A Poem and a Painting

Walk with me.

Down to the river, in the quiet time.
When all have gone home
and the river witch turns the ripples to gold.
We can sit for a while and hear the sleepy foxes stir.
And as the owls tuck the messages of the night beneath their soft white wings,
we can watch and wonder where the golden path leads

Sit with me beneath the apple blossom.
The drowsy bees will enchant us with their humming song
and we will be drunk on the scent of April days.

Run with me over the summer lands,
past golden kings in their reedy river castles.
Up the old hill, to stir the one that has slumbered too long beneath.
Do you see his white horse waiting in the shadows?
Can you see the glint of silver sword by the light of the moon?

Lie with me upon this old earth.
Beneath us, all that has passed will pass to us.
With the songs of old Wessex in our bones, our souls shall dance in the ghosts of flower meadows
and with all those who loved this land.

Dream with me.
Of a world where beauty in a single raindrop and a dandelion mesmerises all.
And where the golden leaves of a thousand forests are more precious than any gold jangling in our silk or threadbare pockets.
 ~Karen Davis 2019

A poem I wrote last year and a painting titled 'The Starlit Wessex Path' I did earlier this year, just before lockdown.

Gentle Journal Pages and Five Little Things

“What if, once upon a time, there were no stars in the sky at all? What if the stars are not what we think? What if the light from afar doesn't come from the rays of distant suns, but from our wings as we turn into angels? Destiny calls to each of us. And there is a world behind the world where we are all connected, all part of a great and moving plan. Magic is everywhere around us. You just have to look. Look. Look closely. For even time and distance are not what they appear to be. 

No life is more important than another. And nothing has been without purpose. Nothing. What if we are all part of a great pattern that we may someday understand? And one day, when we have done what we alone are capable of doing, we get to rise up and reunite with those we have loved the most, forever embraced. What if we get to become... stars”

~ Beverley Penn, 'Winters Tale' (quote from the movie)

Hello~ I hope you had an enjoyable Easter. Such glorious weather but unable to go out and visit anything or anyone, it felt very strange and yet so peaceful. No noise of any bank holiday traffic in the distance, or planes in the sky. Just birdsong and sunshine.

It's funny how quickly you get into a routine. It's been three weeks of lock down and I was thinking last night of some little things that are keeping me happy during this time. So I thought I would share five of them.

The first is gardening. Planting seeds, potting on cuttings that I took last year. Weeding and moving things around. There is always something to do in the garden. One of my favourite all time annual seeds to plant is Night Scented Stock. I just adore these. The flowers are quite insignificant and close during the day, but at night the scent is surely from Fairyland, and a bonus is they attract the night pollen feeders such as moths. Luckily I bought these before the shops all closed, but I'm sure you can find them online.  

The second is finding small treasures in the garden. I often come across china shards when weeding.  Over the years I have found a few interesting things, coins, clay pipe stems and marbles. Maybe I will show you these in another post? 

Number three is 'Crochet'. My Mum taught me to crochet as a child, but I'm not that good and can only do the basic stitches. I've been making a blanket of squares for about two years now. Now the pile is finally getting bigger and I've even started sewing some of the squares together and a blanket is finally taking shape. I normally crochet while I'm watching TV. Quite a few squares were created whilst binge watching all Seasons of Vikings.  ;) 

Little thing number Four is watching Eivor's live streams from her home every Saturday evening on Facebook. She has an amazing voice which I love. I discovered her after watching the tv series The Last Kingdom. You can see all the past live streams on Youtube. here's last weeks below...

And lastly my number five is... Chocolate

This is most unusual for me as I'm not a chocolate person at all and very rarely eat it. So my husband is loving the fact that suddenly I want to buy chocolate. He loves it, but has to be restrained in normal times from eating it, for his own good of course :-D 

Maybe it is purely scientific, as chocolate apparently does contain compounds associated with mood lifting chemicals. Who knows?  Plus we all know that it helps when dementors are around... 

"Eat, it will make you feel better' Professer Lupin says in The Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling, offering Harry chocolate after his first encounter with dementors. 

In between my little things, work has carried on although concentration levels are up and down. 

Both shops are still closed for physical items until further notice, but this time has given me space to experiment with some digital downloadable items which I had been planning to have ago with for a while now.

I have named them ‘Gentle Journal pages’ because it’s important to be gentle with ourselves at times like these.  They are basically gentle prompts for each day, which I have decorated using some of my work. Available to buy as instant pdf digital downloadable files in both my web shop and Etsy, they print out as an A4 size work sheet or can be cut in half to use as two A5 journal pages which you can glue into a book. 

I’m not sure if this kind of thing would be popular but whether it is or isn’t, I’ve learned  a lot from it.

 I also did some writing paper designs too. Is anyone else writing more letters to friends and loved ones? I have become pen pals with my daughter 😊

 

Anyway until next time... It is time to venture out and do our weekly shop. Stay safe everyone and a huge big THANK YOU to all NHS frontline staff and other key workers. ((xxx))

See you soon ! x