Sunday Scribblings - Morning

~A BUCOLIC EVOCATION~

The weasel scurrys along side of the hedge, keeping close to it, then makes a quick left turn and disappears into it. A fox emerges over the ridge of the hill, a still warm partridge in its jaw, food for the vixen sleeping with the cubs in the lair, hidden in the bushes at the bottom of the hill. In the sky above, a solitary twany owl returns to the wood, silent now, its night's hunting is done. Then all is silence, for one single moment all is quiet and calm, the Earth holds its breath.

Suddenly within the dense branches of the old oak tree, a blackbird stirs, ruffles its feathers and raises his head listening and watching. Without further ado its beak opens and the first notes of the dawn chorus are trilled out. Another blackbird answers, then one by one all the other birds join in, even the tiny nestlings in the nest under the eaves, chirrup and squeak. At the end of the garden Rufus, the rooster picks his way out of his highrise hen house and struts down the ramp. He stands on top of an upside down bucket and faces the place where the sun will rise. A thin streak of rosy pink starts to infuse the dark blue sky and Rufus gives a preliminary 'cock-a-doodle-do', preparing his homage to the sun that is about to rise. The pink starts to become golden, spreading and staining the dawn sky. The rooks begin their cawing at each other in the rookery, plans of what is afoot today, food to find, predators to repel.

The sun's tip edges over the horizon, its light beginning to wash over the land. The hens in the henhouse begin the squarking and cackling that preceeds the laying of eggs, sheep begin their baaing and the cows low in the fields, awaiting their walk to the sheds for milking. There is sweet dew on the grass, the sun is already enticing the flower buds to open towards it, one tired cat, after a night time of adventures miaows on the backdoor step and upstairs in the bedroom Miss Daisy, is awoken from her deep moonkissed sleep by the cheeping of baby birds. She stretches, sees the promise of a fine day from her casement window, puts her bare feet on the cool wooden floor and embraces the new morning.

*****

I felt today, after all the story writing last week, that all I wanted to do was write of what I see as an ideal spring or summer morning, and I have indulged in a few just like the above. Don't forget you can still visit the Daisy Lupin Halloween Story Circle until the end of November by following this link:
http://daisyshalloweenstorycircle.blogspot.com/



The photograph above is of another of my 6x6inch Daisy Lupin Friendship Pieces, that is winging its way across the pond to the receiptant. I love Georgia O'Keeffe's work, and have made this quiltie in homage to her. The person it is going to loves flowers, so I was inspired to take one of Georgia's paintings of a lily and do my own take on it with material and embroidery. So apologies to Georgia O'Keeffe fans, though I am pleased with it and really enjoyed working on it. Sorry about the scan quality, its the moire effect of the background taffeta that is difficult to get as it reflects the light.

I have just spent a blissful day, after following my usual Sunday routine, that I have spoken of before, I disappeared into my artroom where I caught up with a couple of projects that I need to get in the post tomorrow. I got started on some collage, decorated postcards that I am making for a swap am I in with Carole in Germany. These were such fun to do, especially as they are for Christmas. I made a few ATCs, I like to have a few spare and I made my mother a collaged birthday card to take to her tomorrow. She loves butterflies, so I am sure she will appreciate this. I have also discovered that my artroom is the warmest room in the house hee hee. It is warmed from our main living room below it and a lot of the central heating pipes run up from that room, then underneath the floor boards of the artroom and into the upstairs corridor. By the time I get my incense lit and am sitting in the cosy warmth, I find it makes a lovely ambience for creating. All I need is to get some music in there, I might take the portable cd player in there and it will truly be a real cozy nest.

This is the card for my mother it is called The Butterfly Woman feeds her children. Another slightly odd fantasy design of mine. I then did this birthday ATC, shown below, for someone, It really amuses me, don't ask me why! I know I have a strange sense of humour at times. This is called Dick's best present ever. I think the two birds coupled with the demonic look in the boy's eyes [if you enlarge it and look closely] are what keep me giggling. Never mind if you don't think it funny, its probably just a Daisy thing!



I feel as though everyone in blogland has been calming down again after Halloween, which I think exhausted most of us. There is not a lot of action going on right now. I must admit I have been very quiet myself, the latter half of this week, but I will be going round the sites tonight and tomorrow catching up. It's full steam ahead for Christmas now.

Our weather has taken a cold snap, so I was busy early yesterday morning making a big soup pan full of my leek, onion and potato soup. I let it stand and thicken overnight and it is just right for eating today, with some warm garlic bread and a sprinkling of cheese on top if wished. Lovely winter soups, I love them, later in the week I will be making chicken and root vegetable. I love to have a soup pan of soup to dip into in the winter months, nothing beats it coming in out of the cold and heating up and ladling out a bowl of delicious homemade soup. Another winter lunch time treat is a slice of delicious bread toasted with cheese grilled on top. What are your favourite winter treats? Any you want to share?

Have some fun
Coming soon in early November
Daisy Lupin’s stream of consciousness game
Pick one of the words or phrases
Let it take you where it will, Go with it,
See where you end up, then post it on your site.
Come on, join in, let’s ramble