The Slow Dreaming Days of Summer

I often find my words disappear a little in the summertime. There is so much to look at and do, there are no time for words, are there?  Only conversations with flowers, wonderful creatures, oh and the odd human, here and there ;) 

I had meant to write a post in June, but did get distracted with life offline, so I do apologise to anyone that likes to read my little  meanderings here.

I hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you may be, or of course winter if you are in the southern hemisphere. It's been lovely weather here in the south west of England. Currently a little too hot for me, but there have been plenty of visitors to the garden to inspire my paintings. 

Some, unlike these above were just too fast to get pictures of. There was a visit from a humming bird hawk moth on the valerian one day and nine scarlet tiger moths flying about on the hedge. The valerian is a wonderful plant to have as the butterflies love it. I took a cutting of a white one while out and about, which I'm hoping will take, as the plant is great for dry areas. The pond is looking good although the warm weather seems to have taken its toll on one of the plants but I'm hoping it may recover. No sign of Jeremy Fisher yet, although we did have a frog appear in the living room one day when the front door had been left open. So possibly he is visiting the pond secretly?  There have been damselflies stopping by and the birds are using it to drink and bathe in. And, I have even spotted a hedgehog having a drink! As you can imagine that made me very happy!

Another thing that has caused much joy is the lawn.  Here it is a few weeks or so back.

You may remember a couple of years ago we began leaving it wild in the summer time, creating a meadow for insects.  I love to walk around and see what new plants have awoken from their sleepy seeds or have reached up from suppressed roots. 

There was much excitement when a beautiful orchid appeared from nowhere in the shady part beneath the apple tree. 

It made me wonder and imagine what this old garden on its gentle sloping hillside has held throughout the centuries?Vegetables and apple orchards in the shadows of majestic elms. And further back when this old village is mentioned in the Domesday book there was a vineyard. Could it have been on this sunny hillside? Or was this little patch a meadow where the folk sat and rested, contemplating the future while collecting flowers and herbs to flavour their mead? Now, here I am, walking around and photographing maybe (I like to think) some of these same plants for inspiration in my work. Whatever this small patch of earth has seen and heard over the years, all is quiet for now and the orchid has returned.

Summer days here have been filled with moments of dreaming and reading.

Family time and daughter's graduation.

Evening walks where we saw glow worms.

And a partial eclipse of the moon.

Lots of National Trust houses on my list have been ticked off, which I may possibly come back and blog about another time?
The most recent one was Thomas Hardy's cottage in Dorset. Such a beautiful place to have lived. Hardy's great- grandfather built the cottage and Hardy was born and lived here with his parents, grandmother and siblings. It was here that he created some of England's best known literary works and characters. The surrounding heathland with it's ancient roman road nearby, was the inspiration for his imaginary Wessex.

I sat and signed the visitor book in the very same spot where he wrote 'Under The Greenwood Tree' and 'Far from The Madding Crowd' 

Work wise, I've been slowly working away on some hangers.

These were supposed to be ready ages ago, (apologies) but I've just found that I'm working extremely slow and have felt a bit burnt out since Christmas. So I'm taking my time this year and things will be ready when they are ready. I've also been working on the website again and have a shop up and running on there now. It's currently just got a few items in but will have more over time. I hope to sell  originals on there and more expensive pieces which will save some costs from Etsy. I've also set up a beta way of selling wholesale and will see how that pans out? I'm not leaving Etsy, but just want another place to feel secure as it seems many changes are happening there? You can view my web shop here.

Since the last post, these new postcards of paintings done a couple of months back are now for sale in the shop (Etsy shop)

I think that's all for now.

Here's to summer days!

Resting like a Butterfly on a Blade of Grass

In endless sunshine and heat the hours seem to blur. Shimmers of silver, ripple above hot tarmac and dried out lawns. There are warps in the very translucent fabric of light. Entrances to other dimensions? If I stepped through, would time stop altogether and days be warm like this forever?

~Thoughts by me, from a hot summer day in July 2018

What a beautiful summer we have been blessed with. Each night the gentle balm of crickets has been its soundtrack. A soothing tiny insect orchestra playing to Mars as it shines out bright in the August sky. Playing to the ghostly flutterings of white winged moths and the vast infinite star filled skies above. 

We walked not far from home one balmy evening as warm as a greek island and found glow worms. 

