 Campanula lactiflora 'Pritchard's Variety' is one of my favourite perennials for cutting.  I had to cut my plant of this back hard in June (see here) but it has given me lots of good bunches of late flowers plus enough for little jars of them to sit around the place, the fresh and pretty blue making me think it is still summer here!  The card is Lemons on Grey by Mary Ford, and the painting is Japanese Steam by one of my favourite artists Christine McArthur.
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 If I haven't posted under Simply Paint for a long time, that's because I haven't been doing much painting. I've spent most of this lovely summer in the garden (too much of it perhaps in that hammock) but it is time to get into the studio as Cowal Open Studios is just a month away. My studio is this small annexe to the house. It used to be a wash-house and coal-house. The gable end was so damaged it had to be replaced so we took the opportunity to put in a big window. The light and the views are lovely - the loch to one side and the forest to the other, the garden all around. Back to work then.... I've had fun browsing some fashion sites while considering a special purchase for autumn. Two Danes is a label I've recently discovered. You can see some of their range here - beautiful beautiful quality (if I can't afford a garment from a brand I like, I sometimes buy a scarf which is what I did with Two Danes last year). If you take a look at this site also check out Masai and Sahara (I bought a scarf there too!) The knits at Forever Amano are gorgeous (thanks Lucille) and the ethical principles of Everlane are laid out clearly in a way which may become more common - even to showing the breakdown of costs of the things they make, and their markup. Their jobs page is interesting! American; I don't think their products are available here yet; classically beautiful bags. It will be interesting to see if other companies follow their lead in this. Do you think they might? I've been thinking about the changing seasons here in Scotland and how they can affect our moods and emotions. I am wondering if it is the change itself that is disconcerting for me. Once autumn proper is here I can enjoy it. The same is true of all the seasons, but that in between time - not quite one thing or another - that's when I am restless and unsettled. As spring approaches I can feel desperately impatient, as summer approaches I feel slightly nervous in case it is proves to be a disappointment, at the first hint of autumn I feel a bit melancholy and as winter blows in I feel I have to grit my teeth for a long haul. But when each season truly arrives my feelings are quite different. In spring I feel positive, energetic and hopeful, in summer relaxed, in autumn I enjoy home based things and in the very depths of winter I snuggle down and hibernate a bit. Except when it snows - then I feel exhilarated. Love it! Of course I'm simplifying greatly here. Do you find the changing seasons affect you this way or do you glide through the year unaffected? 
The season is changing and I am feeling that familiar melancholy that comes upon me as autumn approaches. I have to find things to do to ward it off lest it should become depressing, and I've decided that one of them this year is going to be to find a beautiful sweater or jacket....comforting and warm, in an arty yarn of natural fibres, probably textured like a cable knit, or moss stitch, or a lovely twill weave, possibly in a richer, warmer colour than I usually wear. Something I can put on top of a finer sweater or long sleeved t shirt. Stylish. Sophisticated. In real life I'm a painter and gardener and live in rural Scotland, but inside my head (if not in the mirror) I am also stylish, and elegant in an understated 'Eurochic' kind of way! See here. Have you any plans for autumn purchases? As someone who for many years resisted routine (boring, I thought) not only have I come to love my routines but I even have a garden routine now.. I came to realise that having systems for dealing with basic stuff is actually very freeing. I don't have to re-invent the wheel each Monday, I can think about other things while getting the essentials done, and these regular habits do in fact save me both time and stress. You may remember my Onceover (post 26 Oct 2012) based on the need to do the minimum housework required to not feel embarassed by my home. I now have a Onceover for the garden since that is where I spend much of my time in the summer. 1 Wipe bird droppings from all seats and tables 2 Put away any tools etc left lying around because I was tired out 3 Rescue jobs (there always seems to be a plant needing rescued!) 4 Deadheading and watering pots and hanging baskets All this might only take 15 minutes or so and leaves me ready to do whatever real gardening I want to do that day, knowing I can sit down with coffee and friends who call, find what I need, not feel guilty about a plant that is dying, and keep the annuals looking great for as long as possible.  