The daily walk

Low Pond and Walled Garden

The Stencilfied Journal Prompt Ten

After Prompt Nine it was a relief to move on and be in control of my pages again. This prompt for #thestencilfiedjournal told us to document our day in stencils. A large part of my day is taken up with Flora walking, and lots of that walking takes place in the forest near our home so I knew I needed leaves and tree stencils to make my vision come alive.

The background was made using Stencilgirl  Products® L433 Clustered Leaves and a variety of acrylic paints.  To that I added the sun (very much present of late!) in the shape of stencil S041 Mandala #1, used with gold paint and mica spray to get a glittery effect.  The trees themselves came from S329 Trio of Trees (a real favourite of mine).

 As I was documenting my day it seemed a given that both Flora and I would have to feature and as luck would have it we had a bit of a photoshoot in Penicuik Estate a few days before I made this spread.

The aim was to capture the black dress which is very vintage (just maybe I am too!), as it was bought more than 40 years ago in The Netherlands. This was the mid seventies when cheesecloth cotton was all the rage and hippy dippy was the style of the day. I had re-discovered it in my cupboard in a search for clothing suitable for our highly unusual tropical conditions. Usually you can manage with spring or autumn outfits to cover the Scottish summer!

So I found the dress.  Still remember the exact shop where I bought it although not how much I paid for it. It's amazing that it has survived all the wear and tear, as well as my many moves. It has faded considerably from the original black that can still be seen on the inside. It has travelled far and wide and is full of memories which came flooding back as I put it back on. Unlike all my other clothes this is one piece of pure nostalgia that I have never been able to part from.

Have to admit I wasn't so sure about wearing it in public but in the end went ahead perhaps because I had lost my mind and found my soul! And I have loved remembering where it has taken me, who saw me wear it and what life was like way back then. I'll definitely wear it again soon weather permitting.

Finally more for my own entertainment than yours, I had a quick search through my past and came up with the two pictures below of me wearing said dress:

Near St. Peter's Basilica in Rome 1977

On the way to Capri, with Sorrento in the background 1977

Casting Long Shadows

 The rain finally stopped and the sun came up accompanied by falling temperatures, producing much better conditions for taking photographs.

With the low light the shadows become very interesting as I'm fascinated to see how they change as the seasons progress.

The idea of the picture above was to catch Flora in full tilt and I had no idea that I had caught myself too until I could look at the image without the sun falling into my viewfinder. Fun!

2500 blips

And it’s not often that you get to see who is taking them, so I decided on a reluctant selfie at Penicuik House. No one can be more amazed than I am that I’m still here and have posted without any breaks. A huge thanks to the Blipfoto team for enabling this fantastic site and many thanks too for all who follow me!