Day 141 - Lots to say but also lots of sadness. xx

Tuesday 21st May

A tussie mussie created for someone very special today.

Glorious, glorious, glorious.....my description of the island today.  It is my favourite weather with sun but lots of wind to keep the midges away!  The bay is a deep provocative blue and the white sailing boats make a wonderful contrast.  Fellow islanders, we are very lucky people. 

I am clearly wicked because there is no let up for me.  Work on the smallholding continues with only the occasional stop for large mugs of tea.  The boys worked more or less independently as they continued their studies of the Hebrides.  The episode last night took my breath away and I could move there in a heart beat.  The star of the show was the humble puffin - how pretty are puffins?  I always thought I rather got stuck in the queue for creativity when I should have been getting my dose of prettiness.  I have rather left that to my beautiful sister.  No matter, because when I return as a puffin I will be so pretty.  I will be bold too and not frightened of those really big birds that want to steal my food. 

I always think you can strip education back to natural curiosity.  We are led by that in our home school so we are letting the boys explore the Hebrides provoked by their own questions.  I can not tell you how good their map drawing skills are.  I also can't tell you how many maps they have drawn in their time in school.  Apart from the obvious skill in map drawing I think the exercise encourages them to pay close attention.  When I was training as a primary school teacher one of the teachers I was on placement with had the children spell bound each and every day.  I asked her what her secret was and she said 'close observation'.  With a new class she spent the first few weeks observing each and every child until she felt she understood them and then she began to teach.  I have tried to pass that skill on to my own children and I hope it will last a life time.  Observing them this morning I could see just how engaged they were with their studies.  So pleased!

What do we think of Chelsea?  I think it is a real vintage delight but I think the delights are in the small spaces this year.  I have studied the large gardens online and I remain disappointed.  The exception to that is the garden designed by Chris Beardshaw for Arthritis Research.  I get the concept of the struggle and I also get the feeling of light.  The planting is grown up planting where he shows how much he understands the different plants.  The fact that Chris suffers from arthritis is clear to me as it is his most personal garden to date.  Chris got a gold medal for his efforts as did  Martin Cook for his Mindfulness Garden.  For me that little garden in the Fresh Category stole the show but the judges disagreed and gave best in show to 'After the Fire' garden designed by James Basson.  I love the concept underpinning this garden and the story it tells of hope but I thought the planting lacked imagination.  I did warn you that I have an opinion on everything! 

Taking the concept of hope onto a much more immediate place I was devastated to learn of the plight of the people in Oklahoma who have been affected by the tornado.  It is just too difficult to comprehend and my heart goes out to them all.  I have a tiny ritual space inside my studio where I can go to contemplate and I tried to send prayers for all those families suffering as a result of the natural disaster. 

It made my gardening efforts today more contemplative than normal but it also seemed a good day to plant up my bee and butterfly garden.  My borage, dwarf sunflowers, cosmos and snapdragons were just bursting out of their pots.  It is always so rewarding to plant out plants that you grew from seed.  There is nature's little hope and I do find it hard that the same force for good can do so much damage. 

I do want to end on some hope so I just want to mention the Rich brothers who exhibited at Chelsea this year with only their second ever garden.  These young men are truly the ones to watch.  They created a garden called 'One Stone' and the whole space used just one original stone that they cut into different shapes.  The concept behind the garden was to highlight the disconnection between man and nature and to try and illustrate how connected we really are.  More than that it showed interdependency and a partnership between man and Mother Nature.  The boys won a gold medal for their efforts and, for me, a gold medal for their message.  We have lost touch with nature in so many ways and I think we do so at our own peril.  Issues such as climate change, deforestation, urbanisation all contribute to ripping the heart out of our world.  I am currently working on a piece of writing for Satish Kumar the environmentalist that leads us forward.  It is a sobering drafting process as I try and turn negatives into positives and passiveness into activeness.  I have never really seen myself as an activist but it would appear some others do so I will do my very best and include a link in due course. 

I can confirm that my maths ability remains pathetic though as I calculated we would make 10,000 page views by the weekend and it would appear we are only 30 off as I write.  I will do a little jig as we pass through that unbelievable total but will save my best dance moves until Friday when we announce our competition winner.  I can't say much fairer than that.

So, today is about quiet contemplation and sending thoughts and prayers across the ocean.  Blessing to you all and your lovely families. 

Until tomorrow. xx