Cadell, Scottish Painter

Francis Cadell was one of the four main artists who made up what was known as 'The Scottish Colourists'

Art Sunday, Drinking

 

Art Sunday (29.06.08), Drinking

The Orange Blind

by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883–1937)

THE PAINTING

The painting I have chosen for the theme ‘Drinking’ is ‘The Orange Blind’, by Francis Cadell. This shows a well dressed fashionable lady sat drinking tea in an Edinburgh interior.

 

The whole scene typifies fashionable Edinburgh of early 20^th Century. The tea service is silver, the black and gold screens have a Japanese, exotic look to them, there is a sedate and discreet piano player and the furniture exudes quality and style (probably French). It is interesting to note that while Cadell was heavily influenced by the work of contemporary French artists; Cadells subject drinks tea from a silver tea set but the subjects of French paintings were much more likely to be depicted with a glass of wine. This is possibly a reflection of the influence of the ‘Kirk’ (church) in Scottish society of the time. The painting gets its name from the huge bright orange blind covering the high window in this interior. This blind sets the tone of the painting. If you can imagine this painting without that blind, or with the blind toned down, dulled or diluted you can see the importance of colour in this painting. Without this block of solid orange the painting loses every thing. It  becomes a rather ordinary record of middle class Edinburgh society, but WITH the blind; it’s a vibrant piece of art. Which is another reason for choosing this particular painting, it does demonstrate exactly why this small group of painters were known collectively as the Scottish Colourists.

THE ARTIST

Cadell was born in Edinburgh but from the age of 16, he studied in Paris at the Académie Julian. While there he was in close contact with the French avant-garde painters of the day and his exposure to work by the early Fauvists, and in particular Matisse, became his most important influence. Once returned to Scotland, he exhibited in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London on a regular basis. He painted landscapes, interiors, still life and figures in both oil and watercolour. He is most noted for his use vibrant waves and solid blocks of colour. He enjoyed the landscape of Iona (Scottish Island) enormously, which he first visited in 1912 and features prominently in his work. During the 1920s he spent several summers with Samuel Peploe, another Scottish Colourist, on painting trips to Iona.

THE SCOTTISH COLOURISTS

At the turn of the centaury a small group of Scottish painters collectively known as ‘The Colourists’  were among the first to introduce the intense colour of the French Fauve movement into Britain. This Group of four Scottish artists, Francis Cadell, Leslie Hunter, Samuel Peploe and the leading figure John Duncan Fergusson were greatly influenced by work of contemporary French artists.Their work was not highly regarded when it was first exhibited in the early years of the twentieth Century, but by the late 20th Century it had become popular both at home and abroad. Their distinctive style had a formative influence on contemporary Scottish art. The Colourists visited and trained in France, the influence of the French Impressionists such as Monet, Matisse, and Cezanne is easily seen in their work.  This French influence is mixed with elements of traditional Scottish painting to give the unique style that The Colourists became renowned for. They worked with the vivid colours of French painting to produce a distinctive Scottish style. The Scottish Colourists continued the work of their predecessors, the Glasgow Boys. There seems to be a direct link between the art of the ‘Glasgow Boys’ and the art of the ‘Scottish Colourists’. The Glasgow Boys were revolutionary in their approach to art in late 19^th century/ early 20^th century and the Colourists took the movement forward into the middle/late 20^th century.

I have searched for a decent sized photograph of this painting but unfortunately I could only find this rather small reproduction of it. This is such a shame because I have seen this painting in the Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow and it really is a wonderful piece of art when seen hanging in the gallery. I have found some pictures of other pieces of his work but unfortunately none of these pictures is very big. You will just have to use your imagination and think big.

 

 

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/65/Cadell_Scottish_Painter

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605906157708/

 

How Many Wild Flowers Can YOU Name???

How many wild flowers can you name?

Today has been a happy day, my computer is returned to me, de-bugged, installed, connected and behaving moderately well. The only minor hic-up I am left with is the mysterious and total absence of all sound on any imported video or music. This is most odd since I am able to play CD’s and DVD’s on the computer. But, after being computer-less for more than a week I can cope for a while longer without YouTube. And so, knowing I would be able to sit here happily playing on my computer tonight, I decided to have a bit of a walk along the cliffs and maybe bring back some nice photos to share.

