Rain That Isn't Really

Hello Friends!

Here are a few of the flowers blooming in my garden now.  As in previous years, I'm doing No Mow May, and given that the man who now comes once a month to mow for me is on holiday until mid June, it looks as if it's heading towards Thigh High July!!!  Warning: it's  photo heavy on flowers.

Rain is forecast.  The gardens really could use it, and water butts definitely need topping up!  However, on Saturday morning it did nothing more than what I  call damping.  I suppose it freshened things up if nothing else.  Today, it's misty and cold, a mere 17*C, and there is a sea fret.

As explained before, the garden really been left to it's own devices, and between the lawn and the borders there are:  Daisies, Buttercups, Herb Robert, Thistle, Dock, Self Heal, Cuckoo Flower, Clover, Mullein, Hawkbit, Valarian, Dandelions, Foxgloves, Mallow, Roses, Geraniums, Buddleia, old fashioned Pinks,  Poppies of all kinds, Teasels, Evening Primrose, even a patch of Nettles.  The Lavender hedge continues to delight me!  There are loads more that I can't even remember.  I do my best to ensure that "bought in" plants will provide pollinator accessible blooms and a good source of nectar, rather than the pollinator unfriendly double blooms.

It didn't take the Mullein Moth long to lay eggs on the Mulleins!  Decimation commenced last week.

~~~~~

Moving on to art matters and the 61 day Annual Art Challenge

Day 6/61  "Wild Flowers"

Day 7/61 "Treble Clef"

Day 8/61 "butterfly"

Day9 off prompt

Day 10  Glyph  {I made this mandala using Alchemist's Symbols or glyphs for silver, arsenic, oil, dissolve II, purity, magnet, wax, Regulus II, and alkali}

These are the Sanntangle tiles I have been making, separate from the others.

I have stopped sharing my art on Facebook.  Someone, a public profile not on my friend list, openly, and uninvited, criticised my line work as "needing sharpening".  She has knocked my confidence badly, especially as she does not know that I have Parkinson's Disease and that holding a pen can be a challenge.  A classic example of "if you can't say anything kind, don't say it", or that we don't know what others are going through.  I can take criticism, in fact I welcome it, but not in the negative, destructive way this happened.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and viewing.  Don't forget I do like to know which is your favourite!  And, don't be shy if you've got any questions either, I'll happily do my best to answer.

Until next time

Stay safe stay well

Debbie xo

It's Addictive

 Hello Friends!

Thank you for your kind comments on my previous entry.  I have not replied individually as I'm having a few issues with the laptop.  Consequently, I'm forced into minimising my activity on line.  Thank you, also, for your support over my health issues.  Our NHS is a wonderful thing, but when it lets you down it generally does so with a bang.  I am still waiting.

So without further ado, here are my tangles and ICAD's for the first week.

This first tile is not part of ICAD, but create as part of an online tuition hosted by Sandra Rushton of Sanntangle.

As is this second tile, which I confess was torturously difficult, especially at 2:00 a.m. when sleep was the enemy.  However, once it fell into place I understood it!

Day 1/61 Prompt "Sapling"

Day 2/61 Prompt "Polka Dots"

Day 3/61 prompt "map" I went off prompt with a compass rose, a loosely connected subject.

Day 4/61 prompt "espresso"

Day 5/61 "zebra or stripes"

So, my lovely friends, this wraps up the first week.  I'll be updating every Monday, so I do hope you'll drop by and let me know which, if any, you like.

Here are a few more photos from the garden.  We have not had rain now for a month.  Top to bottom: Papaver Orientalis "Coral Sea", Pink Valerian, Teasel, Native Mullein, and finally Lavender.

Every one of those plants will make the pollinating insects very happy indeed.  Some will provide valuable seeds in the winter for foraging garden birds.

It looks as if there will be a fine crop of long stemmed lavender, and I hope to make a good collection of Lavender Wands this Summer.

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xo

How Does the Garden Grow?

Hello Friends!

Welcome Flaming June! A month of gentle days when roses breaking free from tight wrapped bud do send the fragrant scent of many blooms to float and drift upon the warming air ~~~ in calm repose the weary gardener sits ~~~ whose work is never done ~~~ she listens to the drone of busy bees while drinking in the perfume sweet, her eyelids close, and lulled by the gently buzzing bees she sleeps, perchance to dream ~~~ if only for a moment sweet, swept away on the fragrant air to distant and mysterious lands where ancient wonders wait ~~~

Thank you all for your kind comments over my recent photographic success!
I am still waiting to be called to the specialist spinal injury clinic.  Regrettably, there was a mix up in my paperwork and the referral was not made in March as it should have been, which is why I've not been allocated an appointment yet.  I am now on the waiting list.  I am devastated because, apparently, I would have been seen by the end of March.  When I think of how painful and inconvenient the past few months have been and how it could have been relieved already.

So, the garden remains still loved but unattended.  Nature, however, is doing a perfectly good job left to her own devices, and in the coming months the wildlife will benefit from mullein, verbena, teazels, herb Robert, dandelions, daisies, hawkbit and many, many more wildflowers.

I confess to loving this new, rewilded border arrangement!

Here are some more close ups of flowers blooming in the garden and bringing joy to my world.

The lavender hedge is coming along nicely and is even bigger now than when I took this photo a week ago.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen the lovely people who were helping me for two months, so it's all rewilding itself, which I don't mind at all.  However, both my vegetable and fruit patches are desperately overgrown.  I have put out an offer for someone to take care of it in exchange for the produce they can grow, but no one is interested in it.

