Cats in the Kitchen, Flora in the Garden

2007-06-17T15:52:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to thank you all so much for your messages.

It is so nice to see how my mum touched you all, I read the comments with tears streaming down my face- this is a good thing though :)

In a few days I do hope to email you all once things begin to settle down.

Any emails you send to my mums address i will also read. My Dad, Brother and I really appreciate your messages, love and support. We will be printing all these off to keep hold of.

Lydia
xxx

2007-06-16T15:52:00.000+01:00

and just incase any of you were wondering.......I knew my mum's password. I set up her email account for her years ago and devised the password (I guessed it may be the same).

Lydia
xxx

unfortunate happening

2007-06-16T15:42:00.000+01:00

This is Daisy's daughter Lydia writing.

It is with much sadness that I inform you all that unfortunately my Mum passed away this morning.

She has been ill throughout this week becoming increasing weak and confused by last night. Last night we had decided to get her into hospital this morning however this was too late as this morning I discovered her. My dad had been sleeping in a seperate room to enable her proper rest. We do not yet know the official cause of death. She has been taken away and most likely a post mortem will be carried out on Monday.

She spoke of her blog to me often and the friends she had made through this. I really wanted to find a way to let you all know.

If anybody would like to contact us please leave a comment and I'll give you my email address.

Lots of love

Lydia xxx

A VERY SHORT POSTING

2007-06-13T18:56:00.000+01:00

Just to let you know I am still around. Unfortunately, I have been in bed since Monday afternoon with a horrendous virus.. Pounding head, sore throat, aching muscles sore joints, chattering teeth with cold piling up duvet on me. The fever broke last night, complete change of bedding and nightie, twice plus the most horrendous dreams. My other half is looking after me, it will take me few weeks to build up my stength again. I will pick up on the Poety Fest at some time next week. Sorry too tired to write any more.

THE MIGHTY OAK

2007-06-08T05:42:00.000+01:00

Before I begin, my computer screen has gone a rather unpleasant pink colour, so my colour values etc are distorted, so it is fingers crossed that my text and illustrations work as I can't see the true colours until my screen is sorted Ansel Adams

On 10th June, the Celtic month changes again and this month will be the month of the Oak. A tree to me that is quintessentially English, phrases such as the Mighty Oak, Hearts of Oak and From Little Acorns Great Oak Trees Grow. The Oak has always protected England from time immemorial, it was the sacred tree of the Druids, they had their Oak Groves, and throughout history the boats that were used by the English Navy to defeat invaders to our isles were made from from slabs of the mighty Oak. The Armada was turned back by these ships crafted from English Oak. Therefore, from the 10th of June we have the 7th Moon of the Celtic Year, Duir, the Oak Tree. Duir meaning door.

Herne

The month of Duir, also contains the Summer Solstice, and of course, the symbol of the Summer Solistice is the magnificent Oak tree. Every civilisation that has had access to Oak trees seems to have realised the mystical properties of it. The Oak is one of the three most sacred trees, Oak, Ash and Thorn and is thereby known as King of the Grove. English legend believes that King Arthur's Round Table was made from a massive slab of Oak tree. The oak is allied to the element of Fire and is ruled by the Sun. It also has associations with the God of the Forest Herne and the Wild Hunt and the Oak or Green man who is a potent symbol in English folklore. It was an Oak tree that Robin Hood was supposed to gather his men round and an Oak tree in which King Charles is supposed to have hidden to avoid detection by the Roundheads. It is a very long lived tree and grows to enormous widths, therefore it is a symbol of long life. It is also associated with the Gods of Thunder and Lightning, due to its reputation as a lightning attractor. The bird connected to this Oak Month is the wren and the stone is moonstone.

The Green Man

The parts of the Oak used are the bark, wood, leaves, and acorns, which I will leave until last, as they are another interesting part of Oaklore. Oak bark tea is very astringent and is thought to be good for sinus infections. Oak can be used in spells of healing and fertilitiy, protection, strength and success. One belief is if you listen to the Oak at the Summer Solstice you can hear what the future holds by listening to the wind rustling through its leaves. Oakwood is a very powerful protection herb and are used as land boundary markers because of this. Also an Oakleaf worn next to your heart is said to protect the wearer from decption and falsehood. Try a handful of Oak leaves in your bath to cleanse you in body and spirit.

Acorns, themselves are very useful and powerful small items. Acorns are said to be able to increase fertility, not just of the body but your creative fertility too. Play with a couple in your hand to ease pain or put some in your window or on your windowsill to deflect lightning and protect you from night creatures of evil intent. You can also carry them in your pocket for basically the same reasons, to protect from storms, from getting lost and from those spirits or people intent on ill wishes towards you. Three acorns threaded together can be made into a charm to preserve youthfulness and to help you achieve in life. You must thread a piece of your hair with the three acorns, and bless them every new moon and full moon, for twelve months. Acorns can also be planted in the dark moon days to bring financial rewards. You must harvest the Oak tree by the waning moon. The acorns in daylight and the wood and leaves at night. Don't forget that part of your Summer Solistice fire should be of Oak wood.

Mercury

Remember what I said about my computer at the beginning of this posting, well going round the blogs quite a few of us are having various problems with our computers at the moment. Dare I tell you, guess what it is? Yes, Mercury goes into retrograde in a few days time, so don't forget everyone be careful around items of communication. This retrograde Mercury will last from 15th June [with a build up from about ten days before that] until 10th July , but don't forget about the kickback effect that lingers on a while.

A Wren

Keep having a look at my Poetry Fest Website, link near the top of my sidebar, poems are still coming in, and if you haven't participated yet there is still time for this month's Poetry We Loved as Children.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF CHILDHOOD?

2007-06-04T16:33:00.000+01:00

Childe Hassam

Time I put a new posting up. It seems ages since I wrote one, but I have been so busy getting the Daisy Lupin Poetry Fest Website up and running. If you haven't seen it yet click on the link in the sidebar under the little girl reading or follow this http://daisylupinpoetryfest.blogspot.com/.

It is fascinating watching the poems come in and seeing what people's favourites are around the world. So many people have had a childhood of Walter de la Mare and R. L. Stevenson poems and they are such wonderful children's poems, though I don't know what today's children would think about them. Some people have picked other favourite poems of mine and some have picked poems I don't know which is a good way to learn more. Please keep sending them in, you can post more than once, if you think of more poems or another one you wished you had chosen.

Annette Mills with Muffin the Mule

Reading the poems and watching a series of programmes last week on television has got me thinking about childhood. The BBC [public broadcasting] ran a series of programmes, every evening on one of its smaller channels about the History of Children's Television. It took every decade and showed programmes made for children and discussed them. My decade was the 1950's, as the older I got the less I had time for television. What struck me most about these early black and white programes from the BBC were two things. How class conscious they were, and on the other hand what an innocent world it was. A strange combination. The programmes were solidly aimed at 'nice' middle class children, showing them how to behave and what to think. Everyone spoke with these strange strangulated 'BBC perfect English accents' of the time. and if they interviewed children, the poor children sound so pompous, more like middle aged people of the time. Then ITV arrived, the channel funded by advertising, it was not bound by the mores of the BBC and had what was called at the time a 'commoner' approach to children's programmes. At least the kids acted and sounded like the real children you met at school or in your neighbourhood.

I think the thing that fascinates me is that at the time, I didn't get these nuances from the BBC programmes, but was often annoyed by them without knowing why and the patronising attitude of the presenters. I am afraid I was not a Blue Peter kid, but a Magpie kid, some people will know what I am talking about, as they were two opposing channel's magazine type programmes for children.

Apart from the above, I do look back with a rosy and golden glow around my childhood. I was always a bookworm, and had a father that loved reciting poetry to me. I know I played out a lot, alone in the garden, making gifts for faeries etc, or outside in my garden or neighbourhood with my friends. Yet I can never work out where in amongst all this I found the time to read as much as I did. I got four books out of the library every Monday evening and returned them the next week read. If it was rainy weather, I would go top a friend's house, or a child would come to my house to play, so where was my reading time? I feel I must have read secretly for hours after I had been put to bed.

Helen Bradley

My favourite reading time of all was on Sunday afternoons. What happened on a Sunday was at midday we would have our Sunday lunch. That is the works, every Sunday without fail, Roast joint of Beef, Roasted potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, two or three types of vegetable and gravy. Followed on by something like apple tart and custard or rhubarb crumble and custard. Then the dishes were washed whilst I was sent to clean my self up and My Mum, Dad and I, would then go to my Grandmother's [my Mother's Mother] for tea. At 2.00pm we left our house, and this is the amazing thing. as long as it was fine we walked there, a good hour's walk. I can't imagine anyone doing that these days, but lots of families were walking to various places at that time.

Jessie Wilcox Smith

We would arrive at my Grandparents, my Aunt would already be there as she lived at home still, she married late in life, when I was about twelve. We would all sit down with a cup of tea, never coffee, and a glass of juice for me and talk about the week that had past. I was asked about school and anything else I had been doing. After about an hour of this I was allowed in the garden to play, there was a big lawn, and lots of flowerbeds, paths and a vegetable garden to be turned into wild places by my imagination. Unfortunately, the Avenue my Grandparents lived in had no children in it at all, mostly older couples whose children had left home. But I enjoyed my solitary time in the garden and would construct tents out of old blankets or make dens and generally play imaginary games. I did also have some old toys of my Mother's that I loved to play with there.

Then I would become aware of the women, my Mum, Aunt and Grandmother, moving around the kitchen, I could see them through the kitchen window, this was the beginning of getting the tea ready. The talk in the kitchen would become whispered and gossipy, but it is surprising what 'little ears' heard as I popped in and out of the kitchen. Let me tell you, children miss nothing. My father and grandfather would talk men's talk in the main room, though I don't think they had any interests in common, which every Sunday would end up with a tale from my Grandfather about the First World War. He would never tell of the horrors of the trenches, but talked about his comrades or about the time when he was a Prisoner of War. He was placed on a farm, where he was very well treated by a pair of German Farmers, and he was together with another English man and a Russian. It all seemed so very civilised, unlike the Second World War. He kept in contact with the German couple for many years and the Russian, until he disappeared into the upheavels of the time in Russia. Consequently my Grandfather could speak German and a smattering of Russian. Unfortunately his lungs were damaged by gas in the trenches and that seriously affected him as old age struck. I often wished I had been more interested in his tales, as I then thought them boring, but now I realise what a wonderful insight into history it must have been.

S. Derbyshire

The table was set and we all went through for tea at 5.00pm. My Grandmother was an expert at teas and a traditional Sunday tea at my Grandparents was as follows. There would be two types of sandwiches, probably, egg mayonnaise and come type of cold meat and mustard or pickle. A cold sliced beef mince pie and a cold sliced egg and bacon pie, a plate of fruit scones, always a plate cake [ tart] with fruit in season ie apple, blackcurrant, gooseberry. a sponge cake either victoria or chocolate then something like a coconut cake or maderia. My Grandmother did all this baking herself, the only concession to Sunday was a plate of 'fancies' [ fancy cakes she had bought at the bakery]. All this was washed down with gallons of tea. Imagine though, all this was after the large Sunday dinner we had eaten at midday.

Van Gogh

After tea, I didn't usually go back into the garden, the Sunday had left the lawn, and I was supposed to let my tea digest, so I was allowed to go into the formal sitting room, and snuggle down on one of the deep comfortable chairs that were part of an art deco three piece suite, how I wish I had these chairs and settee now! This was when I brought my book out and would spend an hour happily immersed in its story. All my Famous Five books I remember reading in this chair. At around 7.00 we would leave my Grandparents and if it was Summer and a nice night we would walk back home instead of getting two buses to go home. Probably all that walking on a Sunday helped us burn up the calories from our two huge Sunday meals. Home again, meant, for me, immediate bath, a plain biscuit and drink for supper and to bed, for a sneaky read.

I suppose when you look back in this way childhood does seem a golden time, as you probably remember the sunny days best and the mostly happy family days, not days or rain and crisis which happen occasionally in every family.

TIME FOR A POETRY FEST

2007-05-29T17:20:00.000+01:00

I was thinking yesterday whilst relaxing during our late Spring Public Holiday about poetry and its place in our lives. The poems we loved as children, the poems that had 'special messages' for us during our teen years, and whose subjects took upon the face of our current 'beloved' and finally the adult years the poems that have inspired us, spurred us on in the face of disaster and those so beautiful they make us weep. Then an idea struck me, yes slap bang in the middle of my forehead. a beautiful. inspirational but simple idea. This is it!

During the summer months I am going to open a blog, similar to Daisy Lupins Story Telling Circle, for those that remember that at Halloween. This time it is to be devoted to poetry and I am going to run it for three months. June will be Poetry we loved as Children, July will be Teenage Dreams and August will be Now we are Mature. I would ask you all to either post your favourite childhood poem on your blog or email me with it, you can add an illustration if you like, but don't panic, I will transfer the poems onto Daisy Lupin's Poetry Fest, I will also source illustrations for your poems if you want. I will put these on my new poetry blog which will be linked to my Cats in the Kitchen Flora in the Garden Blog.

http://daisylupinpoetryfest.blogspot.com/

I loved poetry as a child, mainly it has to be said due to my Father, who had been to a school where vast chunks of poetry had to be learnt by heart every week. He could spout vast amounts of rip roaring High Victorian and Edwardian poetry, and did so to me. I loved these poems. Unfortunately, in later life I turned my back on a lot of poetry, as I had a very difficult teenage and early twenties relationship with my Father and he became associated with poetry. In my later years, I have now overcome this stumbling block and delight in poetry once again.

You don't have to stop at one poem, come back with as many as you want. One proviso, so we are not constantly repeating poems, if a poem is popular, the person who posts or emails it first will have it credited as their favourite, you can still comment on it though, plus there are surely lots of different poems for us all. I'll start the ball rolling, this should be so interesting to see what poems people pick, and who knows we may find some new favourites ourselves. So for the whole of JUNE it is POETRY WE LOVED AS CHILDREN. I'm making a sidebar badge for it, so come along and join in and enjoy.

C. Hassam

Well, that's the long weekend over, a mixed bag of weather, but at least I got out into my garden for one whole long day and was happy with what I achieved. My poppies are amazing this year and I must get them photographed, unfortunately, we have had quite heavy winds at times and some of the poor poppies are unfurling to be blown away without a chance to bloom properly. My petunias are growing really lushly, deep velverty blooms. I have one sparse looking bed where my shrubs and lilac bushes are but I have planted lots of little clumps or what will become ground cover, so by the end of the Summer all the soil should, I hope, be covered. As soon as the ground is dry enough, my other half, the Wiz, will lay this year's bark chippings around the stepping stones and in the sitting area. I then just have to put all my ceramic blue pots in their permanent summer positions.

Vogeler

I gave in on Friday and put all my ornaments out. So the White Rabbit is anxiously looking at his watch under the lilac bush, my Hare is moon gazing, my Green Man has been in situ all year round, so he can protect the garden. my glass orb looks beautiful popping up above the salvias and penstemons. The final flourish will be siting my oblelisk and placing my golden hare in position. I put in four solar powered lights on Friday, and went to look at them on Friday evening, they cast lovely pools of soft yellow light in the darkness. I will have to get some photographs organised.

C. Hassam

The time I couldn't spend in the garden at the weekend gave me time to finish off some craft commitments, and I put them in the post today. I feel footloose and fancy free on the craft front, and a great weight seems to have been lifted from my shoulders. I am starting to brim over with ideas again, now I have only one swap ongoing. It's much better for creativity this way.

Caught up on some good music television over the weekend too. David Bowie's last concert as Ziggy Stardust back in the 70's. How some of those costumes he wore, like the romper suit type thing, make me cringe now. The sound started off ropey but as the concert kicked in it got better and better. Also a very long programme about LA music called from the Byrds to the Eagles, which was fascinating, especially the filmed bits of Laurel Canyon. I also started on a new book Labyrinthe by Kate Mosse, this one goes between the present day and the Cathars in Medieval France, I think the Grail comes into it as well. It's a big fat juicy book!

MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU PROBABLY EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ME

2007-05-23T17:27:00.000+01:00

Following on from seven random things I realised that I had never done this meme, that I found ages ago. Sorry, but I go through stages of being addicted to these things, also they are a great way to find out what makes people tick, and if someone else wants to do this one, great. Sorry, also to whoever's blog I stole this from, I don't know whose it was, but it might have been Janet's as she loves meme's too, apologies if I have named the wrong person.

What curse words do you use the most?
Well this is revealing, I swear like a trooper in the privacy of my own home. I take the attitude that most curse and swear words were originally just good old anglo-saxon and later on Early English. The combination of having lived a hippie lifestyle and later studying Chaucer meant I felt completely differently about 'curse words'. If they were good enough for Chaucer they are good enough for me. I know from feedback I have had from people who are now good friends that when I started this blog, people imagined a prim lady sitting daintily prettily typing out a blog! Hah, nothing could be further from the truth! I have no qualms at all about swearing, and totally poo poo the idea that people only curse and swear because they have a limited vocabulary. Try a good dose of private cursing, it certainly takes away the stress.

Do you own an i-pod?
No but I am being constantly promised my daughter's old one, are you reading this Sweetpea?

What time is your alarm clock set to?
It isn’t. I just wake up, usually between seven and eight, nearer to seven if the sun is shining, nearer to eight on a dull day. Alarm clocks, are only for going on trips or holidays. Then I am too scared of sleeping in and spend the night checking the time.

Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
I’d rather take the photograph, I love taking photographs, if you look at our holiday photos it always seems to be of a man and two children, where is the woman, behind the camera, but that suits me fine.

What was the last movie you watched?
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a double whammy, a good fun movie and Mr J Depp.

John Piper

What cd is currently in your player?
A Paul Simon compliation.

Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?
Yuck, why on earth would I want to drink milk?

Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Yes, people tell me secrets most weeks and they stay secrets.

When was the last time you had Starcrack Starbucks?
Never, sixty miles to my nearest Starbucks.

Can you whistle?
No, just make an imperfect flat sound but I can sing.

What are you looking forward to?
Short-term…My daughter coming to visit after her holiday to Jamaica, so she can tell us all about it. Mid-term... The chance at some point to have a break away, a short holiday for my other half and I, time for total chill out.

Did you watch cartoons when you were little?
Yes, Yogi Bear ['What's up BooBoo?' and 'Smarter than the average bear'] and the wonderful Top Cat and his nemisis Officer Dibble.

Do you own any band t-shirts?
Have in the past, mainly Grateful Dead

What will you be doing in an hour?
Having a lovely foamy hot bath.

What was the last song you heard?
Season of the Witch Donovan, for two reasons, my fellow blogger Gemma quoted it on her blog and got me thinking about Donovan, then another fellow blogger Lila sent me a link to Donovan on You Tube and from hence I went on searching until I came across Season of the Witch.

Last time you cried?
As I have said before I often shed a tear at happy or unhappy endings, at happy events or sad events. Within the last few days is probably the truest answer.

Desktop or laptop?
Good old desktop, an old friend.

What’s the weather like?
Grey and chilly today, typical weather for May in our area which always seems to flucuate between wonderful hot sunny days, pouring rain and the aforementioned.

What were you doing an hour ago?
Placing a fish dish for dinner in the oven.

How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I cannot at the moment sleep the night through, I have been making myself go to bed at 12.30, 1.00 at the latest, otherwise I will be up pottering around until 3.00. I go to sleep easily, the trouble is I can't sleep all night, I always wake, about one minute before the dawn chorus starts. I just realise that that is what my body wants and I go down the stairs and make a cuppa whilst listening to the birds waking up, then go back to bed until wake up time. I probably function on about six hours in total, but really probably should have about seven or eight.

Do you eat breakfast daily?
Always, it's what fuels you for the day, always either fresh juice or probiotic drink and then cereal, finishing up with a cup of coffee.

J M Whistler

What did you do last night?
Started reading a new book, Phil Rickman's The Smile of a Ghost, I love his books.

Do you use sarcasm?
At times I have been known to, and no 'sarcasm is not the lowest form of wit'. I do have at times a dark dry sense of humour.

Do you like mustard?
I love grainy mustard with cold meats and on salad adore honey and mustard dressing.

Do you sleep on your side/back/stomach?
Always sleep on one side or the other. I like to go to sleep on my right side which lets me look at the night sky outside the bedroom window.

Do you watch the news?
Very occasionally, don't really like the way news is shown on television.

Laura Knight

This weekend is an English Public Holiday weekend, which means that Monday is a day off work for people, it is commonly known as Whit Weekend, or Whit Week. This week was always celebrated from the early 1800's in the industrial cities and towns in the North of England by Whit Marches. If you think of the long working hours and days of people of that time, you can understand how a holiday week end would be a huge celebration. People would try to achieve new clothes or at least dress up in their very very best, young girls would wear white dresses with flowers in their hair and marches would be held through out the town. Churches and chapels would march, led by brass bands, around the town to some final area where the fun would begin and there would be games and picnics and a fine time would be had by all. It was a moveable holiday happening on slightly different weekends every year, depending on when Easter and Pentecost were. It has now been regulated to the last weekend in May and is really called Spring Bank Holiday and is just a four day weekend now.
Erte

I am hoping for good weather this coming weekend, this is the weekend when I like to get all the annual work in my garden done with so it is ready to enjoy for the summer. I have got my last batch of annuals to plant in the remaining containers. I have bought an oblelisk that I am screwing together to grow clematis up and I need to bring out my collection of ornaments that I have been collecting since last year, nothing like the late summer sales in garden centres. I have also got a set of four solar lights which I will place at sporadic places around the garden to softly illuminate parts at night.

I am experimenting with my flower beds this year, I have planted lots of items over the past few years, and some are now mature, in fact, my borders are probably about as full as they can be, unless I start splitting plants and giving some away. So I have decided to try to have a sort of unkempt look in the garden this year. A type of blowsy, lush ripeness, just teetering on the verge of slipping over into dangerous wildness, but still under control. I don't like gardens where there is not a blade of grass out of place or a weed dare not raise its head. In fact, I have been known to let one or two weeds grow if they have pretty flowers, as some of these weeds are just wild flowers and sometimes of herbal use. I will have to take some photographs of how the garden looks now at the start of the summer and how it progresses through the summer.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

To achieve all the above I will need some good gardening weather, and I have a feeling that it might not be happening according to some long term forecasts. Well we will see, if there is no good weather, I'll just have to indulge in a chillout weekend doing my other favourite things, crafting, reading maybe a dvd or too and some nice wine. Won't that be hard to do?