 

It was a gloriously hot and sunny afternoon  with strong blustering winds. The gulls love those strong air currents they ‘sit’ in the air allowing them selves to be taken higher and higher with out moving a muscle, just relying on the power of the wind. Then they tumble sideways, releasing themselves from the air stream and glide back to the rocks below. Just before they hit the rocks they change angle, their feet come forward, outstretched at 45 degrees below and in front of the body and the wings fold behind them, pointing skyward. It’s at this angle that the birds land on the rocks. It’s quite amazing to sit at the top of the cliffs looking down onto the outcrop stacks where the gulls nest. This is a place that looks as if it should be quiet and peaceful but it very rarely is and today it was noisier then ever. The gulls screeched, the waves crashed and the wind howled. Despite the strong winds I managed to walk quite a way along the cliff top path, and in doing so could not help noticing how many wild flowers are in bloom at the moment. As I walked and took photos and walked some more and took more photos an idea began to form. I thought to myself,

    ‘I wonder if I could find all the names to all these wild     plants.’

And then I thought to my self,

   ‘I wonder how many people actually know what these plants are called.’

All of which is quite sad really, if I were a child walking this path 100 years ago not only would I know the name of every plant I would also know what it could be used for. I would know which plants were edible, which were poisonous and which had a medical use. I would know how to pick these plants, how to store these plants and which part of the plant was useful, the flowers, the roots, the stems or the leaves. All this knowledge that was once so common, known to every one, is now lost to all but a few.

So…… here are all the photos, how many can YOU name??, answers in the comments box please.

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/64/The_Wild_Flowers_of_Seaton_Cliffs_29.06.08

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605884414459/

The Wild Flowers of Seaton Cliffs, 29.06.08

Just before the actual cliffs start there is a steep embankment full of these white flowers

Today I thought I would see how many different types of wild flowers I could find as I walked along the Cliffs. It was quite windy along the cliffs today, maybe too windy to be leaning over the edge taking photographs.

HOW MANY WILD FLOWERS CAN YOU NAME????

SunSet on the Summer Solstice

These photos were taken on the night of the Solstice, 20/06/08. I wanted to show how late the sunset is here and how the last of the sun doesn't actually go before midnight. I walked from my house, along the park overlooking the sea, down through the town, to the harbour and back again. The last two photos were taken outside my house looking North, one at 11.30 and one at midnight. By midnight the last of the suns rays had finally gone but there was still a slight glow in the sky toward the North. Dawn came just a few hours later, by 3am it was getting light again. Some of these photos are not very good but they are un-edited, I wanted to post them exactly as they were taken.
The name of the photo is the time.... ie... 22.06.jpg was taken at 22.06 hrs

PICTURE PERFECT; INDUSTRY

 

PICTURY PERFECT; INDUSTRY

This picture was taken last year at the Arbroath Seafest, 25/08/07. The Seafest is a local celebration of the towns traditional fishing industry and all things connected to the sea. In the fore ground you can see The Reaper, a Fife Herring drifter, a traditional fishing boat Built at Sandhaven near Fraserburgh in 1902. One of the last of its kind to be built and now a tourist attraction. Its large traditional brown sails were probably made from textile produced in one of the towns many old mills. Behind The Reaper you can see leisure craft moored at the new pontoons designed to encourage visitors into the town. At the back of the harbour you can see the old Harbour Masters House and some old Merchant Houses. These old traditional buildings are now used mostly for Bed and Breakfast on the first and upper floors and retail on the ground floor. There is a traditional fish and chip shop, an ice cream parlour, a small antique shop, a restaurant and a pub.  This photo shows lots of examples of industry from the towns past and present. There is the Fishing industry and the textile industry of the past and the leisure industry, the tourist industry, the retail industry and the catering industry of the present. Looking forward to this years Seafest, great day out.

 

Ground-Elder

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Apiales

Family: Apiaceae

Genus: Aegopodium

Species: A. podagraria

The plant was introduced into Britain (England) by the Romans and then into the rest ofNorthern Europe by monks. It is considered the worst of weeds, the most difficult to eradicate, the fastest grownin,  spreading over large areas of ground by underground rhizomes. It is extremely invasive, and crowds out native species. The smallest piece of rhizome left in the ground will quickly form a sturdy new plant, followed by many more.There is a variegated form is grown as an ornamental plant, though with the advice to keep it isolated. Just like all other plants, does have it’s place in the eco-sycsem,  it’s used as a food plant by the larvae of some species of Lepidoptera including dot moth, grey dagger and grey pug.It belongs to the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in shady places.

the young tender leaves can be used as a spring leaf vegetable much like spinach.

