were left uncut.  Not only do they look beautiful but they are thick with bees, moths and other insects. I once created a small bluebell wood by the same method - ie stopping the gardener from mowing under the trees. To everyone's amazement and delight up popped a great swathe of bluebells. I felt like a magician!  ..by the masses of this lovely pinkish grass which is growing particularly abundantly this year down Barry's path which goes from the red gate to the shore.    I should know what kind it is but can't remember. Can anyone identify it please? Maybe Poa pratensis - smooth meadow grass? ..by the abundance and beauty of Jennie's garden..     and this evening by the second half of the first night of the Proms which I hope you can see here. The astonishing talent and dedication of the musicians in John Adams' Harmonium (reminds me of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana) is truly to be celebrated. Listen out for Wild Nights about 40 minutes in! About 8 minutes in is an entertaining short review of the BBC's involvement in broadcasting the Proms (since 1927). We are so lucky. Half an hour in the hammock in hot sunshine was an added bonus! What inspired you today? Some gentle gardening to keep the flowers coming..   Literally hundreds each year from a few small clumps of Papaver ruprifragum.   I have not been gentle with the alstroemeria! I have been trying to get rid of them for years because they run wildly through everything giving barely a flower. Until now. They must have got the message...lots of flowers this year.  Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is getting thuggish too.  Would you agree you can have too much of a good thing?    I enjoyed reading about the different sights and sounds and activities which help you to relax. The scent of these lilies by the light of a candle has helped me unwind every evening for over a week now. Thank you Jennie! There's a certain charm to the faded look, but a fine line between wabi sabi and just plain sad.  And there comes a time..  To splash out and start afresh!   There are other faded things which really should go - tea towels, tee shirts, a few old posters..
..about light. Over at Cornflower Books Karen is talking about writers with a light touch, and Lotta is talking about intense light here. My favourite light in the garden is in late afternoon/early evening. When you turn the corner of the house to the front garden on a sunny day like yesterday, you are flooded with golden light. It makes me gasp every time! The very air is golden.      With the day's work usually done I can relax and savour the beauty of it all. When do you relax? I am assuming you do relax?! (If not, how can you fit in some time to relax today?)  For the swallows which have been airborne all day  and for me having my evening meal outside. I love to eat outdoors.  I leave you with some roses from the garden while I take a little break from the blog....and wish you sunshine. x
 I photographed this disconsolate looking baby swallow at 10.30 this morning. I am sure it is waiting for some sunshine to fly in. At 9.05 this evening I peeped out of the bathroom window to see exactly the same scene. I can't be sure it is the same bird - five of them have just left their nest above the studio window. They are all looking a bit bedraggled. Sunshine tomorrow guys!  light. At 6.20am recently..   At 9.30 pm. I'm always looking at lighting whether natural or electric or candlelight. It is so important to me in a home. Pools of light, shafts of light, spotlighting, romantic candlight - they create atmosphere and warmth. Gail used the word 'cosy' about my style recently - a word I wouldn't have thought to use - but it made me look around and I realised that if I do get that effect it is by the use of lighting.      Do you create different effects with the lights you choose, and with controlling how much daylight gets into your rooms? And how much do you think it affects your mood and your wellbeing? Is there any job more boring than defrosting the freezer? It took half a day and a whole packet of Morrison's The Best Belgian Chocolate Dipped Chewy Florentines to get the job done!  Since I decorated the bedroom I have been savouring the simplicity of it and apart from flowers by the bed, have added no paintings, patterns or decoration of any kind. But I fell for this.   (Today was good barbecue-on=the-beach weather! See yesterday's post.) ..have the family midsummer barbecue on the beach? The forecast isn't good but it's not looking too bad...  They've been wrong before so you never know.    Finish cooking the food (can't believe Jamie says this takes only 15 minutes!).  Try to get the stain out of the jacket. Should have worn an apron.  Checklist - champagne, glasses, napkins, picnic quilts, umbrella, midge cream. Look at the weather forecast for the ninth time.  Look up the glen. Uh-oh. We ended up indoors with a log fire and pretty decorations (thanks Jennie) and had a lovely feast then donned wellies and sweaters for a walk on the beach. Family, friends, food and wine, laughter and good conversation.  Absolutely wonderful.
 To Be Read, after I've finished Derren Brown's Happy: Why More Or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine.. I do often read several books at once and dip into others constantly. Do you do this? |
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January 2025
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