WATCHING FOR THE AVENGING HOARDES CRESTING THE FELL

2007-05-21T08:40:00.000+01:00

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Following on from my last post, I found it so interesting to find out what experiences other people had had in liminality. Most commenters had experienced a little something Julie of Celtic Woman has even blogged about an experience she had which is really interesting. She headed her post with a photograph, which unknown to her, meant a lot to me, Castlerigg Stone Circle above Keswick in Cumbria. I promised to do part of my next posting about my small experience within this circle. So here it is.

One of the Standing Stones

I am going back about thirty five years or so, imagine, a cold windswept very early Spring day, spots of rain occasionally falling from the lowering steel grey skies, dark clouds that float over the peaks of some of the higher fells [Fells in Cumbria are small mountains] and if anyone knows the Lake District you know just how oppresive and low the sky can feel there before a long downpour, and when it rains in the Lake District, it rains heavier than I have ever seen anywhere. I was in Keswick, which is about sixty odd miles from me, with some friends for the day. I desperately wanted to go to the Stone Circle, despite the weather, you could drive up in a car, park and cross the field to the Stone Circle. The party divided into two parts, myself and one other person decided to go up to Castlerigg. When we arrived it was a truly desolate site, the stones looming against the pewter sky, not another living person to be seen, just the eerie baaing of the sheep on the fells and the occasional shriek of a curlew. We walked around the stone circle, I remember, touching the stones as we passed them by. We realised we had forgotten to bring a camera, so the other person decided he would go back and check the car to see it there was one in there.

Castlerigg Stone Circle [note the colour of the sky]

I watched him go and then turned back to view from the stone circle the surrounding fells, I remember I was thinking about the people that had built the circle and wondering about their lives. I began to realise that everywhere had gone deathly still, no animal sounds or bird calls, the wind didn't even seem to be blowing. I was rooted to the spot intently staring at the top of one of the fells. The air felt thick almost as if I put my hand out to touch it, my hand would bounce against some spongy substance. Then just for a flicker of a moment, I had a feeling that I was watching out of someone else's eyes and I knew I was waiting for something, whether it was the avenging hoardes of a neighbouring tribe, or just some messenger, and I knew they would come over the crest of the opposite fell. I also remember thinking that it felt as though I had different clothes on and was carrying something, I, honestly, don't know why I never looked down to see, I presume my eyes were fixed on this point I was watching. Suddenly my concentration faltered, I saw another party in kagouls approaching and everything returned to normal. I have never ever forgotten that day and how it felt in the stone circle. I really felt of another time, I have described the incident to the best of my abilitiy, but it was mostly a tactile and mind experience. I put it down to one of the mysterious things that life throws at you.

I have been tagged by Lila of Indigo Pear to list seven random things about myself. Hmmm, this might be quite difficult I think you know just about everything about me from previous memes. Some of these memes are so far back in the depths of time that I can't remember what I have revealed or haven't revealed yet. Well here goes, apologies to anyone who feels cheated and thinks she's said that before!

1. I am left-handed and I love being left-handed, even though it is a right-handed world. People would always comment on it as a child as though it was some great disability. Luckily, my mother was not stupid and did not force me to use my right-hand instead. My greatest difficulty was learning to sew, but I have managed. I would love to embroider properly but the illustrated instruction books don't make sense to me. I have a special pair of left-handed scissors for craft work, and am desperately looking for replacements as they nearing the end of their live. If I use my fountain pen that has a left-handed nib as well. People in my area call it being cack handed, which used to offend me, they probably made a secret evil eye against me too. Put round a table with people, and I will immediately check for left-handed people. There are more of us out there than you would think. Beware we are aiming to take the world over!

Jackie Morris

2. My two worst fears, heights is the first and been totally immersed underwater is the second, my head and neck must be above water. Even a railway bridge between platforms in small stations in the open air makes me shaky. The knock on effect from my fear of heights, is my fear of flying, you know up there in the sky in a plane, no safety net. Which leads me on to my other fear, the water immersion one. Worst possible scenerio, being in a plane in freefall and crashing down into the ocean and being totally immersed in water. Crazy though this may sound, ferries and boats don't bother me, even though they can crash and they travel through water. Perhaps, I was the village witch in a previous life and was thrown into the village duckpond.

J. M .Whistler

3. I am terribly impatient, I can't stand traffic jams, queues, or explaining things to people, if they don't get what I mean right away. I an't stand waiting for buses, trains or even taxis to arrive. I am aware of this failing of mine. It's so stupid, if I have visitors coming, as the time gets nearer I am constantly clock watching and wondering when they will be arrive. This runs over into a pet hate of mine, I cannot abide people who say, leave it with me and I'll get back to you tomorrow about it, then never ring. Arggghhhh! Do that and I'll be back on the phone giving you a headache. Bet you didn't think I would be impatient?

4. I am an only child, not spoilt, please don't mention that old adage, it really annoys me. If I was spoilt I would have had the bike I always wanted and many other things. No, being an only child made me very self sufficient. I had lots of friends to play with, but if none were available I could occupy myself happily. I still can. The only bad thing about being an only child I can think of was, I had no idea at all about sibling interaction. I was determined to have more that one child, and had two, and what a learning curve that was, watching them interact. They were both treated exactly the same, they would take this to a ridiculous extreme. I remember them cutting a Mars Bar, someone had given them to share, in half both standing watching the kitchen scales as they weighed both halves. Yes, they grumble about each at times, but they do share a flat together in London, at the moment, and have done for three years.

5. I am a good listener, I will listen to any friends troubles and sympathise, I will offer advice if asked, but I expect people to act, it not upon my advice, to move forward somehow or from someone's advice. I can't stand people wallowing in self pity or their trouble, although as I said I am sympathetic, I have this desire always to help people move on make their troubles right again. The flip side to this, is that if I feel troubled, I am more likely to try to work it out myself than to talk to people about it [maybe this is another side to my only child status].

6.As a child I would sing or dance for anyone, I played the piano in music festivals and acted in drama festivals without qualm. If there was a show or a play, I would be in it. I was chatty and outgoing. This all changed when I was eleven. I can remember the day, I was acting in a duologue, I came on stage and announced who I was and my partner did the same, except she said like me she was the Country Mouse, whereas in reality she was the Town Mouse. It was, at that time the worst ten minutes of my life, she dried completely, she just couldn't get one line right, I couldn't really help her if she couldn't remember all her lines, my replies didnot make sense as she hadn't said the lines before. For the first time in my life I was aware of how cruel an audience can be, they found it amusing. I never acted in plays again, terrified that that would happen to me one day. I also began to become more introverted, I was always with friends, but large groups would have me slightly tonguetied. I was a lot quieter until I went to college, then I firmly took myself in hand, by thinking unless I was more outgoing I would have no real fun. I blossomed, and boy did I have fun!

Elizabeth Blackadder

7. I cry a lot, at the end of books, at the end of films, if I see animals being hurt, I can cry for any reason, if I am happy, if I read something sad, if I am sent a present. My eyes just fill up, I have tried for years and have never ever managed to conqueor this. Anything that touches me for any reason, good or bad, has the capacity to make me shed a few tears. Not loud sobs, just a few tears fill my eyes up and trickle down my face a little.

Well, that seemed like a marathon task, but there are seven random unusual things about me. I am not tagging any one else, as I never do, but anyone out there feels like doing this, by all means do it.

John Piper

Just to let you know my son is fine and is now back in England. He is an experienced traveller and has been to every country in Europe, some many times and also to most countries in what was Eastern Europe. He loves Barcelona and Madrid, but says he will never ever go to that part of Southern Spain again. He loves travelling but said he felt safer in Tel Aviv than he did in that small part of Southern Spain. He has put it down to a life experience.

I also have heard that our blogging friend Claire, is improving, another blogger has spoken to her and she managed to laugh and giggle a little bit, but please still keep her in your thoughts.

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS THAT MAKE YOU REALISE YOU MUST KEEP CELEBRATING EVERY SMALL JOY

2007-05-17T17:25:00.000+01:00

What a week it has been so far, and it is only Thursday! There was I on Monday celebrating my one year blog anniversary, by Tuesday I had had the Spanish Police on the phone to let me know my son was fine after an incident. He and his three friends were returning to their hotel when one of friends, decided to go into the bar opposite the hotel and get a couple of bottles of wine for them to drink whilst sitting on the balcony. He was set upon by two young Spaniards, one of whom tried to steal his wallet, he ran out of the bar after the guy and my son and friends on the balcony ran down to help him catch the guy. Unfortunately, the two guys suddenly turned into a crowd and there was rather a rough few minutes. Luckily it was all sorted out, but it was quite a shock at the time.

Mucha

Tuesday, I sat down at the computer after breakfast and found out the terrible news about one of our Glitter Sisters, Claire, who, in her prime, has had a stroke. Emails and phone calls followed this news. I felt so shocked only a few weeks ago Mrs. Nesbitt, Sue, Kai, Kai's sister, Lorna, Claire and I had met up in Thirsk where we had such a lovely time getting to know each other in the real world. This lovely vibrant woman is now recovering in hospital, she has recovered her feeling in her right arm and legs, can understand and read but is having speech problems at the moment, though she should slowly get this back, though it will be long haul. We English Glitter Sisters do have some lovely ideas in the pipeline for her though. Please keep her in your thoughts and wish her a speedy recovery.

My friend Robyn has an interesting posting on her blog today, about how she felt as if for a moment time stood still, and the earth was gathering up its energies to breathe again. This made me think about liminal times and places, and I thought you might like to know about these. Liminal comes from the Latin word limen meaning a threshold. Places and times that are lininal are of great importance, a sort of 'betwixt and between' space between two realities. These are supposed to be places and times when you go pass through a portal into another reality or fae creatures and spirits are at their strongest and easier to see and interact with if you dare. Everyone's personal liminal time is one that happens at least twice a night,. that is the time you fall asleep and the time you wake up. As you go to sleep you can sometimes think that you have seen strange faces or shadows and when you wake up it takes you time to remember if what is in your mind was real or what you were dreaming. I think it is one liminal time we can all relate to.

If you think about liminal time, you can go from a year to a day with liminal points. In the year the liminal points are the equinoxes, the solstices, times when one season moved into another. In the day dawn and dusk, when the day is 'betwixt and between' dark and light, and also midday when it the time of no shadows and some add midnight into liminal time, the end of one day and the beginning of the next. Often I find at dawn or dusk, you get that moment of stillness, a silence unbroken by birds or beast, a time where not even a breeze stirs the leaves in the trees, when you can almost reach out and touch the heaviness of the air and silence. That is a time to stay still and peer into dark or shadowy spaces, or movments around the outer edges of your vision.

Bocklin

Liminal places can be covered by two types, one bound by the elements and one made by man. People often say, I just love the coast, being at the sea, it's balm to my soul, there is an extra electric feeling in the air. This is because all coast is liminal, a border between water, earth and air, a place where the air can haze, shimmer, and move. Mountain tops as well are liminal, a border between the air and earth. Druids had their own special liminal places, their oak groves, especially those near running water. I know a wood near where I live where you walk through and come across a stream winding its way over rocks with trees on either side, this is a liminal space. Waterfalls and caves can be too. You can usually feel when you are in one, you don't what it is, there is just a sort of difference in the air there, a difference in the atmosphere but you would find it hard to put your finger on exactly what it is. To hear a blackbird singing in a place like this is an extra sign, as according to the Druids the blackbird guards the portals to other worlds.

Malham, Yorkshire

Man made liminal places are usually crossing points, bridges, especially those crossing water are liminal places as are stepping stones. Sometimes you hear of people having a fear of bridges, and I often wonder if this is from the collective unconciousness, a knowledge of the specialness of these places. Crossroads, are also liminal, many many myths and folklore have tales involving crossroads. People were hung from them, the devil is supposed to lurk around them for lost souls and witches also gather round them. Country people like to avoid crossroads in the dark of the night.

I am sure if you think about it we all do know some of these liminal places, and maybe think they are special but are unsure why. I think some people call these liminal places, vortexes. Also savour the atmosphere, at dawn or dusk, especially at dusk if you are sitting out in the garden on a summer night and peer carefully into the fading light.

E De Morgan

Have you noticed my new banner to my blog? Ms Robyn made this for me, and I finally deduced how to add it to my blog. Wow! I am certainly becoming a computer teckie!!!!! Also sorry if I haven't visited your blogs for a while, I know I am Blogging Without Obligation, but I don't seem to have been commenting on some for quite some time. All will be put right soon, its just I have taken a longterm swap over and have been busy sorting out themes, partners, and other communication aspects with the members. As I said in the title of this blog. I think this week makes you realise that you should appeciate the small joys of everyday and try to make more of them, life is for savouring the tiny satisfying making you happy things as well as the large occasional joys.

NOW WE ARE ONE

2007-05-14T08:30:00.000+01:00

One year ago today, I spent the morning setting up my blog template and falteringly working out my first posting. It was a mad spontaneous decision to start a blog. I had lurked around a few blogs to see what was out there after reading an article about them. Then my daughter phoned me full of how she was starting a blog. I just thought, 'What fun!', imagining rambling at some length to the world in general. With trepidation I put out my first posting and then with even greater bravardo left comments on a couple of blogs I really liked the look of. Then I went about the rest of the day wondering if I would get any comments, or would the world in general see fit to ignore me. Late that evening I returned to my blog, and yes, I actually had a comment. Guess who was my first commenter? Why, of course, it was someone who was to become a dear friend of mine in cyber world, Ms Robyn! After that, three more comments arrived, and there was no stopping me, my daughter never found the time to get her blog off the ground properly but here I still am!

What have I learnt in my first year of blogging. So much, just so much. Mostly positive, most people are nice, but you do come across one or two who let you down. I have made friends all around the world, and actually met some of them, become a Glitter Sister, have participated in both successful and unsuccessful swaps, actually ran a couple of swaps and best of all, these two things, I have learnt so much about other people's lives and found a support network of people I can discuss life with. The most important point of my blog has been though, to break through my block of many years in my art work and send my creativity soaring again. I am creating my healing spirit dolls, my other little fripperies, altering anything from cards to books. Blogging made me decide to start my Local History Group, after writing snippets about our village history on my blog. Also with exchanging customs from other cultures, I have immersed myself deeper and deeper in my English myth, folklore, herbs and magic.

Elizabeth Blackadder

Here's to the future of communicating with you all. I am not saying I will blog for evermore, but I am happy to do so at the moment, but I do know I will always find a way to communicate my Daisy ramblings and lore to the world. Raise a glass or two of pinot grigio with me tonight to celebrate this day. [It is only breakfast time for me now!]

Laura Knight

I am looking out of the window at a cloudy sky, but in among the clouds are patches of blue, and the sun is trying to shine. I had an early morning stroll down to my garden, which is looking so verdant after all the rain, some of the plants are taking beds over, but I am rather inclined not to cull them until autumn and let this garden, be of blowsy controlled chaos this summer, just letting it teeter on the edge of wildness, not too far, just a suggestion, so you can imagine secrets hidden in the plants. And there will be secrets hidden in the plants I have been collecting up all sorts of interesting bits and pieces to put between the plants and I hope to have them all in position by the beginning of June, when weather permitting, I should have done all my serious planting. The poppies have numerous heads on them. [Don't they look like green aliens emerging from the leaves?] I will have to stake these up as poppy leaves are notoriously untidy and sprawl everywhere. My beautiful pale blue irises are waiting to open and I keep scooping up and putting in pots the marigolds that have self seeded from last year.

Tara from Silver Apples of the Moon, sent me some herb seeds in the autumn and they have germinated nicely and are pushing up out of the soil in their pots. All the way from her garden in America to my cottage. I have taken delivery of four giant bags of bark chipping to recover the path between the stepping stones, and to seriously cover where the table and chairs reside. I do feel everything is happening a couple of weeks earlier this year, and hope that my garden will be able to maintain its freshness throughout the summer. Even the bedding plants are taking off earlier, I just hope that they are not finished too soon, such as before August is out.

Other items of interest to me at the moment, I am currently reading the new Barbara Erksine book, Daughters of Fire, which goes between present day Edinburgh and Yorkshire and Celtic times in those two places. I have decided as well to make a summer project of re-reading some of Thomas Hardy and reading one or two of his I have never got round to reading. I love Thomas Hardy's more rural books, especially Tess of the D'Urbervilles, a tragic soulful rural tale. This was also made into a brilliant film a good few years ago by Roman Polanski. I have spent a couple of classical evenings listening to Chopin's Nocturnes, balm to the soul, soothing yet stark, conjuring up wonderful images. Also I have been dipping back into old Paul Simon, you sometimes just forget what wonderful lyrics he writes.

James Whistler

Once again, don't forget to raise a glass with me tonight for Cats in the Kitchen Flora in the Garden is one year old today.

THE MONTH OF THE HAWTHORN

2007-05-11T08:27:00.000+01:00

It is almost the start of a new month in the Celtic year. On 13th May, we will enter the month of Huath, the Hawthorn. This tree, though in England it is used as hedging and can be more like a shrub, is also known as Maybush, Maytree, Thorn bush. It is one of the important triad of trees, Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and it is said that when those three species grow together if you are quiet and patient you may be able to see the faeries. Also to fall asleep under a blossoming Hawthorn, is a risky thing to do, you may be captured by the faeries and whisked away to their lands never to be seen again.

The Greeks and Romans saw the Hawthorn as a symbol of hope and marriage, yet in later times, Europeans considered it a bush that was associated with witchcraft. These two contradictory sides to the meaning of Hawthorn, mirror the bush itself, with its dangerous thorns and beautiful blossoms. It is unlucky to cut the flowering Hawthorn and bring it into the home before Maytime, but hawthorn has many uses in the home. If it is hung from the rafters it will keep evil spirits away. To hang a branch of Hawthorn on the roof of your house is said to protect your home from lightening. It is also used hanging from the roof of the milking parlous to make sure the cows continue to be happy and give large yields of milk. The wood of Hawthorn also makes one of the hottest fires and it burns well. Beware, though, if wanting to use the wood of Hawthorn you must never cut it while it is flowering. To cut a flowering Hawthorn branch to use or burn the wood, is to upset the fae and they will take their revenge on you. Many Country people plant a Hawthorn bush outside their homes, also as protection, though it has been heard that a witch has the ability to hide in the shape of a Hawthorn. A thorn from the Hawthorn bush can be carried in a pouch to ward off depression, and is also supposed to be good luck when fishing. Hawthorn has an affinity with water and is often planted next to sacred wells, especially in Ireland where you can see rags, and strips of material hanging from the tree where people have asked for favours.

Paul Nash

Herbally, berries, bark, seeds, branches and flowers are used. The berries are a cardiac tonic, but they must be mixed with other herbs to dilute its potency. Please do not try to make this tea if you are inexperienced, it really does depend on the other herbs in it as well. Its leaves and blossoms can be brewed to create a tea to aid anxiety, and poor ciculation. Hawthorn can be used for health, prosperity, protection, love and marriage, purity, cleansing, happiness and to lose old habits and dusty old ideas. John Piper

Village cottages would be decked with Hawthorn on Mayday and the Maypole often had a crown of the same. Some villages would have branches of flowering Hawthorn that they would carry from door to door, bestowing blessings on all the village homes. Kissing balls and Mayday crowns also incorporated Hawthorn, and these crowns would be left at the end of Mayday under Hawthorn trees for the faeries to reclaim.

Our weather has now settled back into its normal pattern of early May, heavy showers and gusts of wind. These wild gusts of wind come from a local wind that blows at this time of year, it is known as the Helm Wind. It is a wind that develops, a curious pbenomenon that occurs along several miles of the local fells. Though we just get the tale end of it in our village.
The helm wind is a strong, blustery easterly wind that descends the western slope of the Cross Fell Range in Cumbria, northern Enlgand. It roars as it gusts and seems to be able to penetrate the smallest gaps and make your house chill. In certain years it has been so strong that it has wrongly been called a hurricane. A predictor of this wind is the helmet or cap of a certain type of cloud that forms above Cross Fell escarpement itself.

Matisse

Even between the showers, when the sun comes out and the clouds scud across the sky, it is too gusty and blowy to chance doing anything in the garden. Luckily none or my plants are large enough to have been damaged, apart from the honeysuckle its wire backing has been partly ripped from the wall. I am hoping for a good weekend to sort that problem out. Today I am determined to sort my desk in my workroom which is an absolute disgrace, and I must get Sweetpea's bedroom put to rights [I have been storing things in there] and after she has been to Jamaica, at the beginning of June, she will be coming to stay for a few days in the middle of June. So the bad weather is the perfect excuse to sort out her room and make it welcoming again. I know when the weather gets better, I will make any excuse to put off doing her room and to spend my time in the garden.

By the way, if anyone wants to take my 'Greedy Juicy Summer' banner and use it as a badge on their sidebar that's fine by me. The painting is a still life by Cezanne and is not copyrighted and the words are mine.

HERE'S TO A GREEDY, JUICY,LEARNING SUMMER OF PERSONAL DELIGHTS

2007-05-08T18:46:00.000+01:00

Stanley Spencer

At long last by the end of last week I had finished all my outstanding swap committments. All that is left is the ongoing Hello Dolly Swap and a healing doll, I promised someone, and even these two dolls are now at the actually being made stage. The little grey cloud rumbling above my head in a thundery manner started to disperse once I had posted, my woodland sprite, my crow chunky pages and my Shhhh! project. Sometimes I find that group projects, seem to stifle my creativity in my own art for art's sake. I become so aware of not letting a group down and my responsibility to the those people, that I actually seem to freeze when I want to involve myself in personal work.

