Garden 2011 no 8

Garden 2011 no 8
A family Weekend.

The saga of the fence goes on. Most of that enormous pile of branches and roots was taken away to the tip by a friends partner in his van. In between rain and wind my eldest daughter found time, with the help of her partner, a friend, a digger and a jeep, to remove the remaining roots of the hedge in preparation for completing the fence. Those roots were massive and turned out to be incredibly deep. Trying to get any thing done in the garden at the moment is difficult, I can’t remember the last time we had a whole day with no rain or wind or both. Sometimes the weather is really nice, but never for the whole day.

I have had a very busy weekend. On Friday I had most of my family here, my eldest daughter and grandson dug a patch in the turf ready for my vegetable plot.

Once the turf was lifted and the land roughly dug over they burned the last of the rubbish from the hedge in an old bin burner.

I had asked for some of the wood to be left because I wanted wood ash to dig into the vegetable patch. A pile of the dug out turf is now drying out and hopefully rotting down and will eventually become a small decorative corner garden.

Once this work was finished I went with my middle daughter to spend the weekend at her house.

She is not a gardener; she doesn’t like gardening, hates getting ‘dirty’, she calls all plants ‘weeds’ and thinks any thing that you can’t paint or trim is ‘messy’. Yes….. I know what you are thinking………….how on earth did I have a daughter like that, but I did. 

She has recently moved and the first thing I noticed about her new house was the abundance of bluebells growing all around her front garden.

She told me they were ‘messy’, that she was going to get the whole lot dug over and grass seed put down so that her front garden looked ‘tidy’  and all she would have to do would be mow the lawn. I asked her not to do any thing until I had the chance to lift as many bulbs and plants as I could, which is what I have spent the weekend doing. I dug and dug and dug.

Whoever had the garden before was obviously a keen gardener; the ground was well dug and soft. I managed to dig my way around all the borders over the weekend and salvaged THREE huge bags of assorted plants and bulbs, mostly but not exclusively bluebells. My eldest and I shared the goodies, we will be lucky to find space for all those plants but we will do our best.

And that brings me back to the fence. We came back here today ( Monday) with the intention of getting the fence finished, but just as our helper was about to put the water into the cement mix, a black cloud appeared from no where and the rain came down in bucket loads…………….and I still have no finished fence. I suppose I was lucky it rained BEFORE he added the water to the mix, at least the cement and sand mix should stay dry until next time

 

Garden 2011 no7

Garden 2011 no 7
After the Storm

Compared to the rest of the world, what we call storm damage is minimal. And; bearing this in mind, I thought I should take a closer look at the damage to my garden.
First thing you notice is that I’ve lost my side gate, It’s very warped and twisted and the hinges have been ripped out of the wall, I think it’s beyond repair so I guess I need a new gate as well as a fence.

The pallets that were piled up ready to be made into my fence were scattered around the garden. Some were smashed and broken but most are OK to use.

I hope my bird box was not actually in use, it has a nest inside and there have been chicks, I just hope they all flew away before the storm.

I think this little nest came from the apple tree, again I hope the birds had already flown.

The apple tree itself looks the way it does in autumn. It was full of blossom but now there is no blossom and hardly any leaves. I suppose this means there will be none of those bright red crab apples this year.

I used them last year in jam, looks like I’ll be buying my apples for jam this year.

Most of the blossom and leaves seems to have ended up in the pond.

I’m not at all sure what caused this. The leaves on two of my shrubs have gone black and died.

I’m pretty sure they were ok before the storm but I don’t know how the storm managed to do this to them.

And here is hope. Amidst all this debris is  a new flower. The little pink flower bloomed today after the storm……………..

 

is it a car? is it a tank? ...........It's THE OBAMAMOBILE

Have you see that car he is touring Ireland in? Started life as a cadalac, morphed into tank and now resembles the batmobile.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1389825/Obamas-Beast-Cadillac-flown-US-London-drive-Mall.html

 

and a little hump in Irelands roads defeated it  J

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13507728

 

you just gotta laugh  :-)

Caro Emerald, A night like this

I have never dreamed  a night like this.....................thought it was appropriate :-)

Good Morning folks..............I seem to have survived the 100mph winds and torrential rain. Looking out of the window all I see is blue skies a gentle breeze and birds singing on the rooftops. I've seen the news. Those poor people in Joplin were not so lucky. I can't believe what I am seeing, my heart goes out to all those people who have lost every thing. A reality check when we need one, makes all of us here realise how lucky we are.

power cuts and high winds.

