Cats in the Kitchen, Flora in the Garden

Where the spirit doesnot work with the hand there is no art - Leonardo Da Vinci


First of all I would like to thank all of you for your very kind comments you sent to me on the unexpected sad death of my cat, Pixie. I found solace in them, knowing that people had read about it and taken the trouble to send condolences. I know she is not coming back, although I still find myself looking for her, and I constantly remind myself that she had a wonderful two years with us after she came from the animal shelter. Thank you again.

The photograph opposite, is one of a batch taken this year, at the beginning of June, in my garden. That is my ice blue iris, this is the first year it has flowered. You can just see behind it the stepping stones and bark chipping we have been putting down to make paths and the young clematis that is steadily climbing the back wall.



Above is a photograph of my red oriental poppies, they were enormous this year, and there were nineteen of them on one plant. The largest poppy was as big as a large plate. I will publish it in a later post.



I love the ghostly white petals of this poppy, Royal Wedding, they contrast beautifully with the intense black inside. I am always amazed at the delicate papery thinness of poppy flowers. I am sure if the weather had remained dry and sunny the poppies would have been in flower much longer, but they were too delicate, even when staked, to stand too much wind and rain and they sadly quickly lost their petals.



You can see here how we are making the paths round the garden, it will look not quite so sparse next year when some of my new plants have matured more, and will make my small garden much more interesting. There are more photographs to show from this roll of film, but I will save them for later posts. I only have a few spaces to fill in my beds and pots now and I bought two lovely pots of antirrhinums yesterday, one pink and one yellow. I am also looking for a shrub or perennial to plant in memory of Pixie, I like to remember past pets that way. I am going to look in the local market for a shrub, and maybe will be able to find a couple of plants to finish this year's garden off. I say that, but you know me if I see anything really nice in the plant line I won't be able to resist it. You can always find space for another plant.

I am also going to go to a local natural healing shop to buy some more sage smudge sticks, which I will burn around the house, to get rid of negative energies, feeling and moods that have gathered since last Saturday. I like the sage ones best for this. The idea being that you close all doors and windows in your house, light the smudge sticks in a bowl, put out the flames and let them smolder and carry them from room to room to refresh it. When you have gone completely round the house you then open all the windows and the house has brand new energies, should be good for my creativity too.