March blew away with the Dancing Daffodils

And  all of a sudden the frothy blooms of Spring arrived...

While outside the greening is in the midst of it's merrie dance, I have been busy working my way through my 2017 list of things to do. Most of March was taken up with making a new website. A job that had been years overdue and one I felt I could put off no longer. It's strange how days just float past you and merge into one another while you are so wrapped up in doing something. Before I knew it March had blown away along with the dancing daffodils. But with moments of my temper rising along with the sap outside I finally emerged from the other side and have a brand new website. The biggest change was the renaming. So instead of the old Karen Davis site, I am now officially
'Moonlight and Hares' It seemed a natural progression as many customers tell me they look for me under that name. So here it is... www.moonlightandhares.co.uk

It isn't completely finished yet, for instance I still have a shop to add. For now the shop button takes you to the Etsy shop but I do plan to get a separate one on the website as well.

Now April is here and the hedgerows are busy with birds feeding their young in secret nests. The apple blossom's divine fragrance perfumes the garden. New life is everywhere and the earth feels warm in the mild weather we have had.

The snakes head fritillaries and the sweet white violets have waved their sleepy nodding heads goodbye and now the cowslips and forgetmenots have arrived. The bugle is stretching up through the moss and ground ivy, lily of the valley, cow parsley and red campion are already blooming.
Over the Easter weekend we visited our local bluebell wood. A step into Faerie land...

It's so peaceful, no distant hum of car, just a blackbirds clear voice across the hazel tops, gentle woo wooing of wood pigeon and my own boots on last years beech leaves. Then the quiet is suddenly broken with the bark of a muntjac deer and we see it scamper lower down in the woods and a startled pheasant escapes into a clearing, fearful of who we are. The ransoms are beginning to come out. I take some leaves for a garlicky pesto for tea. In the meadow beyond there are cuckoo flower dotted in the damp patches.

Back in the garden I think I had a fleeting glimpse of a white hare, his two big long back legs showing as he leaped through the hedge. I believe he left me this... ;)

 My paint brushes haven't seen as much action this past month but I did do a couple of paintings.              'Replenishment'

A small canvas on the theme of recharging by starlight and moonlight. And...

'The Quiet Glade'

A unicorn for 'National Unicorn Day' a little while back.  Both of these images are available now as prints in the shop

Back in March whilst working on the website, I also did a little designing with my images for a set of magical nature notebooks which should be ready and in the shop quite soon.  I do love notebooks myself and have bit of a mild obsession with them and often can't resist buying another small book that I probably won't use for another year or so as I still haven't filled up my other collection of notebooks! 

It was fun designing these and I am already planning another set. 

That's all, I think, for now... I shall leave you with some raindrops on apple blossom and Mr Blackbird with his children's supper.

Don't forget for more updates in between blogposts you can find me on Facebook and Instagram. :) 

X

Listening to the Hedgerow

Old hedgerow share your story,
Your tales and songs and spells
of morning misted dew drops, on petals of blue Speedwell.
Whisper me the wild and woven ways of forever, as I walk the winding lanes.
Teach me the secrets of bedstraw, sorrel, celandine and stitchwort;
Bryony, archangel, pimpernel and violet;
Stitch and bind the leaves and sap with woodbine into each strand of my hair.
Wrap me up in hawthorn blossom and let the birds build nests upon my heart.
Fill my bones with the scent of bluebell, lest I should ever forget.

~Karen Davis 

In May it's as though time stops. Steps are taken back in time and a remembering becomes more prominent. A remembering of the old ways of hedgerow and home. If I sit in among the greening then I can almost disappear. Away from the modern ways of car and telephone.

If it wasn't so chilly then I would probably take up residence on the soft moss, beneath the apple tree whilst it blooms. Just so that I can inhale as much apple blossom scent as I possibly can.  It's one of my most favourite smells in the world, especially when it has the morning dew or raindrops on.

The apple blossom is almost finished blooming now and it's the hawthorn's turn. After a poor year of blossom last year it has certainly made up for it this year. It's absolutely covered in flowers and is literally vibrating and humming with the sound of bees.

It is over a month since I last posted on here. I have felt the need again to step back from social media. No reason really, just a little weary of all the chatter.
There have been lots of jobs to do in the garden and not enough hours in the day. I made a rather rickety structure for the sweet peas to climb this year. I'm not sure how it will stand up to strong winds?

There have been walks to the bluebell woods and a short trip to Cornwall, which I will put in the next post. In between I have been quietly working away painting. The next shop update will be Tuesday 31st May at 7.00pm UK time. This will be 8 hedgerow hares and whatever else is finished and ready.

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend. :-)
X

Ring out wild bells to the wild sky

Ring out, wild bells to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

                                                                                                        ~Tennyson

The frosted flowers of the most beautiful hoar frost covered the branches here a couple of days ago.

I took the scenic route home from the post office that morning to capture it all. For a while I was wandering alone, it seemed just me and the rooks, in the Snow Queens icy land, a fairytale landscape. A glimpse in time, before the sun warmed it back to liquid to trickle down stems and drip off branches, to seep down and water the sleepy earth.

The gentle sound of the river flowing, my footsteps on hard frozen ground, ice cracking. Delicate whispers, of fragments brushing against my coat. Silver shards tinkling, almost bell like.  

The skeleton of nettles wearing ice fur coats.

And hawthorn still with a few snacks for birds, useful on cold days like these. Blood red against purest of white.  A hint of a fairytale...

~*~

Now, the night has arrived on this old and last day of the year. It has been a good one for me and I feel extremely blessed. Thank you for taking the time to stop by here in 2014. I appreciate all of your comments and read each and every one, even if I don't always get around to replying.
I look forward to sharing more things in 2015.
Happy New Year to you!
xXx