I like the sentiment in this.
We have salads, herbs and edible flowers in our trough.
Our Begonias are quite stunning. I love the blue of the Lobelia beginning to show through.
Tag Archives: love
Love, Pansies, Lettuces and Begonias
Spider Crab, Bunch of Flowers and Friendship
While I was picking a bunch of flowers for a lovely friend whose birthday is tomorrow, I noticed a white and pink spider on the white and pink lupins. I took my photos and then identified it as a Crab Spider. Its legs are certainly very crab like. I have never seen one like it before.
Flowers for our beautiful friend which we delivered, along with some freshly made Strawberry Freezer Jam, this afternoon.
Despite our shared shock and sadness at the referendum result, we all found some smiles. Thank you N, G, T and K.
Thanks here too to J and M, also helping me find important things this last week.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Curve
Finding the beautiful in our lives and sharing the love has become even more important today as my country, to my utter dismay, has voted to leave the EU. Here is a curve that I hope will make you smile.
This second photo is of a three year old hand feeling the texture of the Poppy bud.
With love to you all on this sad day.
Love, Poncho and Roses
A very good friend sent me the following quotation from Tennessee Williams after I had expressed my sadness yesterday. Thank you, Paul.
The little poncho is finished and much loved but I didn’t manage to get a back view photo so here it is hanging from the picture rail.
We fed next door’s cats for a few days this week and this beautifully scented bunch of roses was our thank you. I wish you could smell them, lovely old fashioned roses with such an evocative perfume.
Contrasts, Rhubarb and Jenny Joseph
1 The Cornus Controverta Variegata leaves contrast beautifully with the new Fennel growth.
Cornus Controverta variegata
2 We have picked our first sticks of Rhubarb and what a glorious colour they are.
Beautiful rhubarb
3 Jenny Joseph is well know for her delightful poem, ‘Warning’ which is well known and begins
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
Today’s poem in my Poem for the Day is also by her and pleases me greatly. Here is “The Sun Has Burst The Sky”
The sun has burst the sky
Because I love you
And the river its banks.The sea laps the great rocks
Because I love you
And takes no heed of the moon dragging it away
And saying coldly ‘Constancy is not for you’.
The blackbird fills the air
Because I love you
With spring and lawns and shadows falling on lawns.The people walk in the street and laugh
I love you
And far down the river ships sound their hooters
Crazy with joy because I love you.
This is for the lovely Mr Smith whom I met in late October 1966 and married fewer than 10 months later in August 1967.
Painting for Kayla Muella
My sister, Daisy in Hawai’i, made this beautiful painting yesterday and I give you all her words below. Please read and feel free to share. Thank you.
Daisy’s painting for Kayla Muella
“Aloha,
I made the above painting yesterday for a great soul, Kayla Mueller, who was kidnapped by ISIS and who is being reported as having been killed. Usually these things, while tragic, seem far away, but I knew this young lady. She was a friend of my daughters and she was/is one of the most giving, caring people this planet has known. When they were teenagers, Kayla was instrumental in starting a group for young women called the “Keepers of Wonder”. They would dress up as clowns in Prescott and inspire people – either by giving things or saying something inspirational and uplifting to those around them. All she ever wanted to do was to make things better. She cared SO deeply that her journey of life led her to India, Africa and eventually to Syria – always making a difference wherever she went. And … she was only 26 years old. What a SOUL! What a life.
We can react to the news in many different ways – we can be sad, angry, frustrated and the flurry of emotions that rise up are all valid and can be intense.
Interestingly, last week in class (before this news came out) someone brought up the situation in the world and how sad it is. It was affecting her strongly and she wanted to know how to deal with the overwhelming emotions. The reply that came (from me, but I always listen to what comes through) – was, “Of course you feel sad, all those emotions need to be acknowledged and honored, but don’t overstay in them.”
Yes – I cried, when I heard about Kayla – but then, because of my lesson from class, I knew that what I need to do was to live and have a vital, full day in her honor.