~~~~~

How quickly the year has flown by, and Daisy Yellow ICAD is upon us once again.  I am planning two months of tangling, and I've got all my bits and bobs in order, ready to go

I've been doing a little practice run.  

Sadly, I went to sleep in the middle of the second piece.  I woke up face down on my work with my pen bleeding out into a fine, big blob of ink!  Unfortunately, sudden onset nodding off happens now because of the Molotov of drugs I have to take.  It's why they took away my driving license.  I've even dozed off while walking down the street!  It is not amusing.

Until next time

Stay safe and well

Debbie xo

And Again!!!

Hello Friends

You won't believe this, I can scarcely believe it myself, but for the third week out of four one of my photos has been selected for publication in the local Western Telegraph newspaper!  I put a link here last time I got picked but it won't be up online until Saturday, so this is the photo.  I am chuffed to bits.  I really am!

It is the healing well at St Non's, the birthplace of Dewi Sant.

Here are the other two images from previous weeks.

First up is Whitesands Beach.  There was no theme this week again.  Just submit photos of anything or place.

and second is the chocolate cabinet at Chapel Chocolates when the theme was "display"

Here's an ancient picture of photos of tiny me with my Aunt and her husband.  Got to love their car!

Until next time

Debbie xx

PSA

Hello friends.

This is just a very quick dive in and out to tell you I appear to have solved the problem of posting anonymously. Well, truth be told, I haven't solved it. Jeannie from The Marmelade Gypsy kindly pointed me in the direction of Life and Linda where I found this useful fix.

I know a lot of us are still having anonymity issues with posting and commenting, so I hope this helps resolve it for you, as it has done for me.

Let's hear it for Jeannie!  👏👏👏👏👏

Until next time

Debbie xo

Ooops I did it again!

Hello friends.

To quote that irritating song by Britney,  Oooops, I did it again.

OK, So what did I do again? Well, they only went and picked another one of my photos for the Western Telegraph Camera Club.

The theme this week was Displays. I submitted a photograph of the local chocolate shop. Well, I suppose it comes down to who could resist a cabinet full of chocolates.

Here's the link for anyone who's interested in seeing mine and the other photos.

WT Camera Club

I don't know what is wrong with Blogger these days. I am down as anonymous. Even for my own blog, but then again, not on everybody's blogs.

I'm having a doozy of a time with the powers that be. By that I mean all things such as organisations  and services to help me get myself set up to enable me to remain in my own home.  Still, I'm hoping I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm still waiting to be called for my assessment with my spine. It's already been twice as long as they said it would be. And the only thing that they prepared to confirm to me is that I am on the waiting list. I am on maximum painkillers. At this, coming from somebody who barely takes a painkiller in her life is something.  Over the past few months, I have had to eat big portions of humble pie. I'm learning slowly that I have to ask for help, and must accept help when it is offered.  For one who values her independence as greatly as I do, this is a very difficult time.

I shall be indulging in Eurovision tonight. Who would have thought just 20 years ago that it would have turned into the nearly fortnight long extravaganza that it has? At 10 years ago, who would have thought that Australia would have been in the competition?

Until next time.

Stay safe, stay well.

Debbie. xx

Whoot Whoot Made the Local Rag!

Hello friends.

What's news? I am still plodding on. Still in pain. Still having great difficulty walking. Still housebound. The latter to the point that I can barely make it out into the garden now. I'm still waiting to be seen by the CMAT.  And I'm still taking large amounts of painkillers, which of course come with their own set of side effects. Despite this, I am still trying to be as positive as I possibly can and hope that once I do get seen they will be able to do something for me.

It seems that my cottage is now non-stop with various people coming to the door. Occupational therapists. Physiotherapists. Community Connectors. Quite a long list of people trying to help, but I doubt there's very much any of them can do for me until I can regain my mobility.  The irony is that this has nothing to do with the Parkinson's! 

In the mean time, I am still not sleeping well. At least I have the television in the same room as me. But do you have any idea of the drivel that is on during the night? And I'm sleeping in my arm chair. None of this can be doing me any good. But what is doing me good is my painting. Some days I don't feel like doing anything particular, so I turn to my colouring in books. Other days I use stamps to make images. Or sometimes I go into full on paint a proper picture mode.

I think I lost the plot with this first one. I made a small simple image using Hobby Art stamps. After I'd coloured it all in, there was a vast white space at the top of the page. Brusho, I said. So, Brusho it was. Except the brush show came out in a little bit too much of A rush and we have rather a bright, vibrant blue sky.  Maybe the mushrooms were psychedelic?  Joking I am.

This one is very finely detailed. It came from a book of postcards. Printed ready for colouring. Very, very fiddly work.

This one is another composite of several Hobby Art stamps.

Am I allowed to say that I am well chuffed with this next one? Well, even if I'm not allowed, I'm going to say it anyway. I'm well chuffed with this.

This Arum Lily was given to my father. So I inherited it in the garden. I took some photos of it a few years back {see below} and I have always wanted to paint pictures of flowers I have grown. So I went for it. It's watercolour.

Finally. This morning I was on the phone with a friend. And she said, oh, I saw your photograph in the Western Telegraph. I didn't know what she was talking about. Anyway, it turns out that's the Western Telegraph Camera Club page on Facebook. Of which I am a member chose one of my photographs as their top six of the year so far.  Can I say I'm chuffed again? I'm chuffed again.

Here's the link to the page where it can be seen. I hope it works for you wherever you are if you're trying to look at it.

Deb's picture

Until next time.

Stay safe, stay well.

Debbie. xo