Food and Flowers

Got a bit of a shock to realise that June will be over in 1 minute so in a rush to get something blogged I only have a few garden pictures fit for viewing. The best part of June has been fresh food and fresh flowers, and for the bees, the food is in the flowers, what could be better. In the face of a lot of freak weather the gardens have done pretty well and there has been a definite increase in wildlife. See my garden in detail here.



Bees on Cirsium Rivulare




Lunch


Tulips and Alliums

Fallen Tulip petals

Honesty Flowers

Chelsea Flower Show 2011

Yes it's that time of year again and as I batten down the hatches and staking my tall irises and alliums for the gale due tomorrow (on the back of 2 solid weeks of gusting winds) I don't mind being kept inside when Chelsea is on the TV (BBC Chelsea coverage times here red button coverage details here).



From the preview program I'm liking the look of The Times Eureka Garden in conjunction with Kew Gardens. Plant cells and capillaries (which always fascinate me) play a major part in the design by Marcus Barnett and this is especially reflected in The Times Eureka Pavillion. The initial sketches didn't show much colour but on the BBC coverage it seemed to have some lovely a lot of low purple spires (Salvias?) poking through what initially looks like quite a loose almost cottage style of planting, the plants intermingling to create the kind of patchwork that usually reveals more and more on closer inspection.

The Laurent Perrier Garden also looks to have some beautiful, softly bulging planting but I'm not at all keen on the wooden structure which looks like a copy of the moving panels in one of the smaller gardens last year (I liked the original version). I'll need to watch tomorrow and see what it looks like properly.

It was grounded by the wind but I'll be interested to see what this structure will look like in the air for Diarmuid Gavin’s Irish Sky Garden. Lots more to see and hopefully more ideas that are based on sustainability, bees and being green.

Cherry Blossom rain clouds

The impending rain shower only made the blossom more beautiful in the garden today. The tree is still tiny but it packs a lot of petal into it's dainty frame. On the other side of the garden teh flowering current came out last week...

Tiny Blog!

Oh my goodness, so I've just seen what my posts look like on a decent sized screen... hysterical, what a squished up little blog! But I suppose I should leave it that way otherwise it won't show up on small screens, and I know only too well the frustration of web pages that can't be seen without scrolling n both directions.

Update: I'm fiddling with it a little so it looks less like it's floating in a big empty space. When I have more time I'll maybe even get round to applying a blog banner, I must have made about 200 over the last 6 year but they never quite look right so I don't add them.

Bugs, Buds & Birthdays

So much life in the garden after some fine Spring weather last week. The ladybirds (ladybugs) are making hay while the sun shines! I've only pottered gently but already I can feel my joints and muscles getting a bit more movement in them. Feels like I'm stretching out in tandem with all the buds and shoot tips. Here are the first red leaves and buds on the Berberis...



Clusters of Spring flowers have emerged in the dappled light under the trees and I imagine most of the trees will come in to leaf in April. So much change. See my garden in detail here

It's been a weird month, lots of crappy things at the start so I had to postpone my own birthday but when I finally opened my presents it was amazing, beyond my wildest dreams type of amazing. My brother bought me a MacBook Pro and my parents got me Adobe CS5. I was utterly flabberghasted. I don't think anyone has ever seen me speechless before. I don't think I can ever thank them enough. The whole drive home I just kept saying 'I can't believe it, I can't believe it'.

I can finally make my books and edit years of archived photo's and designs without it being an archaic grind. Well, I will once I can afford to get all my peripherals to work with it, it's so whizzy and new it doesn't recognise my scanner, cables, camera, printer etc. That was one reason I could never get a new Mac, because if I spent any money on it I'd have nothing left to get it workable with all the extra bits. Now I can afford to do that over the next year or so - which is probably how long it will take me to learn all vastly updated software.

I've been fiddling with some old designs just to get a feel for what's new in Photoshop CS5 (I was using Photoshop 7 and I abandoned Illustrator about 9 years ago). They are so much faster though freakishly more complex. I can see there will be tears ahead trying to get to grips with Illustrators bazillion new options. I'm glad I don't have any deadlines.



