Just a few small branches of the balsam poplar scent the room. You have to pick it just as the leaves are emerging, as, unusually, it's the leaves which are fragrant. I love the delicious smell and can detect it from the back door although the trees are about 100 metres away.

After the city buzz of Edinburgh, my lovely Tai Chi class helped me to slow down and accept the slower country pace.

I was tempted by the gorgeous bouquets of  colourful flowers  in the city, but a bit put off at the idea of carrying them on and off three buses and a ferry, so instead when I got home and before I took my coat off I went out and picked some branches of birch to fill two big jars. They are so very pretty at this early stage and the quiet and calm in the late afternoon light were soothingly beautiful.

I am so lucky to bee able to experience both the city and the coutry.


What pace will you be going at today?

On a short trip to Edinburgh I visited the RSA, the Ampersand Gallery, the Scottish Gallery and the Open Eye Gallery.

All in one day (I hope all these links work). Many good and stimulating things to see.

In the cafe of Uniqlo I tried a Japanese cake. The green part is made of rice and is like a very chewy marshmallow, the filling is red bean paste and it is topped with a strawbwerry. Interesting!

I thought this lovely old piece of furniture looked fabulous in the ultra modern store. There is a great view of Princes Street from the cafe too.

..and the perfect pets. I've got twenty tip cuttings of erigeron karvinskianus, the lovely Mexican daisy, sitting in a heated propagator. They will root in just a few weeks. They are not always hardy here so it's good to have a supply. I wouldn't want to be without them.

The pair of robins are the perfect pets for me. They greet me in the mornings, keep  me company in the garden and most importantly look after themselves when I go away for a few days as I am about to do...Back soon!

You can't help but find joy in them!

We took a local bus from Norwich to Cromer - famous for crab.  So we sat on the pier, with the rhythmic sound of the waves and the music from a man playing the accordion and ate delicious crab sandwiches. Idyllic!

Apple, pear, plum and cherry, and oh those magnolias! This one in a churchyard in Norwich, sparkling in spring sunshine. I hope that wherever you are you are getting good weather. Meals outside with my robins for company, gardening from early till late, the kiss of the sun lifts my spirits.

St Gregory's, one of the 31 churches in Norwich, is now an antiques and collectibles venue.

On seeing these I was reminded of Hemingway's poignant Story In Six Words -

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

,I think Norwich does a good job of integrating old and new. The converted warehouse we stayed in (10 Calvert Street - lovely) was a good exanple and here in the magnificent cathedral I loved these modern windows by artist John McDonald.

They perhaps look a bit incongruous in just photgraphs, but the modern wndows are in a dark side aisle close to the transept and in situ, look wonderul. If you ever get the chance see them for yourself and decide.  And let me know what you think!

On a lovely trip to the historic city of Norwich with three wonderful friends, I was struck with how textured everything felt. Cobbles underfoot and flints and rust and carvings, and so many different materials, put together in so many different ways - including fragments of old buildings randomly flung into walls!

Bright sunshine enhanced all the effects.

..and a mackerel sky.

Jous of spring.

Top to bottom - tete-a-tete, Jenny, February Gold and Thalia.

Be back in a week..

 ..that posts will be a bit erratic over the next couple of months. There is a lot going on (mostly nice things!) Apologies in advance.

I saw War Horse in the Theatre Royal in Glasgow on Thursday. Spectacularly good!
The stage sets and special effects amazing.

Have you seen it?  Here's a 7 minute video of the puppets and the puppeteers.

I have been learning about autophagy. We all know that the body uses sugars for energy, and that when sugars are low ketosis takes place and the body uses fat for energy. If that runs low, as when  fasting, a process called autophagy occurs and the body uses damaged cells and debris as a source of emergy, recycling and cleansing as it goes.

This is a simplistic explanation but I want to know more about this fascinating process, research into which won a Nobel prize for Dr Yoshimoti Ohmusi in 2016.

A cautionary quote from the brilliant Memoir of My Former Self by Hilary Mantel which made me laugh. -

I came across it on the internet, which is the same as saying I read it in the Beano.

I've found Dr Jason Fung interesting on this topic.

