In My Garden

A few mornings ago I awoke to a sight I hadn’t seen much of over here in Sussex, England this month — blue sky and sun. So, after some coffee and toast (with peanut butter), I grabbed by camera and headed out into the garden. Time to commune with the flowers and the bees.

 

 

 

Love Haiku : Chance

 

Open up to me;

just a chink is all I need.

Chance is on our side.

Love Haiku : Broken

 

 

 

You have turned from me,

and now I am nothing more

nor less, than broken.

New Year’s Day Walk

It was good to get out for a long walk this morning after the festivities of New Year’s Eve. The sun shone and I grabbed my camera, heading out to the Bedelands in Burgess Hill, West Sussex near my home. It was early and aside from a few early bird dog walkers, I had the forest and fields pretty much to myself.

 

 

Good Signs

Sometimes, when something calls you outside for a walk, even in the rain, it’s a good thing to listen.

White feathers…

a daisy in December…

…and a crocus…

…and, at the end, a rainbow.

Newfoundland Flowers

I love photographing flowers, so on my summer trip to Newfoundland I could often be found in a field with my camera, getting close to flowers, not to mention bees, ladybirds, and butterflies. We all get so caught up in the “big picture” in our busy lives, it’s good to remember the beauty of small things.

Fireweed was turning the fields mauve all along the coast.

  

  

  

  

And blue dotted the fields everywhere, in irises, harebells, vetch, and, of course, blueberries which were just ripening.

  

  

  

  

  

The heady scent of wild roses wafted over the August fields.

      

And white! Labrador Tea, daisy, yarrow, roses….

  

  

  

  

  

Everywhere, just everywhere, beautiful lupins coming into flower.

      

  

Sunny yellow flowers lit up the green fields and covered rocks with summer.

    

      

  

  

  

And every now and then, a touch of red.

  

  

  And random mixes.

          

Nature is generous. We should take some time to notice.

A Newfoundland Road Trip

I’ve been very remiss these past couple of months. I haven’t finished posting the photos from my summer road trip around the outports of Newfoundland with my cousin Queenie. Oh, I’ve been meaning too… but, you know, life.

So here it is, the penultimate post about my wonderful Newfoundland holiday. Then tomorrow… marvelous St. John’s. Oh, and do me a favour? Let’s just let Newfoundland be our little secret, okay?

A short drive along the coast from Eastport is the outport village of Salvage (pronounced Sal-VAAAGE), with a stong ‘A’. Canadian radio host Michael Enright calls the 5.6 mile walk between Eastport and Salvage “the most beautiful in the world”. Well, I’m not going to argue. We spent a couple of hours exploring the town, and the location provided an embarrassment of riches for my camera.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

We left Easport a few days later and headed along the northern coast, through the remote seaside town of Wesleyville. The weather had turned misty, making for some evocative images.

  

  

  

  

  

Just down the road we found the fantastic art shop, Norton’s Cove, run by artist Janet Davis and her husband. Have a look at her website: http://www.nortonscovestudio.com where you can buy her unique Newfoundland artwork.

  

  

     

 

 

 

We made an overnight stop in my hometown of Grand Falls, where we caught up with relatives and had a wander around the town. I even caught my cousin’s son make a home run at the local LIttle League game.

  

  

  

Then we hit the road again the next day, for our final stop, St. John’s, the oldest English-founded city in North America.

A Weekend in the Dordogne France

I am just back from a long weekend in Sarlat, a beautiful Medieval town in the centre of the Dordogne region in central France. My Italian friends, Winehippie and Drumguy, have bought a guest house there which they’re fixing up for the 2015 season. We’re got a great deal — I give them some advice on design and decoration, and they feed me delicious meals and wine and put me up in one of their guest rooms. A great barter!

Autumn in my Garden

It was a lovely autumn day today — sunny and a bit chilly, the sky a crisp blue and the grass damp with dew. The flowers are showing their last flashes of colour before the frost, and I had to get out to take some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Love Haiku: Opposites

They say we shouldn’t

but how can we not? Nature

has called out our names.