Images from my garden today

Crocosmia

David Austen Rose

Jasper and the return of his top knot!

Horn of Africa

Having an early tea in one of my favourite Lake District pubs this afternoon, my daughter and I could not overhear a customer complaining about her food - she had ordered a plain baguette but I think she was served with a filled baguette.  She flung her arms into the air and screached "what is this?!", she promptly told the waiter he could do her a big favour by "going to the kitchen and getting her what she asked for".
As I was tucking into an oversized cheese and pickle baguette, accompanied by homemade chips and coleslaw, I could not help but be reminded of how incredibly lucky we are in this country to have food at our disposable, unlike our sisters in Africa.

Kenya, 2011: Somali children and women refugees await food and other assistance at a camp near the town of Dadaab. They are among more than 10 million people in five Horn of Africa countries affected by the worst drought in 60 years. An estimated 480,000 malnourished children are at risk of dying, and an additional 1.6 million children are at risk. UNICEF urgently needs US $31.8 million to support response programmes in four of the most affected countries for the next three months.

If you haven't done so already, you can make a donation here - www.unicef.org

Poetry Muse

I listened to a talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert on nuturing creativity at www.ted.com.  She spoke about an interview she conducted with American poet Ruth Stone.  Gilbert met Ruth Stone who's now in her 90's and has been a poet her entire life.  Stone tole her that when she was growing up she would be working out in the fields in rural Virginia and she would feel and hear a poem coming at her from over the landscape.

It was like a thunderous train of air and it would come barreling down toward her and shake the ground under her feet.  At that point she knew that she had only one thing to do: run like hell toward her house and grab a piece of paper.  She had to get to a pencil and paper fast enough so that when the poem thundered through her she could write it down and get it on the page.

Sometimes she wasn't fast enough, so she would be running toward the house and the poem would go through her and continue down the landscape looking for another poet.

I was amazed when I heard this and I used this as a prompt for me to create this mixed media canvas which I'm rather proud of!

Poetry Fields

In the wind swirls I have place words from Ruth Stones poems

Celebrate

It's good to celebrate a friends birthday

Food, wine, mojito's, birthday cake mixed up with good company

 

The turning point of the evening - one Mojito too many

Cheers!

That's all it takes, one Mojito too many and my Sunday has been a washout! I've been busy nursing a hangover all day so haven't accomplished anything other than managing to watch the men's single final at Wimbledon!

So, taking inspiration from the creating my life I have contemplated what my goals for July are going to be, they look something like this:

• no more alcohol to be consumed this month
• attend two Yoga classes a week
• read a book from cover to cover
• finish my mixed media canvass
• paint the front porch

How difficult is that?! :)