New paintings and regular art updates.
View from the kitchen window. This is the little plum tree ar the bottom of the garden. There is a cherry tree trunk in front of it and branches from that obscure the view. I decided to leave that out. I painted with watercolours. Palest first, then the pale greens and blues. It’s hard to fit the dark colours in without leaving white edges but I have never used masking fluid to hide the paler areas and I don’t want to start now.
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Fire!
It was a quiet evening, we’d been for a walk and I was washing up and washing the shopping. Hubby went outside to plant a rose and put some seeds in. Suddenly he ran through the kitchen with a bucket of water?!
I shouted what’s going on and as he came back for the washing up bowl filled with water. He said the pine trees on fire! What pine tree? He shot in and out again so I filled up the bucket again and then the washing up bowl.
It turns out he had set light to some rubbish in the chimnea in the garden, and it had set light to a leylandi tree!
The neighbours car was parked by our garden, it had burning embers falling in it so we are responsible for damaging its paint finish. They called out the fire brigade who arrived about twenty minutes later. They checked the fire was out with a heat sensor. The telephone cables above the hedge the tree was in might be damaged, so the firemen said they would call the telephone company as its not just us that has a land-line. Finally we exchanged insurance details with the neighbour. Hubby is mortified! If I don’t post much more I think I’m in shock!
Walking today, did just shy of 3.5 miles. We saw this lovely Camellia in someone’s front garden. As the sun lowered the colours shone out. As we were walking we were discussing whether to add plants to our garden hedge that is getting rather thin and straggly. This is now a candidate, together with hawthorn, buckthorn and Holly. Maybe with a bit of beech hedging added… Its nice to contemplate the spring garden. Soon there will be frogspawn and cherry blossom (not together, obviously!)
Anemone Blanda,
or Windflower
spring flower
delicate,
gentle and true
purple white and blue
Old photo
old memories
garden surprise
brings smiles to my eyes.
A song for the Apple Tree. To an ancient tune….thanks to my friend Bruce for the words!
Old Apple Tree, We are Come to Wassail Thee
Wassail Song
Old Apple tree, we are come to wassail thee,
All for to bloom, and to bear thy flowers and fruit so free.
Wassail! wassail! all round our town;
Our cups are white and our ale is brown.
Our bowl is made of a good ashen tree,
And here’s kind fellows as will drink to thee.
Hats full, caps full, five-bushel bags full,
Barns full, floors full, stables full, tallats full,
And the little hole under the stairs, three times three!
Hip, hip, hurrah! shout we.
We found an apple as green as grass on our apple tree this December just after Christmas! It was in a sheltered part of the garden and had clung on round the back of the tree. Now it’s sitting in a bowl on its own. Pride of place. We may have to pour libations onto our trees. Wassail!
A sweet bunch of flowers from hubby. I don’t know why, but nice to get. I couldn’t find a vase, so I put them in an old glass jar. We use it outside with a tea light to brighten up the garden path in the summer. Then the flowers are outside, blooming and pretty. I’m making plans of what to plant next year. Not long to go now.
As the leaves fall the supporting scaffold of the tree branches and the new building skeleton across the road are becoming more visible. That building was being built in the early part of last year, but in March all work stopped. So it remains, almost, but not quite, built. When it is it will cut out the sunrise on winter mornings, shading out our rising star. I may get some of the lower branches of the trees cut back so that more light can get in. Maybe one day the building will be finished?
Most of the leaves have fallen. Now we are at the start of winter there is a bit more to see. The Holly Bush is getting in the way though. The bright sunshine and blue sky have gone. Today there is persistent rain gushing down from the sky with threats of snow. As far as I’m concerned I would sleep through winter and wake up in the spring if it stays as bad as this!
I was reviewing my photos from the summer and saw this in my hanging basket flower. Not a bee but a snail! How did it get up there.. Must have crawled up the wall, then the fence and finally across the hanging basket to get to this flower. I hope it enjoyed its meal.
Mallaband-Brown