~ Gardening, Stitching, Car Boot Sale Goodies, A Saved Basket, and A Misty Walk ~

The garden is bursting into life with:

the first Welsh Poppy to bloom this year,

Lady's Smock which most welcomely

self~seeded here a couple of years ago

and has now spread to the whole length

of the garden,

the five cauliflowers I planted in the greenhouse back in the

autumn are growing little hearts...so so cute :~)

The sage has big fat promises just waiting to open into blooms

for the first time since I planted her.

I found Lesser Celendine, only two days after saying I didn't

 have any, in two pots that had 'just earth' in

them in the greenhouse. I planted them out in the garden

and they are doing well...next year there will be green hearts

and little yellow stars reaching up happy faces to

the big star in the sky.

Also in the greenhouse so far, lettuce, courgettes, 

 peas, basil, and runner beans have sprouted 

and I'm still waiting hopefully for the cucumber.

Mama Blackbird has been coming to feed a mere four

steps from where I sit with my studio doors open.

Her partner sings to her and us all day.

Stitching is coming along, but it's time to start other heart whisperings too....

I found a face. I'm trying to embelish the eyes, eyebrows, nose

and mouth with stitch and finding it a little tricky. Eyesight

changing from 'I-can-do-really-close-work' myopic, to, well

I'm not sure what exactly, but I can't see close up like I used to :~(

Car boot sale finds have been varied and interesting. I gasped when I saw this

gorgeous reel filled with copper wire.

Also found that day were this oh-so-lovely wooden box and

Cat ~ in CD and vinyl ~ I've been singing along and dancing

ever since!

The willow basket,  bag from Equador and vintage pan and brush

set were just too beautiful to resist, and the top, I bought for the

material and its mother of pearl buttons, which I like to

collect....

This great, strong willow basket, perfect for logs, was saved from a pile

of rubbish waiting for the refuse lorry to collect it on Wednesday!!

How I love recycling what other people throw out.

On Sunday, Tilly and I went for our monthly walk with our friends

Jude and Dilwyn again. This time it was coastal and we were warmly

enclosed in mist for most of it. It created a deep quiet and stillness,

making us speak in hushed, reverend tones.

The gorse scented the air with its coconut smell, redolent of summer

and hot sunny beaches, and patches of bluebells and wood anemones

told us that this was once woodland. Sea campions and violets were at their best.

An otherwordly sound; a haunting base~note floated to us, carried on the foggy 

dew~drops, making the tiny hairs of neck and arms stand on end.

It came again, and then again, calling to us, drawing us closer.

We recognised the eerie cry of a mating seal.....no female

could resist such longing, such a compelling summoning.

We certainly couldn't and we were rewarded with the hazy

forms of a few of them as they languished on a small rock

in the sea far below us. It made for a magic day, that settled

deep into our bones and will stay, a reminder of how beautiful

an island we are so very fortunate to live on.