It is also known as herb gerard, bishop's weed and snow-in-the-mountain

It has also been used to treat gout and arthritis.

 

This is a useful web site about wild flowers and herbs of the Western Isles,

http://www.thewesternisles.co.uk/wildflowers/ground-elder.htm

It has this to say about ground elder;

‘’Ground elder has leaves like those of the elder tree and makes an attractive and effective ground-cover, particularly in shady parts of the garden. It is the way these elder-like leaves cover a large patch of ground, and then send up the flowering stems that helps us identify the ground elder from the other umbelliferae, which tend to just send up flowering stems. (Alexanders looks a bit like this before it's stems have gone up, but Alexanders has dark leaves and ground elder's are bright green) In a single growing season ground elder can spread across a few square metres, sending up slender 2 foot tall stems carrying it's white umbelliferae flowers. It flowers May - July. Gound elder has also been known as dog elder, goat's foot, devil's guts, housemaid's knee, white ash, gout-weed, bishop's weed, and seven-toed Jack. It is not a popular plant, as it prefers cultivated land and once in, not only does ground elder quickly spread, but it is almost impossible to remove. There are records of ground elder roots growing 30 feet deep in the soil! Many of it's names refer to it's status as a garden menace. Ground Elder is described a colonist in the Western Isles, it is not a native plant. It does have uses to us, ground elder is a useful vegetable, it can be cooked and eaten as a spinach substitute (tangy but a bit stringy), and more importantly it is a treatment for gout and other associated disorders’’

If you want to be rid of your Ground Elder it’s not an easy task, this is a link to organic weed management

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=120

and this is what they say;

‘’Management: Although ground elder is not normally an arable weed it can encroach onto arable land where it should be hoed off frequently to exhaust the creeping rootstock. A bare fallow with repeated cultivations will be needed to deal with ground elder on a field scale. Liming may reduce the weed, draining may help on wet land, as may cleaning crops like potato.In gardens the soil should be dug over and the rhizomes removed but a single cultivation will not suffice. Ground elder should be hoed off or dug out at every opportunity. Any rhizomes turned up during cultivation should be collected and burnt. Where it invades a planted area it may be necessary to dig out the desirable plants and clean off their roots to remove rhizome fragments. The soil-free plants should be potted up and observed to ensure no ground elder has been missed. The cleared bed can then be cultivated repeatedly to deal with the ground elder before replanting.’’

Out of all this information the one small piece I am most interested in the treatment of Arthritis. What I haven’t so far found is a recipe and preparation instructions  for herbal medication, if any one can find this I would be MOST interested. I did find a picture of ground elder and vanilla muffins. I can't get the picture to copy here but maybe this is a clue as to how this plant can be used medicinally

 

Song Saturday, Dinah washington

 

She was born Ruth Jones, on August 29, 1924, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and died on December 14, 1963, of an ‘accidental’ overdose of sleeping pills. She was the daughter of Ollie Jones and Alice Williams and married several times. She married John Young 1942-43, George Jenkins circa. 1949, Walter Buchanan 1950, Eddie Chamblee 1957, Raphael Campos 1957, Horatio Maillard 1959-60, Jackie Hayes 1960 and Richard Lane 1963 (not all marriages were officially confirmed). From those numerous marriages she had two children. She began her career by winning a talent contest at Chicago's Regal Theatre in 1938, she sang in the gospel circuit until 1943 when she left to perform in Chicago area nightclubs. She joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra in 1943 and recorded on Keynote label and on Apollo label. She began her solo career in 1946 and signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1948. Over the next decade she recorded over three hundred sides and in 1958 appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1959 she toured Europe and signed with the Roulette label in 1962. She also owned a Detroit restaurant and performed with Count Basie and Duke Ellington in 1963. Dinah was known as "The Queen" or "Miss D,"  one of the most versatile cross-over artists of the post World War era. Her gospel trained voice noted for its rhythmical precision and tonal clarity performed blues, jazz, and ballads with equal authority. Arnold Shaw, in his book Honkers and Shouters: Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues, stated "She had a flutelike voice, sinuous, caressing, and penetrating. Master of all devices of the blues and gospel shadings the bent notes, the broken notes, the slides, the anticipations, and the behind-the-beat notes--she handled them with intensity that came from her early church training

 

 