August is now dressed to meet September. Her skirt is ripened corn, and hazelnut, thread and woven with the remains of dried up grasses, feathers and seeds. Embroidered with faded clover blooms and a pot pourri of meadow flowers. The feather of a magpie and a pigeons egg shell as white as a full moon are stuck to her feet and wasps fly about her poppy seed scattered fading hair, picking at the ripening fruit. Her scent is of hay freshly harvested, dried up earth and dust of well trod stone. Blackberries emerge from her ears and around her neck the engorged ripening rosehips give her a heavy heart, because she hears the call of Autumn and knows her time is almost up. 

This blog has been a little neglected over the summer. I pressed pause and rested like this butterfly on a blade of grass.

For a moment I hopped off the merry go round for a short while to recharge, but then found that I actually needed a little longer than thought and didn't want to climb back on. 

So I stepped away from the fair ground of social media and took a break. Not to go anywhere exotic or anything, just to be here, being in the present and not feeling obliged to post things when really I had no desire to say or share and was feeling just tired mentally and tired of that feeling of 'having to'  share something, anything...  Of course that feeling is all in our minds really and it really doesn't matter too much, but sometimes we succumb to the pressure and beat ourselves up about it and feel as if we have to constantly keep up with things and post regularly on social media. So it was time to listen to my body and pull up the drawbridge and retreat.
It's been peaceful just being semi offline, (obviously I still had my shop open so was always available for queries etc) doing things such as white washing walls, painting a floor, giving our home some time and love and rearranging things. I've had a whole lovely week with my daughter, to watch films, have foot baths and go shopping. Paying Glastonbury a visit again and stocking up on incense. I suppose my body was telling me it was time for some 'me' time. Some would say 'resting and nesting' Other years I have felt a little the same during the summer time and feel the need to go quiet. Maybe my DNA is part garden bird (preferably robin of course ;-)) as they also go quiet and stop singing for a few weeks during the summer months.

I managed to harvest some hazelnuts before the squirrel snaffled them all up. It was a  bumper crop this year and this is just a tiny amount, enough for us, so the squirrel had the rest and hopefully the nut hatch? These pigeons have their latest nest in the hazel. They haven't had much luck with nests this year and do tend to make them in precarious places. But what a sweet photograph, side by side in their humble abode.

I feel more refreshed now and almost ready to jump into Autumn... I can feel a turn in the air, the scent is different and summer is definitely singing her last song. Darkness is coming earlier, the skies are as pretty as the northern lights and being a winter person, I can feel my sap beginning to rise.

Hello September

Memories of early summer flower days lie in a seashell on my table. How fleeting they seem now that September has arrived with her hedgerows heavy with blackberries, the early morning mists, rosy ripe apples and hips and haws.  

August was sunny and busy, and I never did get around to doing a blog post. And then I caught a horrid cough and my voice almost disappeared and I didn't feel like doing anything for a while.
It's always hard to try and cram all things into a post when you haven't done one in a while, so instead of doing that I thought I'd share some of the magical moments that I've had since I was last on here.
There was a trip to Brownsea island

Where I chatted with a peacock

And while we sat there on the beach for a while with our simple picnic of sandwiches and flask of tea, something magical and beautiful happened. Out of nowhere it seemed she appeared, a deer walking towards us on the waters edge.

Not a care for humans having picnics, but searching it seemed for something or someone? She walked past us, stopping, then wading out to deeper waters, looking, then carried on. 

It was one of those moments when you are just there and are not expecting anything at all, then something wonderful and quite extraordinary happens. :)

My feet have been recharged in the wild Atlantic's Cornish rock pools .

Beneath the water they have heard the sea weed whispers and the crackles and pops of the limpet and mussel.

And through their soles they've soaked up the salty song of the sea.  I think they may even have heard a Selkie too?

And I swam and played in the wild waves like the seals that we saw. My selkie skin took the useful form of a wet suit. 
Dreams and sleep beneath stars and the milky way, cut off from the mainland on an island.

Where a giants heart lies in stone.

  Golden magic from the top of a castle.

And a phoenix in the sky...

***

Perseid meteor shower gazing in the garden can be added to the moments ( did you see them?) and the rescue of a weasel behind the sofa! :-) I hope you, dear readers whatever you have been doing, also saw a little magic in August.
                                                                                 ***
Now September is here and the sweet peas are still blooming. Mr Robin Good fellow has come out from hiding in the bushes during his annual feather moult and is very pleased with his new set.

I have been working on some hangers which I'll be back to share soon. In the meantime, will leave you with my new 2017 Calendar which is available now to buy in my shop here.

Happy September! X