Laura Knight

I have decided, and I know that some of you know about this, as I have mentioned it in a couple of emails, that I am drawing back from group swaps for a while, apart from the one that is still ongoing. I am going to concentrate on my art and probably just get involved in one to one's and RAKs. I was stretched out in too many ways before, with the amount of swaps. For now I want to concentrate on my art, my garden, my history research, my blog and putting more time aside for my favourite occupation reading. I want to have a greedy, juicy, learning summer of personal delights. I fully intend to make myself a banner saying just that 'Here's to the greedy, juicy, learning summer of personal delights'. Raise a glass with me to that and have one too. What fun we can have in the autumn revealing what we gained through these months. Southern Hemisphere, do the same with Winter using suitable winter words.

You note I have a new sidebar item that advertises National Faery Day on 24th June, if you click on it you should be taken to the site and you can choose one for your own blog. There are lots of things going on around that time, such as in Bodmin in Cornwall, a three day faery
festival. I'm sure we can all think of lots of lovely things to do to celebrate this day.

A very good friend of mine from the blogs, and I have been talking about Druids and Driudism recently. This is really quite apt as the doll the Hello Dolly Group are making this month is a Celtic Goddess. Druidism is fascinating, and has reinvented itself many times throughout history. Basically it is similar, I think to wicca, and to various pantheistic religions [ one with many gods and goddesses, often associated with nature, eg rivers, trees, rocks]. It is also a belief that really looks after our Earth. Listed below are the main attributes of certain types of Druidism.

John Piper

~Love of Peace~ Love of Beauty - the bard and artists within~ Love of Justice - non punitive justice and law ~Love of Story and Myth - the power of mythology~ Love of History and Reverence for Ancestors~ Love of Trees - sacred groves and study of treelore~ Love of Stones - stone circles and crystals~ Love of Truth - wisdom~ Love of Animals - druidry sees animals as sacred ~ Love of the Body~ Love of the Sun, Moon and Stars~ Love of Life.

Jill Worthington

The Druids came from pre-Celtic times and by Celtic times had a long history of lore and beliefs. It they had any written words they have been destroyed long before then and a lot of our information about them come from Roman writers, such as Julius Caesar. The Druids, deified elments of nature, such as the moon, stars and sun, and looked to them for signs and seasons. The also held as holy natural elements such as. rivers, lakes, tops of hills, groves, trees, and plants. Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with the sun and cleansing. The calendar was governeed by the lunar, solar and vegetative cycles. There were three categories the Bards, who knew the songs and stories of their people, the Ovates who were gifted with second sight, and were the seers and healers and the Druids who were the philospohers, judges and teachers. There was much maligning of the Druids by certain Romans and talk of human blood sacrifices though some of what is written must surely be taken as anti Druid propaganda. It took many years of learning to become a Druid and it was open to both men and women. I feel aspects of it mix in well with wicca and solitary hedgewitchery, it also brings back to us the importance of never losing our traditions and lore, our history and beginnings are what makes us the people we are. Even in today's age of technology we should never forget how to use the oral storytelling tradition.

I SOMETIMES MUSE ON GIVING A WRONG IMPRESSION

2007-05-04T13:52:00.000+01:00

Madonna Lilies ~ Stanley Spencer

I sometimes muse whether I make my life in the country sound like too much of an idyll. Yes, it is idyllic but there are downsides as well. sometimes I think that despite the photographs I have published occasionally people paint their own mind picture which is different to the reality. Villages come in all shapes and sizes, and with many different features depending in which area of England you are in. Some villages have village greens and/or duck ponds, though many have lost their village greens by now to development. Architecturally villages differ immensley throughout England as well, you can go from hardy grey granite to chocolate box thatched cottages.

I thought I would like to try to get across to you exactly what it is like to live in my village in the North of England. First let me say that to me, any village living is better than living in the city. My village is rural, the nearest town is just over six miles away, but as years pass I can see the town encroaching ever nearer the village, I would think twenty years ago that the town would probably be about seven miles, but its outskirts are ever widening. If I had to move again, I would be happy to move even more rural to the point of being an isolated house somewhere, though I would have to have communication with the outside world, I am definitely too chatty to be a hermit.

Spring Solstice ~ Paul Nash

Our village itself has grown from a long street with some small offshoots until over the past sixty or so years there have been four small developments tacked on at various times.
The biggest downside is that the A road to Newcastle, the nearest large city, sixty miles away, cuts right through the main street of the village. Obviously as the years go by the traffic becomes worse and worse, although a bypass has been talked about for years. From the west you approach our village over an arched sandstone bridge over the River Eden. This is a fine sturdy bridge, but was certainly not built for articulated lorries using it as a short cut, also the terrible floods we had a couple of years ago have washed lumps of the sandstone stanchions away. Everyone complains about the traffic rushing through the village, especially as the pavements are narrow and old fashioned and there is a bad bend where numerous accidents have happened. Our cottage is on this main street, but luckily we are double glazed and in the garden at the back, the big barn plays tricks with the acoustics and the traffic noise is not too loud and doesn't detract from the joy of the garden and the birdsong.

Autumn Sunlight at Sennen Cove [Cornwall] Laura Knight

The old buildings are all built from a rich red sandstone, a stone that wears away very easily as it is a soft stone, especially in our polluted world sandstone gets eroded very easily. Our barn is of this beautiful sandstone. Our cottage on the otherhand, has been faced and is painted, the next door cottage has been too. We have no village green, but we do have a church with a steeple and an old graveyard, in fact, we have two churches, with graveyards, the Church of England church and the Catholic church. The upside is I can walk out of my door and within a couple of minutes be on a quiet country road and turn off onto a bridle way. Occasionally, the village has a mild panic when there is a rumour that someone is selling more land off for development, but luckily so far, these have just been rumours, as I do believe our infrastructure and cannot take any more homes. We have a village school that is full to capacity, in fact, a few children in previous years have had to go to the next village school.

I would also hate you to think that every moment of my life is perfect, and I spend my days pottering around my garden, in floaty skirts [thought I often do drape a shawl round myself and I suppose at times I do tend to gypsy skirts] musing on the missel thrush on the wall. It often is, but I also have the mundane tasks to perform, the changing of beds, the washing, the cleaning. There are days when I feel stressed and am just happy to come home to the cottage and close the front door behind me and give a sigh of relief. There are days when I can feel slightly down, and a little bit grumpy, this usually makes me realise I have been overdoing things 'burning the candle at both ends' as my Mother would say. It is just I try to find extra bliss in all the small things that make my day enjoyable. Silly little things like the feel of my old straw hat on head when I am gardening, the blackbird that is not frightened of me and sits near my feet if I am quiet with a worm in his beak. The sun shimmering through the silver birch leaves, and later at twilight sitting out in the garden as the stars switch on in the sky and the tiny bats come out from the derelict barn down the lane and dart hither and thither. Or on colder evenings sitting in my living room with the rich smell of incense burning, candles flickering glad to be inside. At the moment my most blissful moments are waking just as the first note of the dawn chorus rings out and lying in bed listening as more and more birds join in then turning over and going back to sleep. Some mornings I even get up for a cup of herbal tea and listen to them before returning to bed.

Today has been a lovely day, the sun has been shining after a cool start and I have been busy planting a lot of my bedding plants and rearranging pots in the garden. I am just at the point where I know I still have a bit to do, but the plan and arrangements are clear in my mind and I have done enough to look around the garden and see some small points of perfection. When I was sitting having a break, I decided I must try to keep an eye on the insect population this year, especially after reading the article about the bees. I have seen one bee, quite a few ladybird and one butterfly. My husband is also concerned about the sandmartins, this year there are not as many of them in previous years, he is keeping an eye on them. I wonder what is keeping the numbers down, is it something about the environment around the river, or is perhaps because there are not enough insects around? He will be watching their numbers, has anyone else in England noticed any difference in numbers? I did think that we had not as many swallows, they arrive later than the sandmartins but the number of swallows in the blue sky looks the same now as other years. I presume they came in two batches.

There is an important happening in the night sky this month. There will be a Blue Moon, this happens when there are two full moons in one month, the second is called a Blue Moon. There is a complication to this, it depends where you live, if you live in the Americas, you get the second moon right at the very end of May, everyone else, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe will get their Blue Moon in June and poor old New Zealand will have to wait until the end of July. This is because of the time zones around the world. We roughly get a Blue Moon in the month every two to three years, so it is very special. Lots of extra lovely Moonlight.

We have a public holiday on Monday in England, so this is a holiday weekend, and weather permitting I intend to make the most of it and get the garden right.

Some of the illustrations in this postings are paintings by some of my favourite English artists. I believe that a lot of people under estimate what wonderful 20th century painters we had in England. The names are underneath the pictures.

A HAPPY MAY DAY TO YOU ALL

2007-05-01T05:35:00.000+01:00

HAL AN TOW, JOLLY RUMBLE O

FOR WE WERE UP LONG BEFORE THE DAY O

TO WELCOME IN THE SUMMER O

WELCOME IN THE MAY O

FOR SUMMER IS A-COMIN' IN

AND WINTER IS A GONE

May Morning has dawned bright and sunny, it seems so long since we had a true sunny MayDay. I hope you are all getting up early and washing your face in the May Day dew, then scouring the woods for sticks and flowers to make Kissing Balls. By breakfast we will have made the Kissing Balls and the food will be being made for the May Day feast. We must put our finest dresses on and help each other decorate our hair with spring blooms, because we are off to dance round the maypole on the village green before choosing the May Queen and her attendents. We shall watch a Mumming Play, concerning St George and the Dragon performed by travelling players. Then there will be feasting and dancing taking us up to the moment when the beacon on the far hillside will be lit as day ends and the bonfire on village green will echo it. Late in the evening we may be blessed by a fleeting visit by the Green Man and his Lady, before young village couples slyly sneak away to leafy bowers. There will probably one or two hasty weddings in the next couple of months. I hope you have enjoyed your visit to a traditional English May Day.

I was pleased with the Local History Exhibition, it was never crowded but we had a steady stream of visitors, of which the best thing was that I noticed all that came seem to spend over an hour looking at the photographs and reading the text and documents. We also made a pleasing amount in our Donations Box. One man, who came lives in two old cottages he knocked together, when he was renovating and knocked down a wall there in a little niche he found this tiny brown leather shoe from the late 1700's. It was exquisite workmanship, I thought it was too tiny to have been worn, except for a very young baby, but couldn't see a young baby wearing shoes. It could have been specially made or perhaps very young babies wore such shoes. There is a tradition of building a niche in walls and hiding a shoe in it for luck for the houses. People brought me old photographs to look at and copy, and one man even gave us some old local postcards to keep. Everyone said how enjoyable it was and I was interviewed for the Parish Council magazine LOL!

One man at the exhibition can read houses, by that I mean nothing psychic, he is a retired builder who has always dealt in renovations and he knows what property originally looked like, apparently there are clues in homes. I know from what he has told me before that upstairs my bathroom and one bedroom are a lot more modern built than the rest of the cottage and my dining room and kitchen used to be a single story with just my living room and morning room, where the stairs are having an upper floor, and my upstairs corridor is also a more modern division.

The man that reads houses made me think that I don't think I have ever mentioned the underground stream in my back garden. Before our next door neighbour's moved their son was talking to me about our two gardens, and he told me about when they were digging a trench to make a new bed and to build a wall that deep underneath the soil there is an underground stream, he said that it followed on in our garden. Where it followed on in our garden is on the shady side and it is where I plant my irises which always flourish and I know some types of Iris do like damp conditions.

I bought a pair of dowsing rods, this was about two years ago, and dowsed my garden with them. I was really excited when they started to cross where the underground stream was supposed to be and I could follow the crossing of them across the garden. Then my other half started to look at maps and eventually, with looking at maps and walking the land he found the tiny stream. It breaks away from the main beck and runs down the edge of a couple of fields in the open then after the last field it disappears into an open green space planted with trees oppposite some pensioners' bungalows, it then runs underground through our gardens and we even found where it joins up with the beck again. After it goes through about four gardens it goes under the road and across to where the bridge over the beck is. I find this absolutely fascinating.

One serious thing to think about. My other half showed this article he had been reading about mobile phone masts and honey bees. Apparently scientists think that the rays being emitted from these masts are confusing the navigational system of bees, who are becoming confused and unable to find their hives, also they are becoming confused in their collection of pollen. The article spoke to bee keepers who live beside these masts and they were losing colonies of bees. One man had lost eighty per cent of them. These masts are everywhere in the countryside. Please keep a watch out for bees, I know it is early in our part of England but I have not seen many bees, can we all watch throughout the summer and see if bees are as plentiful as usual or not.

If we lose the bees nature will be in a dreadful state and so will the human race, no one should under estimate the job bees do, they are our chief pollinators, plants will not exist without them. If these rays are affecting the bees, please just stop and think what are they doing to us? I think I might have mentioned in an earlier posting that I was having really bad sleep patterns, and was told to remove my mobile phone from the bedside table as it was too near my head and its rays could interfere with my brain's sleep pattern. I did that and since then, it may be co-incidental, but I have slept soundly. So many people seem to be at a low ebb at the moment it does make you wonder if some modern day appliances are causing some sort of energy waves that are detrimental to certain people.

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY......BUT DAISY STOLE SOME LOST HOURS

2007-04-27T08:42:00.000+01:00

My favourite small bird the European Goldfinch. I love to watch them play on thistle heads in the common land at the back of my cottage.

This is turning out to be a really busy week with everything geared towards the Local History Exhibtion on Saturday. Naturally, the sunny weather has returned, so yesterday I downed tools regarding the exhibition to spend a few hours in my garden potting on some plants that I have been hardening off.

More birds from the family of finches, such colourful cheerful looking birds, flashes of pure colour as they fly by you.

I did something this year about plants that I will never do again, unless someone in England can recommend a better supplier. Last year I bought my plants from a garden centre and my children bought me some lovely perennials for Mother's Day from a supplier called Crocus. They were really good plants. This year I bought a few more perennials by post and then decided to buy my bedding plants that way, although they come as plug plants you seemed to get a good quantity of them. Once again my children said they would buy me some for Mother's Day, so with their order and me ordering as well the firm J. Parker's has had a substantial order from us.

The Blue tit, I love watching them crawl up the wall of my barn and swing from its gutters, such entertaining acrobats.

I have not been at all happy with the way the plants are arriving, obviously they send them out as they are ready, but this means they come in small dribs and drabs, my bigger complaint is the state of some of these plants. They come in plugs of 66, which as soon as I get I have been opening and potting on before putting their permanent homes. I am beginning to notice the plants that are slightly more mature and are sent out in slightly larger cases, such as the Geraniums and ground cover plants are all doing well, but I have lost half of my petunias, and nearly all my trailing geraniums. I am feeling very disgruntled about these as I not used to plants dying on me. I think I have learnt my lesson with bedding plants, back to the garden centre.

The Mistle or Missel Thrush, they are becoming rare in England, but not if you know where to find them. There is a beautiful one visits my garden.

After doing some gardening yesterday, I sat in the garden, watching the birds, there is a tremendous amount of bird activity at the moment. Just sitting in my garden chair, I watched different types of the tit and finch family, plus of course, common or garden sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes, including the beautiful mistle thrush, my crows, who don't wish to be photographed, plus the collared doves and wood pigeons. I counted eighteen varieties of bird life in one half hour. Whilst I was sitting there drinking a cup of coffee, Mr Heron flew over my garden and I was fascinated to see he was carrying quite a large fish in his claws, he must have been taking it home to the heronry. A Rook was chasing him as he had flown too near the rookery, though, the rook seemed to think he was chasing the heron, I could see Mr. Heron, was treating the rook with distain. The Heron is marvellous to watch, those great wings that seem to go so far without flapping, he is a silent flyer. Magic.!

The wonderful mystical Mr. Heron, to see him fly across an early moon at twilight is an uplifting magical experience.

All my other endeavours are now geared towards my exhibition, I have had a constant stream of visitors from outlying hamlets and villages, asking if the History Lady lives here, and dropping off old photographs and old documents. I am scanning and reprinting a lot of the old photographs, for two reasons, one I wouldn't like anything to happen to someone's personal belongings, and two, you can clean up the quality slightly of the photographs and make them clearer, the same goes for the documents. I have had other members distributing flyers but there is just me and someone assisting me, very ably, organising everything. The manpower of the group will be put to use early tomorrow morning when the display boards arrive and need to be assembled and the tables and chairs set out. I also have got a tea rota going, and have made ID badges for the actual Group so visitors will know the people to ask questions of. I hope the weather says good, because if people are going out for the day, they probably could pop into the exhibition first. Keep your fingers crossed that it is a success and think of me and my modest exhibition tomorrow.

This is a painting of Sir Philip Howard, of Corby Castle, sitting very elegantly surveying his land. Great Corby is one of our next villages and that is my local river that is the backdrop to the painting. The Howards did own most of our village at one time. You can see their coat of arms and insignia on some of the houses in the village.

I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS I WANT TO SHOOT THE WHOLE DAY DOWN - [courtesy of Boomtown Rats]

2007-04-24T17:25:00.000+01:00

These are the stained glass panels in St Martin's church in Brampton, my nearest small market town. These images were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the Pre-Raphaelite artist.

Oh dear, that is exactly how I felt yesterday. I awoke to a gloomy grey day complete with drizzle of rain, too many deadlines looming in my head. I definitely got out of the wrong side of the bed and I grumped around growling to myself as I went downstairs to make the breakfast. Too wet for the garden and plants waiting patiently to be planted before they give up hope and wither. My energy levels were plummeting as the day got greyer. Ready to pick a fight with myself, and here was the final blow, I had stupidly let myself run out of a couple of household items I needed. No way, could I face going into the town, then inspiration struck, I would go the other way to my nearest little market town Brampton. Then another light bulb in my head lit up, I had been thinking that I needed to do a tour of the small surrounding villages before the Local History Exhibition on Saturday, to note the differences to the old photos, on a rainy day what better way to do it than to catch the twisty turning backwards and forwards country bus that takes over an hour to take me what normally takes ten minutes.

This is the Market Square in Brampton, looking towards the Moot Hall.

Off I went and caught the direct bus to Brampton, this would give me half and hour or so before having to catch the slow-mo bus back. Off I went to the Post Office, the Baker's and the lovely local Butcher's. Then there was just time to visit two charity shops and the local Moot Hall which is the tourist information centre. Luck was with me, I bought a beautiful foot high bluestoneware flagon, with a stopper cork and a wooden tap, which will look beautiful in my kitchen. Only £1 incredible. Inside the tourist information office was a sale of bargain books, selling wonderfully cheaply, just found time to purchase three of them before heading back to the bus stop.

This is looking from the Moot Hall down the other way towards St Martin's church.

The little bus turned up and I was the only passenger, these little buses only have six double seats on each side, a long back seat and a space at the front for pushchairs and parcels. I was already a bit more cheerful with my unexpected purchases. Well that was the most wonderful hour's journey, up and down hill, turns to the left then back out again turns to the right and back out again, almost doing complete circles from where we had started until I was set down just over one hour later two door away from my front door. I had seen pheasants a plenty, some strange type of wild geese, a crow and a bird of prey fighting, tiny lambs tottering around and some beautiful leggy foals in the fields with their mothers. Not to mention some wonderful old building and countryside. The blues had been blown away and the grumpiness shaken and rattled out of me by the twisty roads, and as a plus some locally made Cumberland Sausages to make a casserole with for dinner.

A close up of the Moot Hall, which is the tourist information centre.

Today I had to go into town, to the library to do some extra large photocopying for the exhibition on Saturday. On my way to the library I noticed that a new remainder bookshop had opened this week all books £2. What! I checked that out twice, in I went like pooh bear to a honey pot. Unbelievable books all at £2, I was spoilt for choice, I picked a wonderful book all about jade, another one quilting round the world and a beautiful book full of botanical illustrations through the ages. Some of these books had been over £30. Added a few fiction, rushed to the till and paid, and got out the shop pronto before I was tempted to buy more. I did manage ascertain that the shop will be there for six months, ummmm I'll definitely be back if books stay at that price and it was just not an opening offer.

I must show you this cute little woodland sprite I received from Lila of Indigo Pears as part of the ongoing Hello Dolly swap. She is called Fern and she is carefully carrying a nest of eggs. Isn't she just delicious?
St Martin's church Brampton

Dear Mrs Nesbitt, has tagged me with the following 40 questions, so here goes, deep breath and off I go:-

1. What is your occupation? My degree is in History, I don't want to sound stuffy and say I am a Historian, so perhaps, Researcher of Social History might be better. I can also complicate the matter by admitting I have a Dip AD in art and design as well.

2. What color are your socks right now? Bare feet.

3. What are you listening to right now? Chopin's Nocturnes, though I love a varied selection of music, especially old hippie stuff.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Spring Vegetable Rolls

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Not quite sure what this means? Is it something to do with motorbikes?

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple Haze.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My daughter, Sweetpea.

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, or I wouldn't be doing it.

9. How old are you today? About seven

10. Favorite drink? Wine, red, white or rose.

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Hah you know about me and sport!

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, I'm not a true blonde.

13. Pets? Always, cats

14. Favorite food? At the moment, celery,nut and apple salad.

15. What was the last movie you watched? Howard's End.

16. What was the last book you read? Spirits in the Wires Charles de Lint.

17. What do you do to vent anger? Growl!

18. What was your favourite toy as a child? My doll's house.

19. What is your favourite, fall or spring? Spring because after that it's Summer and I have my garden.

20. Hugs or kisses? Depends who's doing the giving.

The interior of St Martin's Church Brampton showing the stained glass in situ.

21. Cherries or blueberries? Cherries.

22. Do you want your friends to leave you comments? Well that's what blogs are about.

23. Who is the most likely to comment? My little circle of regulars.

24. Who is least likely to comment? These people that visit everyday and just lurk, please try saying hello. I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, I could list you!

25. Living arrangements? An empty nest just my other half and I.

26. When was the last time you cried? Monday, just felt overwhelmed, see above.

27. What's on the floor of your closet? Handbags, shoes and of course, books.

28. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Pam

29. What did you do last night? Mounted photographs and cut out printed captions for them.

30. Favorite smells? Vanilla and Floral smells such as jasmine, lotus or rose.

Another of the stained glass panels designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

31. What inspires you? The countryside and books.

32. What are you afraid of? Heights, mainly, I was terrified crossing the railway bridge in the wind at Thirsk and didn't want to sound a wimp by saying I was scared of heights. I won't even climb a ladder.