I don't think I have ever known wind like this. The met office site says we have winds of 44 mph with gusts up to 65mph. I've had no electricity for an hour, the power is back on now but I'm not sure for how long. I've spent some time in the garden trying to secure things. I have all the wood piled up in my garden ready for the fences being built and I'm having visions of it sailing away on a gust of wind and smashing into someones windows, all I can do is try to pile it up together and hope the weight of it keeps it in one place.  I've put as many things in my shed as possible but I think my garden is going to be one big mess when this is over. It's made worse because I've just had all the hedging removed which has left the garden open to the wind.  The tree opposite my house has lost some branches, there was a man from the council there when I came home from work, he was trying to tidy away the felled wood  and make the area safe. The picture above is a big tree that stands just opposite my house, hard to see from this how much it's swaying in the wind, but take my word for it, its moving around quite a lot. The wind is howling around outside and where ever I go in my house I can hear it. I called my daughter on my cell to make sure she's ok, her house is quite rural,  she had no power and they had a tree down in their garden which they were trying to deal with.

Guess I better go cook while I still have power.....................

Another unmissable dance routine

This is called 'Butterfly lovers'.............

and the name seems to fit so well

Dance, like you have never seen before

The most amazing  dance routine ever……………….

Art Sunday; Japanese Tattoo Art... ( and more)

Today; I found myself at a loss as to what to ‘do’ for Art Sunday. (Hence the lateness of this post)

And then I had a conversation with my daughter about tattoos and as usual one thing led to another. I started looking at tattoo art and then at specifically Japanese tattoo art.

Tattoo art has become an art form in itself, and the Japanese seem to have taken this art form and produced designs which are a wonderful mix of contemporary and traditional Japanese Art. This led me to thinking about the vast range of ‘Japanese Art’.

This is what wikepedia says about Japanese art

''Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art. ''

''It also has a long history, ranging from the beginnings of human habitation in Japan, sometime in the 10th millennium BC, to the present.''
Read on…..

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

It's the bit about ‘’wide range of styles and media’’ that interests me. One of the most traditional and possibly the most well known Art form from Japan is the Dance, costume, make up and general phenomenon of the Geisha Girl.

I could see a connection between the stylised white faces of the Geisha and the stylised flowers of todays tattoo design, as if one is directly descended from the other.
Another reason this post is so late is because, once started on that train of thought; I became mesmerised by a six part BBC documentary about a young 15 year old school girl, in modern Japan, who made the extraordinary decision to quit school and train as a Geisha. She had to leave home and have no contact with her family for the initial 6 month training period.

After the first 6 months she was tested on every thing she had learnt to see if she was good enough to become a Maiko and start the 5 year apprentice to become a Geisha. (Maiko being a Geisha in training). The whole documentary takes more than an hour which is why I’m not posting it, but if you can spare the time, it’s fascinating and found here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrDGTUm2vBc

The video below shows how the traditional white face, neck and chest with red and black touches around the eyes and mouth is achieved.

Video; Maiko or geisha putting on face make-up in Kyoto.

And then, last but not least…………..lets not forget Origami

Song Saturday; What a day for a daydream & rain on the roof.

What a Day for a Daydream &  Rain on the Roof
 by The Lovin' Spoonful
Lazy songs from a long, long time ago.

Garden 2011 no 6

Garden 2011 no 6
Progress on the fence

The whole business of getting rid of the hedge and replacing it with a fence is progressing very slowly. My daughters & partners are helping, but coordinating a time when they are not working, when they have use of the car and when its not raining has taken a while. But, at last, progress is being made. One daughter turned up tonight with her partner, some good strong towing rope and the jeep. The idea was to clear out the rest of the hedge by tying ropes around the base and pulling it out with the jeep. Once the hedge is away the other daughter will bring her partner and actually finish building the fence.

Some of those privet bushes turned out to be far from dead or dying, They are deeply embedded into the ground and even the jeep couldn’t pull them out. I’m left with most of the hedge out and three very stubborn and very deep stumps that will not budge. Not quite sure what the next plan is but I’m sure they will think of something.
Isn’t it strange how an uprooted hedge takes up so much more space than it did when it was growing, my next priority will be to find a way of disposing of this mountain of privet.