There are more posts under Simply Routine - scroll down sidebar on right for a browse.... Today : I lay in bed for a full hour with my mind busily getting up and dressed, making a delicious breakfast, taking it outside to eat in the hot sunshine....and all the while my body was still fast asleep. Has this ever happened to you? We got very excited watching a nervous little swallow leave its nest and fly for the first time. I soaked up a lot of glorious sun. I looked at the world from the hammock for a while. We did some pleasant work in the coolness of Coronation Wood. We had dinner on the beach.  I hope you've had a good weekend.. I love this definition from Pomona Belvedere at Tulips In The Woods ....a garden is a place where we can return to feeling that we belong in the world, that the world can be a beautiful place to be, and our part in it can be beautiful too.  Papaver rhoeas in particular. Another tip for cutting them (see yesterday's post) - pick when the first sign of colour is showing through the flower buds. This is from Chiltern Seeds who sell one of my favourite mixes of these annual poppies under the name Mother of Pearl.  Also supplied as Cedric Morris they come in subtle and delicate shades, veined and edged in subtle dove greys and strange lilacs. Wonderful.  I always grow the straight Shirley Poppies too, for their magical colours. I sprinkle them into the centre of the wigwams for the sweet peas. Sometimes it works better than others (that's gardening!) and this year I sowed them too thickly and they were a bit weak. Angels Choir from T&M have a lot of doubles. Very pretty but just a bit too frilly and powder puffy for me.  Plants of Distinction have a lovely sounding collection, all packeted separately called the Monet Poppy Gift Pack....tempting. My different kinds are all muddled now as I have been growing poppies in the same patch for many years I should really either let the seeds germinate next year and weed them off (meanwhile growing on my chosen varieties in modules for planting out later) or grow them in a different part of the garden for a year.  Are you tempted?  The tissue paper like Shirley Poppies have a very short vase life, but you can keep them for about three days if you sear the ends with a flame for a few seconds before putting them in the vase. Dipping the ends in boiling water has a similar effect I'm told. Isn't the picture of snow on the matchbox incongruous? It reminds me how totally one can forget winter.... You may enjoy this video (20 mins) about the potter Anne Mette Hjortshoj who makes 'quiet pots' and talks about paying 'honest attention to what you're doing in life'. I think I first saw this at http://knitsofacto.blogspot.co.uk/ some weeks ago. Thank you Annie. Lovely. I love simplicity, but it means different things to different people (see post here). Claire, over at Just A Little Less expresses my own view well when she says 'Simplicity can feel like a luxury'. The luxury of space, of a clear head, of time to think, to talk and laugh with friends and look at the view. In another sense I love the luxury of good quality materials and craftmanship - I'd rather have one good item than lots of inferior ones. I think respect for good materials and honest makers is a good principle to go by as the consumers we all inevitably are. I take my time choosing, then keep things for as long as they last on the whole. I like mostly classical designs which don't date. Do you agree that simplicity can feel like a luxury?  Instead of trying, Canute like, to hold back the change of season, I shall Cath like, (see comments yesterday) savour it, relish it and observe its subtleties. Have you come across the V&A channel? There is a fascinating choice of short videos on exhibitions past and present, interviews - I enjoyed My V&A by Barbara Hulaniki - and a film about a Golden Cloak made from spider webs. Anticipating nights in....  These late posies are so precious, partly because we know there won't be many more. I posted this in August 2010....and this using cosmos leaves in the same way almost exactly a year ago, and had those same 'not yet' feelings in 2011.  I am clearly a seasonal being. Do you feel attuned to the changing seasons?  One of my neighbours got a bit annoyed at the man from the council....  Isn't it exciting when you find a new-to-you author and you know that he/she is going to be a favourite for ever. I was attracted by the cover in a bookshop while on holiday, read a page or two, and bought it on impulse. Happy find! I know I am going to read and re-read this book of essays, lend it, recommend it, seek out other things she has written....but all in good time. This is not a book to be hurried. I read one essay, think about it for a day, maybe two, then read the next, and I am saving 'Three Ways of Looking at St Kilda' for when I am in Harris in September (as near as I will probably get to St Kilda). Beautiful writing by a wonderful storyteller who takes you to wonderful places. Have you read this, or Findings?  