33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Don't like hamburgers.

34. Favourite dog breed? greyhounds.

35. Number of keys on your key ring? Never carry a key ring or keys, I have ways and means.

36. Number of years at current job? Doesn't work like that, it's sporadic.

37. Favourite day of the week? Sunday for chilling.

38. How many states/countries have you lived in? One country, two counties.

39. Favourite holidays? Where else but Cornwall.

40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? I can just see my other half shaking his head and he is now bend double with laughter!

COME INTO THE GARDEN MAUDE

2007-04-20T18:33:00.000+01:00

I have been busy over the last couple of weeks, sorting out maps, photographs, and writings about my village and its environs. This is because a week tomorrow, my Local History Group is having a drop in event at the local community hall. People can either bring any documents etc they would like to show us or just come and have a look at the display boards to see what we have found out so far. It's free and you get a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits, so we are hoping it will be a success. This gave me the idea that it would be nice to share with you some of the old photographs I have found and tell you all about them.

The first photograph above, is my very favourite, it is taken in the next village to us about 2miles away. The road leads down to the river and there used to be a ferry there that would take you across the river. What fascinates me about this photograph is the lady standing outside her rather impressive ivy covered house. She is wearing an amazingly large crinoline, and has obviously just come out to see what is going on, another member of the household leans out of an upstairs window to watch the photographer. I love the fact it is not a posed family photograph but just someone standing in the type of clothing they wore everyday. The photo just has 1870 on it. I am not sure if this is correct due to the size of the crinoline. I think it is either slightly earlier or prehaps, fashions took a long time to reach our neck of the woods.

This photograph shows the same view, except it is further down the road, and we have moved into Edwardian times. The river and the woods of this village, Wetheral, were a Sunday or day off destination for people in this area. You could walk in the woods or take a picnic by the side of the river. Children would be taken there with their pace eggs at Easter for a treat. It was also a popular spot with the middle classes and their Botanical Societies etc, searching for plant specimens in the woods.

This is the other end of that village, note the unmade road, today this is a busy tarmac road. It looks so idyllic with all the hedges and bushes, you could wander down that road in quite a daydream, not likely to be able to do that with the cars that go hurtling through today.

This is the Wheatsheaf Inn, it is at the top left on the previous photograph, just before the road bends, hidden by greenery. This is also an Edwardian photograph. The Wheatsheaf is still there today, though that is now a busy traffic bend in the road. I love the staff standing outside the door and the man on horseback watching the photo being taken. I wonder who he is?

This engraving is from 1837 showing the large railway bridge over the river. What a wonderful feat of engineering. The Victorians certainly could build. The railway station at Wetheral is still open and trains do stop there. I love crossing this river in a train, on a return journey, to me it is always a sign that I am nearly home. You can walk across the railway bridge, there is a fenced off pathway along side the railway track and this leads you into the village of Great Corby. This is where years ago the ferry from Wetheral used to take you across to.

This tinted photograph is of the next village after Wetheral, Heads Nook. These are Railway Villas, someone did tell me that they used to belong to the railway and managers and clerical workers from the railway lived in them. They are very substantially built properties. Alas, the railway station at Heads Nook is no longer open.

Yesterday and today, I have had a stream of small white boxes containing my summer bedding plants through the post. It is total chaos, I am finding it hard to understand why these boxes are coming through individually when I put one order in. Yes, I understand they send the plants off when ready, but it looks like a certain amount of them must have been ready at the same time, why not put them in one container. There are nicely and safely packaged, one problem, though. The small perennials little plastic homes are labelled with names of plants inside but the trays of 66 plug plants give no indication of variety! hummm! Well some I could recognise by leaf, although they are still small plants, I could see which were going to be geraniums and which were petunias but one or two at the moment it's anybodies guess what they will become.

It is still slightly early to plant outside, although the days are warm, we are still experiencing ground frost at night occasionally. So, my day has been spent sitting in the kitchen potting on, goodness knows how many small plants, I lost count. Suffice to say that every windowsill in the cottage has been taken over by trays of young plants. Never mind that will give them a good start and they can go outside at the end of the month. It's certainly kept me busy today, but I got them all potted on, mainly because I know there is still a batch of them to arrive. Fortitious as well that they came just as the moon began to wax again.

ONE SWALLOW A SUMMER DOTH NOT MAKE

2007-04-17T23:42:00.000+01:00

This is the Silver Birch tree that is in on the common ground behind my house and garden. This was taken in the early morning sunlight, which seems to be glinting on the new leaves which have just unfurled in the last couple of days. Look at that beautiful cloudless sky.

I was sitting in my workroom on Monday afternoon and looked out of the window across the street to my neighbour's yard and barn when suddenly a bird swooped and swerved in front of it, yes, it was a swallow, then another appeared and for some minutes they performed their acrobatic flight around the yard. Today, Tuesday, they are no where to be seen. I have noted this happens every year, the only thing I can think of is that a few swallows make up an advanced party fly ahead and check out their summer habitat then return to report to the rest of the group who are winging there way here. I am confident within the next day or so they will all be wheeling and diving in the sky. The weather has turned slightly chiller which reminded me of the above adage which I have used as a title.

This is the dove cote entrance to the barn that the crows are using, if you enlarge the photo you can see a large stick they have not been able to get inside, and it has got stuck behind the guttering.

I have been trying to photograph my crows, but they are such crafty birds. I got up early with the camera and went down into the garden as I noted from the bedroom window they were busy flying in and out the barn. I quietly positioned myself in the corner of the garden and waited, and waited and waited! I looked round over the common land behind and there were the cheeky birds just out of camera range sitting in a tree looking at me. So no luck yet, but I spent some time photographing various items which are illustrating this posting, explanations are underneath the photographs.

This is the ruin of an old forge [it has no proper roof just some corrugated iron thrown over some of it]. Inside, although the entrance is blocked up now, the forge fireplace is still in the corner. Look at the old wooden dovecote on the side. This is situated on the lane that leads away from the land behind my garden.

On Sunday we entered the fifth moon of the celtic year in which every month has a tree and I did promise to follow the months and tell you a little about the tree of the month. The tree is the Willow, also known as pussy willow or withey. In herbal lore the bark of the willow is used as a pain killer, it contains an ingredient that forms salicylylous acid which is actually the active ingredient in aspirin. Which shows there is a lot of truth in old time herbal lore. The Willow tree is connected to water and is also a tree of the moon. It is one of the traditional woods to be added to the bonfires on Mayday evening. It is said that if you sit under the Willow Tree and listen you will hear the voices of the fairies when the wind stirs the leaves. To plant a Willow tree near your home is to protect it and its branches make superb wands or dowsing tools. You can also carry a little piece of Willow with you to protect you when travelling. Folklore tells tales of Willows uprooting themselves by night and stalking travellers!

These three photographs were taken at Easter when the garden was just showing signs of Spring growth, the beds look sparse but beside some of the markers there are tiny plantlings coming up. The next task will be to put down a new layer of bark chippings.

This is my shrub corner, the lavender is sprouting new shoots and the broom is getting ready to flower and at the fore of the photograph my white lilac bush is showing off its new leaves.

This is the bed I was hoeing before I stopped to take photos. The honeysuckle is flourishing and the new growth of herbs has started in the pots.

Here is the Easter Branch I decorated for Easter, as I have said before, we don't really do decorations over here, but this was a late attempt at me doing some. I will be more organised next year and do more decorations. Unfortunately, by the time this photograph was taken the chocolate minature bunnies seem to have all been eaten.

Many thanks Pea, for telling me the name of the little girl in the red cloak in American comics, of course, it was Wendy the Little Witch. How could I have forgotten that.

MEMORIES FROM A 1950'S CHILDHOOD

2007-04-13T17:55:00.000+01:00

Some more days of beautiful Spring weather with the birds singing and the trees now bursting into leaf. I thought we had collared doves or wood pigeons nesting in the upper storey of our barn using the square opening which is the dovecote entrance, that was until yesterday morning. I went down to have my early morning check on the garden for new growth, and found a trail of large [and I mean large] branches across the garden on the roofs of the two small outbuildings and actually one half sticking out the dovecote entrance[which is large enough for a cat to get in]. How strange I thought and sat down quietly at the garden table to wait. Then I was rewarded a large black crow with twigs in mouth swooped down and flew into the barn. Our barn residents are black crows, maybe hooded crows, I am still checking. How amazing is that? There I am, at the moment, working on the Chunky Crow Book, and suddenly Crows have decided to live with me. By chance or what?

There is a lull in the garden at the moment, yes the plants that are established are pushing up and growing, the magnolia is blooming and some beautiful tulips, weeds have been tackled but there is no actual planting to be done until my plant order arrives later this month, then it will be full speed ahead. So there is time for now to sit at the table working on various projects, enjoying the sunshine and just generally chilling out and being at one with the garden.

Also time to think about gardening in my childhood. I began to remember gardening at my grandparent's house in the Spring. I can remember sitting in the old shed with grandfather, the door would be thrown open to the mild weather and the air was permeated with the shed smells, linseed oil, potting compost and the heavy sweet aroma of my Grandfather's pipe its smoke twirling and swirling out towards the door. My Grandfather would sit at a makeshift bench glossy redbacked notebook and stubby pencil in hand making a list of needs for the garden that summer, grass seeds, seeds, bedding plants etc. He would then give this list to my Grandmother who would take it into the Seed Merchant's when she visited the town for Saturday shopping and the garden goods would be delivered in the Seed Merchant's van. How civilised!

The above memory of my Grandfather and his garden led me on to thinking about THE SATURDAY SHOPPING TRIP [yes, the capitals are because it was a most important day].
From when I was a small child until I was about ten years old, every Saturday, I remember we went into the town for the SATURDAY SHOP. This is how those childhood weekends went.
On a Friday, my Mother would go to the local grocery store with a handwritten list which she would hand over the counter.

This was before we had supermarkets in our area. Though I do remember when a supermarket did open in our area, opposite the local grocery store. I was so excited, I thought 'wow this must be like shopping in America'. Unfortunately, housewives did not have their own cars, or even drive, so it was soon discovered that the downside was having to carry your shopping home. As I was saying, before I got waylaid, on the Friday evening the door would ring and there would be a delivery boy with your box of weekly groceries where upon my Mum would get her purse and pay for the groceries. So that was all your dried goods etc so Saturday would be the weekend fresh food shop.

Entrance to covered market

Every Saturday my Mother and I would get the 8.30 bus into the town and we would meet my Grandmother outside of the covered market. Before we go into the covered market, let me tell you about the Seed Merchant's. At this time of year my Grandmother would drop my Grandfather's order off at this shop. To me it was a very boring shop, not a lot of stock, but bays full of various grass seeds with a large metal scoop and a huge set of scales. The grass seed would be weighed and put into a sturdy brown bag and marked with type. I used to love to look at the packets of seeds in the racks, lovely colourful packets promising such wonderous glories from such tiny hard objects. Only later in the season did the shop become interesting when the annual bedding plants filled the shop to the brim. There were also stacks of things such as onion sets, gladioli bulbs and seed potatoes. Then towards the back of the shop were the bays of fertilisers and potting composts a mixture of pungent musty smells, of fishand blood, bonemeal, and john innes compost. The items on the list would be picked out, weighed and then delivered later in the day to your home.

Down into the market

Then it was on to the covered market. On a Saturday morning huge trestle tables were put up in the aisles of the market and the country women straight from the farms would come in to sell their wares. Everyone seemed to have a favourite lady and if you were a regular anything she did not have a lot of would be kept under the trestle for you. These were no fay earth mothers but rough hewn ruddy cheeked farmer's wives with short sensible haircuts, rough hands, berets and sensible belted overcoats and laced up brogues who spoke with broad Cumbrian accents. I remember huge wicker baskets of eggs complete with the odd feathers, Madge the farmer's wife would sometimes pick an extra brown speckled egg out and say to me ..and here is an extra one for you tea missy. We would also buy in season freshly picked vegetables and in spring she would have newspaper wrapped plantlings for our gardens, such as calendula, nasturiums and bunches of yellow daffodils. There would be freshly churned butter and seasonal items, bunches of holly, and in February when you just began to think Winter would never end she would bring in bunches of beautiful white snowdrops, my Grandmother always bought me a bunch of the first snowdrops, and I loved to sit and look at them in a lovely topaz coloured bowl my Mother kept for snowdrops. After the farmer's wives it was straight to the butcher to pick up the Sunday joint to roast and some other cut of meat to keep going until the Tuesday, when my Mother would return to town again. We would finish off at the fruit stall and last of all the bakers, where I could choose a cake for tea.

When we returned home we would eat our lunch, my Father would get ready for an afternoon of sport and my Mother and I would return to the town, no sturdy shopping bags this time, this was a more genteel outing. This time we would meet my Grandmother and her sister, and her sister's step-grandson outside Marks and Spencers, which the adults browsed around while the boy and I became engrossed in one of our imaginery games, were we in a store, no way, we were superheros battling to save mankind amongst the racks of clothes. Then came the highlight of our afteroon, we would retire to a cafe for tea and toasted teacakes, though in our case, Lemonade and a chocolate biscuit or in summer ice-cream. The grownups would drone along gossiping whilst we brought out our treasures....American Comics, both D and I would avidly swap these, we were American Comic fanatics, he had many more than me, but apart from Superman and Batman I used to love Casper, Lulu, Little Richie and my favourite and I can't remember her name, she was a little witch with a red cloak. After the cafe there was more shop browsing whilst we resumed world saving, then the final highlight of the afternoon, a visit to the one newagents in town that stocked American comics. Should it be a Superman or a funny? What did that one say Superman's dying from Green Krytonite, it's got to be that one, yes! Oh the delicious agonising thrill of trying to decide which one to buy that week, it was almost, but not quite as good as my weekly visit on a Monday to the library. Then goodbyes were said and home we went for tea, me clutching my new comic. Those were the Saturday's of my childhood.

I note there is a challenge going around for an old photograph of yourself. Well here goes! Above is a photograph of my other half and myself in September 1977 [Yes it is another of those strange photos that have turned pinky brown over the years]. It is a momentous photograph, I think we have both just sold our souls and become part of the system, the hippy dream faded away. My husband no longer had very long hair and a beard, he just has normal length hair for the time [the moustache has long gone thank goodness]. I had just had my very nearly waist length hair cut and styled and I was pregnant with our son. That is our beautiful cat Jasper, who lived to a ripe old age of thirteen. We look as though we are taking life very seriously. I may publish some more photos next posting, to show how you can watch my hair grow bigger and bigger!

THE THINKING BLOGGER AWARDS [THE OSCARS OF THE BLOGS]

2007-04-09T10:56:00.000+01:00

Sorry, just couldn't resist the above title. I would like to thank Lila of http://indigopears.blogspot.com/ for nominating me for a Thinking Blogger Award and also my stylist, my personal trainer, my hairdresser, my driver, the man who counts my money, the man that punches the paps if they take a photo of me when I am tired and emotional lol! In turn, I would like to nominate these five people:-

1. Robyn of http://goodnessgraciousmissr.blogspot.com/ There is always plenty to mull over and think about here on Robyn's site. Robyn who is obviously a kindred spirit to me.

2.Tinker of http://tinkerart.typepad.com/ It would be a much duller world without Tinker's rambling stories, funny, serious or just plaint scary they make my day no one, can ramble and go off on a tangent like Tinker.

3. Gemma of http://www.gemmashouse.blogspot.com/ A quiet blog but one with a lady in charge who has done some deep thinking and knows some very deep knowledge I believe.

4. Nature Girl of http://nature-trail.blogspot.com/ For her poetry, thoughts and wonderful artistic photographs.

5. Janet of http://jkbees.blogspot.com/ A lady who tries so hard to be true to herself and has refound her creativity mojo and has interesting points of view.

There you go those are my nominations for the Thinking Bloggers Award. I will wear my sidebar badge proudly.

I have recently added another sidebar badge that I found on Robyn's blog, which I believe originally came from this blog, http://www.tartx.com/blog/?page_id=233. I notice that more of us are using it and that Kai has talked about this issue on her blog http://kaibluecreations.blogspot.com/ . Basically, it is Blogging without Obligation, to me it means we are all busy people, we blog to put our thoughts down, to make friends with other bloggers and to receive and reply to comments. Now some people are lucky and can do this on a day to day basis, but some whether through family, jobs or just plain business doing things we enjoy, are not so on the ball as every day. Then that horrid sense of guilt and obligation creeps in, oh I better not go to bed until I have commented on so and so's blog, they might think I am not bothering anymore. This badge showing on my sidebar means, I am still visiting you and commenting, some days and weeks more than others, I work up my list and down my list of contacts, so not everyone gets a comment everyday. If I am busy I won't be around as much, but if it was anything drastic that was happening and I was not going to be around for a while I would somehow get a quick posting up to inform people. Let's keep blogging heartwarming and not let it descend into stress and disenchantment my motto will be WE LIVE FIRST, THEN WE BLOG, otherwise we would run out of things to blog about.

It is Easter Monday afternoon now, I don't know how many of you have an official or Bank Holiday added on to Easter, but now we are nearing the end of the Easter Holiday. I have had a fantastic time, well according to my idea of what I wanted to enjoy I have. Haven't been anywhere since Thursday, just in my cottage and garden. Two days of brilliant weather and two days of so so weather, so I managed to do a little bit of everything. How content I feel after allowing myself all this self indulgence. And what have I done over Easter? Well, the Easter type things first, cooked a delicious Easter Sunday Meal, drank wine, ate chocolate. Tidied round the garden, hoeing weed clearing checking up on new growth, chatting to neighbours, sitting in the sun finishing off one book I was reading and starting a Charles de Lint book I have been waiting to read. Read some delicious magazines and dreamt about owning the wonderful gardens and rooms shown in them. Watched a couple of dvds, including one of my favourite indulgent ones Practical Magic, from the book by Alice Hoffman, it never fails to cheer. Burnt some wonderful incense, the most fragrant I have had for ages. Brought a box of wonderfully illustrated children's books that were my kids and mine, out of the cupboard, as I have decided they need a bookshelf of their own so I can look at the illustrations and I can fill the cupboard up with some of the sorted boxes lying around. All in all a really good Easter, which I will finish off this afternoon, with a list making session for the garden, house and future projects. Oh, and I pulled off all the images I need for the Chunky Crow Book project I am in. I'll be assembling it this week, all 22 pages of it.

If the sun comes out again, I may return to the garden this afternoon, or if not, I will sort through the children's books and then tidy up my computer, its getting cluttered and untidy so I will start transfering things onto disc so I can empty up some more memory. I did sent out a lot of email easter cards, but I don't think you all will have got them I had some returned saying wrong email address, that was news to me, as my emails themselves have been getting through to you all. So I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter as I have had, but in your own special ways.

APRIL COME SHE WILL WHEN STREAMS ARE RIPE AND SWELLED WITH RAIN

2007-04-05T22:45:00.000+01:00

April, above, in the words of Paul Simon. We have had a beautiful start to April, unseasonably warm sunny days without any wind, but still getting a strong frost at night. You really have to temper your planting of young plants, the warm days beguile you into thinking how much they will love to be planted out in the fresh air, then the cold night hits. I planted out some trailing verbena, which I have never tried before, yesterday and woke up this morning to see the frost on the grass. With heavy heart I made my way to the garden and looked, oh dear I thought I had lost them, but tonight after a good few hours soaking up the sunshine they look as though they have perked up. I do hope so, I must restrain from too much planting.

We have had wonderful Moons since the beginning of April, waxing, full and now waning, but brilliantly clear and a fantastic cool icy lemon colour, one night, in particular it had a wonderful hazy aura round it for part of the night. So four wonderful nights of sleep for me with the Moon shining in my bedroom window, and as Spring has arrived and the bedroom winter is open wider the night breeze was making the mirrored discs on my hanging window ornaments chase around the bedroom, a wonderful free light show. I love an ice cold bedroom, I usually have the radiator knocked off at night, and to be toasty and warm under a really thick duvet. It's the mixing of cold and hot, bliss, sort of like a sauna and cold plunges I suppose.

Speaking of the Moon, the photograph above is of the Moon Goddess doll that Robyn made for me as part of the Hello Dolly Swap. This is not a very good photo of it, and I will have to take some proper ones, but at least you can see it. She is all white with golden eyes and some glittery moon net. Her hands are above her head holding up a Full Moon. She is adorned with objects with meaning in moonlore. In her little bag she carries a silver coin, crystals and precious stones. She also carries a little scroll telling lots of things that are connected to the Moon, such as colours, herbs, flowers jewels etc. I just love her, she obviously sits in my bedroom window with my moonstones at Full Moon. Thank you Robyn.

Does anyone else smudge, or clear their house with incense. I am a great believer in it. I usually get my special incense from a little shop that does postal order in Glastonbury. They do two lovely ones, one for house protection and one for clearing away bad energy. Sometimes I think if unhappy things have been happening or you have a lot of unhappiness or sorrow it can cling to the atomsphere of the house sort of multiplying until you are caught in a spiral of unhappiness that, for want of a better word, 'feeds' upon the negativity creating more of the same. To get rid of it you need to open all the windows, light the incense in every room or alternatively go through the rooms with a smudge stick letting the bad vibes fly out through the window. Try doing this and at the same time thinking a happy thought or singing a happy song even. Spring, even if your house doesn't feel negative, is a great time to clear the house for the year like this. Sort of like mental, or mind spring cleaning.

I have been running my Local History Group tonight and I am pleased to report that it really is going from strength to strength, the idea of an illustrated lecture with a speaker one month and a meeting to discuss items the next seems to be bringing people in. Every time I learn something I didn't know, and someone usually tells me a snippet of history of the village history. We are having an open day at the end of the month, where people can come and see us informally, they can look at what we have researched and found and bring items to show us that could be of interest. It's free and there are coffee and biscuits, so I'm sure people will pop in and out.

