Monday 9 October 2017

Life long Learning

Life long  learning!


Last time I posted seems so long ago.I wonder if I have said everything I needed to say? Have I retired and started to sink into a timeless reverie ? Friends say that it takes about a year to really relax after a lifetime of work.I am enjoying the freedom and relaxation but I do feel that I should be achieving more, more writing,sewing etc., getting a new direction perhaps? There are so many things to do that I seem to be flitting from one thing to another without finishing! I think that I have a dose of retirement guilt.Have I done enough with my life,was it all worthwhile?
The way through the woods.
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods.
But there is no road through the woods.

 Rudyard Kipling


1. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;         

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,         

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.         

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.         



Autumn is always so beautiful and brings with it a certain ache, remembrance of times past and those who have left us. Perhaps it is useful to allow a little melancholy as the leaves fall.

So many things are happening in the world that seem cruel and backward looking,the rise of nationalism and the way people are being turned away from compassion and empathy.
It is easy to feel that you may never see sanity in your own lifetime .
Looking back too much is unhealthy and depressing.
Live for each day,I know that is the way forward and enjoy the simple things. Love and learning go on forever and the way will become clear .I am probably looking too far ahead and must take some time out to recharge the batteries.Then I hope that creativity will flow again.





Friday 14 April 2017

Life of freedom.
Well I am now oficially retired,I am at the place that always seemed so far away!
No more being exhausted after running up and down the library stairs and shelving heavy tomesNo more waiting to hear about the latest library cut backs..
Now I can spend time pottering about in the garden and trying my hand at growing vegetables in pots. Planting the border with delightful flowers and also have time to do the weeding in a leisurely manner!
I can sit around reading at anytime of the day and not feel guilty!
I can continually drink tea with a dash of honey.
It really is good to be my own boss, and arrange my own time.
Every morning I walk down the garden with that lovely refreshing first cup of lady Grey and check what is coming up or opening.I watch the bees busy in the Pulmonaria buzzing  between flower heads.The birds calling and visiting the feeders The blackbirds and the robin buzz me.

Our small wildlife pond looks ancient but I only made it last year,We want some frogs this year.
The pasque flower is blooming.
Primroses have evaded the slugs!
I recently bought this gorgeous viola,the heads would look great pressed and used  for card making.I have the time now!


This is the first Snakes Head fritillaria that I have ever managed to grow and I have watched it open. There are also some more coming up.They are so fascinating and have a magical  quality.
Some broad beans to remind me of Spring in Almeria!
Here come the Sunflowers.
After over wintering in my small greenhouse the olive is outside and has buds coming.Last year we had olives.They were very small but turned a beautiful mauve.The forecast is
 a hot  summer so perhaps there will be more.

Some of the veggies are growing in pots and the rocks are for project rockery this weekend!
This is a shady spot that is home to my mint collection,morrocan,indian,apple and cologne  mints but also the good old standby used for mint sauce.
This is the newest  denizen of the garden,she is Hebe the goddess of eternal youth and cup bearer of the Gods.She is only temporarily in this position  and will stand on the top of the rockery.
I have been reading two very enjoyable books whilst in the gardening mood,The Writer's Garden by Jackie Bennett and Impressionist Gardens by Clare A.P. Willsdon. Both are full of beautiful photography and painting and give insight to the influence gardens have on the creative mind.

The present news with the gross Trump and the blind Brexiteers  terrible death and destruction of innocents has made me realize the importance of being mindful of the precious and lovely things in my small life I should like to advise Trump to read"Ozymandias" by Shelley!.

Ozymandias (read by Richard Attenborough)

Wednesday 8 February 2017

Wet Sundays can be lovely.

Here I am well wrapped up  and looking for signs of Spring. We had driven through the Roseland,and found a bit of sun at St Mawes so we dropped in to Trellissick on the way home.The river looked great from the King Harry Ferry.
The Winter berries are still so red and glorious and cheering when you have just seen Trump spouting off on TV.

We ended the afternoon at Trellisick House and Gardens. The house was shut but the gardens were beautiful,dripping with cold rain drops.
The river Fal makes its way to the sea.
Posing  by a pillar ha ha!
The wonderful hellebores were blooming,one of my favourite plants.
They are so delicate but come up in the last chilly throes of winter to give us cheer.
The camellias are out and the the bushes are bursting with green buds.
The waxey winter heliotropes at home in the damp foliage.

First snowdrops and a brave little primrose definite signs of Spring.
Sheltering in the rustic summer house.
This is a beautiful sculpture of a seal in the parc.
More snowdrops.
This tree is amazing,textures and gnarls ,very inspiring.

Memorial to the Copeland family who lived here,the property is now National Trust.
Well found our signs of spring and felt refreshed by our trip.We really needed to get away from the ghastly news coming from our country and the USA. Rumblings of facism everwhere . Nature is the only true solace although a good red wine comes in a close second.
We left the shy denizens of the park to their doings.
Secrets!!