It's a new world, a strange world, in which we now live. It's like waking up every morning into a reality of living in a B Class science fiction movie, and a new normal for each of us emerges as we disinfect the living daylights out of everything in an effort to destroy the hidden enemy, and we fight over toilet paper {does anyone know why?} and keep away from everyone.
In the midst of all this chaos, fear, and madness, the world still turns about us, though we may not notice as much as we did. If we are lucky, we can still chat to our neighbours over the garden wall, strictly keeping our distance.
The clocks have sprung forward, the days are lengthening, and we cling with fervent hope to the day when this living nightmare will be over, but those days are a long way off.
My garden ticks and tocks the moments away, and although there is not much to show, there have been some moments. Here are a few things in bloom.
Camellias, big and blousy, always boldly bright, and the pink are nearly over, the red just starting to take off
The Pieris gives a bright and bold depth of red to the border as the new waxy looking leaves grow and glow in the warm Spring sunshine
My beloved Pasque flower surprised me by suddenly opening this week. You know I will wax lyrical over this in the coming weeks
A perfect, early Spring evening, peaceful, clear and crisp, in a darkening night sky. The westering day fades in an ombre blue sky that seeps into shades of plum on the distant horizon. Above our heads sat the new, crescent moon, smiling sweetly at Venus, the Evening Star, as she shimmers, a tiny and distant diamond of hope in the gloaming.
Of late, we are seeing more colour in our sunsets too, and the plummy shades tinged with mango and raspberry are delicious to watch each evening
I hope you are keeping safe in isolation. Remember, you are not stuck indoors, you are SAFE indoors and that we are all in this together, doing our bit to help the NHS cope in the days and weeks to come.
A while back I decided to buy a Crock Pot. I'd owned one when I lived in America and loved it. I used it for all sorts of savoury dishes, but also used it as a hot punch bowl for my Spiced Apple Cider and even as a simmering potpourri pot using fresh herbs and spices!
So, for a while now I've been hankering after a good old fashioned rice pudding and with the weather taking it's turn for the worse and getting more and more wintry by the day, I decided to make one today ~ in the Crock Pot, of course. Now, rice pudding isn't exactly rocket science and is a very easy recipe, but oh! how much easier it is in the Crock Pot!
With the winds blowing wildly outside the cottage today and with a hankering to increase the hygge, it was the perfect day to make this childhood comfort food as a pudding for later on.
I weighed out the ingredients and just tipped them all into the Crock Pot which I then turned to high for about three hours. I kept an eye on it as I've not done a rice pudding in the Crock Pot before, and it did need fairly regular stirring but there was none of that lifting a heavy dish in and out of the oven, it was right there on the counter top making life so much easier.
I had a late lunch today, and the pudding was ready to be eaten with a dollop of strawberry jam after lunch ~~~
Just weigh out your ingredients, I'm sure everyone has the recipe, but just in case, these are the measurements I used
200 gr pudding rice {be sure to use short grain pudding rice}
1 litre milk {I used semi skimmed}
1 small can condensed milk {or increase your milk by 200 ml}
50 gr unsalted butter
30 gr soft brown sugar {any sugar will be fine}
{nutmeg, cinnamon, or other spices may be added to taste, if desired and you can always melt a little chocolate in, or add some chopped dried fruits, such as craisins, apricots, or sultanas}
Tip all ingredients into your Crock Pot and turn on. Cook for about 3 hours on high, or 5~6 hours on low, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and checking to see if pudding is cooked.
I forgot to take a photo of the cooked pudding in the pot, but here it is, served up, thick and creamy, with a dollop of strawberry jam. If you like a thinner pudding, just add more milk ~~~
I don't know why, but this is one of the most delicious rice puddings I have ever eaten!
Meanwhile, back in the garden ~~~
My osteospermus just haven't got the message yet that the weather is turning rapidly and they really should not still be flowering ~~~ I bought these earlier in the year and put them into a growbag meaning to move them to a permanent location during the summer. The best laid plans, as they say, and the move never happened so they are still in the growbag and I really must get them into the soil before we get the very bad weather that they say is coming. Here they are, full of lovely strong new shoots coming from around the bases, and a few blooms still insisting on flowering for some autumn colour!
There are three different colours, but this purple one is my favourite of all ~~~
They are still not particularly big, but very sturdy and healthy, so I really must get them in the ground this coming week, even if I just bury them wholesale in the bag until spring to protect the roots.