Time now to start relaxing for Easter, forget about sorting, serious gardening, housework, just have an indulgent few days doing whatever takes my fancy, I mean if that happens to be gardening thats fine. Really though, I have got a pile of books that are just about tippling over that are waiting to be read, I really could do with sitting in the garden reading and whittling that pile down a bit.

A HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL AND DON'T EAT TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE. WELL GO ON THEN YOU CAN IT IS EASTER!

'HER BRIGHTNESS'

2007-04-03T18:09:00.000+01:00

Since the Hello Dolly Group were making Moon Goddess dolls in March, there have been a number of queries and emails flying round about the naming of lunar months. Lila gave a link to some names in the Farmers Almanac and Gemma mentioned some wonderful Native American names. I know three other sets of lunar month names, two sets of Celtic names and an Anglo-Saxon set. I am setting out a table below of these lunar names and telling a little bit about them.

First of all there is the Celtic Lunar Tree calendar. There is great controvesy over this calendar and some people think that Robert Graves made this calendar up, others think that is is the original Celtic Calendar, the months are male and female. I am putting down below which trees own which month. I may tell you more about this calendar each month on the appropriate day, and some of the tree lore that goes with it.

Birch ~ Dec 24 - Jan 20
Rowan ~ Jan 21 - Feb 17
Ash ~ Feb 18 - March 17
Alder ~ March 18 - April 14
Willow ~ April 15 - May 12
Hawthorn ~ May 13 - June 9
Oak ~ June 10 - July 7
Holly ~ July 8 - Aug 4
Hazel ~ Aug 5 - Sept 1
Vine ~ Sept 2 - Sept 29
Ivy ~ Sept 30 - Oct 27
Reed ~ Oct 28 - Nov 24
Elder ~ Nov 25 - Dec 23
Furze/Gorse ~ Spring Equinox
Heather ~ summer Solstice
Poplar/Aspen ~ Fall equinox
Yew ~ Day before Winter Solstice
Silver Fir ~ Winter Solstice

Mistletoe ~ Day after Winter Solstice

The earliest known Celtic calendar is one called the Coligny calendar, and it probably dates from the 1st Century BC. It names the lunar months, but is slightly more complicated than than as it begins each month with a full moon and the calendar covers a 30 year cycle with 5 cycles of 62 lunar months and 1 cycle of 61. It divides each month into fortnights instead ofweeks and the year is divided into 13 months.

Samonios October/November Seed-Fall
Dumannios November/December Darkest Depths
Riuros December/January Cold-Time
Anagantios January/February Stay-home time
Ogronios February/March Ice Time
Cutios March/April Windy Time
Giamonios April/May Shoots-show
Simivisonios May/June Bright time
Equos June/July Horse-time
Elembiuos July/August Claim-time
Edrinios August/September Arbitration time
Cantlos September/October Song time

The celts never referred to the moon by name preferring to use names such as Her Brightness and Queen of the Night. This custom prevailed amongst fishermen in the Isle of Man until the ninteenth century.

Bede gave the earliest version of the Anglo Saxon calendar in 725, these are the names they gave the months.
January - Later Yule
February - Sol Month
March - Hreth Month
April - Easter Month
May - Three Milkings
June - Earlier Litha
July - Later Litha
August - Weed Month
September - Holy-Month
October - Winter-Full
November - Blood Month
December - Earlier Yule

Sol means month of mud when cakes were offered to the gods. Hretha and Eastre are two spring goddesses that March and April are named after. Three milkings means that the cattle needed three milkings at that time of year. Litha, the summer festival was given two months as was Yule. Weed month is obvious, quick growing weeds, Holy month was when the offerings were made to the gods and the month of blood was when the animals were slaughtered for winter food. I find these old ancient names for the months really interesting, but nothing seems to me as sweetly lyrical and poetical as the Native American tribes' names of the months.

Already we are nearly at Easter, this coming weekend. We are having a quiet Easter this year, the children are both working and can't get up from London, so it is just the two of us, so I am hoping for good weather and being able to enjoy some relaxing time in the garden. Even though there are just the two of us, I have promised to make my Easter Sunday dinner of fresh plump roast chicken and all the spring vegetable trimmings and a home made traditional English sherry trifle for pudding. Bit by bit I have been going out into my garden and tiding it and hoeing it and even planting one or two shrubs etc, but this week end I want to get everything ready to go right into action when my plant order arrives. Pots ready to fill with plants etc. I am over the moon I have so many planters and pots in my garden and every year comes the tricky issues of heaving large bales of compost from the local garden centre causing damage to life and limb, now I have found an old fashioned supplier who will actually deliver compost to my door where upon I just pay cash on delivery to the driver, and I mean cash on delivery not cheques or plastic. Wow! I was so excited to find this traditional way of doing business alive and well. I can also have my bark chippings delivered in a couple of weeks. The ease of it all.

Tomorrow I will decorate my Easter branch, thought I have looked everywhere and all I have been able to buy are 2 dozen chicks, so I will put them up and some fripperies and may be some cute gingham bows. My daughter discovered too late that there was a shop in London selling painted Easter ornaments exactly like christmas ones. Still maybe next year. I have also got lots of bunches of daffodils, and of course I will be dying eggs to put in a basket. I do love having small decorative touches to match the seasons.

Treats for Easter after doing some gardening, if warm to be had in the garden, if cold inside. A lovely glass [or two or three] of some chilled white fragrant wine, something that embodies the smell of Spring. Of course, some chocolate of some description. A couple of magazines to oooooohh over and some long luxury time to really indulge in some reading. Time just sitting listening to the collared doves that arre nesting in the nearby trees, their cooing is just so calming, letting the warm sun hit my head and watching the silver birch dance and wave her branches. Alternativeiy, if the weather is horrendous, a couple of dvds I have been waiting to watch, warm room, incense and candles.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE?

2007-03-30T10:01:00.000+01:00

When I was over at Violette's Board the other day, I came across a thread entitled 'Take me to your leader', which was about the Phoenix lights and led onto some posts about UFOs. I am not a full anorak UFO geek, but I have to admit to having an interest in them, looking at the night sky I also cast around for various objects, but usually they are just satellites and high flying planes. I have interest in lots of weird and wonderful things like that, I don't think we can dismiss these strange things out of hand, if only one per cent of the sightings are true, we should not ridicule, we have no positive proof that UFOs don't exist, after all, its a huge universe out there.

What sparked my interest was an event that happened when I was about eleven years old, when one evening just at sunset my mother and I saw a strange shape high in the sky just hanging there not moving. It was what is now called the traditional cigar shaped object, we watched it for about twenty minutes, saw it then rotate 45 degrees, and 'pouff' it was gone. It was hanging high above the Solway Firth, and I do know that other people saw a strange object that night. I became a UFO enthusiast, reading the good, the bad and the ugly of books about them. Of course, the enthusiasm died down but I still read any article I stumble across about lights in the sky or other mysterious happenings. It really is amazing when seriously talking to people how many eventually confess to 'seeing something strange' in the sky.

This in turn, jogged my memory about a rather unusual photograph that was taken in 1964 in our area at Burgh by Sands, which strangely enough is near the Solway Firth. You may have heard of or seen this photograph before [ I reprint it at the top of this posting] as I do know that at the time it was a worldwide story. A man was taking a photograph of his daughter sitting picking flowers on the marshes. It was a coloured photograph, he saw nothing when he took the photograph, but when it was developed in the background behind his daughter stands a man in a sort of white spacesuit. The photograph [in black and white print] made it into the local paper and then probably being picked up by a stringer went national and then global. Until this day no one has been able to find anything wrong with the photograph, it is not a fake, yet there is no explanation for what is there on it.

It is said that after the photograph was published that the man who had taken it, Jim Templeton,had one of those mysterious visits from two 'men in black', who questioned about whether he saw anyone before he took the photograph, they then drove him to Brugh by Sands, and apparently, became annoyed when he couldn't help them as he hadn't seen anything at the time. It is said that they drove off and left him there to walk the five miles home. The following is allegedly a quote from Jim Templeton at the time that is oft quoted in magazines and websites.

They were very strange, asking peculiar questions about the weather and behaviour of the animals. Although they claimed to be from the government, they never used names and referred to one another just by numbers. I drove out with them to the marshes but they seemed to get upset when I insisted that I had not seen anybody as I took the photograph. They drove away, stranding me alone to walk five miles home.I never heard from them again.

The photograph has never been disproved and from time to time it is mentioned somewhere and I begin to think about it again. It certainly is a fascinating incident. Well look at the photograph at the beginning of the post [I think it should enlarge if you click] and see what you make of it. Some people have said that it is just the back of a man in the white shirt with a white cap on his head, note the right arm and its odd angle. If you want to know more about the whole story, this website gives the best account and includes more detail about the Australian connection and Blue Streak rocket, that was built in this area. It also tells of an interesting incident very near to this time when there was an aborted launch of Bluestreak.

http://www.ufologie.net/htm/solwayfirth64.htm

England beware, four of the Glitter Sisters who were at Thirsk, are contemplating a summer reunion [ when it is warm and we will not be freezing out butts off on a station platform], there may be fifth, but just listen people some where near you a town could be about to be chosen. You have been warned, man the barricades, the girls are coming to town.

Speaking of Glitter Sisters, Robyn has asked me to explain her mishap, seeing she had worrying email from one bright spark who thought she had tried to end it all! She received a package from France which had been opened and examined by Customs, unfortunately, or helpfully, however you want to look at it, the customs had overdone the tape a bit, and she was trying to wrestle with the package and a pair of scissors when ooops! [but she probably said something a bit lustier than that] blood was spurting everywhere. Luckily her younger daughter was with her and was able to drive her to hospital, where after a three hour wait holding up her arm she was given two stitches, the wound is small but very deep. On top of this she has now incubated a head cold. Send plenty of love and hugs her way.

A CERTAIN SOMETHING IN THE AIR

2007-03-27T08:53:00.000+01:00

You wake up one morning and open the bedroom window, immediately you know something has changed and you take a deep breath. Yes! At last there it is that certain something in the air, the quality of Spring.

That is what happened on Saturday morning. What exactly is this quality? It's hard to describe, a certain softness and warming of the air currents, even though it is still early morning, a tint of colour in the sky, a sky that no longer looks like a Winter Steel Grey, a slight difference in the shades of green of the plants and tree buds, a sharper more acid green. Birds that try just that little bit more joyously when singing the dawn chorus and in the distance the baaing of ewes waiting to lamb.

The sun rose higher in the bright blue sky, all my Saturday plans went flying away, as I ran around the cottage gathering up plants in pots, that had been patiently waiting such a day to be planted, ever since they arrived from the nursery, and even the moon was right for planting. The bliss, the utter complete bliss, to be in my garden again, nothing matches the first proper gardening stint of each Spring. I spotted a solitary ladybird sitting on one of my perennials and welcomed her back to my garden, encouraging to enjoy munching the aphids later in the year and a single bee was doing a survey on my honeysuckle, before reporting back to the hive.

All my climbers and tubers planted and I celebrated by sitting down at the garden table with a welcome cup of coffee, my eyes darting backwards and forwards looking for what is showing green and working out what plants to add this year, scribbling some notes on a piece of paper before going inside to order them. To sit in the garden smelling the earth and the plants feeling the warmth of a late March sun on my head, how much better could it get?, it just couldn't, it is perfection

I went on my country bus ride into the town today, basically to finish off the shopping I failed to do last time, the school's finish for their spring breaks on Friday, so I want to steer clear of town when the kids are all milling round. The only exception I will make is to the visit the Continental Market that is due to hit town on Easter weekend, to replenish my stocks of Provencial soap. It was one of my lucky days in poundland, lot of wonderful tea light holders, glass hanging lights for the garden in summer, its amazing to be spending just £1 on these when the 'quality' magazines advertise them at ridiculous prices, also beautiful japanese paper lanterns that light up by battery and a small bulb and wonderful multi coloured bamboo spirals to twirl in the wind in the garden. I can just visualise it on a warm summer's evening, when it happens I will take photos. Also managed to get some strips of lovely assorted embellishments for altered art. Wow, Poundland yay!

.

One of items I bought in Poundland was a box of yellow Easter Chickens. We don't really bother decorating for Easter over here, apart from kids displaying their chocolate eggs. I've decided to bring back my treasure branch I decorated at Christmas, only this time I will make an Easter Branch out of it, fluffy little yellow chicks can sit in it and maybe some Daisy Lupin Fripperies, I'll have to find out if I can source some tiny feathered birds, if any one knows where, [in England] please let me know. If it works out I'll take photos of it, also, naturally, I will fill the rooms with daffodils.

At the very top left of my sidebar there is now a link to Daisy Lupin Designs, which is to showcase and sell the items I am making, just a few things up at present but more to follow during the coming weeks.

One last item before I go, I have just had an email from ROBYN'S [Wednesday's Child] daughter, to say she has had a mishap, she was opening a parcel with scissors, they slipped and went into her arm. Poor Robyn had to go to hospital and have stitches put in her arm, so will probably not be able to type for a while. I sent an email to as many of her contacts as I could, but if I missed you, I am sorry, but now you have read it here. She will return as soon as her arm permits and I am sure you will keep her in your thoughts and wish her well and a speedy recovery. So GET WELL SOON ROBYN and back to your blog.

TIME TO MYSELF - A DAY OF HAPPY IDLENESS

2007-03-22T18:35:00.000Z

The photograph above is the last 6x6 piece that I made for my Daisy Lupin Friendship Project

It has been a busy week so far, the trip to Thirsk on Monday, to meet the Glitter Sisters, then Tuesday, a day to go to my nearest town with a list of 'Things that must be done today - no procastinating Daisy'.

In reality this shouldn't take me nearly all day, it should just be get there, do the things that need to be done and back home again, but there always seem to be obstacles in the way. First of all half the roads in town are closed as the utilities are laying new water pipes and there are various diversions in place. Then I go into the General Post Office to see a big sign saying, sorry so many counter positions are not operating due to a staff shortage, so out of a possible ten there are two working and this is the old dears pension day. The queue twists and turns around the floor. I finally get to the counter to find myself having a disagreement about a parcel I am wanting to post abroad, the counter assistant wants to fill in the customs form herself and seems slightly unbelieving at what I say the contents are and their value. Every shop I go into seems to have one till in operation and queues of people wanting to do complicated transactions. I give up, I wanted to go to the bottom half of the town to pick up some batting and soft toy filling and to have a rummage in Poundland for any goodies I can pull apart and alter, I give up, all that can wait until next week.

I finally flee town and end up at the supermarket on the outskirts of town, to top up with some urgently needed provisions. I remember to buy some daffodils for the vernal equinox tomorrow, and I am pleased to see they have a really good deal on them, I can fill vases round the cottage at this rate. I make my husband's day as I see they have the wonderful £3 value jeans back in in his size, why pay anymore for messing around the countryside, it doesn't matter how you treat them, they are value though and finally I can't resist this, I treat myself to a beautiful length of garden lights, all tiny green leaves and green jewels, certainly not for the garden, but to decorate my workroom which will be taking on green and lemon colours when I have sorted all the bags and boxes from my Mum's that are in it.

This is a [rather bad, sorry about that] photograph of the Moon Goddess Spirit Doll that I made for Kai for this month's Spirit Doll Swap.

Wednesday, the Spring Equinox, yes the sap is rising, I could do with a free day, but suddenly cleaning and sorting are on my mind. I set to with a will that has been lacking for some time and surprise myself with the amount of sorting etc I am getting done. My dining room looks almost like it used to before the influx of boxes etc. The living room in particular looks lovely with the vases of daffodils and the smell of equinox incense burning. The weather might not show it but I feel that Spring is springing.

Above is one of my Daisy Lupin Fripperies, this one a felt egg shape with The Green Lady of Spring awakening on it. THIS CREATION IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT PLEASE DO NOT REPRODUCE

So to today, Thursday, My Day, as I said above a day of happy idleness, a day of pottering round the house, browsing books, making lists of where to plant what is needed in the garden this year, lists of things that I have ready to renovate and need a coat of paint. Ticking off of projects completed [always a satisfying job] and putting together the components of my latest designs to be known as Daisy Lupin Fripperies, those who were at Thirsk know one of the designs. These I am putting up for sale as soon as I sort out a side bar link to Daisy Lupin Designs and yes they are covered by copyright. Once I have my design gallery up and running it will be quickly followed by another gallery which will be of interest to some people, but first the trial run will be with Daisy Lupin Designs, to see if there are any glitches.

A photograph of another of my Fripperies, this time a Flower Girl. THIS CREATION IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT PLEASE DO NOT REPRODUCE.

Now it is early evening Thursday, after enjoying the above I am posting this then going to sit and chill out in the living room to enjoy the daffodils and watch the buds bursting into flower, and you know with daffodils you can see that happening when they are in the warmth of a room.

Whoops, I am so chilled out I nearly forgot to announce the winner of the One World - One HeArt giveaway, silly me. After asking a friend to choose a number, easier than a draw, to give every name a number, the winner is .........................
drum roll:-

Tinker of Tinker Art

Well done, Tinker, I shall be starting on your spirit doll this weekend and be posting it to you in a couple of weeks. Hope you will like how it turns out, I don't know because they tend to create themselves.

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE CONQUERED

2007-03-20T18:04:00.002Z

I thought the above quote of Julius Caeser's was apt for the First International Meeting of the Glitter Sisters. The day started for me at 7.20 in the morning on the road to Newcastle, a city sixty miles away. It was cold but the sky was bright blue and the sun was shining. At Newcastle, I had a little time to spare before boarding a train for Northallerton. By this time I had phoned the redoubtable Mrs Nesbitt to say I was en route, she told me that when I changed trains at Northallerton, Sue [who might be called Poppy, she could be really because she has red hair] would meet me at the station and we would jump onto a train for Thirsk [ a journey time of seven minutes would you believe!]on which Mrs N would already be on board.

I spotted Sue immediately, and came out of the waiting room to say 'You have got to be Sue', luckily it was, and we went back to sit in the waiting room trying to keep warm. There was one gentleman in the waiting room reading his paper, well really rustling it nosily, I think by this time we were talking so much the decibels were rising. By the time we turned to Stone Circles and Goddess Dolls, he walked out of the waiting room, such is the power of the Glitter Sisters to clear a room! The train approached, Sue and I waved like maniacs at the carriages, getting some very strange looks, no one waved back, so we got on one end and worked our way through the carriages looking for Mrs. N. Eventually in the last carriage, I could see a head bobbing up and down, I said to Sue 'That's Mrs N'. We all met and hugged, once again causing consternation. Then suddenly we were at Thirsk station, where Anna was waiting for us, she drove us into Thirsk [ for some mad English reason Thirsk station is not where you think it should be, in the centre of Thirsk, no no its way out in the boonies]. Anna had pinched her husband's swish car for the day so we arrived in style. We parked in the Golden Fleece Car Park and went in.

As though it was ready and waiting for us was a large circular table and room for six people. The Goddess of the Glitter Sisters was really looking after us. Talk about King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, more like Queen Violette and her Glitter Sisters of the Round Table. We had just devested ourselves of our many layers of clothes and sat down, when two faces appeared at the inner window. There's Kai abd her sister I shrieked, all decorum forgotten, a love fest ensued, of hugs, clasps and kisses, by now we had a lovely audience of sedate yorkshire ladies drinking their yorkshire tea in the pub on market day. We all sat down round the round table, and strangely enough all laid our hands flat on it touching the next person's hands. We were lucky the table did not levitate, take off and whirl us round the room, I think we would have been escorted off the premises then. Then we started throwing out a pile of little delish and pretty things we had all brought as little treats for each other. It was like Christmas and Birthday's all in one as we opened, oohed and ahhed and spread tissues paper, stickers and glitter all over the table. Occasionally , one of us would break out with, FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF THE GLITTER SISTERS, and the cameras began to flash at each other.

We realised no staff had approached us, I think they were a little uneasy and were treading with care, who were these mad women, where had they come from, was this the future of the world, they were seeing being trialled in Thirsk? Did we have minders, were we really allowed out alone with this standard of behaviour. We started telling people it was an international meeting, the first one to be held, I mean Sue had come as far as about seven miles away! Finally Lorna, Kai's lovely sister, got up and got us some menus. It was decided it was a celebration and Glitter Sisters definitely did not do salad but much more rib sticking Yorkshire food. We all pointed disapprovingly as Mrs N copped out and ordered the smoked salmon salad, which I have to say was served in this most beautiful bowl patterned with fishes, which we did think of putting it in one of our bags as a souvenir! Alas the waiter was EXTREMELY quick to take it away, do you think he overheard our conversation? The wine flowed and we decided that Glitter Sisters always do puds and desserts, especially as they were to die for, delish.

Then the fun started, the conversation grew in volume and was peppered with a few risque words such as d*****, which was because I told a story of a young lad whose mother lives near me and is the manager of an Anne Summers Shop [ the English girls will get this one] he decided to plant a few of these items amongst my plants and the next door neighbours,[ to go off on a tangent what did we do, that fine summer's morning, report him to his mother, no we lined them up on his patio for all to see when his parents awoke]. Then Mrs N enthralled us with her description of her first job at sweet sixteen, legitimate and professional, involving a razor and wearing a uniform, but obviously a shock to her system, she decided to go to be a teacher instead.

Oh we were flying high by now, and strangely enough once again the bar emptied just us Glitter Sisters left, then for me the best bit. Wow!!!!!!! Ican make Peace Cranes now I had one to one tuition with Kai, it is much easier to follow a person making it instead of printed instructions. Menus were being ripped up everywhere. How we were all shiney, red faced and noisy and just so enjoying ourselves. Then like Cinderellas, it was time to leave the ball, the weather had changed, it was sleeting and windy, our powers were all glittered out, we didn't want to return to our rags, but the party was over. Much hugging and more hugging and even more hugging and Kai and Lorna went on their way and Anna took us back to the statiion.

Thirsk station with every modern amenity, no waiting room just miles of open track with the wind howling and the snow blizzarding as we sang silly songs and tried to huddle at the side of a railway man's hut. Brave Anna waited with us for well over an hour and just as she decided to drive us to Northallerton, the train finally arrived, more hugging etc and thankfully we entered a warm train. Sue and I left Mrs N on the train and got off at Northallerton. There I waited a further hour and a half for a train to Newcastle, at least there was a waiting room, but no coffee shop. Kind Sue waited with me and finally we parted, yes more hugs.

