May...or may not!

 Well April was dry...and now May is wet, windy and cold.

But even so the hidden garden at The Potters House Penketh is blooming.

The cherry tree has excelled itself with blossom...the hope is ripe cherries in June...as long as those pesky birds don't pinch the lot.

Although I curse the ever expanding plot of bluebells in June when the leaves turn slimey after the bells have seeded......nevertheless in May when they glow in the evening golden hour...I'm always glad that they are still there. 

Forgetmenots and bluebells...they grow themselves.

And that's a good thing...as I'm not the world's greatest seed sower.

Carole Klein may say.."Just throw them in...they want to grow"...I must be buying the wrong seed packets!

However I must have done something right as the Japanese chocolate vine has also rambled into an even more wonderful concoction of twisting stems and branches over the wood shed...I suspect it is even responsible for holding that old structure together!

I'm not sure if this is Walt..(wall brown) or Woody..(wood brown)...but I love how they dance together in May. 

Almost always seen in pairs...may be just brown but oh how they can dance.

"Let nothing trouble you...Let nothing scare you...All things pass"!...St. Teresa of Avila

April's best week.

 

This is the week where the leaves unfurl

where the blossom excels

where frog spawn becomes tadpoles

where the sun is warm at noon

but the evenings are cool and you throw on another woolly sweater. 

The Labyrinth
Above the grassy labyrinth

Wood browns flirt and flutter in pairs

Catching rays of gold

On mottled wings.

So new life emerges

Playful and coquettish

To fly and suck

On summer's nectars.

The struggle from

The winter's binding

Strengthening flight

And damp moss perfumes

Dappled sunlight.

While blackbirds claim

Old Territories and sing.

 

A spring haze that makes a watercolour painting of  trees
Bathes pink and soft green tops on sky stretched branches.
The land wakens with misty light and water gives growth
As hill and mountain overflow with bubbling springs.
Late afternoon still air glows rose on lazy strollers
And the chill sends them indoors to slump
Contentedly in front of smokey wood burning fires.

Sketch and paint...right handed.

I haven't sketched anything since I broke my left wrist...

well if I'm honest..

I haven't sketched or painted anything since last August in Donegal with Rosie's Art Group sketching holiday.

So the wrist has been a good excuse!!

I keep telling the family to stay creative...I thought it's about time I did something for myself!

So I dug around in my studio and found a sketch book..sorted the desk easel and opened up my paints.

Right handed drawing is so hard!!

I'm in awe of those artists who do it!

The weather is warm

The flowers are beautiful.

I chose these auriculas for the first tentative go.

Forbade the potter from saying.."that's good".

Daft...isn't it...just feeling my way back in.

A Poem for Thursday...Driving to Donegal

Driving to Donegal

River Bann in flood  cattle on the bank

cloud and blue patches in an Ulster sky

red barn roofs curved and corrugated

Enniskillen          Omagh              Derry

on the green road sign.   Driving west.

Telegraph wires strung out on drumlins

measuring the miles and the messages

ancient gaelic town lands   anglish form

politics noted in the colour of a flag

politics  black    green     blue     red

and white  with a bloody hand

woven together like fine Sunday linen.

Fecundity found in every hedge and tree

mother Ireland at her most fertile her

green hills swelling as ample breasts

each rowan     ash     willow and oak

hazelnuts beechnuts and acorns with

meadowsweet  knapweed  fireweed and

net fences twined about with red rosebuds

over   under   around the edges of gardens.

Geraldine Snape

The sleepy garden...

 

I've been taking pics of the garden and back field for the potter  as he is still in hospital

 just to let him see the way the garden is going to sleep for the winter this year.

I think it gets more beautiful every year. 

It was an unofficial local tip when we took it over more than 30 years ago.

But Alan has used the wood available to make the fences and arches around the site.

... the summer house at the far right...

...the old barrow just about holding together...

 

...the herb garden...

and

...the little sun spot at the bottom of the herb garden...

 

...autumn colours  ...

 

...autumn leaves...

 

...the gingko tree of eternity...

 ...canary creeper seeds falling for the show next year...

 ...another viewing spot for the roses...

... winter food for us and...

 
 ...winter food for the little field mice who live in the compost heap...

...a goodly crop of leaks this year means great soups...

 beautiful end of year colour.

The Francis House Childrens' Hospice Bash!

Well what a day!
The weather changed overnight from monsoon...

.... to mediterranean.
                         

                   ...only joking!

Friday was all hands on deck

as the tents arrived to be raised in place.

this one close to an electric supply for the musicians...

..this in the first garden...just in case the weather turned...

...well it is the north of England after all!

The goods were brought in for the various stalls ...

..two super hanging baskets were donated to be raffled off throughout the afternoon...

and the toys...is that what they are?...
eventually on Saturday found a relaxing spot in the sun !

Cakes came in "bucketfuls"...well no,  really in tins... oh yes and a package of painted cookies for the pop up afternoon teas from the gloroius Amelies House and Neviepie Cakes!

BUT....  it rained all day Fiday, and got increasingly heavier until by midnight I hid my head under the bedclothes and informed the potter...that I would never allow myself to be in this situation again....
...he mumbled and fell asleep...and amazingly, so did I.
....to awake to glorious sunshine..
What's that song again?..
..oh yes....

 "What a difference a day makes,

twenty-four little hours,

brought the sun and the flowers,

where there used to be rain!"

I prepared the three areas for the pop-up afternoon teas.

...the summerhouse..

..the american swing...
..sounds like a 30s dance!

..and the Indian tent... this was my favourite area...loved it!

Helpers arrived to set up stalls....

Issy had thought long and hard about her table...guessing the teddy's name was fun! 

...others lugged heavy boxes of books...

...kept the kitchen organised...

..printed  up notices...
...techie son on the job!...

...manned the cake and drinks servery...

...and set up to give us some entertainment from the music tent.

The four friends were everywhere!

At two o'clock  the gate was starting to get busy...
     ....and we were off on the 2011 garden party bash!

...to be continued....