And as for In Design, it didn't even exist when I got my last Mac, I've always been a Quark Xpress girl. I can tell it's going to take ages to learn since my brain struggles to remember my own phone number these days, but it will be so worth it. Learning curve here I come. Just think, no more compromises, no more workarounds, no more frustration as I wait an hour for a book page to save. These things are annoying at the best of time but when you have M.E. every little bit of wasted energy is like a huge chunk of wasted life. With my memory coming and going I really want to get things put into more books to keep it all from slipping away completely.

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. And so grateful. With all the shit happening around the world I feel guilty about something so good happening to me, but then I think that I should just appreciate how lucky I am, when lives can be upturned in an instant it would be crazy for me to make the most of something so positive happening.

Snowdrops

Snowdrop time. Here in the UK you are not allowed to gather snowdrops from the wild but years ago when on a popular woodland walk I found a path covered in slightly squished bulbs that a dog had dug up. Since they were going to be walked on anyway I reckoned it was fine to 'save' them and took them home. Those 5 or so bulbs have grown over the years to become about 12 clumps dotted around both our gardens. The cyclamen are beginning to flower as well. Ive never liked cyclamen, I always associated them with supermarket plants at Christmas but now that the garden is growing more to my plan it's easier to have them as part of a more naturalistic planting, both the Autumn and Spring ones. It's a thrill to see the tiny coils unwind themselves and pop out a tiny head of jolly colour. The cowslip is flowering today as well.

Thanks to all for your comments on my last post, it's been lovely to make brief contact with old blog friends. I'm going to try and make myself do one post every month this year. I've had a non-bed day today so I'm feeling perked by that after the longest post exertion low I've had in a very long time. I usually crash for anything between a day and 2 weeks after seeing people but with all the snow clearing of winter this has lasted over two months and ha freaked me out. Not that I'd do it differently. If I hadn't been clearing the snow on the flat roof it would very likely have collapsed, so I feel all the efforts of December were really worth it.

So in the spirit of achieving something beyond bed I got much needed clothes washed and hung out to dry in the suddenly milder day. The ladybirds (ladybugs) were also waking from hibernation today, stretching their legs in the sun and looking as glamorous as ever in their red coats. I imagine I know how they were feeling, it's like being kept in a stale box and then suddenly having space and air all around you. I could feel myself unfolding. I even let my pasty legs get some sun on them, I worry about not getting Vitamin D when I'm bed bound so today was a good 20 minute top up for them. They are so white, but no match for a snowdrop.

Six Days in France - My first public book

'Six Days in France' - Front cover


'Six Days in France' pages 12 + 13


'Six Days in France' pages 48 + 49


'Six Days in France' pages 54 + 55


'Six Days in France' pages 36 + 37


'Six Days in France' pages 28 + 29


'Six Days in France' pages 60 + 61

By now you'll have guessed my M.E. got worse rather than better hence my long blog absence, which makes me even more happy that I've finally managed to collate some of my photo's from France 2006 into a book that can help me travel in my mind, even when I'm confined to my bed. Unlike my previous books this one is available to buy, just click here to preview or order a copy. The photos above give a flavour of what's inside. And to tempt you even more you can get 20%* off using the code ADBLURB by 31st December 2011.

*Offer valid through December 31, 2011 (11:59 p.m. local time). A 20% discount is applied toward a minimum product total of $12.95. Maximum discount is USD $200.00 off product total. This offer is good for one-time use, and cannot be combined with other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.

With my muscles and mind in slow motion these days my old photographs really help to slow the worrying leakage of memories from mind and putting them together in a way that satisfies my eye provides a creative outlet. With that in mind, watch this space towards the end of the year for news on the companion book, Six Hours in Italy.

So what else has happened since my last post? Mostly gentle gardening to keep my muscles working. Mr P's garden has reaped the benefits and with my energy so low he has been amazing at helping with any heavy digging that was needed to transform his plot. He now loves it as much as I do and gets endless pleasure from the plants, animals and insects that now fill it in all seasons.

