In the spirit of Chelsea Flower Show I am designing a new garden. I am eating cake while I design as it feeds my brain. Such a good excuse! I am having problems deciding exactly where to situate this garden as will be revealed later.
Another very blowy day on the island but with lots and lots of sunshine. My plants are happy, happy plants as I am. Facebook friends already know that I have got a place on the writing course in the Hebrides for next year. The email came in last night and I was jumping in an instant. 7 hours of painting was not going to stop this girl jumping. I did get stuck in the bath last night so I didn't get away with all that exertion. I am so excited about the course as its focus is nature writing and that is where my writing finds its natural home. Every time I pause when typing I look out of the window and every time I see something different that wasn't there yesterday. Meadow buttercups have sprung into life thanks to all the sunshine and they now pepper the cow parsley that is trying its hardest to compete with the grass.
For Chelsea to focus on wildflower as much as it has is a triumph and a sign that we are all listening a bit more. I grew up in rural Cambridgeshire and would walk our dog through meadows filled with wildflowers. Urbanisation and intensive farming has meant that we have lost over 90% of those wildflower meadows but I sense some optimism. People are engaging with the benefits of wildflowers for our wildlife and little corners of gardens are being left for wild relatives of our cultivated flowers. Some farmers are leaving strips between fields for wildflowers and not cutting them back until after they have self seeded. Meadows do need management but I think the interest and understanding is returning. Good for Chelsea Flower Show!
Have any of you seen the Hebridean Weavers Garden? It is set in the 1950s with a cottage on Lewis. I am going to Lewis next year - did I mention that??? The weaver weaves traditional Harris Tweed cloth using wool dyed naturally from plants growing in the area. You could just put me in that garden and leave me. I would be quite happy. It would force me to get to grips with spinning.
So Chelsea continues to push my buttons and make me more determined than ever to get there one day. I want to see if Chris Beardshaw is as good looking in real life as he is on the telly. These things are important.
The boys tackled their spelling session with good cheer this morning and then we moved into a creative writing exercise. This is normally where George shines very brightly indeed. Today was different as he really struggled and eventually disappeared off to his room for a bit of peace. Meanwhile Max flew through the exercise with real flair showing that he can do these things when he puts his mind to it. He is often a reluctant writer but I see a change in him now that his spelling is improving. I think there are many stories in Max bursting to get out. Checking on George I could see this was not going to happen. He had an idea but wasn't impressed by it and therefore couldn't get any flow to the task. We agreed that he should abandon it as writing sometimes doesn't happen. Can you imagine that happening in school? George is a talented story writer but today was not his day and there was no point in pushing it any further. He could take his level 2 qualifications now as he is more than able to pass them all. We are leaving it until after the summer because we just feel he needs that extra bit of time to just do what feels right. He will take them at 16 along with all the other 16 year olds in the country.
Back to my new garden. I am designing a Moon garden and apart from knowing it has to face the sea I am not sure where to locate it. There is nothing like a full moon on the sea and I want to create a space where we might sit and enjoy the view at night. I think I will create a container garden around a central seated area. You can see my thinking on my Pinterest board. I am obviously looking for the silver and white flowers and foliage but I am also looking for night scented plants. When Pete reads this post he will no doubt groan as yet another project rolls off the conveyer belt. Who would be married to me? If any of you have any words of wisdom on moon gardens do share....
Of course, it would be difficult to end without making mention of the terrible incident in London yesterday afternoon. It shocked me deep into my soul and I have carried it around with me ever since. I can not imagine what would drive anyone to do such a thing to another human being. It is stirring up strong emotions but I do hope people remember that a family have lost a very dear member. I am sending prayers to that family at this time. I would just say one thing. I was cross that the Sun newspaper captured one of the killers ranting and then this went out on the evening news. It is beyond comprehension that, as a society, we would want to give this air time. Our focus should have been elsewhere.
Perhaps we should all hold our loved ones a little closer for a while.
Until tomorrow. xx
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