Medicinal Herbs and Plants; the Dog Rose.difference day makes

I have come across the most wonderful little book. It’s called ‘’The natural guide to Medicinal Herbs and Plant’’’, written by Frantisek Stary and beautifully illustrated by Hana Storchova. I found it in a charity shop and just had to have it. The one thing that attracted me right away (apart from the wonderful illustrations), was the fact that it said ‘’Herbs and Plants’’. This reminded me of the first time I wrote about herbs and gardening, I asked the question ‘what is a herb?’ It turned out to be quite a difficult question to answer. The only definitive answer seemed to be ‘’a plant that is useful’’ which is why I like the title of this book. It recognises that plants not traditionally defined herbs can also be useful; hence the title ‘’Medicinal Herbs and Plants’’.

One of the plants featured in this little book is the common Dog Rose. I have a Dog Rose growing in the bordering hedge between my garden and my neighbour’s garden, which is why it was the first plant I looked up in my new book.  And this is what I found out;

         ‘’it is the commonest of the wild roses, mainly in Europe where it is widely distributed in the temperate regions, in the South only in the mountains, and also, but less abundantly, in Western Asia and Northwest Africa. It is an extremely variable species forming a group of approximately thirteen small species and numerous hybrids. The ripe, deep red, undamaged hips ( Fructus cynosbati, in pharmaceutical language), are the parts used medicinally. They are rich in vitamins, mainly vitamin C, vitamin A, B_1, B_2, and P and also include carotenoids, tannin,s sugars, and organic acids. The drug has a mild diuretic, and despite the presence of tannins also a mild laxative effect. It is used as a form of prevention against flu and diseases associated with chilling. Tea is made by boiling or steeping one teaspoon of crushed hips per one cup of water, which is then poured through a sieve to remove the irritating hairs on the fruit. The dosage is four to six cups per day. In diseases of the urinary tract it is recommended to drink two to three litres of the tea daily. The fresh hips can be made into puree, jelly, jam and wine, all rich in vitamins.’’

 

As I watched my own Dog Rose I was struck by how rapidly this plant changes as it goes through its natural flowering cycle. I walk past this plant every time I leave or enter my house, it’s so close to the path if often brushes against me as I pass. If it has been raining the leaves shed their rain drops all over my feet and if it is dry the old faded petals float away from their branch as I pass. These two pictures were taken lass than a day apart. In the first photo, just one of the flowers are open, they others remain tightly closed buds. In the second photo, the first flower is already beginning to wilt as the closed buds begin to open, changing from tightly closed buds still in their green skin, into bright pink flowers fluttering in the breeze. It’s amasing what a difference a day makes in the life of this plant.

ONE DAY LATER

 

Giotto

 

 

   

The picture is from the Scrovegni Chapel near Padua and the music  is the Latin chant "Salve Regina" (or Hail, Holy Queen, which is a common Catholic prayer) performed by the monks of the Abbey of Notre Dame.

Giotto, Kiss of Judas
Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, near Padua

                                                            

 

Giotto, Arena Chapel

We seem to have totally forgotten the difference between the ‘before Giotto and after Giotto’ He managed to adopt the visual language of the sculptors but in two dimensional work. This was unheard of in his time.
Giotto's master work is the Arena Chapel cycle of the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua’ depicting the life of the Virgin and the passion of Christ and completed around 1305. He gave us over has 100 major scenes with the beautifully sculptural figures set in realistic settings. This is much too small a space to describe all of these wonderful wall paintings, besides it has been done much better than I could ever do by very learned

Art Sunday, Back to the Classics, Giotto

 

ART SUNDAY, BACK TO THE CLASSICS

Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267–January 8, 1337),

Giotto di Bondone, better known as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to and developed the Italian Renaissance. I have chosen Giotto because with out him we would have none of the great masterpieces of the renaissance. His art was extremely innovative, and is commonly considered as a precursor to the explosion of the Italian renaissance. He is the link, the first artist to break with the prescriptive, formulative, and two dimensional styles of the middle ages. He stands as the key link between the Byzantine art of the late middle ages, and the more realistic art, the art we have come to accept as ‘Classical’ , which flowered in the Renaissance. He took the first tentative steps toward realism. The flat, symbolic figures typical of his time, grouped in decorative space gave way to modelled, individualized figures interacting in perspectival space. He used and understood perspective, he modelled his figures, they were individuals, occupying their own place in time and space. Today we take the accomplishments of the great renaissance classical painters so much for grantage we fail to recognise the enormity of what Giotto did. We seem to have totally forgotten the difference between the ‘before Giotto and after Giotto’ He managed to adopt the visual language of the sculptors but in two dimensional work. This was unheard of in his time.