Oops, I've wilted! Was planning to write a bit more and add more pics but my energy has just evaporated, that's how it is these days. Perhaps another time. So let me just wish you all a Happy New Year and say how much I miss all your blogs that I used to read so much. I want to again in the future. I hope all your lives have had plenty of highs to keep you going through the tough times that most people are having these days. Enjoy the little triumphs as much as the big ones.

Six Days in France by C. Daniels | Make Your Own Book

Still alive

Checking in after a massive long blog break to let you know I'm still alive! My M.E. has been worse so I've needed saving all energy for family visits and the occasional friend which means my blog has had to take a back seat. Thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments while I've been away. I'm sorry I've not been able to reply and that I've not been visiting blogs this year.

Not had energy for photography but here is a nice turf topped wall I saw when visiting my Granny...


And because it matches in colour, a rhododendron in bloom behind a shed...


My own garden has taken a back seat this year but Mr P has been gradually implementing the plans I did for his garden and it is shaping up wonderfully. It's quite common for him to wander around it before work enjoying the new growth and pouncing upon perennial weeds with a passion I couldn't have predicted. Most of the plants have been grown from cuttings or divisions with some key shrubs bought at sale prices but he's made a couple of special purchases like this lovely Amelanchier Lamarkii which is berrying up nicely just now. Not sure if we'll get to eat the berries as the blackbirds have just noticed them. Here is it's Spring blossom...



Having found a new love of gardening he bought a Brill Razorcut manual lawn mower. It's BRILLIANT! No more wasting electricity on the garden. It's a quality product that will last and can be repaired and maintained throughout it's long long life so he didn't mind the higher price tag, it will totally pay for itself in time. It's lovely to hear the purr of the Brill instead of the loud noise of electric or petrol mowers and the cut is great, his little patch of grass has never looked so good. I'd particularly recommend the Brill to people with arthritis or similar joint problems because it is so much gentler on the body than anything else I've ever used. Currently it comes in two sizes and it's the smaller Brill Razorcut 33 we've been using because, but there is a larger one, the 38 and also I think a motorized version for larger gardens.

Oh my goodness, it's taken 2 days to write this, no wonder I'm not blogging just now. Wishing you all the best of health and weather until I pop in again. Until then, I'll be taking care of myself in a quiet way.

Sleepy Hedgehog

I am not the only one round here who sleeps through rare sunny days...



We call him Heath (get it, Heath Hedger). I nearly stepped on him last month as he snoozed on a wee sunny patch on the narrow path. You can see more of the wildlife in my garden on my Folia pages.

7 minutes of sky

July 8th 2008, 8.08pm to 8.15pm (click to enlarge)

A month ago I took pictures of the fast changing sky for seven minutes, these are just a few of them. It was like having a whole month of skies fly by in one ad break. Sky is all I seem to show you these days, but not being out much and not being on the internet either means sky is pretty much the best thing I see each day (not today, day 3 of grey skies and floods).

You probably guessed I've not been well. It takes a lot to stop me blogging. Still not ready to do regular posts but I thought I should update a bit, it's been over 2 weeks. One great piece of news is that my neighbour has asked me to plan her garden for her. When it is done I will be able to enjoy it too so I'm choosing plants for year round interest and going for lots of scents and varied foliage. It feels great to be able to apply my mind to something creative even though I can't do the physical making.

I've still not visited any of you and have taken to inventing stories in my head about what you might be doing, they are all very extravagant... I imagine Susan painting huge murals everywhere, Heather be commissioned to do pinhole wallpaper for a range of exclusive (but not pretentious) boutiques, Lisa collaborating with everyone I admire (oh wait, she's doing that already!), Anna suddenly moving to an island off Indonesia that is threatened by rising seas (not unlikely). I've had these thoughts about all of you who I normally visit. I'm especially thinking of those of you with aches, pains and chronic illness, you know who you all are, I hope you've been having more good days than bad.