Flowers flowers flowers

That's what I thought my blog was going to be about when I decided to redeem the f-word. I imagined that all I'd want to do would be to share my passion for flowers and post loads of photos of them. That it'd be like a flower catalogue. I'm really surprised that this is the first post devoted to them.
So here are some of my favourite flower photos:

There are just too many to chose from so I'll devote this first flower post to cut flowers that have been bought by friends. These are special not only because of their beauty but because of the memories they evoke.

A bunch of flowers cannot fail to please - unless of course they're 'c' flowers, a.k.a chrysanthamums or carnations on their own. They are just too sensible and don't smell nice. I remember a friend who was experiencing hard times saying that she just couldn't afford not to buy herself flowers every week just to keep her spirits up.
So why not give someone a surprise gift of flowers today?

Fabulous Fungus

The Trees
The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
 by Philip Larkin

Yesterday I went walking in the woods with DS & DH & Ralph, the
black lab., me clutching my camera to capture some of the new
growth. We take the dog into the woods most days and I love
to see the changes to trees and plant life. The flowers of the wild
garlic have taken over from the violets, primroses and bluebells
and the trees are bright with new leaves, the ground overgrown
with ferns and greenery I couldn't put a name to.
I was intent on capturing the beauty of the new growth when DS
suggested I took a picture of some fungus growing on a rotting log.
My first reaction was to object  -it reminded me of death and was
the opposite of what attracted me but he pointed out that new life
depended on that death. It's Nature's way, God's way, Jesus' way.

 It was an interesting thought so I was soon looking out for more fungus
and have had great fun learning more about it on the wonderful 'net'
As in all creation there's not  just one kind of the species but thousands 
and there are appreciation groups all over the  country. The
Bracket Fungus  below was my prettiest find but  is just one of them:
click on the link to see many more beauties.

So now, far from seeing the dead wood as an eyesore I am eager
that it is allowed to stay on the forest floor. I found this article
that says Life-giving dead wood 'at risk' 
Happy Fungus hunting!

Postscript: A few hours after posting the above I was woken by a
familiar but unwelcome itchiness & tingling in my foot - between the 4th &
 little toes to be precise. It could only by foot fungus!  I've not suffered from
it for ages & it seemed such a coincidence that I looked for a meaning from it.
Am I dead wood? Not quite perhaps but like the dead wood I will have to die
 in order to live again. 

Found

On Thursday evening my glasses went AWOL so I spent yesterday searching for them. I went from the sensible places - on surfaces, under cushions, in pockets - and then widening the search to telephoning & visiting places I'd visited recently and eventually in desperation I emptied the rubbish bin and revisited all the aforesaid in triple. I admit it, I'm obsessive but they are my only prescription pair - not one of the many £1- off- the- peg pairs that litter the house.
As the day wore on, the parable of the woman & the lost coin kept coming to mind more and more vividly. Coincidentally I had already decided that my next F-word would be FOUND. I was thinking of it in a spiritual context and had chosen Johnny Cash's version of Amazing Grace - I once was lost but now am found.


To that I would now add the lost coin parable. This morning as I looked for it in my bible the telephone rang & on answering it DH noticed a message was waiting on the answer m/c. It was a friend from my Thursday knitting group: she had picked up my glasses by mistake and taken them home with her!

If only I was organised I'd have picked that up yesterday afternoon & saved myself a great deal of aggravation. But then I wouldn't have had the Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin & the Lost Son staring me in the face when the story of the lost glasses was so happily resolved. We're off to celebrate.

Fishy stories

Glass fish made from the offcuts/scraps dropped on the floor of the glassblowers' workshops in Murano. They have been sold to tourists for over 100 years as cheap souvenirs and can now be found in charity & vintage shops and car-boots as they've become less collectable. I love finding them & have a small collection 'swimming' around the kitchen shelving.
My first find was the one with the red kissy lips which I bought from a Russian market-stall holder in Tallin, Estonia. The largest fish in the picture is my most recent: I bought it here in Saltburn at our new and fabulous Vintage shop on Milton street.

Another fish found in Saltburn is this Atlantic Pomfret which was washed up earlier this year. When I googled it there are lots of references to them being found for a short period in January along this part of the East coast. They're a deep water fish whose natural habitat is an ocean - Atlantic, Indian and Pacific. It's quite rare but occasionally when migrating they take a wrong turn & this is what happened in January this year with disastrous results. Apparently the North Sea just isn't deep enough for them to survive in.


Another stranded 'fish' found when cleaning my sitting room floor. It was just a piece of yarn that had dropped so perfectly into the ichthus symbol that I couldn't resist catching it.

And finally this fishy entry ends with a confession. I recently left church still clutching one of the kneelers that I'd been admiring. Only when I got to the car did I realise & decided to take it home & bring it back next time. So I'm a church-lifter. Returning it has almost arrived at the top of my to-do list. This picture will always be a reminder of that senior moment and also of a great miracle Jesus did in producing an unplanned feast for thousands.

Fidelity & Felicity

Fidelity & Felicity - loyalty & happiness - a great combination in friendship - and so stylishly dressed by DF Barbara ( if you'd like to see more of her work or to contact her go to Frippery )

I was surprised to find that these two girls are not among the maids of the House Beautiful in Bunyan's, Pilgrims Progress because Christian met an amazing number of aptly named characters during his pilgrimage.
As a child I was fascinated with this genre and still have a soft spot for the allegorical.

Footlights & first nights

We open tonight at the Community Theatre playing 'Saving Ardley'. It's a play commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness of the charity. We'll do our best but are still fumbling for words & bumping into each other onstage.
Here's an entertaining advert for WWF by way of compensation .....



Thanks to all those involved! LOL xxxxxxxxx

Fidoes past, present & future

Dougal & Posie, our beloved Westies who lived with us for nearly 16 years. R.I.P.1990-2006

Ralph, our current Fido. Collected in May 2008

He was very nearly sent back after 3 days of ransacking & chewing. The garden was a favourite site for his vandalism.

But a year later he has come good. He & DH are practically inseparable. Exercising Ralph is as good as joining the gym and living next to a long beach with woods nearby is ideal.



So DH has his ideal breed but I'm still looking for mine....... a small lap-dog. Favourites at the moment are a Miniature Schnauzer or a Scottie. Sometime in August?



Watch this space