One Moment in Time

Today the sirene song of Dawyck proved to be too strong to resist and I wound my way through the high and byways towards it, with the sides of the roads resembling a white cloud where hawthorn blossom and cow parsley met. I was only accompanied by the Canon and for the rest was alone with my thoughts.

First of all I again wandered up and down the azalea and rhododendron walk. It might have been my imagination but there seemed to be even more colour than on the last visit.

The garden was so quiet that I could imagine myself completely alone, with only my senses to guide me.

Eyes, of course

Iris Sibericus

Wild Orchid

but also smell and sound. The babbling of the water falls,

the honking of the pheasant cocks

the grasses rustling under my feet, the wind in the top of the trees, the call of the birds, combined to give shape to the sound of summer.

It was one of those perfect afternoons when life is sheer joy. A time to store that beautiful sense of happiness to sustain me into the future. Again it was almost impossible to tear myself away.

The garden however will always be there and I will return again many times, hopefully. The moments will never be the same again but those times yet to come will be just as lovely in their own way.

Darjeeling tea and Corn Poppy 8 by Carol Taylor provided the final pleasure.

 

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Infinite beauty at Dawyck

Some impulse made us visit Dawyck today despite originally planning a visit to an open garden in East Lothian. It was the right decision as even upon entering the visitor's centre we were told that the garden had reached it's zenith. And how true those words proved to be. The rhododendron and azalea walk was beyond belief or description. The colours, the scent, the visual impact, all were stunning. I think we must have walked up and down it about a dozen times. Me with camera in hand, of course. The above picture is taken looking towards Dawyck House

and this one in the opposite direction.

No words are necesssary or in fact adequate to describe the beauty and lusciousness of the individual flowers, so hope you will just enjoy this selection!

What a beautiful selection of colour combination for art, too!

Not just the flowers are delicious but I also love the way the leaves pop up lilke you can see above.

And then there were the fields of blue poppies!

And these fabulous irises. I couldn't help myself but sank to the ground in order to capture them even better.

The variety here is Iris Sibericus. Such a cold sounding name for a flower that has such beautiful patterning and colour. Afterwards we had a cup of tea and even after only having left the garden minutes before I already wanted to go back. We seriously considered it (well I did, anyway!). But the midges had been fierce and we had already walked for quite some time, so instead I gave in to another temptation and bought yet another gorgeous glicee print from Carol Taylor's exhibition. This one is called The Delicate Balance 5. It left me feeling breathless, and it will also be a lovely reminder of yet another very special day, filled with beauty. In all honesty I could so very easily buy all of her work!

 

If you're anywhere in the area go as soon as you can. This fabulous flower display won't last long and it doesn't happen every year either due to wind and/or rain. This year is pretty unique!

 

 

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Bunting, Bubbly, Bonnets and Blooms

Today was the last meeting of the season for the Thistle Quilters and we had a "Bunting, Bubbly 'n' Bonnets" theme which as you can see above was a great success. Taking photographs means you don't have to appear in them so I gladly volunteered! Above almost all the bonnets on show and a glimpse of the bubbly too (non alcoholic, I hasten to add but no less delectable for that). 

 A lot of fun was had by all as can be seen by the above portraits of Liz and Jane!

And some more serious things were also discussed, here between Marjory and Rosie! Rosie is a wizard at making it yourself with the most simple means, and coming up with the most stunning results! Her fabulous flowery bonnet started life as a cardboard box.

 Some people looked exceedingly elegant even though they too had made their own bonnet, entirely from scratch. This is Jan.

And here is another glimpse of Rosie's bonnet as well as that of Carol, that was inspired by Votes for Women, and uses the colours of the suffragettes. In the background you can see some of Thistle's bunting. Every member made a pennant and Jane put them all together beautifully.

I personally was very much taken by Jane's hat, which she had bought on a recent trip to Thailand. So colourful and fun.

 And more details here of the bonnets. By the way everyone gave me permission to feature them here!

As you can see I borrowed the title for our event and added blooms as well ( so great that starts with a B too!) which I photographed in our garden on my return. No excuses for featuring that laburnum flower again!

And our Lilies of the Valley are also away now by the front door, spreading their delicious scent.

Finally I blipped the valerian plant when it was in bud earlier here. It's now fully out so I could not resist the temptation to feature it again on my blip as well as here.

The Yellow and The White

Despite the forecast, today proved to be a lovely one, with intermittent sunshine and quite warm. I spend this morning stewarding the ongoing exhibition of the Peebles Embroiderers' Guild in the Tweeddale Gallery (still on till next Friday) and when I came home dedicated some time to taking photographs in our garden. Things are moving fast there. One day the laburnum tree by our gate had a few leaves and then it was suddenly bathed in rich yellow beauty. It seems that this tree too, like many of the wild flowers, has enjoyed our strange weather patterns. I don't think it has ever looked as good as this. We planted it ourselves back when we first came here. I think it was in the spring of 1996. I have always had a yearning to have a Golden Rain tree in our garden. Golden Rain is what this tree is called in The Netherlands.

Other trees we planted included many lilac trees which were given to us by people in our lane with the assurance that they would do very well in the conditions we garden in i.e. very high up (900 ft) and very exposed. They were right and these trees too have just started to flower and spread their delightful scent around. A real joy for the eyes.

The laburnum however is my favourite tree in all the garden. It might only put on a show for a very brief period of time but while it lasts it can't be bettered as far as I'm concerned.