I went into my studio and from a deep place of prayer for her, this painting came. I picked the colors intuitively, without conscious thought and I placed them on the canvas in the same way.
I didn’t understand what it meant until it was done, but when I stood back, the message of the painting was clear. There was a symbol for higher heart, and a spiral representing Kayla – and it was about the beauty of a person who comes from a place of pure heart, how one person can affect not just this world, but how her pure loving energy affects the entire universe.
As I was taking the photo this morning, rainbows were coming in the window and they landed on the painting.What can we do? How can we do our part?
The rest of the message that came in last week’s class was about what we can do. Rather than holding on to anger, how can we make a difference?
I truly believe that the highest thing we can do for this world – the only thing really – is from inside of us. By learning to live from a place of inner peace, that peace radiates from our being, affecting everyone around, and bringing more peace to all of humanity. We don’t realize how much we affect the people around us. If we are angry, that energy radiates out of our being, just as surely as when we are happy.
Kayla affected everyone around her, including my daughter just by her innate goodness, and I believe, on some level her giving soul must have also affected her kidnappers. The “Keepers of Wonder” brought joy to everyone they touched, because the joy and fun radiated out of the girls involved.
In the practice of Zhineng Qigong, there are concrete, practical methods to learn to be in an internal state of inner peace, no matter the circumstances. The practice of setting the chi field and gathering energy can transform us from the inside out. It is true inner alchemy, and helps us to keep in internal balance even when the horrors of the world come close to home. The heart practice I teach (and is described in my new book – “Aloha Qigong, practice of the heart”) helps us to heal our hearts and to learn to give love no matter what. When our hearts want to close down because the pain is just too great, it helps to heal us, so that we can keep our hearts open.
And as our hearts are open, we maintain the light in our own soul.”Where there is light in the soul,
There is beauty in the person.
Where there is beauty in the person,
There is harmony in the home.
Where there is harmony in the home,
There is honor in the nation.
Where there is honor in the nation,
There is peace in the world.”
Chinese ProverbI send this with great love for ALL humanity”
I made the above painting yesterday for a great soul, Kayla Mueller, who was kidnapped by ISIS and who is being reported as having been killed. Usually these things, while tragic, seem far away, but I knew this young lady. She was a friend of my daughters and she was/is one of the most giving, caring people this planet has known. When they were teenagers, Kayla was instrumental in starting a group for young women called the “Keepers of Wonder”. They would dress up as clowns in Prescott and inspire people – either by giving things or saying something inspirational and uplifting to those around them. All she ever wanted to do was to make things better. She cared SO deeply that her journey of life led her to India, Africa and eventually to Syria – always making a difference wherever she went. And … she was only 26 years old. What a SOUL! What a life.
We can react to the news in many different ways – we can be sad, angry, frustrated and the flurry of emotions that rise up are all valid and can be intense.
Interestingly, last week in class (before this news came out) someone brought up the situation in the world and how sad it is. It was affecting her strongly and she wanted to know how to deal with the overwhelming emotions. The reply that came (from me, but I always listen to what comes through) – was, “Of course you feel sad, all those emotions need to be acknowledged and honored, but don’t overstay in them.”
Yes – I cried, when I heard about Kayla – but then, because of my lesson from class, I knew that what I need to do was to live and have a vital, full day in her honor.
I went into my studio and from a deep place of prayer for her, this painting came. I picked the colors intuitively, without conscious thought and I placed them on the canvas in the same way.
I didn’t understand what it meant until it was done, but when I stood back, the message of the painting was clear. There was a symbol for higher heart, and a spiral representing Kayla – and it was about the beauty of a person who comes from a place of pure heart, how one person can affect not just this world, but how her pure loving energy affects the entire universe.
As I was taking the photo this morning, rainbows were coming in the window and they landed on the painting.What can we do? How can we do our part?