I arrived in Newcastle to hear a train was to depart in two minutes for my nearest town. Never in my life have I got over a bridge to three platforms away in a faster time. Just before the train started I boarded and sank into a comfortable seat and warmth. Suffice to say I slept all the way to my station, which luckily is the terminus. Out of the station into the bitter cold, into a warm car and home. A lovely hot cup of coffee, [with a little nip in it if you know what I mean, Irish Whisky] and then a hot bath and straight to bed, I fell asleep immediately. The 19th of March 2007 should go down in history. How amazing that six women who have never met each in the real world, should be so like old friends, one good thing to ssay thanks to the modern world for.

THE TOP O' THE MORNING TO YOU ALL

2007-03-17T18:32:00.000Z

Here we are at St Patrick's day already, unfortunately its not really celebrated in England, unless you live in an Irish community. I always feel I am missing out because my Father's side of the family are Irish and I want to party on this day. Maybe someday I will manage to get over to Ireland to celebrate it in style over there. Until then Good Luck and Good Wishes to you all and don't forget to wish the Little Folk a good day to keep them happy.

In my last post I said I would tell you some more about
moonstones and their qualities and how they can help you be 'moontuned'. Moonstones can vary between being translucent and nearly transparent to milky white that can throw out a flash of blue or green. Moonstones can be found in other colours such as grey, yellow or pink, but the most important Moonstones are the beautiful milky ones. You must treat your Moonstones carefully as they are a soft stone and can scratch easily.

There are many legends surrounding the Moonstone, most cultures that have Moonstones have ancient tales woven about it. The Romans believed that the Moonstone was formed by drops of moonlight and hence believed it could help with the properties of the moon, inituition, dreams, emotions and romance. The Greeks believed the Moonstone was ruled by Venus, also known as Aphrodite and Selene, and they called it Aphroselene after the Goddess Selene.. In India Moonstone is a sacred gem and tradition holds that the Moonstone is a symbol of the Third eye. In the Orient they thought it was the solidified rays of the Moon, and that the light that shone within was the light of a good spirit which resided there. Other cultures use it as a healing stone.

In the folklore of the Middle Ages, it was thought that if you held a moonstone in your mouth it would refresh your memory of an event and it was also suggested that it would awaken tender passion if placed beneath the tongues of lovers at Full Moon. Also at that time it was used to glimpse the future, this was apparently done by looking deeply into the Moonstone which would make you fall into a deep sleep where you would see the future. It was also thought to protect against insanity and wanderings of the mind. Moonstones could also be hung from fruit trees to achieve a bumper fruit crop.

It has always been considered a Goddess or feminine stone, and it is believed its power grows as the Moon waxes. The Moonstone is supposed to change its look with the cycle of the Moon. It is also said that to dream of a Moonstone is to be a warning of impending danger. Moonstones, if worn are said to open a person's heart to nuturing qualities as well as to help one accept the experience of love.

Moonstone can help aid in sleeping disorders. Place a moonstone under your pillow at night to help you sleep. The Moonstone has an affinity with water and therefore is said to protect those at sea. It can also be known as the Traveller's Stone, and protects travellers, especially those travelling at night. I always travel either with a Moonstone in my pocket or wearing a piece of jewellery containing one. The Moonstone is an especially good protector and aid on the last part of the waning of the Moon and in the Dark Day before the Moon begins to wax again. You need to charge your Moonstones up to use them like this.

I use Moonstones as an aid to sleep by putting one under my pillow, but beware, they can also bring extremely vivid and lucid dreams. To prepare your Moonstones for use in the Dark day etc as mentioned in the above paragraph. You first of all need to run your moonstones through running water and pat dry. This is to cleanse them. Then at the next Full Moon lie them in a window where the Moon's rays can hit them and charge them. Then you can wear them as the Moon wanes. Beware Moonstones are very powerful and sometimes they can exert too much power if you wear them at Full Moon and it can be hard to cope with, it can make you impatient, short tempered and with an incorrect feeling of being always right and the most powerful one. I am lucky, I was born under a Moon that was waxing and was almost Full, and I can wear my Moonstones at Full Moon and relish the feeling they give me of being able to achieve things, but Ican also keep it in control. I still take them off on a Full Moon evening and let them charge in my bedroom window.

THE MOON AND HER MYSTERIOUS WAYS

2007-03-13T08:53:00.000Z

I have spoken before about how much I love the Moon and relish the Full Moon, and the surge in creativity it sends me. Thinking about the moon, and at the moment we are heading towards the dark day of the Moon, I thought I would do a posting to try to explain how important the moon is in our lives.

The Moon replicates the natural rhythm of the whole universe. The Moon throughout the year, enacts our lifetime every lunar month. She is born, she grows, she is magnificent in her full prime, then she fades and in the darkness dies, to be reborn again. This is the circle of life, and the Moon repeats it month after month.

As opposed to the twelve month solar calendar we get a thirteen month lunar calendar. Our solar calendar is very familiar to us, we know the twelve months, and the seasons that contain them. We follow this solar calendar easily, knowing when to plant our seeds, when to harvest them. It is the world in which we live and we happily take part in its ebb and flow without thinking too much about it. The lunar calendar, on the other hand, is a more subtle calendar, yes we can see the waxing and waning in the sky, but not all of us realise the invisible but powerful energies of the Moon and the effect they have on us. The energies of the Moon reach into our secret cores of feelings, knowing and intuition, in fact the Moon governs all of these emotions. What we need to do is learn these phases of the Moon and use them in the same way we use without thinking the solar days. We must learn to flow with the Moon's phases, as do all animals and nature and not fight against them.

At the Dark Day of the Moon, the Sun and Moon, work together affecting us in a very intense way, I want to say something about this later on. We should try to use this time, carefully and gently, it is a time to meditate on what we have achieved during the previous moon and prepare our activities for the next. A time to connect to our inner selves for guidance and insights and also a time to take note of what we dream. This should be our quiet time, almost a hibernation, don't overstretch yourself on these days.

The first Crescent Moon is the best time to begin new projects and try out new things, also to begin journies and travels. Whatever befalls you during the phases of the Moon, this first crescent it a time when you can start afresh. You need never fear failure, you have the chance thirteen times a year to try again until you are satisfied. As the Moon waxes, work towards what you are wanting to achieve in goals and nurture what we are growing. After the first quarter, try not to start any new projects.

At the Full Moon and Sun and Moon are directly opposite one another, some people can feel unbalanced at this time, as well as in the Dark Day. What some people cannot cope with at this time is the pull of the different directions. The pull between our inner and outer lives. We must try to overcome this and use this time to fulfil our projects, our creative juices run freely and we feel most inspired.

By the last Quarter, our projects should be finished and we should be spending the time finishing, ending and decluttering, ready once again for the Dark Day and the cycle of creation of our projects starting all over again.

I just want to talk about the two crucial times of the lunar month, the Dark Day before the Moon begins to wax and the full moon. On both these occasions the power of the Sun and the Moon are equal, they both have an equal gravitational pull at these times. I once read this simple explanation of these two times which has stayed with me. It is as though the Moon breathes all the time but at Dark Day and Full Moon, she takes in an extra deep breath as though pulling more air into her system. This is like the whole Moon pulling at Earth. There are differences in effect on us from these two times.

The adverse effect of the Full Moon can be more on the physical body, if we can't channel our creativity at this time, we can become hyper, disorientated, feeling slightly off balance, in fact actually feeling the physical sensations of dizziness and sickness. The effect of the Dark Day, is to me more dangerous if you don't recognize it, it is a more subtle and intangible effect that works on our minds and inner souls. If we don't recognise the effect of the Dark Day it can do us harm, it is a time when you can find yourself doubting yourself, feeling yourself lacking, just that feeling that something is not right.

The best way of overcoming these terrible times that some people feel at the Dark Day and the Full Moon, is to try to work with the Moon, try to organise so you go with the flow of the Moon's essence, begin, peak and end with her cycle as described in the phases of the Moon above. Once you work with the Moon, you will love the surge of creativity at full moon, and find you can get so much done. Also never forget the way to being 'Moontuned' as I like to think of it is by wearing Moonstones. This also has to be approached correctly, and I'll tell you about them another time.

ONE World - ONE HeART

2007-03-09T00:42:00.000Z

As you will see from the above illustration, I am taking part in Lisa OceanDreamer's giveaway draw. If you go to her site http://heartofthenest.blogspot.com/ down the side bar you will see a list of all the participants and you enter all the draws, you never know you might get lucky.

The prize I am offering is a Spirit Healing doll, I can't show you the actual doll as they are made for the person and no one else, I try to include attributes of the person I am making for. Therefore, I am just showing two illustrations of the type of doll I am talking about. You can keep them on your desk or hang them by your bed and they will send out serene vibes to you. They tend to be between eight and ten inches tall. I will be having the draw on the 21st March and then I will contact the winner. The doll should be made and ready to post by early April. If you would like to be in the draw just leave a comment on my comments section, anytime between today and 21st March.

Further to my previous postings about the speeding up of time I have been doing some research, and so far the following is what I have come up with. I am just showing what I have found out, it is up to you to believe it or not. All over I have come across references to the acceleration of time, how everyone seems to think it is moving forward with ever greater speed. Well, it is ! Many people from visionaries, soothsayers to scientists have been writing, speaking and working on the strange happening. Many, including some scientists look to the Mayan Calendar for an explanation of this. The Mayan calendar is due to end on either November, 2011 or December, 2012, depending on which way the calculations are made. This is when time is supposed to end, maybe not the end of the world full stop, but definitely the end of the world measured by time as we know it. Afterwards everything will be different. By the Mayan calendar, the years before the end will be noted by time speeding up, and many difficult situations and terrible catastrophes in the world. It is said that the speed of creation itself has speeded up.

It can be put like this, if you brought back your great grandmother and sat her in a room with a computer, mobile phone, interactive television etc she would think we were wizards. Even just thinking how technology has grown since we were children, I would never have believed I could type a letter and someone in Australia would have it one minute later. It is the speed of our discovering this technology that is one of the reasons time speeds up, plus the fact we are near the end of a whole calendar cycle. Think how long, how many centuries, men farmed, worked from their own homes, kept to natural hours of daylight and then came the Industrial Revolution and time in a man made way began to rule our day.

From the Mayan Calendar the path leads to the Native American tribe of Hopi. Their elders have nine signs of the end of this circle of the world. Martin Gasheseoma, who as far as I can find out is an elder himself [please tell me if this is incorrect but I have seen him referred to as one] and these he lists as the nine signs, that will bring about the Fifth World.

These prophecies were actually told by White Feather of the Bear Clan and are said to be of ancient origin.

This is the First Sign: We were told of the coming of the white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana -- men who took the land that was not theirs and who struck their enemies with thunder. (Guns)

This is the Second Sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels filled with voices. (Covered wagons)

This is the Third Sign: A strange beast like a buffalo but with great long horns, will overrun the land in large numbers. (Longhorn cattle)

This is the Fourth Sign: The land will be crossed by snakes of iron. (Railroad tracks)

This is the Fifth Sign: The land shall be criss-crossed by a giant spider's web. (Power and telephone lines)

This is the Sixth Sign: The land shall be criss-crossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun. (Concrete roads and their mirage-producing effects.)

This is the Seventh Sign: You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it. (Oil spills)

This is the Eighth Sign: You will see many youth, who wear their hair long like our people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn our ways and wisdom. (Hippies)

This is the Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star.

Very soon after this, the ceremonies of the Hopi people will cease. Other signs of the world shaking will be:-
Trees will dies - acid rain the and the demise of the rain forest
Man will build a house in the sky - space station
Cold places will become hot - global warming
Lands will sink into the ocean, lands will rise from the ocean
There will be an appearance of the Blue Star Kachina

That is where my research has led me for now, I have put this down for you all to read, make of it what you will. If you have any interesting theories or know more about any of the above please let me know, I would be most interested.

The historical photographs above were taken by Edward Curtis, the first is of the Hopi men entering for the Snake Dance and the second is of a Hopi cornfield.

FAIRY STEPS

2007-03-05T23:22:00.000Z

I was interested to note on Robyn's site the photograph of the fairy steps she had taken, and that made me remember that in my county we also have some fairy steps. Photographs of which are at the beginning of this blog and below.

In the bottom western part of Cumbria here is a village called Beetham, and from that village a path through woodland climbs to Beetham fell [mountain] and that leads to the Fairy Steps. The steps are a natural staircase in limestone crags. On two levels. As you can see it is a narrow passage that squeezes between two sheer rock face crags. The legend says that if you manage to ascend or descend these steps without touching either of the limestone crags the fairies will grant you a wish. I fear that unless you are of the stature of a fairy there is no chance of an adult human achieving this task. Those with second sight are believed to be able to witness the fairy folk skipping up the steps.

Beetham Steps are on what are known in the region of Cumbria as a Corpse trail. These are paths that criss cross Cumbria where corpses were carried in their coffins to burial at a local church, usually they are in the remoter parts of the region. You can see the iron rings in the crags where the ropes were put through to lower the coffin down to the next level. A lot of these old corpse roads abound in legends. Another legend about Beetham and the corpse road is of The Cappel a fiery eyed demon dog that can appear.

The fairies of Beetham Steps are in the bottom part of Cumbria, but there is a legend concerning the fairy people, much nearer to me which is called The Luck of Edenhall. Edenhall was the residence of the Musgrave family. It is said that in the garden of this house there was a well full of excellent springwater known as St Cuthbert's Well. There was a sacred chalice that had once belonged to the nearby church, also known as St Cuthbert's which the fairies had long ago purloined. It is said that one evening a servant went to draw water from this well and surprised a group of fairies playing on the green near the well. They had dropped the chalice by the well whilst they amused themselves and the crafty servant snatched it up, they flew at him and tried to recover it but after a struggle gave it up. They flew away chanting 'If that glass either break or fall, Farewell the luck of Edenhall'.

The actual chalice is now in the V & A museum in London. It is made of Syrian glass in the 13th century, and enamelled. It has a leather case to be kept in [ there is a photograph of it above]. It is obviously some artifact brought back from the Crusades. It stayed with Musgrave family for a couple of hundreds of years, one of Musgraves, was said to have a party trick of tossing the chalice in the air and letting a manservant catch it. Another generation of Musgraves used to take turns of drinking out of it, a napkin, held beneath the glass so no harm could come to it. However, I fear that although the chalice remains unbroken, the luck of Edenhall did run out as it burnt down in 1934.

I can now show you, as in the photograph above, the healing spirit doll I made for the Hello Dolly, doll swap for Stacia. I didn't want to show this doll on my site until she had received it. This doll is called 'Lady of the Greenery' and is a healing spirit doll that also wishes to heal planet Earth as well. I am now beginning this month's doll which I am making for Kai, this is a Moon Goddess, as that is the theme this month. I am hoping to be able to personally hand this one over to her. What fun! - I feel nervous and giggly already!

This gorgeous box of goodies from a Secret Fairy landed on my doorstep on Saturday. Thank you so much Kris, it is absolutely gorgeous. All so beautifully wrapped, it contained a sweet handmade cushion decorated with pompoms and with an appliqued cupcake on, a lovely squishy teddy bear, a notebook which is a two year planner, that should keep me on track with my projects, a lovely ATC and handmade card and some yummy chocolates, Ferraro Rocher [my favourites], some samples of other chocolates and a Hershey Bar, of the most gorgeous dark chocolate filled with cranberries and macedonia nuts - delish! And the fulfillment of a dream, when I was a little girl and my cousin used to send me American comics, I always wanted to try a Hershey bar, and decades later I have.

A coda to my musings on time, I have just come across an article that mentions the fact that most people now say that time is accelerating, [which is what I had been thinking] and suggests that this is due to us coming near to the end of the Mayan calendar wheel. I shall be looking into this theory and reporting back to you all.

TREEHUGGER

2007-03-03T16:44:00.000Z

I’ll come right out and say it, I am a tree hugger, there is nothing like throwing your arms round a tree or pressing your face gently against the bark and inhaling the wonderful smell of it. In Autumn you can feel the tree quietly preparing for its winter sleep and in Spring you can share the exhilaration of the juicy and zesty sap.

My daughter once told me that my son and her were talking about their names, luckily both are satisfied with them, but my son pointed out to her that they were lucky to have regular names, saying you know what Mum and Dad were like, we could have ended up Treehugger and Starshine. Sometimes to tease, I call this giant over six foot, hulking man Treehugger and visualise him hugging a tree.

My favourite tree of all is the Silver Birch, there is one just outside my back garden on the piece of common land, I love to watch the leaves appear in the spring and the wind rustling through its leaves on a Summer’s day. It bows and sweeps its leaves so majestically like a fine lady dancing a very intricate medieval court dance. In fact, another name in mythology for the Silver Birch is Lady of the Woods, which I think just fits exactly. The Silver Birch protects from evil and a broom made of birch twigs will sweep negative forces from your house. A few birch twigs in a vase at your door will invite healing spirits into your house. It also is a useful tree to take a tiny twig of in your pocket as another aspect is protection whilst on a journey.

The Silver Birch also represents and works with the Moon. Once every so often I am lucky enough to be able to watch the full moon through or over the branches of the Silver birch tree. Adjacent to the silver birch is a rown tree which compliments the silver birch, I feel so lucky to have both so near to me.

The Fungus Fly Agaric [other wise known as the Magic Mushroom] has a symbiotiac relationship with the silver birch as it merges with the roots of the tree and help it to absorb minerals in exchange for sugars from the tree. This is the mushroom beloved of illustrators of fairy stories from which we usually see fairies peering round or sitting on top of. I must admit I have never seen any of these around my Silver Birch, though I have been told it is only about ten years old, I have noticed how much it has grown in the time we have lived in the cottage, they are very fast growing trees.

This young man, my son, is 29 years old today. Wasn't he a sweetie? [Sorry mummyitis!] He looks as good as gold, as though he could never get into mischief, sitting on the chair with the statue he won for playing cricket. How deceptive a photograph can be, he was a cheeky cheerful little boy, that people would forgive anything, his fun and cheekiness were never malicious just natural boyish fun. He is still full of fun and can always make me laugh with his hilarious comments and stories. He will be spending his birthday evening DJing at a local club. Happy Birthday TREEHUGGER! [It could have been your name couldn't it?]

So this is my lazy weekend, I am just taking a break from being lazy by getting this posting done. We intend to settle in tonight to watch a dvd, have a drink or two and maybe even some chocolates. After the house returns to just the two of us tomorrow afternoon, I am going to pack up, ready to post, any projects that need to be sent and sort out some bits and pieces to do with admin for Daisy Lupin Designs, then another slothful evening ready for a good full week of creating.

As some of you probably know from Kai's blog, the first international meeting of the GPS will take place in Yorkshire, whilst Kai is in England. I am travelling over from Cumbria and Mrs Nesbitt is travelling from Whitby and we are meeting in Thirsk. Do you think the world can stand this moment? So if on 19th March you feel a jolt or suddenly for a few seconds that time stops, a sort of hiccup in time, it could be the four [Kai is bringing her sister] of us meeting each other. We will be sending out some pretty poweful vibes, maybe a good time to try and heal the Earth.
Will we recogise each other? What will we sound like to each other? Should we sprinkle glitter all over ourselves so we know each other? This is a very exciting occasion, and I hope the first of many for meeting my friends from cyberspace.

The other event I have been involved in since I last posted was an open meeting of my Local History Group for which I had engaged a speaker to give an illustrated slide show on our village and its immediate surroundings. It was a fascinating talk, and I think even people who have lived here all their lives found at least one new fact about our village. I was especially pleased as despite it being a cold night sixty three people turned up for this evening event. I am so glad that people are showing so much interest.

AS TIME GOES BY

2007-02-28T23:19:00.000Z

I am still pondering about Time, and I did find all your comments very interesting, it seems that most of us are feeling this quickening of time.

I have no clock in our bedroom, I will admit that I keep a mobile phone on my bedside table, but no clock. In Winter, the earliest I get up is 7.45 and I have found that my body has taught itself to wake at that time, if I check my mobile it is always the correct time. Even on Sundays when I have a lie in I automatically wake at that time, then turn over and go to sleep again. In Summer, I seem to naturally wake at 7.00. I am lucky that on most days I can go with the times my body wants to wake up. On the other hand, my husband wakes with the light, so his body has a routine that makes him wake earlier and earlier as the year progresses and dawn comes earlier.

I also notice in the Summer if I am out in the garden for a full day, with no time to be seen [I never wear a watch, they drive me mad] I follow the passage of the sun and can always tell you what time it is usually to within the half hour, that always seems to be the correct and natural usage of time.

If I go through a day saying things like well I can do this until such a time then I must do that and if I start preparing the dinner at ........ I always end up feeling harassed and frazzled, but if I just float through the day doing things without regarding time I am always amazed at the end of the day how much I have got done. I definitely think we all need to try to organise some sort of Time Out day, maybe once or twice a month, where we have no schedules but approach the day more as we did as children, you know, a long glowing curve of time in front of us to be filled before it was time for bed again. Just take a moment now to think, can you remember what it was like as a child to wake up in bed in the morning and have that whole day stretching out in front of you? No real plans just letting the day happen. Let's give it a go!

With my thinking on time I have also been thinking about the effects of moon on people. I always say, what phase of the moon were you born under, was it waxing or waning, full, quarter or what? Do you know if you google it you can get a site which will work it out for you. Try it you learn something about yourself. For example, I was born under an almost full moon, and relish the full moon, I have mentioned many times how I love to sleep with the moonlight on my pillow. It is the dark day before the waning moon starts to wax again that I don't like.