Ask Unmask page

And so, almost unnoticed, the end of my most recent sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project has been reached. Called Ask Unmask I have added the very last fabric mask to a page that was collaged with bits of paper from a variety of sources, mainly mail order catalogues but also wrappers for Amaretto biscuits. I also added stamps and washi tape, and then coloured the page with water colours. It's amazing how life like masks become if you put real eyes behind the openings. This has been a sketchbook that was a joy to work in once I got over the fact that I had signed up for the Capes, Masks and Tights tour and that the sketchbook was expected to contain: "extraordinary stories in comic or graphic novel format". I took heart from the fact that the accompanying information also stated: " The theme you chose is a great starting point, but it's not meant to be a restriction. Don't feel limited by it, just loosen up and have fun".  So I did! And I'm sorry it has ended. But not to worry. I already have my next sketchbook (for 2014) at the ready and this time did spend more care and attention to selecting my theme which will be Borders and Lines. Now doesn't that just sound made for a quilter! If you are interested in signing up for a sketchbook of your own, you can do so here.

And my previous sketchbook which was made using an old cotton nightie that I had dyed, for all the pages is currently on the Sketchbook Project Summer Tour, going to all kinds of exciting places some of which I have also visited (such as Toronto, Niagara Falls, and Montreal) but most of which I'll probably never get to, and I can only guess what borrowers will think of my upcycled Victorian night gown! You can see digital versions of all my previous sketchbooks here.

I'll share the outside of this sketchbook with you in the very near future together with a re-hash of all the pages and then it will be winging it's way to the Brooklyn Art Library in NY.

Variations on a theme

The weather has chenged and although it's still very mild, it's not as sunny and delightful as last week. In a way this is not a bad thing as my productivity lessens the more the sunshine increases! I'm a sun adorer, lover of that yellow ball in the sky and a follower of Apollo. When the sun shines I can't bear to be indoors. I have to soak up each and every ray even if I get overheated. I tell myself I need  all the Vitamin D that I can get, seeing as the sun is not exactly with us very often here in Scotland but the truth is that I have always been   completely addicted to sunshine. It remains a mystery why I didn't grab the chance to live in Italy when the opportunity offered but love for an Englishman proved stronger than even my love affair with the sun! And in all honesty when the sun shines in Scotland it's the most beautiful place on earth! (yes, I am biased, and not ashamed to admit it!).

I wasn't completely idle outside as  I did do a lot of fabric painting as well as hand stitching but still felt a bit guilty for all that indulgence.

Today was spent catching up in the studio and it felt good to do a lot of machine stitching and doing some of my admin (hate that job!). But there was still the need to go outside which was fulfilled by dog walking and a bit of a potter in the greenhouse. Once there I could  not resist taking multiple pictures of the Sealand Gem clematis which is in full bloom inside. These 3 pictures were the best of the many I took and all that now remains is to choose one for my daily blip picture.

You'll have to check it out there to see which one made it to the top spot as at the moment I remain undecided.

Kirkton Manor and Hallmanor Gardens

 I spotted a leaflet in the window of our local Post Office some days ago advertising the opening of two private gardens in the Manor Valley to raise money for CHAS (Children's Hospice Association Scotland). We visited Kirkton Manor garden last year as part of the Wayfarer's Market but it was attractive enough to warrant a second visit and we'd never been to Hallmanor so we made our way to the valley (just off the Peebles road) this afternoon. The first thing I noticed was nothing to do with the gardens but with the surrounding fields. Somehow our long and hard winter followed by the coldest spring for 50 years has produced just the right conditions for the emergence of a wealth of buttercups and daisies all around. It's so delightful to see this everywhere and the view from Kirkton Manor garden shows a beautiful example.

 There was a wealth of colour in this garden such as the yellow azalea above

 and the orange poppies and purple alliums seen above..

 But it was the sight of the mauve and blue bluebells that proved the greatest delight in this garden.

Then we went our way (3 miles into the hills, and we took the car!) to Hallmanor garden which at first sight looked equally lovely and colourful. Just look at those gorgeous orange rhododendron flowers.

John then spotted a sign pointing towards the loch. A loch in a private garden! That wasn't to be missed. And indeed it was breathtaking to emerge from a woody walk into the first signs of an ancient (I guess Victorian) weir and many signs that this water supply and loch were formed by installing a dam into the Hallmanor Burn.

And then the entire loch spread out before us. What a delight it must be to have a loch as part of your land. I suffered a serious attack of envy until I remembered the little road winding it's way up the mountain that is the only way of access to Hallmanor. It is splendid in the summer but must be sheer hell during the winter months and I hate to think what their broadband speed must be like, this is, of course, if they can even get broadband. After that I just enjoyed the loch and was grateful for this unique opportunity to walk all the way around it.

This is the Victorian dam that was built to form the loch and I'm assuming also to supply the house and probably surrounding valley with water (another practical problem of living out in the sticks!). Needless to say I could not resist the opportunity to walk across this construction. It you can go up and/or over, I'm your woman!

And I was rewarded in the middle by this fabulous view over the loch with the most fantastic reflections. The wheel you see is to open the loch and let the water proceed downwards. I have no idea if this is still in working order

but I guess not as this little house in the woods was the original home of the pump and other paraphernalia to do with the water supply and as you can see it has now fallen into total disrepair. However the old equipment is still present although in bits. Isn't it amazing how much effort was spend in those far off days in housing even this mundane equpment in a lovely setting?

As for us, we still have one final pleasure to come. The tea! With cake, of course (lemon drizzle!) and on a table decorated with wildflowers. Even after all the many years I've been here (in my 34th year here in the UK) this to me is so quintessentially British and one of the many things I love about my adopted homeland. You can always count on a fabulously tasting cuppa at such events.