Sunshine you make me smile

Spring is here with a vengeance, we have had a week of blue skies and warm days. Everything is waking up in the garden, well almost everything.
Some of our plants have not come through the winter unscathed sadly.

With a need to fill some gaps in the garden we went plant buying yesterday.

new herbs to add to the herb garden. We also purchased a few (quite a few) tomato plants and several chilli plants.
Mr Mog has already planted up some potato tubs so the garden is looking quite a lot better.
Just think of all the harvesting we can hopefully do later in the year.
I have sprinkled calendula and nasturtium seeds in any empty spaces. The nasturtiums to eat and the calendula to make creams and salves with.

Quite a lot has weathered the winter though.

Just look at this tub of sweet violets.
The Laal Bear gave me these last year and I think I shall have to split them after flowering and add some to the borders.
Such a delicate flower and such an exquisite perfume from them.

We have a few different varieties of daffodils or narcissus.
They come in all shapes and shades.
I love the different golds and greens that I can see in the garden at this time.
The pulmonaria or lungwort has also made it through the frost. This variety is sissinghurst white.
Then of course April for me is a Tulip month, both indoors and out:)

Mothers Day

It is Mothers Day here in the UK. I didn't get a simnel cake but I did get these gorgeous British tulips from my daughter:) My son actually remembered this year and I'll be receiving his gift tomorrow when we meet for coffee.
We went to see MiL this morning and had a lovely drive up.
Weather was good, no frost and sunshine. Perfect for a trip to the Lake District.
MiL is doing quite well although we are concerned over her legs, the doctor is going to visit tomorrow. I'm worried that it looks like the start of ulcers so I'm very pleased the home is keeping an eye on her.
Mr Mog and I had to visit primary care yesterday evening. I've had a very painful hand for 2 days now and last night noticed that there was a lump under the thumb and that my arm was swollen with quite a bit of fluid around the spot. After ringing the doctors we were sent to primary care, fortunately just 10 minutes from home. It is a ganglion but mighty painful:(
As you can see from this little daffodil Spring is appearing in our garden:)

Mainly pictures

Colour is very important to me. I love colour and find it a great aid to creativity.
These are my first tulips of the year. British tulips and a joy to behold on this gorgeous sunny day.
I love the insides of tulips.

Do you?
These batts were made at Laal Bears the other day. She kindly offered the use of her drum carder and we took her up on it. It has given Mr Mog ideas of how people use them. When we visited Artis Anne the other week she also got the drum carder out to let us play.

These batts were made from a mixture of fibres that Artis Anne gave us for Yule. They remind me of sea foam.
This is some of the merino from Adelaide Walker mixed with angelina and trilobal nylon. Blue seas or blue skies?
This is some more of the merino from Adelaide Walkers mill shop, mixed with angelina and trilobal nylon. They are actually a darker more mysterious colour in real life.
These batts were made from the second lot of fibre Artis Anne gave us for Yule.
It is hard to see the sheen in a picture but believe me they do all sparkle.

Our flowering cactus is flowering once more. It is only a couple of months since its last show of colour.
A new shower curtain to replace the tatty one we already have. Colours actually blend nicely with the tulips and the cactus when seen together.

The neck warmers are finally photographed.. They were just awaiting buttons. Both made with handspun and very warm.
A choice of colours and a great way to use up left over yarn.
More colour from the inside of the tulip.

Drumbeats

Drumbeat, slow, one beat at a time. Count the beats, feel the earth's heart beating slow slow slow.
Slow your breathing down, right down to tune into the mother's pulse.

Can you hear it? Can you feel it? Be one with the heartbeat of the earth.
Too fast the world today. Too many rushing to their journey's end with no thought for the actual journey itself.
We all need time in tune with the earth.

Time for her beauty, her sacred heart. She shares it oh so willingly with us despite the way we desecrate her.

Who can say they don't enjoy just being? But, who makes the time to do it on a regular basis?
I see the world anew when I stop and be.
I hear more in a conscious minute than I do all day blithely wending my way from moment to moment.
In one of my previous careers with a building society we had one of the, for then, new workshops or development days. All different team building games and role playing. You know how it goes, they seem to do that all the time. Back then it was something very new.
Much of it I have forgotten now. I do remember how bored I was. One thing stuck in my mind however.
The person running it asked us how much of our day to day activities we thought was done by habit or on auto pilot.
I can't remember the exact percentage(I'll see if I can find it on g$$gle later) but I believe it was something around 85%.
That is 85% of our day seeing nothing, doing nothing except by habit. We could be robots.
Get up, clean teeth, wash, get breakfast, go to work, come home. You know it goes and how easy it is to stay in the habit.
Wake up. Do everything consciously, be aware.
It is surprising what you will see, feel and notice if you make each act a conscious one.
Back to the drumbeats:-

I find drumming has a strong effect on me. I love music where drums play a large part.
I love drumming on its own.
I really love the evenings spent drumming, alone or with friends.
It is cleansing and exhilarating. It gives me a buzz. I can feel the energy coursing through my veins.
When I become aware of the earth's heartbeat that too gives me energy and gives me a feeling of being a part of the earth. Connected by a thread of rhythm.
Gordon MacLellan(Gordon the Toad) in his excellent book Sacred Animals has a wonderful quote.
" A pagan world is one of endless connection and communication between the individual and the inter-related, growing, changing, always evolving world that that person lives in"
Do you live in your world or just exist?

