Time for some time out! Hope you’ve all had a chance for a break too.
Still taking part in the Big Butterfly count though – a wonderful chance to take a moment and watch the world around me.
Having a Holiday
Category: Garden
Planting Patience
Do you stop, hold your breath, count to ten, raise your eyes to the sky?
What helps you to be patient?
Do we have time for patience in this world?
At the graduation day of my nephew last week the speaker included this quote:
Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
Gardening and writing are both a game of patience.
Think of the countless authors who have folders full of rejection letters, think of the gardener planting seeds.
Patience and hope are needed. Will your writing develop into something truly worthwhile? Will the seed you planted or the cutting you took grow into something beautiful?
I have just been so delighted by this honeysuckle – I took a cutting from the one in my garden last year, dipped it in some rooting powder and stuck it in my raised bed.
Hey presto!
A beautiful flower and even better, I got to divide it in two; one for my garden and one to give to my parents.
Definitely a win for patience and hope.
Now just to keep on writing!
Hidden Gems
Hidden in the winter soil.
This Sedum, a gift, from my parents’ garden.
Perhaps it hasn’t survived, I thought. Then, this.
Worth the wait!
So if a gardener can wait, patiently, for the gems hidden below the surface to emerge, can a writer too? Is the preparation and maintenance work the same for the gardener as for the writer?
Words don’t come from nowhere. As a friend of mine, Rae Cowie, writes in her blog, you have to ‘fill the creative well‘.
Water and nourish to flourish with books, discussion, observation, experiences, emotions and, of course, time.
There’s more to this writing lark than sitting at a desk so I’m off out – and then, I’ll be back!
Wishing you all a lovely week and the best of luck in finding your own ‘hidden gems’.
Sowing Seeds
I wonder, is a gardener a secret optimist? I know gardening is supposed to be good for your mental health and I think it must be because it certainly gives us the gift of hope.
The very act of planting a seed, the mystery of opening the seed packet, tipping up the seeds – what will you find inside? Will they be fat beans, round nasturtiums, tiny poppy seeds or maybe the tiny shaving brushes of cornflower seeds?
Scatter, place or drop, cover with soil. Water these presents of Nature, give the gift of life, clear, splashing, tumbling down onto the dark soil, ready for the magic to begin.
Something will probably grow. Maybe not all the seeds you planted. Perhaps some will be eaten, some may wither if you forget to water them, but there is a chance. After all:
“Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.”
(D. Everett, The Columbian Orator, 1797)
It’s a beginning, a start. What more could you ask for?
I wonder then, is a writer an optimist too? Seeds of ideas appear, you have to be brave enough to plant them, water them, feed them give them life. When you open up your mind to writing, what do the seeds look like? Will you allow them to open up to the world?
Enjoying the Sunshine
When I started this blog I was determined it wouldn’t always be about sunshine. I would not only focus on the bright side but try to be realistic. After all, there have been dark days, there are dark days and there will be dark days.
I’ve written weekly over this past winter and scrolling back through the posts I see mostly sunshine.
As I write this, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and spring has definitely arrived.It is hard on a day like this to think of the darkness, to admit it exists or to let it in.
Earlier, as I was hanging out the washing, this giant bee appeared.
Watching it, so busy, tumbling and bumbling over the bright orange petals I couldn’t help but be enchanted and inspired. What a work ethic!
I’ve mentioned before that this blog is a great place to put all the photos I take of the flowers in our garden. The things is, they look brighter, clearer in the sunshine. This means at odd moments I’ll find myself running out to take a picture while the sun is on the bloom.
Standing, kneeling, sitting, to find the right angle I am taking a moment to myself. Appreciating nature and its ever-changing beauty because after all, everything changes, including the dark to the light.
I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Daffodils by William Wordsworth
The Hare and the Tortoise
My favourite tale from our copy of Aesop’s Fables is The Hare and The Tortoise.
I’ve always thought I identified with the tortoise, plodding along one step at a time.
So, this year I’ve decided to embrace the tortoise in me and hope to advance with new habits slowly.
Thinking about this I know not everything will be perfect.
I planted hyacinth bulbs back in September.
to my delight they flowered, the single one producing the beautiful flower that I’m now using for my main photo.
The three in the pot were a bit leggy really but the scent was lovely. Definitely a win win!
So I’ll continue to plod on but I have realised recently that there is something of the hare in me – and no, it’s not the habit of having a nap! I can be speedy when needed, it’s just that I’ve learnt, like the tortoise, slow and steady helps me win my own race in my own way.
Switch the Kettle on, Love 