Flowers · Garden · Inspiration

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.

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Cornflower seeds

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?

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Delphiniums – grown from seed last year and actually survived the winter too

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?

 

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Potatoes – hopefully!

 

bees · Flowers · Garden · Inspiration · Nature

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.

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Tulip – opening up for the sun

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.

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Busy Bee!

 

 

 

 

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.

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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.

 

 

 

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Daffodils – it has to be – Wordsworth!

 

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

Flowers · Inspiration · Nature

Balancing Life

 

thumb_IMG_8729_1024Have you ever had the experience where all of a sudden your attention is drawn to something more than once over a short period of time?

When this happens it makes me sit up and take notice.

Recently while attending the Flourish workshops with Elaine Reid, I was introduced to the Five Ways to Better Wellbeing by the New Economics Forum then, flicking through a magazine for teachers I saw this:thumb_IMG_8739_1024

 

I think I’ve found another explanation for why this blog is ‘a little about a lot’, it’s because that’s life. It isn’t just one thing, it’s a balancing act of a whole lot of little actions.

While I think about this I am going to go for a walk with a friend, I’ll ask them how they are and try to take notice of the world around me!

Today, tomorrow, this week – how will you Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Learn or Give?

 

Happy Easter!

 

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Inspiration · Nature · Poetry

Looking Forward (2)

Sometimes we have an experience that is a wee nugget. Something to cherish.

In one of my first blog posts, back in September, I wrote about my time attending workshops at Woodend Barn in Banchory. As part of the ‘Flourish’ project, Elaine Reid used the wild garden to help inspire our group to write poetry.

This week an exhibition, created by Elaine about the whole ‘Flourish’ project is open to the public, for free, at the Barn.

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The group poem we created in the Flourish workshop

So, yesterday I had a lovely afternoon wondering around the exhibition, reading the poem I had helped to create, walking a labyrinth and enjoying a delicious bowl of parsnip and carrot soup in Buchanan’s Bistro.

The whole experience of attending these workshops in the wild garden, meeting other writers, collaborating and sharing our work has been a joy.  I feel I have learnt so much and have certainly been inspired.

 

I am looking forward.

 

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With poems from the workshops at the Flourish exhibition

 

 

Books · Inspiration · Trees

Naturally, Fiction.

If I go for a walk I look at the trees. Each one is so individual it seems to almost have its own personality. thumb_IMG_8593_1024

Reflecting on this I wanted to consider the role trees play in fiction for children.

For me it all began with The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. I thought of trees as magical, kind, fun – after all wasn’t there a huge slide!

When I looked up trees in fiction I came across this article which suggested a couple of books I did know and some  more to add to my reading list, always a good thing!

It made me think, what did trees mean to me as a child?

Well, they were for:

playing on rope swings,
climbing or should I say scrambling,

using sticks and leaves for games and potions,
collecting conkers to play conkers,
tree bark rubbings,
gathering acorns, using the cups for fairy cups and
hiding behind for hide and seek. 

I’m sure others have many more things they could add to this list!

With all this in mind I hope I can include trees in my own writing. Like everything there are always two sides to a story so it may be that some of the trees behave like the Ents while others are more like Whomping Willows!

Have you taken a moment to look at the trees around you? What’s your favourite tree in fiction?

 

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A Christmas card scene – in March!
butterflies · Inspiration · swimming · walking

A Kaleidescope of ‘Butterfly Moments’

Now, I am a person who enjoys exercise, mostly once I’ve finished! I love the sense of achievement.

Owning a dog has made me walk in weather I probably wouldn’t have otherwise and I’ve spoken before about the ‘butterfly moment‘ on a walk when your mind suddenly seems to relax and fly free. Leaving your thoughts clearer to return to everyday life again with new enthusiasm.

A special butterfly ‘moment’.

Well, I’ve been going swimming and something I’ve noticed is that at a certain point I smile when I swim. Slightly bizarre I confess, to smile under the water but there we go.

I think it is probably the same as when I walk, that moment when you begin to enjoy the exercise for what it is and relax into it. I would like to call this my swimming ‘butterfly moment’ but there is no chance of me swimming the butterfly stroke so perhaps it’s not such a good analogy here!

Now, I’m no lepidopterist but there must be something in it as when I went for a run (unfortunately a rare occurrence) recently I again found myself smiling, call it the endorphins, call it what you like, it’s definitely very inspiring.

Have you noticed what gives you your ‘butterfly moment’?

 

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Spring arriving!