Some local gardens (including ours!) and gardeners featured on Beechgrove Garden tonight - BBC 2 at 7.30 and again on Sun 18 Aug - BBC 2 at 9.30. I don't have a television and had to go to a friend's house to watch. Thanks Claire, it was fun!  The view from the hammock this morning. (I do work sometimes, but in between, when the sun is shining, I lie in the hammock!)  Have you ever lain in a hammock on a windy day? The wind was strong enough to move the trees, which moved the hammock - it was rather like being at sea. Wonderful! I was totally chilled out when....  I saw this! A mouse? A secret enemy? And how do I fix it?  Theophrastus, born 371BC, seen here at Padua Botanical Garden. The 'Father of Botany'. I was lucky enough to be an Erasmus student, and while studying in Sweden, went on a trip, by coach, to Venice to study at the university there. It was the first time in my life I had really felt like a European and when I came across this statue (in which he looks more like a religious figure than the Greek pholosopher he was) I was really quite thrilled - as if I had found a touchstone (I did touch his feet) which brought together all the threads of my art and landscape design studies, history, influences and inspirations. I got onto this tack by Chris's comment about plant names. I love plant names. (I wrote a bit about why here.) The Names Of Plants by D. Gledhill is one of my most used books. Bit geeky, I know.... The post about the recent NHS story got more page views in one day (over 1000) than anything else I've written about. I'm interested in what constitutes news. By its very nature it is not ordinary. I remember a lecturer telling us that he was pleased and reassured when the newspapers reported that a vicar had run off with a schoolgirl, as it was only newsworthy because it wasn't the norm. It's easy to forget this, and begin to believe that what we read in the newspapers and listen to in the media is the norm - or the 'real world' as it's sometimes put. Does what you read/hear in the media represent your day to day life, your real world? For your sake I hope not! I have not yet been to the Garden Museum in London. They are currently showing the work of one of my favourite garden designers. If you click on Green Fuse: The Work of Dan Pearson on their home page and take a look at the short video I hope you will be as entranced as I was by the beautiful camera work. The camera doesn't move, but the plants do. For something sadder, and not so beautiful, look at this site's Coronation Wood page (top right) to see our efforts at first aid for trees! I love meadows (who doesn't love a wild flower meadow?) and was inspired by this website Coronation Meadows to send in details of some lovely meadows in our village so that they might be added to a map that is being compiled of meadows in every county of UK - 'People's Meadows' they are calling them. We counted more than 50 species one year, and there are always bees, and the stunning cinnabar moth...  This year there is a mass of bird's foot trefoil.  Tufted vetch,  knapweed and buttercups,  meadowsweet,  and self-heal,  and this mown path leads to home.. Do you know of a meadow that might be added to the map? http://coronationmeadows.org.uk/  I've had a lovely time collecting bluebell seed in the warmth and quiet of Coronation Wood.... do click (top right under the banner photograph) for more detail. I wonder if you noticed a recent report about the Friends and Family Test in the NHS (National Health Service here in UK). In the test 400,000 patients answered the interesting question: 'How likely are you to recommend our ward/Accident and Emergency Department to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?'
The BBC, ITV, The Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph all reported that 36 wards out of 4,500 had 'failed the test' - The Telegraph went as far as headlining it 'NHS Shame'. But, just a minute! This means that 4,464 wards in England would be recommended by patients to their friends and families! Wow! Don't you think that's pretty impressive? (36 is 0.8% of 4,500.) Let's hear it for the 4,464 wards that passed the test! Three cheers for the NHS and all who work in her! Well done! Congratulations doctors, nurses, cleaners, cooks, secretaries, managers, technicians, lab assistants.... It reminds me of the son of a friend, in his twenties, who, on visiting his mother in hospital, was astonished to find the place clean, efficient and friendly. He'd never been in hospital. He'd only read the papers. Topiary in the city! Victoria Quays in Leeds.. 
Neat? Around the corner is a canal basin thick with water lilies.
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