Some of my favourite music containing drumming:-
Drums of a nation John Richardson
Any by David and Steve Gordon.
Inkubus Sukkubus heartbeat of the earth.
Any by Peat Bog Faeries.
Any by Gabrielle Roth.

Phew , I do go on don't I? Something to do with the Beltaine energy rising methinks.
BTW the tulips remind me of orchids today as they twist and spiral towards decay.

Last faded splendour of Spring

I know I said that I had photographed the last of the spring tulips but it would appear that I was wrong.
I saw these in Lidl the other day and had to buy them, the colour was so evocative of spring for me.
They may not be the last of Lidl's British tulips but I suspect they are mine.
Now that they are a few days old I love the fallen splendour.
I love the way the pollen has collected at the edge of the petal, ready to fall.

I love the shades of colour within these flowers.
As spring flowers fade the blossom is thriving on the trees. This year is the best I've seen the blossom looking. I am sure the hard frost last Winter has worked wonders. The plants need this dormant sleepy period to enable them to throw forth spring growth.
We need it.
I've found it hard in previous years to wind down in the winter, to go inward and reflect on the previous year. As the years have gone by it has become more natural to me. To try and live with the wheel of the year instead of just live alongside it. To be in the now, noticing the weather, the length of the days and the phase of the moon. To be part of it and not just pay lip service to the wheel.
I'm not perfect, far from it. I am human after all:) But I do try. If I find myself straying a mental reminder helps.
My word for today was clarity. A hard word to live up to. To be clear about what? For me to be clear about where I want to be and what I want to achieve.
Making an affirmation of each word I chose and consciously saying it to myself throughout the day.
Clarity.

Last and first

Thanks for all the comments on streams, I really appreciate it.
It is a time of endings and beginnings lately. The last of the tulips sadly, but to balance this the first of the English strawberries
I have really enjoyed the tulips this year, both in the gardens and the local ones purchased from Lidl.
But it is May and sadly they are coming to an end for this year.
As part of the balance strawberries are arriving in the shops, not the ones that have travelled from far distant climes but British ones.

We have homemade fresh smoothies each morning, none of your bottled stuff for us but made each morning fresh ones. Always with a little live yogurt, a tiny bit of fresh juice to help blend then fruit. I always use bananas(good for Mr Mogs blood pressure), an apple, a pear, then what ever fruit there is. Obviously bananas aren't local and at this time of year neither are the blueberries but I balance this with using local where ever possible. The oncologist told us back when Mr Mog had his radiotherapy that the daily smoothies helped his recovery and his general health. It has been around 4 years now that we've made them and they are something I'd miss if we didn't. We usually have either fresh toast from our own bread or porridge after that. Sets us up for the day.

The strawberry season is much longer than it used to be and I am glad. I love them.
As part of the new beginnings the chestnut is in full flower and a delight to behold.

The beauty that abounds at this time of year is wonderful, so many shades of green on the trees and so many flowers everywhere you look. Even the dandelions look a picture when there are full fields of them.
Part of my opening my eyes, then opening again is to appreciate the beauty in everything, even so called weeds.
We can't pick and choose what is beautiful, it just is. It doesn't come down to likes and dislikes just beauty to behold and enjoy.
We took a trip to Cumbria today to see friends and the countryside was lush. One of those days where you could see for miles. We came back over the old Shap road to avoid the busy motorway and barely saw another car. Hard to believe how many times the road can be blocked in winter when you saw it today. I'll have some pictures for you next time, need to take them off the camera. We were hoping to see new kids from our friend's goat but they haven't yet put in an appearance. We did get home made apple cake and coffee though:)

Tulips again and shawls

I can't resist taking pictures of tulips at the moment. I think it is a combination of their vivid colours and the effect of the sunshine on them. I'm not going to apologise because I like them and they have a feel good factor for me.
So here you go with the latest ones.
This first one is almost like a rose with the many petals unfurling.
As is this one, such a deep red.
My colour:)
The ones grown in tubs seem to have done as well as the ones grown in the ground thankfully.

Yesterday we went to a wedding in Cumbria, it was a lovely day only spoilt by the hotel getting their food timing totally wrong. Wedding was 11.30am and we were supposed to eat at 1.30pm. It was after 2.30 when we sat down as they didn't have everything ready. Meal was ok when it arrived but it was nearly too late for eating. We hadn't had any food from early morning and if I'd known there would be a delay we would have taken some fruit or something to put us on. Add the delay to a dazzley day and I was pretty light headed when the food turned up. No matter, the bride looked radiant, the day was sunny and we captured a picture of our first May flowers for this year in the hotel grounds.



Aren't they splendid?

I've finished another shawl as you can see. Hand painted mohair.

Shawl #1 This is the latest finished one. Handpainted mohair. Measures approx 78" across by 36" deep. Very light and floaty as you can tell from the next picture.


Shawl #2. Next we have a mohair,mohair boucle mix shawl.
A close up of the colours , it is hard to photograph the shawls .
It measures approx 70" x 30" and also could be blocked larger.

Shawl #3 measures approx 66" x 30" and is a heavy knit mohair with mohair boucle. Almost chenille or velvet feel to it and very warm
Close up of colour bands.
Shawl #4 fire shawl Very large 98" x 45" unblocked so would go much larger, probably near to floor length. Very stunning in shades of red and orange mohair
here you can see the colour bands.


Shawl #5 80" x 49" unblocked, would go larger. Mixture of assorted shades of purple mohair.

close up of colours

All yarns are handpainted/hand dyed