I’ve got a feeling my garden is going to spend most of this year as a work in progress, but by next year I should have a garden that’s easier to maintain. Painting small fences every couple of years has to be easier than fighting with privet every few weeks.

And this is my new gardening tool. The idea is that you push it into the ground and turn rather than having to actually 'dig' the garden. I'm hoping this makes it easier for me to look after my veggi patch myself. Once I get the vegi patch, I don't have it yet. 

 

Julia Butterfly Hill and how she saved the Redwoods

 

JULIA BUTTERFLY HILL

On 28.12.2010  I wrote; ‘’I spend the afternoon watching Avatar on her very large, wall mounted TV screen. WOW………….now I know what all the fuss has been about, I was so bowled over by that film, it’s more like a religious experience than an animated film. I’m going to get the DVD and watch it over and over again.  I just loved that film, I found it moving’’

Now I think I’ve found the inspiration for the film, and if this wasn’t the original inspiration, it could easily have been.
Julia was/is an environmentalist who in 1997 climbed a huge red wood tree that is believed to be about 1500 years old and over 50 meters tall. The tree was threatened with destruction by the loggers and chainsaws of the Pacific Lumber Company. Watching Julia living in her tree, ‘who’ she called Luna, watching her climbing and walking around Luna , and hearing the way she tells her story, made me think of Avatar.  And yep I know that's a bit odd, I know Avatar is an animation, a fantasy, and Julias story is real, she is real and her struggle was real, but to me, they have a very similar 'feel'.

Julia's Story from;

http://www.circleoflife.org/inspiration/julia/

( this web site is not very well maintained and many of the pictures are missing, but the story is still there)

‘’For 738 days Julia Butterfly Hill lived in the canopy of an ancient redwood tree, called Luna, to help make the world aware of the plight of ancient forests. Julia, with the great help of steelworkers and environmentalists, successfully negotiated to permanently protect the 1,500 year-old tree and a nearly three-acre buffer zone. Her two-year vigil informed the public that only 3% of the ancient redwood forests remain and that the Headwaters Forest Agreement, brokered by state and federal agencies and Pacific Lumber/Maxxam Corporation, will not adequately protect forests and species.On December 18, 1999 Julia Butterfly Hill, then 26, came down to a world that recognized her as a heroine and powerful voice for the environment. Her courage, commitment and profound clarity in articulating a message of hope, empowerment, and love and respect for all life has inspired millions of people worldwide.’’

She has written several books about her experience
Book review from;

www.goodreads.com/book/show/7803.The_Legacy_of_Luna

The Legacy of Luna:

The Story of a Tree,

a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods

On December 18, 1999, Julia Butterfly Hill's feet touched the ground for the first time in over two years, as she descended from "Luna," a thousandyear-old redwood in Humboldt County, California. Hill had climbed 180 feet up into the tree high on a mountain on December 10, 1997, for what she thought would be a two- to three-week-long "tree-sit." The action was intended to stop Pacific Lumber, a division of the Maxxam Corporation, from the environmentally destructive process of clear-cutting the ancient redwood and the trees around it. The area immediately next to Luna had already been stripped and, because, as many believed, nothing was left to hold the soil to the mountain, a huge part of the hill had slid into the town of Stafford, wiping out many homes. Over the course of what turned into an historic civil action, Hill endured El Nino storms, helicopter harassment, a ten-day siege by company security guards, and the tremendous sorrow brought about by an old-growth forest's destruction. This story--written while she lived on a tiny platform eighteen stories off the ground--is one that only she can tell.

And of course;

 YouTube is full of video clips of her and her tree.

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The Prisoners right to vote

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/12/prisoners-vote-government-loses-appeal

The right of prisoners to vote, it’s in the news again, and I for one am getting a little tired of hearing about it. The European Court of Human Rights has said, ( many times and on many occasions) that our Gov, along with several other members of the EC, does not have the right to impose a blanket ban on prisoners right to vote.   I’m sure half the ‘interest’ in this is invented by the media on order to A; sell more & make more and B; to incite the general public into yet another frenzy of  self righteous indignation directed against yet another despised minority group, (in this case prisoners).