Here are a few pictures of the skies over the cottage in the last week ~~~
I am always amazed and in total awe at the diversity and beauty of the universe ~~~
an early rose gold sunrise through a rain spotted window pane ~~~
a jewel coloured palette of a mauve and golden sunset ~~~
and I had hoped to capture the November Super Moon, but we were, as so often happens, scuppered by cloud cover, so here is one of our beautiful moon taken a few days before the perigee ~~~
Gentle Reader ~~~ As Autumn turns to Winter, it is with some surprise, caught unaware, that I realise it is now barely just over three weeks to the Winter Solstice when the days will begin to lengthen as the light steadily returns to the Northern Hemisphere. To where did Autumn fly? How did the year turn so quickly by? Despite the ferocious Autumn gales that have pounded us now, surely and steadily for three weeks, the long weeks of Winter lie ahead.
My thoughts turn to one word ~~~change~~~ and all the changes the turning seasons bring, each one in their own unique glory. As each season changes and turns, so our lives change and turn ~~~
“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”
~~~Yoko Ono~~~
Recently, I was in my attic and came across this wall hanging I made during an art course I took in 1998. The group visited Castell Henllys Iron Age Village where we gathered research and upon our return to the studio at college we had three days to collate our research and then design and create a final outcome.
My final outcome was a woven hanging, and was made from a mixture of found, reclaimed, and recycled objects, and has a feeling of disintegration and change, which is how I responded to the information I had gathered ~~~ it also had personal significance as I was going through many life changes at the time, and because I work a lot in textiles ~~~
On the day we visited Castell Henllys, I was unwell with a feverish cold and, after a short while exploring outside, I hunkered down inside one of the huts where there was an open hearth with a roaring wood fire in the centre of the hut which radiated warmth and comfort to an extent that I'd never experienced before. Any conceptions I'd ever had of how our Iron Age ancestors stayed warm changed right at that moment and melted into the flames. ~~~This was where the clan gathered, to eat, sleep {in beds around the edges of the hut} and tell their stories of an evening when the day's work was done. I was amazed by the cleanliness and comfort as the conditions seemed primitive with a dirt floor, hewn logs for seating and an open space half covered by woven fabric for an entrance which offered little or no protection from the elements, yet incredibly comforting sitting there in the half light and in a haze of wood smoke. More conceptions changed. ~~~The walls of wattle and daub were adorned with decorated wooden shields, and the roof of tightly packed reeds raised high above my head supported by tree trunks and sturdy branches. Somehow, it made up for the open door and I soon found myself forgetting that I was unwell. These people had building skills and took pride in their interiors by decorating them. Yet more conceptions changed. ~~~I began to experience an immense and overwhelming feeling of connection to the natural world, and as if the spirits of the ancient ones were anchoring me to a new place of belonging, as I consciously drifted into another time. I was becoming changed. ~~~As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I let my gaze wander around the space and was amazed at the skill and craftsmanship in everything that came into my new found focus. Beautifully woven reed baskets, iron pots and pans, iron and wooden utensils, a fire dog, woven blankets on the beds, and woven curtains to separate the beds into cubicles, the guides dressed in woven garments that had a beauty only seen in hand dyed and hand woven cloth. And so it went on as my perceptions and conceptions continued to change. ~~~I was particularly taken by the weaving looms, basic, yet quite recognisable as the forerunners of our modern day looms, and eventually these were the primary force behind the construction of the wall hanging {of course, at this point, I had no idea my research and development would result in a wall hanging}
Back in the studio my research progressed and I processed the images and experiences gleaned at Castell Henllys, two things seemed to come together. They were the way in which our ancestors utilised nature and found objects, changing them to purpose; and the mutability, the changeability, of those objects within the circle of life. Having changed from hunter~gatherers to settled farmers, the Iron Age Celts still relied on the bounty of nature for their food, clothing, shelter, enclosures and protection, weaponry, and more. We know that they had a sense of aesthetic and, amongst other things, changed plants into dyes for colouring their cloth, their art, and their bodies. Woad was a primary source of the particular shade of indigo blue associated with the period. They used trees and reeds that grew locally and changed them into beams and roofing for their constructions, and grew grain to harvest and change into flour for food. I drew on all of these things, and more, bringing them together in a woven by hand wall hanging that was not precious in any way. I just let my hands respond to the found materials, and created something in full knowledge that the mutability, the changeability, of the materials chosen was part of the outcome.