 

Giotto's master work is the Arena Chapel cycle of the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua’ depicting the life of the Virgin and the passion of Christ and completed around 1305. He gave us  over has 100 major scenes with the beautifully  sculptural figures set in realistic settings. This is much too small a space to describe all of these wonderful wall paintings, besides it has been done much better than I could ever do by very learned people, but just check out a couple of the web sites about his work and you will see how amasing this man was. Giotto's work was one of the direct influences in  Michelangelo’s scheme for the Sistine Chapel, possibly pinnacle of classical painting.

 

I have saved all the pictures in my photos right here in Multiply, or they are also in my flickr photos here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605624959935/

http://www.du.ac.in/coursematerial/ba/euroart/hyperlinks%202/Giotto.htm

http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth213/arenachapel.

 

Song Saturday, Howlin Wolf, an old blues man,

Thing is, just recently I've been thinking a lot about my past, in my case this is the dim and distant past. The period I'm thinking about is the late 60's early 70's. At that time I was still pretty young, too young to go into pubs and clubs but as I recall that didn't stop me. Seem to remember going on a regular basis, well every friday night actually, to the 'Blues Loft' above the Nags Head, High Wycombe. I didn't realise at the time but this tiny little space above a pretty ordinary pub was the place to be if you wanted to see the greatest Blues singers of the time. Think I took it all for grantage at the time but looking back, I was one hell of a lucky person to have done that. Case of right place right time I think. I saw B. B. king, Chicken Shack, John Lee Hooker, Freddy King, Howlin Wolf and many, many more really old and now almost forgotten blues men. In fact I sat at the bar with Howlin Wolf and had a beer or two before heading up to the loft, him to play, me to listen. Great big hulk of a man with enormous hands. He signed a beer mat with a cross, don't think he could write too well, as for the beer mat...lost in the mists of time I'm afraid. Strange thing is the video I found about the little museum dedicated to his memory talks about cards he sent home while on tour. I always thought he was virtually illiterate, maybe I got that wrong. Those were pre-digi days, where not every occasion was marked with a card full of pictures which means there is absolutely no evidence of any of this. The only pictures are in my head.

But the music lives on.

 

 

Song Saturday, Nina Simone

She was born Eunice Waymon into poverty, in Tryon, North Carolina the sixth of seven children. She was  a child prodigy played who played piano at the age of four. With the help of her music teacher, who set up a charitable fund for her she trained as a classical pianist in New York.

She supplemented her poor families income by working as an accompanist. In the summer of 1954 she took a job in an Irish bar in Atlantic City, New Jersey and was told her she had to sing as well play. Thus ther girl who had spent years training as a classical pianist began her career as a singer. She changed her name into Nina ("little one") Simone ("from the French actress Simone Signoret").

It didn’t take her long before she was performing at Town Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival. From the very beginning of her career, her repertoire included jazz, gospel spirituals, classical music, folk songs of diverse origin, blues, pop, songs from musicals and opera, African chants as well as her own compositions. She can and has sung most things but always in her own unmistakable style.

 

Picture Perfect, Extravagance

 

 

 

I took this picture on the way home form work today. I believe this is extravagance gone mad. Whoever these people are who pile up unwanted appliances and leave them to pollute the environment are extravagant, (and selfish) with the worlds diminishing resources and irresponsible in the way they simply discard belongings that are longer wanted. There are three types of extravagance here, one is the extravagant use of resources in a world of disposable appliances, another is the extravagant waste of resources by not recycling where ever possible and the last is the damaging environmental pollution caused by our extravagant society. 

The Dangers of unwanted televisions.

Most people know lead is a toxin. Lead damages the central nervous system, and children are particularly sensitive. Most people don't realize how much lead is in CRTs. Televisions and monitors can have 4-10 pounds of lead in them. Recycling the glass in CRTs also saves energy and conserves resources. By making sure your CRTs are recycled responsibly instead of dumped, you significantly reduce your load on the environment and decrease the heavy metals in your community's drinking water.

The Dangers of unwanted  fridges and freezers.