I know some people feel lost at times when the moon affects them badly. My theory is this, you might not agree but here goes. Personally, at full moon I am at my peak of creativity, the ideas just fly out of me, I feel I could create anything, I am a happy person, and feel centred, this feeling wanes as does the moon, luckily for me, not drastically, but quite gently, though I know there are people who feel it very badly and end up feeling lost and searching. What I say is that they are not lost and searching, this is how their body tells their mind to slow down, the mind does need a dormant period to revitalise itself. If you can work at what phase of the moon affects you badly, note it down so you know when it is going to happen every month, and be ready for it. Do not push yourself on these days, do not begin big projects, do not dig deep into your inner self, instead cossett your self, give yourself little treats, if possible try to take a few small naps, gently read, take a luxury bath, nuture yourself, until the time passes and you are on the up side again. Do your mindless tasks around the house, at this time, making more free time for when your creativity flows. Try it and see if it works for you.

Thefirst doll photograph above is the doll I made for Gemma, called Healer from the Desert it was a practice we did for the Spirit Art Doll swap we are participating in. You can read more about the doll on Gemma's blog. The next photograph down is a little pixie, Lupin Lad, a felt piece I made for a swap with Artsy Mama. I liked the idea of the cheeky face peeping around the fly agaric mushroom. I also thought he was a good prototype for the Lupin Lad's I want to make this year to go with the Daisy Fae's.

TIME OUT! - LET'S JUST STOP FOR A MOMENT

2007-02-25T20:11:00.000Z

When I was younger older people would always be saying things such as 'Doesn't time fly?' I never thought it did then, time was just something that was around, I now think that my life was so blissfully unstructred by time tables that time didn't fly. Now say, thirty to forty years on, I think time is 'flying' but the worrying thing is that it is not just older people saying this, I hear people all over saying this, I see people on writing in their blogs, 'where has this week gone to?' and even my daughter in her early twenties thinks time flashes by. I bet there is not one of you out there who will not agree that Christmas seems months and months ago.

I am seriously begining to wonder what is wrong with time. Has it really speeded up? Are we so focused on the future and things that are to come that we have lost the capacity to enjoy and relish the present moment? I know we can't ignore time, most of us have places to be and to be doing something at certain times. It is our societies that have speeded up time, and we have no option, if we don't want to be homeless and penniless but to go along with this crazy speeding up. No wonder, there is so much stress and unhappiness.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ignore time for a day or two, it's an experiment I want to try some time soon. Yes, I know we will have a rough idea because of day and night, but I sometimes think if that was what our bodies could tune into time would slow down. The faster we try to cram more and more into our days the faster time goes. Even with things like meditation, we tend to slot it into the schedule, twenty minutes here, ten minutes there.

I am working on ideas of how to slow down time, at least for a little part of my life. I am thinking of some ideas that might help us achieve that. If any of you have any ideas, leave a comment, I am going to make a sidebar badge, and when I post it any of you can take it and put it on your sidebars if you wish to join with me and try to slow down time.

Friday, was a wonderful day, I had just settled down with a cup of coffee when the mail lady knocked. A box was there for me all the way from Gemma in Arizona, containing two healing spirit dolls. One was for the Hello Dolly Swap we are both involved in and the other was for a private swap we did as a practice for Hello Dolly.

First out of the box was the Green Man, this was the personal swap that Gemma and I did. [his photograph heads up this posting], the photopraph of the back of him and his words of wisdom are below. I was so pleased with the Green Man, a particular favourite of mine, I have a roundel of him that protects my garden. Also included was this wonderful Native American poem about the Green Man as tree, and I am sure you will agree that the sentiments in this poem are so pertinent to what I was talking about above and the world today.

The writing on the back of the Green Man doll says TO THEE AND TREE FOR NEW GROWTH AND HONORING ROOTS.

The Sprit Healing doll is a Zuni Kachina, and it wears a Zuni mask and has Zuni fetishes, of hare, yellow bird and turquoise leaf, and corn and shells used in rituals tied around the waist. I was thrilled to see Hare as one of the fetishes, as it is an animal that means a lot to me. Again there is a very sage poem to go with this Kachina which I have reproduced below. Both of these dolls have the most wonderful musky smoky fragrance eminating from them and the first evening I put them on my bedside table and went to sleep with this wonderful smell wafting by me and around me. I am perfectly serious when I say that I had the best night's sleep for weeks that night and I put that down to the dolls by the bedside and their healing powers.

A couple of weeks ago I received a Wise Woman doll from Robyn, and with all my computer problems etc, I am very much afraid that I never really got to talk about this doll or post a photograph of it. Well, I am making up for that now. I call this doll Meg, after a poem I vaguely remember at school about a gypsy called Meg Merilees. She sits on my artroom table and sends me out good vibes whilst I am creating. She also has much healing within her and she keeps my workroom calm. She has a very serene face but at times she also reminds me of myself with the woven bag she carries containing two healing semi-precious stones and a stick wand.

I now have three beautiful spirit dolls to soothe me when I work and to soothe me when I sleep. It is lovely to see my collection of art dolls growing like this. Thank you so much Robyn and Gemma, your dolls have touched my spirit.

I have had a lovely weekend, jotting down some creative ideas and although I don't really watch much television there is a programme I love, I don't know if anyone knows it, it is called 'Rosemary and Thyme' and is about two women who run a gardening business but also go around solving murders. A body always turns up in the shrubbery sooner or later. Well one channel had a weekend dedicated to this programme, so I had fun dipping in and out of different episodes, sunshine, beautiful gardens and a little sleuthing on the side what better way to spend a rainy weekend?

TAKING STOCK

2007-02-21T23:41:00.000Z

After my last posting, I found these two photographs, of my Grandfather's garden, the garden that is my favourite of past house gardens. There's my grandfather, relaxing in front of his greenhouse, which looks to be full of tomato plants and in the other photograph there I am toddling up another gravel path. It looks as though I am pulling off a flower head, naughty me! I just wanted to show you them so as you could get an idea of how it was a typical post First World War English garden even into the early 1960's.

I feel as if I have lost the month of January, and some of February. Ideas and projects for the new year, got cast aside in the double whammy of completely sorting out my Mother's belongings and life and the great hard drive crash. I actually feel as though my year started at the beginning of this week and am now in the process of taking stock of what I achieved last year and building on it this year.

I have my swap projects under control again, and am going back to my Daisy Lupin Designs. These Daisy Lupin designs, will be in the site I created to run along side my blog, and has been under construction for the past three or four months. Bascially I will be putting up for sale on there items I create, including Daisy Fae dolls and Podlings, all protected by copyright, especially the Podlings, [I have noticed similar things starting to be seen around blogland], only true Podlings come with the Podling certificate and story though. I am also making Mark II podlings. It is so lovely to be creating again. I think it will be easier to sell through this site than Ebay and etsy and I can set up paypal for payments, apparently.

I am also trying to set up a visual display site for the work of people who I am in a group with. You would not believe how difficult it is to write down terms and conditions clearly and simply so they do not sound ambiguous and everyone can understand exactly how the things will run, without bombarding me with emails. I am trying to make sure I cover all aspects of this project, and it is quite complicated and taking me quite a while, to set it up.

I am also dithering about setting up a sort of, how can I explain this, Daisy Lupin exploration course, through email. Basically, this is very early work in progress, but for a small sum people could be sent by email instructions for finding out more about themselves through doing given exercises, a mixture of writing, games, drawing etc. I know it sounds slightly boring but no, it would be typically Daisy Lupin, flight of fancy, quirkiness and musing. This is probably important for me as I love exploring my mind and creativity in many ways that I think others would enjoy.

Those three projects listed above are what I have written in my journal as achievable this year. Wish me luck.

I came across these photographs of the nearest town to me, actually it is a city as it has a small cathedral, it is also where I was born. The first photograph shows the fine neo-gothic Victorian Railway station, at one time a very important station in the railway network. Trains going to all points, north, south, east and west. That is what you would walk out of if you came by train. You would then walk up a slight incline, past the hotel next to the station and face this edifice.

Actually there are two of them, one on either side of the road. These were where the southern gates to the city stood at one time, the city walls were either side of them. These are not the original structures. There had been a gate in the city walls from medieval times, this was replaced in the sixteenth century by a fortress, thought needed to protect the city, this was around the time of Henry VIII and his dissolution of the monastries. This fortress, in turn was demolished and in 1810 these two ovals towers were built, at the bottom of one of the towers there is still some of the stonework of the previous fortress. These two citadels were known as the courts and until a few years ago the one on the left was the criminal court and the one on the right was the civil court. Many years ago the jail was also further along from the citadel tower on the left hand side.

In front of the right side tower is The Crescent [you can just see it in the top right hand corner of this photograph] what must have been a wonderful sweep, once of large houses, now they are shops at the bottom and flats above. It must have been my town's answer to the magnificent crescents that were being built in London and Bath. Unfortunately, the crescent is now a traffic nightmare.

This little alleyway runs at the back of the right hand side of the citadel and is known as Citadel row, it used to be full of tiny little shops, but is now owned by the council, who used some of it as offices for a while.

The large black and white building on this photograph stretches all the way back down Citadel Row. It is not a tudor or mock tudor building as most people think but it is an example of an arts and crafts style building. It belongs to the council and used to be let out as shops and offices, but after the floods of 2005 which flooded the police station at the other end of town, the police use this building as a police station until their new one is ready.

Another posting I will show you some more of the historic parts of my nearest town, and at a later date I will also show you photographs of my nearest local market town. Hope you have enjoyed seeing the above photos showing small slices of local history.

DO YOU LOOK BACKWARDS FOR A LAST LINGERING LOOK OR FACE RESOLUTELY FORWARD

2007-02-18T12:10:00.000Z

A photograph I took of my Great Grandparents house, they lived here when the 1901 census was taken.

Friday, was the end of an era for me. The last bags and cartons were taken out of my Mother's old flat. My son brought them in a van to the cottage where my husband stacked them all over the barn and the house so I can sort through them in peace. Anyone want to cook meals in a kitchen with a large Scandanavian Birch Wardrobe in the middle? [It will be moved upstairs shortly]. I stayed at the flat to hoover the carpets and check all cupboards etc. My son will go up today and get rid of the zillions bags of rubbish and that's that. So Friday, was the last time I would be at the flat, and probably, I will have no reason to be visiting that area of the town again.

In only eighteen years there has been a lot of drama, happiness and sadness enacted in that flat. No wonder buildings seem to hold residues of happenings. Will someone see one night shadowy glimmers of my father moving from room to room, or even the rest of us, I sometimes think that these residues are not always of people who have died. Maybe we all leave a sort of image on surroundings like an old negative of a photograph

My Mother standing at the front door of my Grandparents 1920 Semi. This photograph would be about 1950

So, how did I leave for the final time, as I leave everywhere for the last time, not with a long lingering look backwards through a car window, but resolutely facing forward, the building already locked in my head as a memory. The way my life has been, thinking of the houses I have lived in, there are only two that I have ever passed by again. They were both on the way to my mother's old flat, so now no reason to see them again. When my mother was in respite care before Christmas, the bus went through an area I lived most of my childhood in, and I had never been that close to my old house for 34 years. With being on a bus I began feeling disorientated as I approached what would have been my old bus stop, would find myself trying to stand up to get off the bus. How deeply ingrained in my psyche must that stop have been. I nver gave in to the temptation to view my old house.

I have some friends who were my next door neighbours years ago, and at one point they just moved house to the other end of the road. I remember thinking how very strange having to pass your old house everyday and see what people were doing to it.

The two old houses of my own that I passed on the way to my mum's old flat were the one I was born in and lived the first two years of my life. It is a house that features a lot in my dreams. We moved out when my parents managed to get a new house of their own. Houses were in very short supply after the baby boom of post war years, and there was a huge building programme started and it took time for houses to be completed for people to live in. Even after moving I was constantly visiting that house of my grandparents. It has always been my favourite house. I feel sad when I used to pass it by, it was a beauiful semi-detached house built to a high standard after World War One, and my grandfather was the proud purchaser of it, it had front, side and rear gardens and I loved it. The people that bought it in 1973 covered the front in the most unappealing plastic faux stone cladding that quite spoilt the art deco look of the house. I cringe and feel sad when I pass it.

Me, in the vegetable garden of my Grandparent's Semi, see what I mean about unusually large gardens.

The other house I pass is one we lived in with the children, now this one doesn't bother me at all, I never liked it, it was what I called a rebound house. We came up from Manchester and the house we were buying fell through and had to search quickly for an alternative , we found the rebound house. I thought we might be able to do things with it, but more and more flaws became apparent in it. I hardly turn to look at it as I pass it. Now not returning to that area, I won't be passing them again. Another house I lived in as a teenager no longer exists, it was demolished to make way for an out of town retail park.

The houses that feature most in my dreams are my grandparent's house, and my brand new house of early childhood, plus a house I have never been inside in reality, my great grandparents house. I have seen the outside it was a substantial semi-detached Edwardian Villa, with an enormously long front garden and drive and a garden, kitchen garden, greenhouses and a paddock behind. I often dream about wandering round this house, and my mother tells me that I have got the layout completely correct, isn't that a strange thing?

My other Great Grandparents substantial Edwardian semi-detached villa. Just look at that fantaastic garden. The window that is open is apparently the drawing room.

The cottage I live in now, I remember over the years going on the road through the village on the way to Newcastle and thinking this looks like a nice place to live, never dreaming we would end up here. There are another two houses I have dreamt of quite a few times but I have no idea where there are or what they are. I think one of them is something to do with one of my children, it is a large flat in a city and we find these hidden rooms above it with some beautiful furniture stored in. The other house I just know the inside of and that many renovations are being done in it.

I never forget houses I have lived in or even enjoyed renting for holidays, I store them safely in my mind. How does anyone else feel about houses they have lived in and the leaving of houses where events in their life occurred?

Remember, a couple of postings ago when I wrote about these rather odd overalls children were put out to play in in the early 1950's well here are my friend and I modelling them. You know which is me, yes the one with the closed eyes, of course.

I have not been able to find photographs of some of my houses, one or two I know I don't have any of, but somewhere in this pile of bags I am sorting are many more photographs of my other houses. I will post them when I find them. All the time I am sorting I am finding weird and wonderful photographs, which bit by bit I will post.

Just to close, take a look above that's a very slim me in 1978 with my son, then 10 weeks old sitting on my knee. I have forgotten how dark my hair was, that's actually its natural colour when I was younger. It wasn't often that colour though. It is big curly perm for big hair time, obviously!!!!

This photograph was taken with one of those Kodak disc cameras, anyone remember them? Your negatives came back on a circular wheel. I have noticed that the colour quality of the photographs taken with this camera have deteriorated quite badly, they have all gone this strange pinkish hue.

THE GAME IS ON

2007-02-14T19:48:00.000Z

I have been involved in this email game which is absolutely fascinating me, it is very simple, but oh so interesting. You ask all your friends to reply to just you with one word that sums you up, then they can tag the rest of their contacts to do the same to them. These are the replies that came back about me, quirky, wisdom, confident, found, wonderful, calming, wise, writer, natural, flowerfairy, thorough, wisdom[again], story teller supreme, spiritual and my very favourite, at the end of my list of contacts I added on my daughter, Sweetpea, as I knew she would like to do this with her friends and her reply was BEST, I did feel a little gulp in my throat.

I tagged myself to do this meme off Maryellen, who now has a special site for memes http://oldcrowknees2.blogspot.com/ , and this was one I haven't done before. Sometimes these memes are a good way of evaluating yourself and your feelings.

Meme about 2006

1. What did you do in 2006 that you have never done before? Started my blogging life, of course.

2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope

3. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes my little cat Pixie, on Midsummers Eve

4. What countries did you visit?
None, stayed in England this year

5. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
A piano

6. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
Midsummer's Eve [see above]

7. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No

8. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Lots of people did lots of lovely things which I appreciated and would not like to pick anyone out, except maybe my children, who are always there when we need them

9. Whose behaviour appalled and depressed you?
Our so called leader Blair and his cohort Bush -get out of Iraq now, it is a mess, too many people are being killed and for gods sake don't even consider going into Iran.

10. Where did most of your money go?
On living in a quiet rural way, with little treats of art materials, books, plants for the garden and small quirky items, oh and the occasional bottle of good wine

11. What did you get really excited about?
My new blog, and meeting so many people from around the world some of whom are now becoming firm friends of mine, explaining all this to my real world friends who don't blog and trying to make them understand how it is possible to build up a friendship in cyberland

12. Compared to this time last year, are you, a) happier or b) sadder?
Happier, as I strive for contentment and no longer storm out tackling any cause that I hear of. I now quietly try to do my bit to save the Earth and Mother Nature. Quiet and stealth can be as effective as marching and chanting

13. What was your favourite TV show in 2006?
I don't watch much TV at all, but there was one programme Lost, and now I am lost it has gone to Sky channels only

14. What was the best book you read in 2006?
I honestly don't think I can choose, I read so many good books last year, maybe I should choose a classic, Precious Bane by Mary Webb, was a wonderful evocative book of an English countryside and lifestyle now lost. The descriptions of nature were awe inspiring

15. Is there someone or something you missed this past year?
Cornwall, we didn't get there last year

16. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I was fifty five and I blogged about my simple day pottering about a nearby market town, a lovely evening meal and wine. It was an unseasonably warm and sunny day for November and the countryside was at its late autumn best. It was the last sunny day of autumn and it rained after that nearly everyday until Christmas

17. What kept you sane?
Creating

18. Make up a question you want to answer here: Did you do anything that surprised you?
Yes, I started up a Local History Group and got funding for it too

19. If you could do one thing this year and not get chastised by anyone for doing it, what would you do?
No one chastises me, I am an adult with a mind of my own, not a child to be told go stand in the corner for some wrongdoing

20. If you could meet one blogger in 2007, who would you want to meet?
This is very hard, but I think among many I would have to say Robyn as it was from reading and lurking around her blog that I took my courage in both hands and began my own. She was the first blog I commented on and I was very nervous. Though I really would love to meet any of my blogging friends

That was quite interesting to do and has also made me look back on last year and think about happenings, achievements and hopes I had for this year. I have another meme here that I got from Janet's blog, I'll finish off with this one and then go and say hello to the people who's blogs I haven't been back to yet.

If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
Everyone must know the answer to this by now. In Cornwall on top of a hill with a stunning view of the sea from all the front windows. It is detached and surrounded by beautiful countryside, isolated, not seen from the road, perhaps hidden by trees and not too far from Penzance. It also has an amazing garden with a camomile lawn and room at the back for hens, goats and ducks and doves, not to mention the cats and a dog for my husband

What is your favourite item of clothing?
I love long swirly summer dresses faded cottons or cheesecloth that the breeze ripples worn with a battered straw hat to keep the sun off my head

Favourite physical feature of the opposite sex?
Hands are very important and of course eyes, they tell all, they are the windows of the soul

What is the last CD you bought?
Norah Jones new album

Where is your favourite place to be?
Apart from Cornwall, [see above] in my cottage, any room or the garden, I love different rooms at different times of day and depending on what activity I am doing

Where is your least favourite place to be?
Anywhere where I am dealing with officialdom and paper pushers

Where is your favourite place to be massaged?
Keep away from my feet I can'at stand them being touched. Shoulders and the back of my neck are where my tension usually is and where I need the massage

Strong in mind or body?
Strong in mind I would think, I am a terrible wimp about lifting heavy things, I could years ago but it goes for my shoulders and knees now

What time do you wake up in the morning?
Winter about eight in the morning, maybe even half eight if it is a dark grey day. Summer usually at seven or even before that if the sun is shining

What is your favourite kitchen appliance? My electric kettle and toaster for a quick breakfast, you know exactly what you can get done while one is toasting and the other boiling

What makes you really angry?
Having been dealing with my mother's move it has to be, at the moment, officialdom who are sloppy with their admin and can't give you the answers to the questions you are asking without putting you to talk to about three different people and then they give you incorrect information and you start all over again. Its not that hard to be efficient

If you could play an instrument what would it be?
I can play piano

Favourite colour?
Purple

Which do you prefer sports car or suv?
Not at all bothered, not interested in cars at all just want to get from a to b and back

Do you believe in an afterlife?
Recincarnation

Favourite childrens book?
The Secret Garden but many others too

What is your favourite season?
Late Spring when the leaves have that crumpled fresh look and are that really zingy green almost lime green at times

Your least favourite household chore?
Cleaning bathrooms

Ifyou could have one super power what would it be?
Healing

If you have a tattoo what is it?
I haven't but I wish I had the courage to have one, my daughter has two, a celtic design on the middle of her lower back and a tiny butterfly on her shoulder

Can you juggle?
I constantly juggle in life

The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?
My great great grandfather, who was a bandsmaster in the army and went all over the world and was involved in the mutiney in India and in one of the seiges

Whats your favourite day?
Any day, but A favourite day is to be woken by the sun and the birds singing after sleeping with the full moon on my pillow

DON'T MENTION THE 'R' WORD

2007-02-13T15:49:00.000Z

Yes, its me, I really am back after 11days and 12 hours of nail biting, hair tearing, misery, cut off from all my cyber friends, wondering what is happening out there. What happened? Well that's the strangest thing no one, not one techie or computer geek can tell me. I switched on my computer and had a message from Windows saying it could not open as it was protecting my files! At first I thought it was a repetition of last year, when it closed itself down as the fan was over heating, so I took it to my techie who thought the same. I was to return the next day and take the computer home, ready to use again. Phone call the next day, it was not the fan, the darned computer just wanted to protect my files! Eventually even my techie, who tried everything was totally baffled, he said he had never seen anything like it. So the hardrive had to be sent away and put in another computer to be mended then returned and the boards put in my computer. So back home it came to me today and here I am, hopefully, for a long time before anything else befalls it.

Strangely enough just before it crashed I had been reading that Mercury goes back into retrograde on 14th February, and you know what that means, yes computer, headaches, media headaches and various communication problems. As this time it is in retrograde with both Acquarius and Pisces, apparently the effects will be felt many days earlier, and guess who hit the first day right on the head, yes poor old me, so I warn you be extra careful and don't mention the 'R' word and prepare yourselves.

Well, what's been happening out there in cyberland, come on everyone get in touch with me and get me up to date on happenings. Things I must mention before I forget are, and I will post photos at a later stage, the following. Thank you Janet for the lovely ATC card that turned up in the post one morning, Maryellen for the two beautiful pieces of artwork she sent me, the sassy postcard from Violette, the wonderful spirit dolly from Robyn, who kept me calm in my computerless days and the wonderful socks and beautiful crocheted slippers from Tammy, they certainly keep my tootsies warm.

