RSS

Monthly Archives: June 2017

Little Bouquet, Hydrangea and Visa Success

We went to visit a friend who has recently joined the Hippie Club, having had his hip replaced a couple of weeks ago. We took a little bunch of Sweet Peas with some Pittosporum from our garden.

Sweet peas

In their garden is a beautiful blue-flowered Hydrangea bush.

Blue Hydrangea

We came home to the excellent news that our Senegalese family have been granted their Visitors’ Visas and so can come to our Golden Wedding Celebrations in August! We will have all 15 of the family here! You probably wouldn’t believe the intrusive hoops we have to jump through for their Visas to be granted for a 10 day visit – our income, how many rooms in our house to accommodate the family, our itinerary, our passport details, our driving licences………

8 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 30, 2017 in Beauty, family, garden, nature, Photography, postaday2017

Tags: Blue Hydrangea, sweet peas, Variegated Pittosporum

Rear Window Box, Frida Kahlo and Sophie Hannah

29 Jun

Walking through Penryn this afternoon, I happened upon a treat – two window boxes on the back of a car! I smiled all the rest of the way to get my hair cut.

Two window boxes

Here is another window from Studio 10 where the Frida Kahlo Exhibition opens on Sunday.

Frida Kahlo

It is always hard to leave a place you love but more than that, it is the leaving behind of the people that you love. Sophie Hannah says that she wrote this poem when she was leaving Manchester for Cambridge and wanted to reassure a friend that her decision to leave did not mean that she no longer cared for them. The poem has a lovely rhythm about it and is easy to read aloud, giving me the feeling that she is speaking directly and in person to the one she is leaving. The poem also makes me think of times when we are left by someone and it was not their intention at all……

Leaving and Leaving You

When I leave your postcode and your commuting station,
When I left undone all the things we planned to do
You may feel you have been left by association
But there is leaving and leaving you.

When I leave your town and the club that you belong to,
When I leave without much warning or much regret,
Remember, there’s doing wrong and there’s doing wrong to
You, which I’ll never do and I haven’t yet,

And when I have gone, remember that in weighing
Everything up, from love to a cheaper rent,
You were all the reasons I thought of staying,
And none of the reasons why I went

And although I leave your sight and I leave your setting,
And our separation is soon to be a fact,
Though you stand beside what I’m leaving and forgetting,
I’m not leaving you, not if motive makes the act.

Sophie Hannah

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 29, 2017 in art, Beauty, garden, Humour, Penryn, poetry, postaday2017

Tags: bereavement, Studio 10

Beaver Badges, Bumper Sticker and Confucius

28 Jun

The garden has had some much needed rain today and I have been indoors sewing badges onto LiveWire 3’s Beavers uniform. I brought the job home to do and tomorrow I can post the little sweater back complete with badges.

Embroidered name

In Falmouth this evening, we parked next to a car with a bumper sticker which I now aim to find for my car!

Bumper sticker

One of my blogger friends posted the following quotation from Confucius this morning. Thanks, Ute. I like it.

Everything has its beauty

but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 28, 2017 in Beauty, Humour

Tags: Beavers part of Cubs and Scouts

Purple Poppies, Frida Kahlo and Orange Car

27 Jun

I love the delicacy of these purple poppies’ petals.

A pair of purple poppies

We chose the route home that takes us along Bond Street where there is a newish gallery called Studio 10 whose windows we like to look into. What treasures there today! A whole exhibition to Frida Kahlo – and when I looked it up, I discovered that the exhibition, The Frida Experiment, starts on Sunday until July 15th with this byline – ‘Sixteen artists working in various disciplines expressing how Frida Kahlo has influenced their work.’ I shall be back next week to have a proper look.

Studio 10

Nearer home, there is a house where interesting cars can often be seen. Today it is this orange delight. I don’t know what it is but I like it and hope one of my readers may be able to enlighten me.

Orange vehicle

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 27, 2017 in art, Beauty, nature, Photography, postaday2017, Redruth

Tags: bond street, Bond Street Redruth, Studio 10

Dendrites, Window Box and Eggs

26 Jun

I love the feathery patterns in our sandstone terrace, dendrites not fossilised plants. You can read about them here https://thefossilcartel.com/2015/09/dendrites-mini-still-life-in-stone/

The window boxes on our shed are filling out prettily.

Friends at choir often bring eggs to sell. They have some new chickens who are laying beautiful small blue eggs, a lovely contrast with the big brown ones.

Bee, Verbascum and White Strawberries

25 Jun

It is good to see bees busy on these Summer days.

Bee collecting nectar

I love the peachiness and furriness of these Verbascum flowers.

Verbascum

What a feast for supper tonight! Our lovely neighbour came in to share our roast chicken and brought with her a cornucopia of fresh produce from her allotment – new potatoes (which I cooked with mint and butter), broad beans (for which I made a creamy white sauce), a courgette (which I fried in butter with lemon zest) and White Strawberries for our dessert. I think they are lovely with their tiny red seeds and they certainly taste good! The birds don’t recognise them as ripe so they survive!

White Strawberries from Sue’s allotment

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 25, 2017 in Beauty, bees, environment, flowers, Food, friendship, garden, nature, Photography, postaday2017

Tags: Mullein

Sweet Peas, Cake Slice and Shelley

24 Jun

I have picked the first Sweet Peas from our garden and they smell divine.

I bought a new cake slice when we were in London – no cake to slice with it yet!

I don’t usually post political stuff on here but today Jeremy Corbyn has been at Glastonbury and I loved his speech. In there were the following words: “In every child there is a poem, in every child there is a painting and in every child there is music.” Given that these essential subjects are being squeezed out of our current curriculum, these words were music to my ears. He finished off with a quotation from Percy Bysshe Shelley – brilliant!

“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like
dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many – they are few.”

There were well over 100,000 in his audience!

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 24, 2017 in Beauty, garden, Happiness, nature, Photography, postaday2017

Tags: #Jeremy Corbyn, Percy Bysshe Shelley

Frilly Poppy, Haymaking and Nigella

23 Jun

A poppy opened this morning.

Hay is being made in the field behind our house. How lovely to be back in the country side after our week in London!

The Love-in- the -Mist , self seeded this year, is in flower.

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 23, 2017 in Beauty, environment, garden

Tags: hay bales, Love-in-the-Mist, nature, postaday2017

Leaving London and A Party for Perun

22 Jun

It was cheering to see the flower-filled planters on our drive to Paddington Station this morning. The photo was taken at speed through the car windows!

I have shown you the sculpture of Perun, the Slavic Thunder God, as he has been developing next door. He is nearly ready to be taken to Slovakia and tonight a party was held in the front garden to wish him well and to send him off in style. Click on any photo for the essential detail. We are so lucky to have such fabulous neighbours!

Tonight

Left hand detail

The Party

Flowers at his feet

Party photos

At sunset some weeks ago, same day as dawn photos

At Dawn some weeks ago

There was Slavic soup, very tasty, and fabulous Strawberry Thunder Cake in his honour, all made by our lovely friend Shazz and all absolutely delicious.

1 Comment

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 22, 2017 in Uncategorized

Tags: Perun God of Thunder, Pete Hill sculptor, Starawberry Thunder Cake, Sue Hill sculptor

Independence, Flowerpots and Treats

21 Jun

We love walking to school with the children. Some of the best conversations are had on these journeys. It is also lovely to see them striding out with such confidence.

Down one of the lanes to school we spotted strange creatures in the trees over a fence.