gentle gentleness

It is the weekend. Lots of people seem to fill weekends doing so much-rushing to do jobs when they should be slowing down. You need to rest as much as you need to be busy. Fill your days by all means, but fill them with making nice things to eat, spending your time with friends and family, pottering in the garden, taking a walk, investing a little time in things that are good for the soul.



I love the work of Elaine Pamphilon. Gentle gentleness captured in paint and good for the soul.

stripes and shadows

This morning (at 7.45am) Mide says 'oh, I wish I could eat my breakfast outside!' Well that's an easy wish to fulfil. So, in their pyjamas two of the three brothers sit and eat their cereal and juice with faces tilted to the morning sun and I get to enjoy their stripes and shadows.

les temps perdu

We've just spent some time looking over short, snippety videos of the boys, filmed mainly on ancient cameras. Fleeting moments in time and space. Moments forever caught in the past. Their baby faced innocence, their arms held out for lifting up, their wide eyes and blonde hair. It breaks my heart to think of all that time gone, and yet where would we be if the time had not been spent growing and learning and changing?

It seems like an age now since we planted some Sweet William seeds. It's hard to imagine the flowers and their beauty and scent when you're putting tiny, not terribly inspiring looking seeds into their trays of compost. In fact I'd forgotten all about them and it was Kevin who planted them in the border. They are glorious-they smell heavenly, like old fashioned cottage garden plants should. They remind me of times past-the time spent with the boys planting them, so easily forgotten in the hustle and bustle of life. But look what time did to those seeds-it grew flowers. And look what time is doing to my boys-it's growing men.

digging up the past

There's been a bit of digging going on around here for the last while. A herbaceous border running from the back of the house is being extended further down towards the garden. An immense, weedy bank of stones and soil and bits and bobs has been dug by hand and wheel-barrowed away. The boys have been helping with this task and one day they hit gold! Well, iron really. Buried treasure in the form of a stirrup, strong bolts and rusted hinges, a small oval sign which says 'to carry 9 tonnes'. We found an aerial photo of our house from 30 years ago and it shows a railway carriage being used as a shed, parked in the exact spot where we are digging. They spoke and dug and wondered and dug and imagined and dug, thinking of the past as they filled more barrows as we make our own, gentle impression on this place of ours.

needs and wants

Beautifully simple - everyone needs an angel and I love the sage green, the oak leaf and acorn wings and those pointy feet. Woodcut by Sarah Young

Hobnail Pitcher from Pentreath and Hall, described as 'ugly-beautiful' though I don't see the ugly myself. I love that turquoise...

Antique cheese boards - for our healthy (?) love of cheese
Pointers by James Brown - if only everything was as black and white!

For those of us on lazy summer holidays how about a little Cloud Classification, also by James Brown

Books, books, books...can never have enough really. I have just started Wolf Hall so that will take my reading time for a while, I imagine. But after that I was thinking of a series and the Cazalet family might just fit the bill.

made by the sea

If you need to be lulled by gentle sea-sounds, the wet slap of clay dug from the beach and watch an artist at work this video of potter Judith Rowe might be just the thing... I love the opening sequence with the cry of the sea birds and the sound of feet across sand...

Judith Rowe - Made by the Sea from Alun Callender on Vimeo.






Wrapping your fingers around a hand-thrown mug as you drink your warming tea connects you to the person who made it, connects you to their creativity, connects you to their wobbles and finger pressure as the clay is turned and formed, connects you to their time and place.

If you want to buy any of Judith's ceramics go to the lovely Made in Hastings shop.

mid-summering

It's midsummer. There's nothing more important than spending these long day-light filled hours wisely. Picnic bag, children, dogs, towels, wet suits, swimsuits, lake...