SPRING RAINBOW

BEWL BRIDGE. UK

by my Pa

I am so looking forward to our holiday!

AUTUMN

'The place was a wilderness of autumn gold and purple, and violet and flaming scarlett....'

Frances Hodgson Burnett

The violet/blue of the Morning Glory vine twines through a hedge of this stunning red flower (perhaps, someone can tell a transplanted English woman what this plant may be?).

Alas, the Morning Glory is considered a weed in Western Australia. Annually, in a desperate attempt to remove it, I rip out it's roots and gathering up the tangled mass that snakes aroung my feet I throw it onto a fire. Yet every year it pops up somewhere along the hedge line, forcing it's way up through the hedge to find the sun.

In the UK, my Ma has a Morning Glory ( where it is considered an acceptable garden plant) that is admired for it's stunning blooms. So, this year for my own satisfaction, I grabbed the camera and pulled down a flower to record the temerity of this beautiful plant, before consigning it once more to the bonfire.

SECRET GARDEN

THE GATE TO SECRET HILL'S SECRET GARDEN

When I was small and delving into books and expanding my world, I read 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett. When I reached the ripe old age of forty one, I started my own Secret Garden........................

'The Secret Garden was what Mary called it...............she liked the name,and she liked still more the feeling that when it's beautiful old walls shut her in, no one knew where she was. It seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place.

"Sometimes since I have been in the garden I've looked up through the trees at the sky and I have a strange feeling of being happy.....Everything is made out of Magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all places".

CODA.... friendship

I have always felt

that the great high privilege,

relief and comfort

of friendship

was that one had

to explain

nothing.

Katherine Mansfield

DOG DAYS

We are going on holiday in two weeks. There is someone we will be leaving behind for a month.

He will be joyful getting into the car. He will be excited during the journey to the kennel. His ears will prick up and he will howl with delight when I mention the kennel owner's name. He will leap out of the car when I open the door. He will 'allow' me to lead him into his kennel and then.....................................he will turn and 'look' at me.

He will convey that now he feels extremely PISSED OFF. I will tell him that I'll be back soon. I will then drive away.

Any dog owner will understand. I need not say more.

SUNLIGHT.......

WORKING IN THE GARDEN

SUNLIGHT ON MY SHOULDERS

BLOG HOLIDAY

Time for a break from Blogging methinks.

• Time to clear the garden
• Catch up with friends
• Plan our overseas trip
• Share meals with the family
• Shop for holiday necessities
• Groom the dog
• Groom myself
• Walk every morning
• Listen to Radio 4 BBC
• Listen to Radio National ABC
• Read
• Make a holiday items list
• Use up food in the freezer
• Make soup
• Use moisturiser everyday
• Give myself a pedicure
• Buy gifts for those I hold dear in the UK

Back in a couple of weeks.

CREATIVITY VS. DOMESTICITY

"Any artist knows that after a good bout of work one is both too tired and too excited to be of any use to anyone. To be obliged to tackle other people's problems, or merely cook their meals, the moment one lays down pen or brush, is intolerably hard. What one wants, on the contrary, is for other people to occupy themselves with one's own moods and requirements; to lie on a sofa and listen to music, and have things brought to one on a tray! That is why a man writer or painter always manages to get some woman to look after him and make his life easy,............ A professional woman, however, seldom gets this cushioning unless she can pay money for it."

Stella Bowen. (from her Memoir 'Drawn from Life').


Does this happen to others? I am sure it does. If you are at all creative, have a passion or interest. Be it sewing, painting, toy-making, pottery, mosaic work, writing etc., you suddenly realise that time has past. You have been so immersed in your creative endeavour, that the hours have flown by and other 'duties' are beginning to impinge on your thoughts.

My partner is more than content to prepare our evening meal, vacuum, do the laundry etc. if I am busy. However, there is that little niggle of female doubt and guilt that ensures I must stop what I am doing and get the domestic stuff done! I should point out that I am not a 'domestic goddess'. I have always felt that a tidy house means I am not living my life to it's fullest potential! Yet I continue to feel I must 'get things done', so that I can spend some time on a project.


Not any more. I have now chosen how I use the hours in my day. I no longer have to justify this decision.


I am banishing the guilt. Be gone you wicked and invasive entity, I will entertain you no more!