The cloud breaks + shop promotion

Most of these cushions/throw pillows are from photos I took in LA 2008, some combined with older patterns from my archives. They really express what living in Venice felt like to me creatively, it was a whole new world of colour and light and pattern. Memories of that sunlight and Ocean living really perked me up this week when we were mired under low grey cloud and cold fog for 8 days.  
Somewhat bad timing because the front Cherry Blossom, Prunus Cerasifera 'Nigra', had opened during the previous week and was doing it's best to cheer up the view in the absence of sunshine (taken when things lightened up enough to actually get a photo)...

The Forsythia can always be relied upon to brighten even the darkest day...

Luckily the cloud and fog have lifted this weekend and we finally had a sunset...

Today I finally got my fix of some much needed sunshine and Cherry Blossom in the garden. Hard to photograph though because the sun returned with it's near constant companion these days - strong wind! It's been so hard to photograph anything in the garden in the last 3 years because it is nearly always jiving around like 50's teenager...

In a very brief moment of stillness and extremely bright sun I spotted this little ladybird exploring the flowers of Pieris 'Debutante' which have been really abundant this year. It's a very compact little Pieris and it's leaves keep a fairly consistent green in all seasons, good for small spaces and places where you don't want any unexpected colour clashes from changing leaf colour...

And finally the deeper toned flowers of the larger and more seasonally varied Pieris 'Mountain Flame'...

Free shipping weekend includes new designs

Another Free Shipping weekend on Cally Creates products* including these new fishing net iphone cases and skins when you use this link - offer expires January 12, 2014 at Midnight Pacific Time. *Offer excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert.

I was yearning for a beach visit but in lieu of that I started looking through old photos and thought these would make nice cards, prints and phone skins. Sadly they aren't large enough to make bigger items but they satisfied my beachy cravings.

Sunset with Robin

A few mid August sunsets

Sunset on 18th August

As I was taking the sunset at the top over a 20 minute period I heard a distant bang and realised that in the distance the fireworks could be see going of at Edinburgh Castle. They usually start once it's dark but on a Saturday they do 2 shows so the first one is early when there is still plenty of light in the sky. I was so beautiful. The 3rd photo is a detail of the clouds over the trees as it intensified.


August 13 2012

August 16 2012

Possibly 17 August 2012

Summer Solstice 2012

Sun setting at 10.30 on the Summer Solstice.

Sun setting at 10pm a day later.

The Soltice sunset was quite impressive, for about 15 minutes! I love the way you can see the pale blue and faded mint sky behind the more dramatic gold dusted rain clouds. I was hoping to get a nice shot at midnight since the previous night had looked bloody gorgeous (but could I find my camera? Nope). Sadly it was a bit too cloudy for a good photo at midnight but there were some lovely red hues in the north sky over Edinburgh.

Sun wind clouds

Dominique Falla - Meet Me In The Sunshine

After a week of Spring we had a return of snow on the hill, freezing nights and blasting gales. Then they said we'd have a nice sunny weekend. It peeked out occasionally but was motly grey so I thought posting this cheery piece of embroidery thread art by Dominique Falla will encourage the sun to come back. Not that I don't like clouds, some clouds are great, especially when you can make them inside a room like this art installation by Berndnaut Smilde.



Innova - Xuan bamboo lamp

Photographer Emmanuel Coupé

Emmanuel Coupé - Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Photo SC9376


Emmanuel Coupé - Lochan Urr, Glen Etive, Glencoe, Highlands, Scotland. SC9887


Emmanuel Coupé - Loch Tulla, Glencoe, Highlands, Scotland. Photo SC1077

It's been too long since I went camping in North/North West of Scotland so I thought I'd take a virtual tour courtesy of the wonderful photography of Emmanuel Coupé. His photographs from Scotland, and around the world make me long to travel, but also help satisfy my urge. They are available to buy as Archival quality prints.


Emmanuel Coupé - Quiraing, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Photo SC8633


Emmanuel Coupé - Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Photo SC5306

Winter Garden Colours

Winter sunset behind the tall birch trees

After the last post of silvery frosted leaves I wanted to show that the garden isn't without colour. And Liz, the little colour palettes are for you, so you could see what the family version of my plant book looks like in places.

