..those leaves you pressed under the rug?

Along wih a friend and her grandson I am embarking on Sugar Free Nvember. Accountability makes all the difference!

..when I want to get every little bit of sunshine that is going! Rain was forecast from lunchtime..

so I lit the fire and laid out breakfast

and went out to plant up the second of the three big pots.

Tulips - a mix of supermarket and one Sarah Raven collection, topped with forget me nots sown in May.

By the time I came in the fire was burning cheerfully and I switched on my friendly lamp,

thawed my hands on the coffee pot and enjoyed my breakfastt.

I felt so energised by the experience I went back out and planted the third and final pot. Sure enough it rained all afternoon. I felt ridiculously virtuous.

and I am having a very lazy day.

A lot of pink! See here.

We really just scratched the surface on our fairly short visit, but my friends felt it worth taking out membership as it is not far from their home and there is a lot to see.

This building dates from 2015.

The fantastical element.

It is all beautifully maintained - with particularly lovely hedges.

Have any of you been there?

 A curious mix of the historic, the fantastical and a bit of kitch thrown in,
Jupiter Art Land has been in existence for about ten years.

Big names - Charles Jenks, Ian Hamilton Findlay, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Andy Goldsworthy and many more  covering many acres.

More tomorrow..

..to rake up ad compost. Good exercise.

Hundreds of new tiny toadstools.

The eating outside season is coming to a close. Comfort food and a glass of wine in the autumn sunshine is a special treat.

With my special guest. I hope you are enjoying the season too.

..and really heavy rain all day.

I didn't mind as I didn't need to go anywhere today. It felt quite peaceful.

I have sold six more paintings since the Open Studio weekend to people who came back for more!

Delighted.

The concept of Hushing The House struck a chord and I enjoyed the conversation in the comments on this post

 
The nearest I have had to Amelia's lovely experience was when we moved into a modern town house in York. The house was on three floors and the rooms were painted in olive green, donkey brown and terracotta, so weleft our furniture in storage while we painted every room white and tiled the whole of the ground floor with white tiles. All we had in it was our low bed and a table and chairs. I absolutely loved it!

Simple living. I didn't want to move the rest of our furniture in.

Have you had a similaar hushed house experience?

..where you are at. Do you find a phrase sometimes comes along which 'speaks to your condition' as the Quakers put it? I came across 'meeting yourself wheree you are at' today and stopped fretting about all the things which went awry, and about catching up and tying up loose ends. The sky will not fall in if I just let a lot of it go (all these metaphors). So please forgive me if I don't respond to all you recent kind and interesting comments.

So, where I am at is pretty tired and when I actually listed what I have done in the last few weeks I am not surprised. Emptying the compost bin was not the best idea perhaps but it was very satisfying seeing how all that vegetable waste has turned into lovely soil.

So, where are you at? And are you going to meet yourself there?

Two bright spots in the midst of recent chaos (further power cut, no broadband for a week, special events cancelled,  - the list goes on!)

These dear little lamps are rechargeable so can be used anywhere and werre especially comforting in the second power cut.  I love them.

 ..certainly Hushed The House! Fifty hours with no electricity. No kettle,  no lights, no cooking, no baking, no washing, no ironing, no music, no blog. So just me, the loch and the forest and my thoights.

..

The fire glow, candles and a glass of wine. I reflected that this is how most of humanity for most of history spent the dark hours.

I quite enjoyed that first night..


I need a day or two to catch up with myself, and with you. Back soon!

I have just come across this phrase. The idea is that you clear your room of all decorative objects and pictures, then live with it for a bit and gradually and thoughtfully put back only those things which are meaningful to yu in some way. It can take a day or a week or longer I suppose.

I have been living with eleven of my pintings on the sitting room walls for Open Studio weekend, I can't wait to do this as almost every room in the house needs 'hushed'. I will do it one room at a time.

Is this something you might try?

Thank you so much for your comments on yesterday's post.