I really savoured and appreciated the luxury of a week's retreat -an hour of uoga each morning, short talks on diffent health issues, delicious juices and soups, walking in beautiful places, daytime baths and naps (so decadent!), books to browse, time alome, compamy if I wanted it...and no news for a week was very good for me.

The thing now is to incorporate some of this into normal life.

Can you see a way to build in a few good pravtices into your days? Is a once a month  'retreat day' at home a possiibility? I'm told Queen Elizabeth II fasted one day a week - I may give this a try. But gently does it.

..to accept an invitation to a fundraising afternoon tea so soom after returning from a week of super-healthy juicing..

but it would have been rude not to, don't you think?

It was absolutely delicious!


Thank you so much for all the lovely comments yesterday.

..to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Live Simply Simply Live! (See first post here.) A huge thank you to all of you who have made it such a joy in my life.

Ia m also celebrating being home again after a wonderfully restorative time at Katrina's health rerreat.

I feel rested and refreshed and full of a good steady energy and calm. I cannot recommend it enough,  and there is a place available due to a cancellation on the April retreat which you might want to fill! See the link on the previous post..

More tomorrow.

..and a week without biscuits or news! Off on a health retreat and hoping for good weather. Wishing you sunny days. x

..of things. I am always moving my things around. A visitor to the house once said 'little still lifes everywhere!' I am in good company. Matisse, even when ill in bed, would have someone move an item on the manterlpiece one or two centimetres to the right or to the left until he was satisfied with the balance of the arangement.

Mostly my arrangements are by design but sometimes they are by happey chance. A friend brought me this seed pod from Malawi and when I opened this page of my current daybook I was struck by how beautiful they looked together.

Changing thins often keeps them fresh for me.

Three of these are decades old! I don't like to finish them because they hold such precious memories.

Special nights out, Audrey Hepburn (Interdit was created for her), Penhaligon's Bluebell is spring in a bottle, and Barry loved the smell of frangipani. It reminded him of Africa where he grew up.

I don't wear perfume now (so ecpensive for one thing!) but I do love how a smell can transport you to another place or anther time. Sweet peas take me to an Aunt's cottage, dahlias to my father's allotment, orange blossom to the tree in my Cyprus garden.

I use unscented products in the house, preferring my scents to come from flowers and fruits, or branches of pine.

Writing this I realise how important scents are to me.

Are they special for you too?

 ..of the scent of hyacinth. I wonder what prompts the flower to pump out it's scent. It's not always there. Is it the temperature or the light levels? I have a single hyacinth in a glass beside my bed and woke this morning to a delicious waft of that unique perfume.

The timing was beautiful. I think it actually woke me up, and it lasted right through the breathing exercises I do while still in bed - 20 minutes or so, just washing over me, heady, intoxicating. How beautiful was that?

Do you have a favourite floral fragrance?

I am so enjoying teaching this workshop.

If you don't live near me and are interested, perhaps I could travel to you  (you kow I love to travel). If you can fit a few people round your table, or if your WI group or book group would find it interesting...

Let me know in the comments and I will get in touch by email.

My two goals for the experimental session of the workshop at home recently were to find out a)  if the author's claim that the process could be done in three hours was correct (that's Jinny Ditzler Your Best Year Yet)  and b)  whether with my impaired vision I could still teach/lead a group. I am happy to say the answer to both appears to be Yes!

To me, teaching is about sharing and I love to share my interests and enthusiasms and to teach things I believe in eg  that everyone can learn to draw, and that you can create a beautiful thoughtfully designed garden without spending thousands. I do believe that if we make plans and set goals the good things are much more likely to happen.

Looking down the stairwell of the Burgh Hall Dunoon. I rreally admire the restoration/conversion of this 150 year old building. Read about how it was bought by the community for £1 under About Us. An ideal venue for my workshop today.

 I got a Christmas card in the post today! Thank you Eleanor if you are reading this.

..but I am not sure that the boids lile the stylish new bird feeder. They are not using it much althouogh it has been in place since Tuesday...

..

I am doing another Your Best Year Yet workshop on Satuday 8th  in Dunoon. Would love to see you there!

Blissfully peaceful on the shore.