A July filled with Flowers.

With July almost over it had to be time to pop in and say hello to this rather neglected blog.
I've been having a sort of semi creative break for a while, so haven't got anything totally finished in the way of art to share... but I have flowers, so many flowers.  My July has been a July filled with flowers.
Flowers are I believe, a good way to balance the negative news that seems to be happening in the world almost on a daily basis these days...
Lets begin with a walk in Gloucestershire. The Slad valley, home to Laurie Lee. Cider with Rosie country.  A warm but overcast day, quiet except the gentle hum of bees and summer soothing sounds of cricket and grasshopper. Marbled white butterflies flitted from one knapweed bloom to another.  Fields of wildflowers, scabious, clover, orchids, yellow rattle dotted the fields.

We passed an orchard with the prettiest white cows and apple trees laden with mistletoe. 

Through a wood where a faerie had been busy making a home  

And a holloway,  silent yet so full with the whisperings of ghost horses and travellers.

“Bees blew like cake-crumbs through the golden air, white butterflies like sugared wafers"

~Laurie Lee Cider with Rosie

Take my hand, follow me to the purple scented fields of lavender...Somerset Lavender

Now if I had brought with me a discreet blanket and soft pillow then I would have been quite happy just to have laid myself down between these rows and spent a whole day and night here, breathing in this wonderful heavenly scent and soaking in it's energy.  Do you think anyone would have noticed me? ;-) No doubt the bees would have and maybe the hare that has been spotted in the fields on occasion I hear. 

This was my first ever visit to a lavender farm and now I would like to have my own. So I bought two little plants of the favourite variety to start me off on a small scale. :-) 

After browsing the shop filled with all things lavender, I bought some essential oil and then we sat for a while on this bench soaking up the surroundings and eating lavender ice-cream. 

Such a lovely place, if you are in the area then you must definitely pay them a visit. 

There were other  flowers at the farm too. The sweet peas were a joy to behold. The scent took me straight back to working many years ago in a local hotel. The smell of beeswax on old wood, and picking the sweet pea posies for the freshly cleaned cottage rooms. I always loved that simple task of putting a posy of flowers in a guests room to welcome them.  

More memories are stirred seeing  marigolds. Bright and cheerful and the smell and sticky, sappy marigold scent of childhood summers.

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”   

~Claude Monet

And now to home and to the little patch of Earth that I lovingly tend to. Such magic that comes from a tiny seed scattered on bare earth.

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” 

~ Iris Murdoch

I am not normally someone that is into bedding type plants or hanging baskets but this year I couldn't resist this petunia which I have just planted on the edge of the border. It is surely made of velvet! The purple black reminds me of a Queen's gown or cloak in a fairytale Or the Queen of the night from the Magic Flute? How wonderful it would be to design a fairytale garden.. . Now there's a thought.  

My rather delicate Tolkien inspired structure that I shared earlier, has survived so far and has sweet peas blooming now and is doing it's job rather well.  

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”

~Victor Hugo -Les Miserables

Flowers give so much pleasure and scent can really lift your mood. So if you are feeling  sad with the world or lonely or just want to lift your spirits, take the time to go out and smell the flowers and if you haven't any nearby then go on, treat yourself and buy a bunch. We need the return of flower power! 

“Find gratitude in the little things and your well of gratitude will never run dry.” 

~ Antonia Montoya

I shall leave you with this little angel that flew inside the other day. A plume moth. Plume moth caterpillars feed on bind weed so please please remember to leave some in your garden for this sweet soul.  Its all in the little things...

Grateful

Last night as I walked along a small street in the village everything seemed exaggerated. 

My footsteps echoed on a tarmac path but underneath I knew the path had been there for hundreds of 

years, long before tarmac had come into being. My feet shared the shoes of so many others. Ghosts of 

the past that had walked the same route, busy, excited with laughter or sad filled with their worries of 

long ago. Some not so long ago. This year too many in our tiny village have passed on, some much too

soon.

It was early evening, the cottages had their lights on but curtains had yet to be drawn. Inside homes

looked cosy and the smell of cooking lingered with wood smoke and a distinct October leafy spiced

scent. For a moment a veil seemed thin and stretched and the past felt close. The cool of the night made

me pull my jacket in tight, breathe deep and feel grateful to be alive.Today I am grateful.

Dear Universe..... 
Thank you..... I am grateful for the morning sunlight streaming in through tiny droplets of condensation
on the window. The light, a sparkly, white, silver, bright, hint of winter.
I am grateful for the red holly berries as I look outside and the blackbird's song.

   Letters from friends...

For Autumn's patterns.

And clever spiders.

I am grateful today that the sky is so blue and that I am here on this beautiful planet and am able to see

such a thing as clouds.

I am grateful that there is a good strong wind to blow the washing dry and that I am able to feel it cold

on my face. It's a north wind and has a bite, blown down from the arctic across the highlands. The same

wind that swirls around the greens and pinks of dancing Aurora. Now it chases the leaves off the cherry

tree.

I am grateful for the hot cup of tea that I have here while I write this and that I am able to taste it, and for

the beautiful music I can hear as my son practices his instruments and that I am blessed to be able to hear
them.  

I am grateful for the book I will finish later this evening when the house falls quiet with sleep.

Today I am also grateful for soup, warm socks, my camera, the smell of incense sticks and my sense of smell. Some of these things may not seem that important Dear Universe in the grand scheme of things, but I am grateful for them anyway.

P.S : I'm also grateful for the following things being in the world, written in no particular order....

Hot chocolate, my laptop, blogs, fire, candles, all animals, birds, my daughter, my son, my husband, my friends, kind words, kind messages, jingly bells, flowers, trees, the moon,  the planets, the stars, my family, the sea, rainbows, shells, music, forests, rocks, ice, butterflies, art, books, cats, compassion, love, peace, badger sabs, hunt sabs, planet earth, the sun, moths, mistletoe, wild meadows, wild verges, starry skies, northern lights, adventures, magic, miracles, health, life, pyjamas, hazelnuts, boots, mushrooms, snowflakes,  chestnuts, weather, laughter, baths, red wine, kindness, my garden, my home, eco warriors, promoters of peace, moonstone, moon shadows, moonlight, jonsi, bluebell woods, etsy, mountains,  sparkling clean streams, bees, strawberries, white horses, sunsets,  and a thousand and more other beautiful things ....