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Not a to-do list, or a tah-dah! list, or a bucket list (we do like lists don't we!) - a Life List is more of a 'where I'm at' list. I came across it here, where Sharon Santoni challenges us to 'take stock of where you are' and there is a fuller explanation... I thought it was something I'd like to try over the next couple of weeks.... Would you? Back early September! 
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 Nice one.. I'm rather interested in slogans. They try to say a lot with very little. Bit like haiku perhaps. My favourite was in Cornwall many years ago - it was '..and shall the branch line die?' (PS It was the St Erth to St Ives line, and it was saved.)
The glow of flowers in the lamplight,
and of the first fire of the season - can it really be that time of year again?
We are slowly slowly simplifying the garden, choosing plants which need little attention, fewer kinds but larger areas of each.... 
The ten birch trees, betula jacquemontii, are at last developing their white bark....beautiful. 
Viola cornuta lilacea runs the length of the drive (about 8 mtrs) and is flowering a second time - more sparsely, though if we had given it a trim it would probably have flowered more profusely. It's underplanted with snowdrops. A light weed in spring is all that's required. 
Geranium Roxanne goes on from June till October, the agapanthus coming through (though I think some got smothered) from late July. 
The acer has been in this pot about 15 years. Some water in the hottest weather is all it asks, though we may have lightly topped it up with ericaceous compost once or twice (I really can't remember, but this is what you are supposed to do....) 
The sedum has yet to colour up. It gets cut back completely when it goes a bit soggy after the first frost. 
The lythrum hardly showed last year - this year it is seven feet tall! 
Persicaria 'Firetail' will need watching - it can be invasive. (Someone once described it as crocheting it's way through the garden!) It flowers for a very long time and is good in an autumn vase. I'm finding that having fewer different things gives a more restful look which I like. Simpler and yet simpler.... AND there are sales at Shoon and Shoeaholic just now. Just saying. 
My sister was wearing these (at that wedding!)
I ordered a pair immediately.
they came today and they don't fit.
I so hope they have my size! They also come in a beautiful blue, violet, and a lovely soft grey - grey with colour in it. (Riva Mannikin.) 
My own personal 'style file'
I shop better since I started it in Spring 2013
It includes inspirational quotes and what I wore that worked..
Favourite brands and stockists, and sizes,
needs and wants (I try to distinguish!)
and since last week's wedding a 'note to self' to remind me what is 'me'....
Oh, and I've also copied in that list of 'wrong reasons' from yesterday's blog. I take this notebook with me when I go to the city, and if in doubt about something I go for a coffee and consult it. I believe it has saved me from many a mistake! Love it.
See here and here for my efforts at deciding what suits me best. Fashion is still my fun. If you have time you may enjoy a browse through Simply Stylish...(see sidebar). I've just been to a lovely family wedding in the wrong outfit. It didn't spoil my pleasure in the happy occasion, but when I took it off after the event I knew I wouldn't be wearing it again. Where did I go wrong? It wasn't 'me'. A perfectly nice dress, a perfectly nice jacket and a pretty pair of shoes - (all bought on separate occasions some time ago) and all bought for the wrong reasons. I look at some clothes which I never wear and give myself a minute to think why I bought them. Here are some of the reasons - I felt like treating myself that day. It was such a bargain. It was! A pure silk jacket from Fenn Wright and Manson for £15 down from £115! Could I resist? No. Do I wear it? No. Well, once. It is much too dark a colour for me and nothing I have goes with it. I wanted something different. I thought it might be useful. I thought I could slim into it. (Have you done this? I did wear it once and could hardly breathe..) It is gorgeous. I love it. But - it's not 'me'. 
This is the reason I rarely shop like this any more....
More tomorrow.... Unable to sleep I came downstairs in the night and almost swooned at the combined scents of honeysuckle, sweet peas, lilies and night scented stock....the garden is a bit rain flattened and windswept, but it's not over yet! 
Sweet pea Barry Dare and cornflower Black Ball..
Tomorrow - the wrong wedding outfit.... Like much of the UK we are feeling the tail end winds and rain from hurricane Bertha (though it seems we are getting off lightly here). But these photographs were taken on the quiet Saturday evening walk to the shore when the light was beautiful and the loch was calm. The new banner photograph was also taken then.. 
Looking across the loch to the east.
Towards the Firth of Clyde.
Up Glen Finart. So peaceful.
Only the piping call of the oyster catchers....
I was impressed with this sophisticated thinking from Mary Parker Follett - 'Do not try to see which side is right in a conflict. Assume both sides are 'right' and make the conflict work to produce an integration of interests which is not victory nor compromise but something in advance of both of those.' Read more about Mary Parker Follett, a woman 'ahead of her time' here. She was talking about in a business context, but her wisdom might perhaps apply to any conflict.... I was very surprised to find a very plump very bright yellow canary in the garden a couple of days ago. We made some enquiries and put a notice on the village noticeboard - apparently the three year old grandson of someone who lives up the glen let them out (there are two) by mistake about two weeks ago. They appear to be enjoying their freedom and hanging out with the chaffinches and singing their lovely song, but various plans are afoot to recapture them....there are a lot of birds of prey around here.  While I take a brief blog break, I leave you with the Canary Training Song Part Two Who knew!!
NB the link above to Canary Training Song Part Two is now working - so sorry! Be warned it is 20 minutes and 11 seconds long.....fine, if you're a canary. Sorry, I'm (t)wittering. Will shut up now! 'Proud to be Scottish Delighted to be United' (Neat slogan about the coming referendum on Scottish independence!) One thing I like to do with old photos is to use them as bookmarks. I often have several books on the go at once, and it makes me smile to find my bookmark of a loved child or a beautiful flower. But back to organising. I decided to buy some sturdy boxes and file cards with tabs. Excuse for a visit to Paperchase, one of my favourite shops. I bought two boxes which take standard photos and I measured the biggest photo I have and bought one for that and any others that are not standard. My photograph of them is so boring I'm showing you a picture of Poppy instead...isn't she a darling?  Then I collected all the photographs from the three main places I keep them. (Some are already in albums, and I'm leaving them there for now.) My first pass was to file them into the boxes, mainly under the place we were living at the time they were taken. I didn't thin out at this stage other than very obvious throw-outs.
Done! Yay! Organising my old photographs (prints that is..digital is a whole other task) is something I have been putting off for a long, long time. It's such an emotional thing looking through old photgraphs, isn't it. And there are so many of them! They record the passing of time and change over time. Photos of how we used to look (younger!), of people who died too young, of events which will never happen again, of places I loved which no longer exist....it would be easy to be overwhelmed by this job. But I've decided that a collection of beautiful and happy memories of loving times, friends and family, laughter and achievements will be a joy to have. Most of the photographs are happy. We casual, non professional photographers tend only to take photographs on happy occasions thankfully! They record the people, places and moments in time that mean most to us. That thought gave me a starting point - if a photograph doesn't evoke any feeling, I can let it go. If I don't recognise who is in it, or where it is, I can let it go. If it makes me feel unhappy to look at it, I can let it go. Any suggestions as to other criteria for keeping or letting go? (Hoaching - Glaswegian for very busy, packed full.) The city, with 400,000 extra people in it for the Commonwealth Games is like a giant street party! Street entertainers, lots of free events, banners and bunting, free transport to the venues for ticket holders, street markets with food from all around the world. The traffic is moving, the sun is shining (most of the time!) and the atmosphere is so cheery they are calling it The Friendly Games.... 
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