The Hydrangea above it was a bit of a surprise, I was convinced the heads would have been ripped apart by the gales but the constant winds all year have toughened up all the plants so many things have held up well. Although I'm not really a fan of bright blousey Hydrangeas I do love them once they start to fade though I'd never seen them that way until I inherited this one with the garden.

Heuchera 'Georgia Peach' is a favourite with varying shades of deep pinks, mulberry and marmalade shades depending on season and weather conditions. I've got several new Heucheras with equally wonderful colours but they are tiny plug plants just now. Heucheras take a long time to bulk up in my garden so I'm giving them 3 years until they have enough leaves for good photos.

We've not had as many lovely sunsets as usual so when I spotted this one I had to capture it. If only I could have successfully photographed the 1000's of starlings that were doing their daily sunset flight in front of it. Absolutely mesmerising, but impossible for my camera to capture in such dim light.

My Halloween - food, face, flowers - 2011

Much belated, a few snippets from my Halloween Dinner party:
1. Autumn Squash and a lovely Black Bear brooch from Adadine (guilt gift from Mr P).
2. Facepaint always makes me happy.
3. Oxalis plant in a ceramic raku fired bowl I made in the early 90's.
4. Japanese snacks in a small ceramic tealight holder.

DIY Halloween Lighting Ideas

I like to set the mood at Halloween with home made or customised lighting.


I make paper Pumpkins to work as wall and window decorations, lighting and masks.

• Fairy lights, which are a year round feature, get a Halloween twist with orange paper chain and shreds of orange crepe paper (only on led lights that don't get hot).

• Tealight holders and glass jars get wrapped in orange paper chopped with jaggy tops and grouped to look like little fires.

• Rather than doing scary faces on pumpkins I prefer something more decorative or abstract so that I can keep using them past Halloween.

• Paper pumpkins ensure I still have a spooky vibe on the night. Made from orange paper and drawn on with marker pen then cut out. They look great in the window with tealights behind them (safely in jars) and if you attach two lengths of wool either side they double as pumpkin masks if you have guests who don't have the time or interest to make anything. The one in the photo above is in front of a small table lamp with a 4w energy saving bulb to give a gentle light.

Halloween face painting - elf/goblin/sprite

Elf, Goblin, Sprite? I just painted in a way that suited the ears I'd been given.


A friend gave me her green ears • sitting by the fire

Here I am as a Goblin type of critter in 2005. It was a mild dry October that year so we had the party outside around a tiny barbecue based bonfire with orange tea light lanterns and pumpkins around the garden.


Halloween Invitation 2011

When I was a kid I absolutely LOVED it when we were out Guising (Trick or Treat) and would occasionally go to a house that had made an effort to be spooky. In the 70's it was very rare to encounter that and I vowed when I grew up I'd always dress up for the Guisers. Since Asda in the UK was bought by Walmart there was a definite importing of Halloween as a commercial concept and all the other supermarkets have followed suit so Halloween themed houses are much more prevalent these days, but I far prefer a home-made look rather than a bought one and for me getting creative is the most fun part of Halloween. Having ME has meant not a lot of partying but having had a nice Fancy Dress dinner for 4 last year I decided to increase that this year and tweaked the Elfish Goblin with some fangs to make the above e-vite for it.

Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf'

Annual Rudbeckia - flowering for a second year

Damn slugs completely demolished several perennials this year* including Helenium and Eupatorium, but these Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf' have almost made up for the loss with their late summer colour. I have a few perennial Rudbeckia but these ones were sold as Half Hardy Annual seeds so I was most surprised to see them growing with great gusto in this their 2nd year (having not been very impressive last year).

Not only are the much more floriferous with the flowers sporting several colours, every one of them like an autumn roast dinner, but they also grew to twice the height, about 2ft instead of 1ft and have the happy habit of being ignored by the slugs. I'm hoping they'll return every year, but to be sure of more I'll sow what remains of the seed packet. Even in areas where I only put a few (to test where they'd be happy) the individual flowers that have arisen have been so varied that they give lots of delight. This and my perennial Rudbeckia plants are all tracked here.

* we couldn't do the usual protective measures because the constant rain made the clay soil/grass inaccessible for most of the year.

August flowers - vibrant colours

1. Fennel & Crocosmia. 2. Fuchsia. 3. Solidago- Goldenrod. 4. Cleome- Spider flower.

Even on an overcast day these flowers seem to glow as if the sun was still shining.