Fridges and freezers contain CFCs which are Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) and are potentially damaging to the atmosphere. As a result of recent legislation, fridges and freezers must have the ODS removed before some of the other materials are recycled. Every year there are reports of children becoming locked inside irresponsibly discarded frigdges and freezers, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Unwanted rubber tyres.

 Rubber tyres collect water, which attracts mosquitoes and they create huge fire hazards, once they get "lit" it's an environmental catastrophe. Most commercial gyms use recycled rubber matting in their facilities, most children’s playgrounds are protected by recycled rubber matting under swings and roundabouts. Rubber is a natural resource that needs protecting. Rubber does not easily decompose and will continue to pollute the environment for many years after it has been dumped.

And the lawn Mower??.............................

Much of it is made from meteal and all metals can be reclaimed and reused. If left where it is it becomes an unsightly danger to children.

Song saturday, Woody Guthrie, A man who touched my life

 

Not sure why but I seem to be spending some time thinking about the past. My past. The things I remember from quite early in my life. People who have left a mark on my life. Now why I should rememebr Woody Guthrie so clearly I’m not too sure, his son Arlo Guthrie was more my generation, more of my time, but Woody Guthrie, and his music, for what ever reason is the one I remember.  I can’t take credit for any of this, the information comes straight from wikipedia and the video clips are from utube, all I have done is put a few things together as a sort of homage to a man who left his mark on me.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American songwriter and folk musician. Guthrie's musical legacy consists of hundreds of songs, ballads and improvised works covering topics from political themes to traditional songs to children's songs. Guthrie performed continually throughout his life with his guitar frequently displaying the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists". Guthrie is perhaps best known for his song "This Land Is Your Land" which is regularly sung in American schools. Many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress.

Guthrie traveled with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional folk and blues songs. His songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression and he is known as the "Dust Bowl Troubadour." Guthrie was associated with, but never a member of, Communist groups in the United States throughout his life.

Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. He is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Guthrie died from complications of the degenerative neurological affliction known as Huntington's Disease. In spite of his illness, during his later years Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement providing inspiration to a generation of new folk musicians, including mentor relationships with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie

 

 

Your land is my land, continuation of the herb garden story

Today we planted the herbs. I ended up with 5 pupils aged 14 and 15 all planting herbs in this little garden just out side the front entrance.

 

I obviously can’t post the pictures of the puipils here, which is a bit of a shame but you will just have to take my word for it that they seemed to enjoy the experience and even agreed to go away and look up a few basic facts about the herbs they planted.

I am about to post these photos into the herb garden album, just to keep all the pictures together.

The music I chose to go with this is

‘This Land Is Your Land -- Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger’’ it seemed very fitting.

 

 

 

Raining in my Garden, the photos

The weather has been so hot these last few days I was planning on sitting out in my garden for a couple of hours after work. I’ve already done my little bit of maintenance for a week or so, the grass is still short, the hedge still trimmed and when I left for work this morning all was well. I had visions of my garden chair, maybe a cool beer from the fridge, my radio, bird song, the lazy buzz of bees collecting nectar and some real quality ‘me’ time, just sitting watching the world go by.
Mmmmmm…………… sounds so good. Well Mother Nature had other ideas, on my way home the heavens opened and by the time I reached the gates the whole garden was a mass of sparkly splashing rain drops

Raining in my garden

Raining in my garden

 

The weather has been so hot these last few days I was planning on sitting out in my garden for a couple of hours after work. I’ve already done my little bit of maintenance for a week or so, the grass is still short, the hedge still trimmed and when I left for work this morning all was well. I had visions of my garden chair, maybe a cool beer from the fridge, my radio, bird song, the lazy buzz of bees collecting nectar and some real quality ‘me’ time, just sitting watching the world go by.

 

Mmmmmm……………sounds so good. Well Mother Nature had other ideas, on my way home the heavens opened and by the time I reached the gates the whole garden was a mass of sparkly splashing rain drops. The rain was warm and although I didn’t particularly want to sit in it, every thing was so fresh and clean, I just had to stop and take a few photos. Seems to be perfect weather for snails to be out and about, catching up with a few snail friends and having a bite to eat.

 

Oh and I noticed another clump of ‘weeds’ growing under the gate next to the clover. I decided I quite like the look of them so they have a permanent parking permit too, right next to the flowering clover. This must be my weed amnesty corner. The tiny pink flowers of my 'london pride' had been battered and scattered all over the ground by the rain. It looked like minature pink confettie. 

 

But the best thing was the rain drops falling off the leaves, quite beautiful.