Fallen sycamore seeds and grain husks as the piece deteriorates and falls apart returning to the earth
Lavender grown in, and gathered from, my garden incorporated into the weaving
Roughly made clay weights created in response to Iron Age weaving looms
In my closing statement, I emphasised the mutability, the changeability, how the Iron Age settlement had returned to the earth and was recreated again, how the circle of life continues, and how my weaving will slowly return to rejoin the earth from whence it came ~~~ ever changing, ever present ~~~
This is a little gem of a quaint and curious film made in 1958 by the Esso Refinery to promote Pembrokeshire. Charming in it's vintage style, the music at times reminiscent of an old movie, it epitomises a time gone by ~~~ changed forever ~~~ and many of the industries portrayed within are now no longer practised, or have been mechanised, or become a rare craft, practised only by a small minority, whereas once they were the skills by which every day life was made possible ~~~
* it is about 30 minutes, so go and make a cup of tea, fetch a slice of cake, and settle into a comfy chair ~~~
Change is everywhere in my village these days, and none for the better, as the Post Office, banks, newsagents, community facilities, and several shops close their doors forever. Two schools and the remaining banks are under threat too. It saddens me to watch the community that once had such heart, such purpose, shrivel and wither at the hands of people who do not even live in the county. I will speak no more on this.
Change is unavoidable; two years ago, I took these images of the stark, leafless trees against a beautiful late Autumn sky of rose gold along my drive ~~~
Even this simple and beautiful view along my drive is now changed, for the neighbours on both sides, to whom the trees belong, have both cut the branches right back, in some parts even removing the trees completely. It makes me sad to see such butchered branches, but I have immense joy and gratitude that I captured their beauty before the changes took place ~~~ they will grow again, but changed ~~~
Last night was the Full Frost Moon and I captured a couple of images as she shone down, brightly lighting the dark Autumn night ~~~ even the moon changes with a different shape each night as she waxes and wanes through the millennia ~~~
The night was clear and cold and the light of the moon was bright and bold
Magical clouds created a magical backdrop
Spooky branches and scudding clouds that change the scene again
Gentle Reader, we are in a season of changes, the weather drifts from Autumn to Winter, as the year turns, let us remember that as we move into Winter and Spring, our antipodean cousins move into Summer and Autumn ~~~ ever in the circle of the ever~changing year ~~~
Gentle Reader ~~~ Can you feel it? Do you smell it? There ~~~ just a fleeting glimpse and it is gone for a moment, but will be here again shortly ~~~ of course, I am talking about Autumn, for I can barely contain my excitement that my favourite season of them all is nearly with us once more ~~~
Summer has barely appeared in the west, our temperatures struggled to break into the 60's and the wind has blown and the rain has rained ~~~ and most days the heating is on, especially in the late evenings, as the days begin to shorten and jewelled sunset, cloud~filled skies bedeck the horizon, with soft, rose~gold light welcoming the evening, bidding the day a fond farewell, and slipping into the rich, velvety purple of a moonlight night ~~~
I am not complaining! I cannot take the heat so this cooler, more tempered weather has suited me well, although a little less wind and rain would not have gone amiss ~~~
Regrettably, I did not complete the ICAD challenge this year. I was unwell, then Mum was unwell, and over a week went by, and I fell so far behind in the daily challenge that it suddenly became catchup and a chore. Art is not about being a chore, it is all about pleasure, and that is why I'm not taking part for the remainder, but who knows what I will get up to next? Thank you all for your very kind comments and encouragement, and maybe next year some of you will take part too?
So, how does my garden grow? With all the rain it grows rather well, despite the lack of warming sun, it is quite lush and verdant, and as we might expect the weeds are doing exceptionally well ~~~ {insert hysterical laughter here} I even managed to miss one week of putting out the fortnightly garden waste collection, so shame on me!
Nature is quite a miracle, she keeps things ticking over, even during periods of neglect ~~~ here are some pictures of what flowered ~~~
The firey orange of the Crocosmia Lucifer which has done particularly well
this year ~~~
with the purple beauty of the dwarf clematis ~~~
The gentle, innocent, and daisy~like flowers of Feverfew ~~~
and the delicate pink of a cultivated Verbascum ~~~
or the feathery blue of a Nigella ~~~ Love in a Mist ~~~
a patch of borage, perfect to garnish your Pimms or G&T ~~~
Lots of different grasses bring interest, movement, and neutral colour to the garden ~~~
and my favourite, native Mullein {Verbascum}
Now I have a conundrum {yet again!} and we must wait and see ~~~ I discovered a beautiful, peachy pink poppy growing on the side of the drive ~~~ it has all the attributes of the wild field poppies that are strewn over my entire garden, yet it is this pretty, and very unusual colour.
At first, I thought a bloom had bleached out in the sun, but then successive flowers opened in the same colour, so I have tied raffia around the stem to mark it out and will harvest the seed heads separately in the hopes that it will come true again in the future. Fingers Crossed ~~~ I would love to know if you have any suggestions or thoughts on this too ~~~
Here is the sunset that graced our westering skies last evening ~~~
Can you see the animal {be it cat, dog, or maybe even a unicorn?} galloping across the evening sky? Remember, don't look too hard at my garden, just see all the beautiful blooms, the raindrops, and the sunsets ~~~ and ignore the weeds!