My Mother has moved into her sheltered accommodation and is already settling down there well, the neighbours are friendly and once she has recovered from the stress of the move I think she will be happy there, she already loves her flat. We go to take the final pieces out of her old flat and return the keys this weekend and then I shall slowly sort out my house, perhaps start some early Spring cleaning and sort out my new pieces of furniture etc. My days until now have been filled with sorting, packing, unpacking etc but now I shall enjoy going through all the old family belongings I have found. I have have got lots of interesting family records and old photographs that I cannot wait to go through at a leisurely pace, as I am now keeper of the family history and records.

One thing is that I have got lots of projects sorted out in my head and ready to do and am now pushing forward with things kept in abeyance such as Daisy Lupin Designs and the Virtual Art Gallery some of you know about. All I can say is watch this space for news over the next couple of weeks.

This is just a short posting to say here I am back, as I want to go round all my favourite blogs and catch up with a over a week's worth of posting, I will get round to you all bit by bit. Oh I am just so glad to be back.

FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A CHILD

2007-01-27T18:35:00.000Z

I have been doing a lot of thinking about childhood, obviously many, many memories of childhood have come flooding back to me with all this sorting I am doing. It got me thinking about how strange a child's perspective of events and even their visual images of events can be.
Three memories in particular made me start to consider this. [Explanations of the photographs are given directly underneath them in different colour and font.]

A very disgruntled and fat faced me with her ever faithful Jacko the monkey [ I still have the sad remains of him, motheaten hands filling missing out of arms bare patches] sitting in her pram in the park.

I have said before about my first memories and how I can just remember being in a carriage built pram, I have now found a photo of me in this pram, but a memory I didn't mention was one that even now I cannot get a true perspective on what I was doing, and the images from the child's eyes do not really help. I know I was in my Grandfather's garden, right down at the bottom of it. beyond the lawn and flowerbeds, past the vegetable patch, the raspberry canes and the blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes, into the the wild part where the compost was made and spare pieces of wood and out of use glass cloches were kept. The grass was very very high [so it was probably about knee height on an adult]. I am wearing blue play dungarees, these were cotton dungarees that children who were toddlers wore over their day clothes to play out in, the idea being it would keep their clothes clean. I am walking about but not steadily, slightly drunkenly, and in front of me is a vast machine, I search the ground for tiny little stones which I gather and push down a sort of spout or funnel on the side of the machine, then I wait until I hear a really satisfying plop noise, and start the process all over again. There seems to be a lot of grass and wood around me. and I have a feeling a slightly older child was with me.

In the front garden, when I was about eighteen months old. I hope you like my terrible twinkie curl, you know you could buy a preparation to make the hair stand up like that, very punk.

I have often asked about what there was there, in that part of the garden and have been told again and again there was an old zinc or tin boiler, the sort that is kept in a outdoor washhouse, and my Grandfather used it for steeping various plants and leaves in to make liquid fertiliser. What I see in my mind's eye bears no relation to this, but I think I must have been pushing stones into a part of it that let them fall into the liquid inside, hence the 'plop'. The glass and wood was apparently part of a dismantled greenhouse that was secured to the fence. Apparently, there was an older girl of about four that lived next door that used to play with me. This explanation never satisfies me as I always see the much more wonderous picture of a magical world with strange glass houses and machines.

It's old one eye closed again on a donkey when on holiday at Scarborough. Was this the one that ran off with me on it?

The second memory is a rather whimsical one, I must be about five or six years old and am besotted with fairy tales. My favourite fairy tale is The Twelve Dancing Princesses and I am convinced that I am one and must search for my eleven missing sisters. The time is the summer and when I am put to bed with the curtains drawn and the night still light outside, I wait a while and creep out of bed on to the ottoman beneath my window and stick my head through the curtains. In front of me are the front gardens, the road, the front gardens of the houses on the other side of the road, then behind them two more rows of houses, but if I look up into the distance over the three green fields, I can see the late evening sun shining on tiny little men in brilliant whites playing cricket. Behind the men are many trees and poking out through the trees are two round towers like in a fairy tale, and there seems to be a large brick building between them. I am convinced that this is my castle. I often dream there is a door in the wall of our living room that will take me to the castle, the door is invisible you have to know where to find it. The best time to find it is when the morning sun shines in the room, and you can see a faint oblong outline on the wall, that is when to run your hands over the wall whispering magic words. No, the door never opened for me, but I was told off for dirty handprints on the wall. The outline was a reflection from the sun of one of the living room windows, oh, and the magic castle across the fields, I wasn't much older when I found out it actually was, as they were called in those unlightened days the local mental hospital and lunatic asylum. I am still looking for my eleven sisters though so we can wear our shoes out dancing all night, are you there anywhere?

The third memory, is actually a sequence of memories. Every family has instances over the years that a veil is drawn over, and are never mentioned in public. I know every one of these family crisises in parts. Just a few months ago my Mother was telling me about my Father's brother and how his wife left him for a while in the 1950's. My Father's family lived in a large village that had a majority of Irish Catholic families and this would be a great scandal in those days. I told my Mother I knew about it, she told me I couldn't have, I was only four years old, I then went on to tell her where my Grandmother, Mother and Father were when they were talking about it. She was astounded that I was right, and I went on to repeat other small nuggets of information about the whole family I had collected in my childhood when adults thought I was otherwise occupied. I never had the whole story of these different incidents when I was small, but I am well aware of when different family crisis occured. I must have just had the knack of looking as though I wasn't listening, in fact, I would go as far to say that I wan't intentionally listening, I just absorbed it. I only remember once my other Grandmother saying 'careful ears are flapping' her signal that they were being listened too. Was anyone else as a child aware of undercurrents and crisis?

I always loved hats, gosh it's actually sunny in this photograph, Scarborough again.

I just want to finish off by talking about the naming of objects. Have you ever as a family given a familiar object a family name for it, so that if you mentioned it to anyone else they would have no idea what you meant. One of ours is 'you better go and fetch the boozy'. No, it is not an aged drunken relation, but a high kitchen stool. It was my son at four years old that named it boozy. Why boozy? who knows it is lost in the passage of time, it was a stool he loved sitting on at his Grandma's table, it gave him extra height when he was little. Then my daughter used boozy, and it finally ended up as a spare seat if there were too many at the table. It is never called the stool always just boozy and I am proud to say I have now taken charge of boozy and he shall reside in splendour in my cottage.

A Summer holiday in Scarborough, Mum, me, Grandma and Auntie, yes it is summer, even thought people seemed to be dressed for winter, and look how formally dressed everyone is, you think they were visiting the Queen not enjoying a holiday.

Well this has been a long rambling posting about memories and childhood but I am pleased to write them down so that I will always remember them and I look forward to knowing if anyone else has rather peculiar memories such as these or was I just a rather odd whimsical child. Also hope you have not been bored by this, but if you are you won't have read this far!

A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS

2007-01-24T14:00:00.000Z

Yesterday late afternoon, I attended the funeral of my best friend's husband. It must have been one of the coldest days in the winter, and we all waited outside the crematorium for the hearse and family to ride up to the entrance. Thirty minutes in the freezing cold because we new it would be a busy funeral. Tony was an inspiring teacher, who often asked to be year tutor to the most awkward and naughty classes. He was a very strict teacher, but fun at the same time, by the end of the academic year these bolshie teenagers always came round to liking and admiring him. He could have invented tough love long before it became a buzzword. As a reward at the end of the year he always had a 'do' whether a meal or a barbecue for his then ex pupils. Obviously, many of them turned up for his funeral. He taught them to aim higher than they thought they could and started many on their paths to a good career. He believed in them and showed them how to believe in theirselves.

It was a wonderful, funny funeral with lots of laughter and a few tears, as I said a contradiction in terms. As we went in Carole King was singing I've got a friend, which I had to admit nearly broke me up as it is one of my favourite songs. Lots of funny stories were told about him and the crematorium rang with laughter. It was not a deep religious service just a celebration of his life really and the coffin disappeared as we sang Jerusalem he was a great sportsman, and Jerusalem was picked for the English Rugby Team and then there was the theme from Z Cars, an old 1960's police programme that his favourite football team, Everton, run out onto the pitch to.

When we were standing in the courtyard and it started to snow on us, people were laughing and saying it must Tony organising it, it was typical of his sense of humour, he would have been amused that the snow fell just as we came out. We followed on to the wake where again, there was a frame full of pictures of him with his family and a compilation tape constantly playing of his favourite music. I decided to send my friend a large shrub to grow in memory of her husband for her garden, instead of sending flowers on the day. I am so glad I did because the flowers will not have survivied lying out on the cold frozen concrete with snow falling on them.

Next important event on the horizon is my mother is finally moving into her new flat, next Thursday, so it is all systems into first gear now, what with me finishing sorting and packing, my husband organising the decorating of the flat, and my son coming up gather up a van and a friend to actually do the move. Then any volunteers to help unpack? Sweetpea? I shall take my time getting my own house reorganised, with its extra furniture and baggages after the move. I don't care if it takes me until Easter, because what I want to do most of all is get down to some of my projects and start firing things out in the post. Luckily the ideas are all there it is just the actual making to do. I will be posting on my site as and when I can, during this coming seven days, probably won't be making my way round the blogs much either, but don't worry I will be back properly after 1st February. I have already got my Crow Chunky Book Page just about worked out in my head, and my Frida ATC's.

I noticed Judie, was asking in my last comments section how do I find the time to do all these things. Well, first of all I don't sleep a lot, probably about five hours a night, and maybe on a quiet day I take a catnap in the afternoon [ especially on cold winter's days or hot sunny days in the garden]. Then some of my activities because I live in England are seasonal. Once I get to the end of October, I don't think about my garden again until March, only to browse plant catalogues. So that always gives me extra craft time. I don't go berserk with housework, as long as I am not ashamed to invite people inside I am a happy bunny. I don't dust and hoover as part of a daily ritual, only when I see it is beginning to need it, but my biggest time saver is, and I don't know if any other countries do this, I do my grocery shopping once a month, on line, and have it delivered to my door. I have done this for two years. That saves half a day every week, so it gives me two more free days a month. The first time you shop online and go through each department with all the pictures of the goods, it takes ages but after that you have a list of your favourites, takes no time and you can still use coupons. This just leaves me to pick up milk and fresh produce locally.

Things you find when sorting. I found two holiday photographs the other day, which follow on from my postings about childhood holidays, so I thought I would upload them here. I had forgotten that when I had my photo taken as a child and was looking to where the sun was I used to close one eye, it looks so funny now, when I see these photos. Looking at these photos of holidays, in the mid 1950's I am constantly surprised how formal people are on them, nearly all the men have sports jackets and shirts and ties on, the only casualness about them seems to be a pair of sandals. I can remember on the beach you didn't see people, such as parents in clothing such as is worn today. I seem to remember gatherings of women in cotton dresses and sandals and men dressed as my father is, although they did take their sports jackets off on the beach and roll up their shirt sleeves. There doesn't seem to have been a cult of beach clothes in England or perhaps the east coast was too windy and cold for them. I am wearing my favourite royal blue dress with white spots on and a white plastic belt in one photo amd a lemon nylon dress and beige cardigan in the other. I seem to have shoes on here, but I do remember as a child being bought new t-bar sandals at the start of every summer. usually in red, and the first time I wore them was always told '.....and don't scuff your new sandals....' and by the end of every summer, copious amounts of cherry red polish were being brushed onto the scuff marks on the toes. Oh and note on one the photographs I am feeling very grown up as I am carrying the binoculars in their case!

I had a lovely surprise in the post this morning, a package from Pretty Lady, with some beautiful fairy cards in it. I have posted an example of one of them above. This unexpected package got my day off to a good start, it was so kind of her to remember how much I love faery things. Thank you Pretty Lady.

FROM A TINY SPARK A BRAND NEW TOPIC IS WONDERED ABOUT

2007-01-20T18:01:00.000Z

I often find that one of my blogging friends writes about something on their blog and it sort of takes on a life of his own, other people comment, including me, then I sometimes feel compelled to muse about it and then go off at a tangent and write about where the tangent led me and write about it on my site.

This time it was Gemma that started me musing. She posted Leonard Cohen's Joan of Arc on her site, saying how every so often you get a craving for some of good old Leonard. I posted agreeing that just sometimes no one else will do. I then posted that my all time favourite lines of Leonard's were ...and she brings you tea and oranges that come all the way for china... from Suzanne. When I checked that my posting was on the site I noticed that immediately above me was a posting from Lisa Oceandreamer, mentioning guess what? her favourite song was Suzanne too. This led to a lovely exchange of emails where we both discovered our images of Suzanne and her life were identical. This in turn got me looking out Songs of Leonard Cohen and indulge in repeat track playing of Suzanne. In turn this led to a discussion with husband who said Leonard Cohen had written it about a real woman called Suzanne whom he, [Cohen, not my husband lol!] had known. I said, yes, but that was nothing to do with my Suzanne, who I had imagined, my Suzanne was more of an archetype and inspired me, and that I hadn't taken the real one into consideration at all.

After satisfying my Leonard Cohen need, I then moved onto Google and found out all about the real Suzanne, I thought if you didn't know about her you might be interested in these links that explains all about her. I have also uploaded her photo and show it below. Of course, this does not make me budge one inch on the Suzanne in my head. She was created by me, and Lisa Oceandreamer it seems. http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/verdal.html and http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/verdal.html

We are still having wild winds with galeforce gusts, just the sort of day to stay indoors, so I made the most of it. I actually got into my artroom this afternoon,[Hello artroom,long time no see did you think I have forgotten about you? I'll be back lots when life resumes its even pace once more.] put some bits in pieces in order, sat down at my desk wrote a list of all the swaps etc that I am participating in, hoping I am not forgetting to write things down and pinned it to the wall. Then, oh what bliss. I actually sat on got on with one of my projects and did some hand sewing. I so enjoyed it, sitting in a pool of lamplight, wind gusting at the window, heating hissing and clanking away, incense burning. In fact, I was enjoying it so much I had to put Leonard Cohen's Songs From a Room on all over again.

I have just bought three Charles de Lint books really cheaply on Amazon Used Books, two were ones I read a long time ago but never owned copies of, plus I want to read them again, and the third was one I have not read yet Spirit in the Wires. I was just going to start reading a book called The Red Tent that quite a few people seem to have recommended, although it has been published for a few years now. Now I am thinking, should I leave that and go straight to the Charles de Lint I haven't read or ..., oh decisions, decisions. At the moment I am listening to Madeleine Peyroux, [yes still, I am besotted with it], Jamie Cullen's Twenty Something and as mentioned above Songs From a Room.

This illustration above is called The Two Gossips, isn't it adorable? I am sure it is me, in the mob cap and fingerless lace glove, busy creating while a friend visits me and we catch up in the garden on local gossip. I will admit to being a bit of a gossip, not of the mean kind, I just love to know all the news and while we are telling truths, I won't deny I am a really nosey parker at times, well, I call it interest in humanity, I like to see where people live and know what makes them tick. I have just found a fabulous project on Flikr. com called, wait for it, The Bookshelf Project. The idea is you photograph your bookshelves and upload them onto flickr. The only proviso is that you must be able to read the titles of the books. This site must have been made for me, if I ever see a photo of someone's room and there books on the shelves, I will do my best to zoom in or enlarge or whatever to try to read the book title. Please excuse me this, its just that I love books, and like to know what other people like! I do know one person that reads this blog, admitting to trying to read the titles in my bookcase when I posted photos of my cottage. YOU know who you are, and I don't blame you one bit. Well believe me, you can while away some pleasant time on this project and some people even mention which of the books they are reading now and if any are up for trading. Check it out!

Must go now Saturday evening in my cozy living room complete with glass of wine is awaiting me, oh tell the truth Daisy, well a bottle of wine and one wine glass, the other half is going to have some lager.

JANUARY - IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR

2007-01-17T09:53:00.000Z

Around this time of year I am given a nudge and suddenly remember my garden, yes, the one at the end of the alleyway past the barn. It is deep in it's Winter sleep, well it should be, but it seems to having odd spurts of business this year. What usually gives me that nudge are the garden catalogues that come rattling through the post box. Delicious booklets full of wonderfully coloured and scented plants. There is nothing like sitting with your breakfast cup of coffee and toast working your way through these wonderful books. You can transplant, in your mind's eye, these healthy mature plants into your garden. These juicy succulent books overcome you and then the fun begins, out comes the pen and paper and the lists begin to be made. 'oooh one of those would be nice, ooooh what a reasonable price that is, ooooooooh look at this special offer or if I buy X amount I will get this free'. Then reality hits, you add up your lists and find you have, in your little fantasy world spent a couple of hundred pounds. That's when the crossing outs begin and you think 'Do I really need six types of lavender?'

Used wisely though, you can pick up the bargains, especially if you can team up with a friend to buy the larger amounts that come at the really discounted prices. In my garden though the larger amounts even divided are still too much and too many for my space. Every year I think surely my garden is full but I still manage to squeeze a little more in. I have decided not to sew seeds this year, I am still going out to buy my bedding plants later in the year, but what I buy from catalogues will be perennials, as last year's did so well. I have my eye on a lovely set of penstemons, a plant I only grew for the first time last year, but which gave so many flowers right through the summer and autumn. I also want some more flowering small shrubs for the alleyway and need to do some serious wall covering, I am thinking Virginia Creeper and another lovely looking climber called Firethorn. I have also promised myself a little rock garden in some suitable container to put on my bench near the back door. I must also, make my first foray into rose growing, and I am thinking about the luscious David Austen roses. I am also searching for those lovely hanging coloured glass baubles that you see a lot of on the sites of people who live in Germany. I think a few more ornaments is what my garden lacks. It does make spring seem nearer all this garden daydreaming, though I have heard we are forecast severe storms from tomorrow.

I found these two interesting meme's on Janet's site, so I have pinched them, feel free to use them if you wish, I won't be bothering tagging anyone.

Two names you go by:
1. Daisy 2. My secret magick name

Two parts of your heritage
1. English 2. Irish

Two things that scare you:
1. Snakes 2. Religious fundamentalists

Two everyday essentials:
1. Coffee 2. Something [preferably a book] to read

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. A large paisley shawl and big spotty fluffy furry slippers [I interchange them with my tiger feet ones] it's freezing and windy outside today

Two of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
1. Madeleine Peyroux 2. Loreena McKennitt

Two things you want in a relationship (other than love):
1. A united front in time of crisis 2. Occasionally I need my own space or sanctuary

Two truths:
1. I have a fear of going blind [because I use my eyes the most of all my senses, though some might say my mouth never stops talking] 2. Chronic fear of flying

Two favorite hobbies:
1. Creating all sorts of things artistic 2. Reading

Two things you need to do this week:
Oh God how can I narrow it down to two!!!!!!!!! Right!!
1. Keep on sorting out belongings for Mother's move 2. Find time to have a decent conversation with my husband, not just hello, goodbye, I'm going now be back sometime tonight

Two stores you shop at:
1. Waterstones [Bookshop a bit like Borders only probably smaller] 2.The Pier, for simply glorious ornaments and furniture 3. Monsoon, for gorgeous accessories, handbags, clothes etc [only at sale times though] 4. TK Maxx [Where would we be without it]
Do you really think I could only list two shops?

Two favorite sports:
This must be a joke question, I haven't got one ounce of liking for sport in me. I suppose watching our local heron fish and bunnies in the fields playing tag

Two shows you like to watch:
1.Lost [Before it went to sky] 2. Invasion [Before they abruptly ended it] Don't watch a lot of TV

Two things you’d buy if money were no object:
1. A house on a hill with fantastic gardens overlooking a wide vista of the sea with a private beach below 2. An Elizabeth Frink sculpture for the garden, either a running person or a horse

Two wishes for 2007:
1. That we get out of Iraq, we can do no good there, get rid of Blair, and please there must be someone out there, who is not yet corrupted with some scruples and morals left that can put this country to rights 2. Personal wish, that I get all my projects made and my other projects set up with a nice degree of success

Fill in the blanks to each of these statements - it's as simple as that! These don't have to be one-word responses. Use as few or as many words as you need to fill each blank, in order to tell your story. My responses are in italics:-

1. I have never wanted to be famous, I just like communicating with people, exchanging ideas and even maybe one day writing a book. I am friendly but never want to get caught up in some mad publicity show, so I do things quietly and wait for word of mouth to get round.

2. When I was 18 I believed I could have it all and live this rather strange boheminan lifestyle without regard as to how I was to afford it, I was nearly 16 when it was the Summer of Love, so called, I thought I could go to America, and live in Haight Ashbury or follow Kerouac's footsteps to Big Sur. It was all a beautiful dream, it has taken my until my early 50's and some boring times trying to keep my wild child spirit in check to realise that now I can be what I really am and my wild side does not just creep out for an occasional view of the world. It can be permanently unleashed, it is my creative self, that wild child.

3. If I was my own best friend, what I would enjoy the most about spending time with Me would be sitting in a lovely café drinking coffee or a glass or two of wine, discussing our creative projects, laughing, giggling, recommending each other books, then going together to buy art supplies, browsing bookshops, walking round an art gallery and finishing up in another café or bistro for a meal before before heading home; while what I'd find the most irritating would be what irritates me most about myself, I can't help it if I get really excited talking I tend to cut across the person talking, I really find that impolite and do try to check it, its just I get intense and excited.

4. If the story of my life up to this point was being published tomorrow, it would be titled DAISY, A WOMAN OUT OF STEP WITH TIME, knowing that most of my beliefs, ideas etc are out of sync with the modern world, not that I care just the world is moving and spinning too fast, people need not to be so time obsessed and slow the world's pace down, hurry gets us nowhere.

5. When my time on Earth is over, and the people who loved me are remembering me, it would please me if they said Daisy was a free spirit, and slightly eccentric at times, but you could always rely on her if you had a crisis

.

I am afraid I have to finish on a very sad note, my best friend's husband died on Tuesday lunchtime. They went on the holiday of a lifetime last year, and he came back to the news that he had an inoperable brain tumour. All this happened within six months. Please keep them both in your thoughts, especially my friend. Thank you.