Personally I can’t muster an awful lot of enthusiasm for the campaign against prisoners voting. The whole thing seems illogical to me. I thought one of the primary purposes of our judicial system was the rehabilitation of criminals, I thought we wanted our prisoners to become fully functioning, responsible, contributing, tax paying  and involved members of our community. I thought we wanted them to stop lurking in some sort of alternative underworld of crime where they contribute nothing, play no positive role in the community and take all they can at every opportunity.

Hmmmmmmmmmm………..tell me; am I missing something here or is encouraging every one to use their vote and participate in society at the most fundamental level NOT the way to promote good citizenship?? I’m kinda confused at the logic of it all. Its quite possible the act of voting would be the closest many of these prisoners have ever come to participating positively  in our society

OR………..maybe those people making so much noise about this are simply using it to argue against human rights in general, and the general public, displaying  its usual gullible, apathy are swept along with this completely illogical argument.

Song saturday; for women every where

Song Saturday; 
songs for women every where.

Art Sunday; Josefa de Ayalla

This lady fascinates me. I know very little about her, the information here is taken directly from wikipeadia but her work speaks for itself.

She was a true master in a world dominated by men. Technically she was as good as any of her male contemporaries and her chosen subject matter was similar to that of many other artists. She is known for her still life and religious paintings. I look at her work and think the saying ‘looking at the world through rose coloured spectacles’ could have been invented for her. Because to me that’s exactly how her paintings look, as if someone is seeing the world through a sweet rosy haze. Her work is littered with little flowers and cherub like faces but none of the ‘sweetness’ (a quality I’m not always a fan of)  detracts from the strength of her technical expertise and her extraordinary talent. When you think of the period in which she lived and the way in which women were disadvantaged at that time it makes her achievements all the more remarkable.

Information below from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josefa_de_%C3%93bidos

Josefa de Óbidos (1630 – 2 July 1684) was a Spanish-born, Portuguese painter from the seventeenth century. Her birth name was Josefa de Ayala Figueira, but she signed her work as, "Josefa em Óbidos" or, "Josefa de Ayalla". She is one of the relatively few female European painters known to have been active in the Baroque era. All of her work was executed in Portugal, her father's native country, where she lived from the age of four.

Josefa de Óbidos was born in Seville, Spain. Her father, Baltazar Gomes Figueira, was a Portuguese painter from the village of Óbidos. He went to Seville in the 1620s to improve his painting technique and, while there, married Catarina de Ayala y Cabrera, a native Andalusian, who would become the mother of Josefa. The family returned to Portugal in 1634. They first settled in Peniche, where Baltazar continued his work as a painter.

It is known that by 1644, at the age of fourteen, Josefa, was in Coimbra in the Convent of The Grace (Convento da Graça), where her father painted the main altarpiece of the church.

Josefa's first known works are engravings, executed in 1646. They demonstrate that she had achieved a high degree of skill by the age of sixteen. Sometime before 1653, she and her family left Coimbra and settled in Óbidos.

While in Óbidos, she drew an allegory of Wisdom for the Book of Rules of the University of Coimbra, which was being decorated by her father. Highly esteemed as a painter by that time, her father Baltazar is considered to be the main influence upon her. He possessed a great number of engravings among his collection that made Josefa familiar with the art of her time.
Still-life (c.1679). Santarém, Municipal Library.

During the decades that followed, Josefa executed several religious altarpieces for churches and convents in central Portugal, as well as, paintings of portraits and still-life for private customers. Among her chief religious works are the five panels for the Saint Catherine altarpiece of the Church of the Holy Mary (Santa Maria) in Óbidos, in 1661. During 1672-1673 she painted the altarpiece of Saint Theresa of Ávila for the Carmelite Convent of Cascais. In 1679 she completed an altarpiece for the Church of the Mercy of Peniche. Her best known portrait is that of Faustino das Neves, dated c.1670, which is in the Municipal Museum of Óbidos.

Many of her still-life paintings, considered her specialty, are among other works by her that are now in the National Museum of Ancient Art in (Lisbon). Her work appears in several other museums and as well as in private collections.

Josefa de Óbidos died in Óbidos and was buried in the Church of Saint Peter of Óbidos. She is considered to be one of the most accomplished painters of seventeenth century Portugal and is especially significant because of the recognition she gained among the Baroque painters, an art period which was dominated by male painters.