The rest of the message that came in last week’s class was about what we can do. Rather than holding on to anger, how can we make a difference?
I truly believe that the highest thing we can do for this world – the only thing really – is from inside of us. By learning to live from a place of inner peace, that peace radiates from our being, affecting everyone around, and bringing more peace to all of humanity. We don’t realize how much we affect the people around us. If we are angry, that energy radiates out of our being, just as surely as when we are happy.
Kayla affected everyone around her, including my daughter just by her innate goodness, and I believe, on some level her giving soul must have also affected her kidnappers. The “Keepers of Wonder” brought joy to everyone they touched, because the joy and fun radiated out of the girls involved.
In the practice of Zhineng Qigong, there are concrete, practical methods to learn to be in an internal state of inner peace, no matter the circumstances. The practice of setting the chi field and gathering energy can transform us from the inside out. It is true inner alchemy, and helps us to keep in internal balance even when the horrors of the world come close to home. The heart practice I teach (and is described in my new book – “Aloha Qigong, practice of the heart”) helps us to heal our hearts and to learn to give love no matter what. When our hearts want to close down because the pain is just too great, it helps to heal us, so that we can keep our hearts open.
And as our hearts are open, we maintain the light in our own soul.”Where there is light in the soul,
There is beauty in the person.
Where there is beauty in the person,
There is harmony in the home.
Where there is harmony in the home,
There is honor in the nation.
Where there is honor in the nation,
There is peace in the world.”
Chinese ProverbI send this with great love for ALL humanity”
Thank you, Daisy, my beautiful sister.
Lots of Love on the Mantelpiece
All these birthday cards and get well soon cards from friends and family remind me how much I am loved! Thank you, too, to every one who has sent love for a speedy recovery here on my blog. It is all very much appreciated.
Cinema Space, Knitting and Birthday Poem
1 I loved this short film, Cinema Space Tribute, which is on Alex’s blog . This is a journey through 46 years of space travel in film from 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick, to 2014’s Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan and all to a soundtrack of “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas, my all-time favourite poet. Thank you so much Alex. Here is the link to the film http://vimeo.com/113142476
2 I am making a tiny pair of fingerless mittens for Grand-baby B. They are quite tricky, being so small, but I should finish them this weekend.
Nearly done
3 It is my lovely Sister-in-law’s birthday today and I give her this beautiful little poem from Robert Browning who died on this day in 1889.
Love
So, the year’s done with!
(Love me forever!)
All March begun with,
April’s endeavour;
May-wreaths that bound me
June needs must sever;
Now snow falls round me,
Quenching June’s fever –
(Love me for ever!)
Goldfinches, Love and Lasagne
1 More and more Goldfinches are coming to feed each morning. This photo was taken from indoors and a long way away. You may have to click and zoom to find all six if this lovely family.
A Goldfinch family feeding
2 I like the thoughts in this little poster that was sent to me.
Do your best
3 Supper tonight was a delicious Chicken and Mushroom Lasagne.
Golden topping
Mothers’ Day, Narcissus and Clematis Armandii
1 What a lovely day – cards, flowers and calls for Mother’s Day from our beautiful daughters and Skype with our lovely son and daughter-in-law in Barcelona. I feel very lucky indeed to have such loving people in my life.It has also been a day to remember my own wise and wonderful Mum and all that she taught me.
2 This beautiful Narcissi has bloomed in the sunshine and showers of the last few days. Please see the P.S.
Narcissus
3 We have just five Clematis Armandii flowers, better than none at all!
Clematis Armandii
P.S. I send these flowers to all my female friends out there in the ether with this beautiful post from a friend, P, showing such care and thoughtfulness.
A message of love and compassion to all friends out there on Mother’s Day who do not have their own children, to friends who are estranged from their children or their mothers and to friends who have lost treasured members of their family ... may you find unconditional love in unexpected places and a healthy channel for your own nurturing and creativity to help make the world around you a place where you feel cared for and are seen and known for who you are. x x
