SweetMyrtle

i don't know about you but i am at the stage now where i am willing  the warmer, brighter days to return.

i am finding it increasingly hard to find motivation and energy during these dark Winter days.

i know that Spring is just around the corner as i can see signs appearing everywhere; catkins, snowdrops & bulbs peeping through and occassionally a  glimpse of sunlight which reminds me of how our days will lengthen and lighten as nature once more bursts open and delights us with this most wonderful season.

Spring is my favourite of all the seasons. it speaks to me of hope, light, warmth, new growth and of new ideas and plans. i cannot wait to get out in the garden and start sowing the seeds which will eventually nourish and feed our family throughout the following months.

so in the meantime, like one of my cats,  i have been searching for sunlight, following it around the house hoping to bask in its life giving energies.

 

gratitude

today i need to remind myself of the richness of my life and list some gratitude

15 things i am thankful for today:

1.* my daughters who were the sweetest to me yesterday as i lay in bed poorly

2.* a warm sweet cup of tea made and brought to me in bed by my eldest girl

3.* a morning time snuggle with my youngest girl

4.* my beau who disposed of the dead mouse that our cat brought in last night

5.* the creativity of my girls: they are writing a halloween play and it is very good with stage directions added and all. i have been given the two roles of mama and witch! ha ha this made me smile

6.* a husband who works hard for us which enables me to spend much of my time looking after the needs of our girls and pursing my creativity

7.* a surprise royalty cheque which arrived yesterday: much needed as this will pay for our cooker

8.* the first sale in my sweetmyrtle shop, thanks helen x

9.* my sight ;  after my blinding migraine yesterday when most of the day was spent in a darkened room i got to thinking about this and about how much we take sight for granted. when my head cleared later in the day i was so happy to be able to read.

10.* my girls excitement about halloween; they are planning a halloween party

11.* our home : cluttered and untidy as it is we have warmth, light, shelter and a place to be together

12.* our garden; having a place to sow seed, grow vegetables, flowers, fruit and herbs. a place toplay, learn to understand the gentle balance of life, observe bumbles, spiders and other creatures. our litle piece of heaven, for this i am hugely grateful.

13.* friends near and far, old and new, real and virtual who share kindness and enrich my life.

 14.* my parents who have always given so much and never judged. they are kind, giving, selfless good people and i am so grateful that they are in our lives.

15.*  that my girls are true sisters and are arguing just now... as it should be from time to time!

 

what is on your gratitude list today?

i must tell you ....

following on from yesterday's post i must tell you about a conversation that i had with our lovely school caretaker this morning...

i commented on his 'back to school' (after half term) new haircut and he commented in return on my 'highlights'! yes you heard it right.. HIGHLIGHTS!

i thought at first he was being cheeky but when i said, 'you mean my grey hairs, right?'  he looked puzzled? he really did think they were highlights. i really laughed.

so after all your wonderful comments and sharing (thank you) and my grey being referred to as highlights, well i think i shall put my bar of henna back into the cupboard where it has been for the past year and be proud of my natural silvery highlights (until the next time!).

 i also have had something exciting (to me) plop through my letterbox today  so if i get a moment later i shall return to share my excitement with you x

greying hair

i am going grey !

i have dark hair and before i had it chopped to shoulder length i was looking positively 'witchy' .. which may be a good thing or not depending on your point of view? 

a few days ago i picked a rose from my daughters' garden (they have a wee section to themselves) and i put it in my hair... with this simple act  i felt young and carefree.

i planted this rose  when my girls were small. it is called Zephrine Drouhin and is a beautiful deep pink, , thornless, climbing rose and wonderfully fragrant... perfect for two small girls who loved pink. 

in the photo i have desaturated the colour a little as i like creating a softness in images. this, however, shows a greater contrast of my 'two tone' hair (which i have now drawn your attention to, when you were probably only looking at the rose or were trying to work out the image !). anyway, i am mostly fine about greying but i wish that the grey hairs didn't stick up so. they are often shorter and always more wiry than the other hairs too.

as i am a 'natural'  girl a 'chemical' dye  would not be something i would consider but at times i wonder whether i should give myself a shiny coat of henna?  i used to henna my hair years ago. obviously the grey hairs may go orange... what do you think? would orange streaks in a brown henna look ok? if you have any natural hair dyeing advice i would love to hear. i did find a link (lost it now) suggesting that rinsing your hair in a tea made from sage and rosemary leaves helps to keep your natural colour. alas i am unable to try this as sadly i am allergic to rosemary... strange but very true.

 so any hair advice gratefully received.

and thank you for all your comments and thoughts on my last post, and cathleen your words make me blush... so sweet, thank you x

growing patience

our first sugar snap has formed...

it is still very small so just a few more days wait.

i have been thinking about how gardening teaches us patience. about how we sow the seeds, nurture, water, tend, pot on, nurture, water, tend, pot on again, harden off and finally plant out. then the tending and nurturing continues with feeding, weeding, watering ,mulching, supporting until finally quite literally we are rewarded with the fruits of our labour, or in this case a sugar snap pea.

my husband and i have been discussing this. we both often lack patience but with gardening  it is quite different. earlier he said to me, ' you can't hurry things in the garden'.  and he is so right, we can't hurry nature. why is it then that we want to hurry so many other aspects of out lives?

if i have an idea, or want to create something for myself  i often get frustrated as i long for it to come together impossibly quickly. i cannot seem to give myself the same nurturing and care that i give the plants in our garden. it may be that being a mother with many more responsibilities than i had before i had children that when i do allow myself time to 'play'  i feel i need  to achieve things so much more quickly. if i am creating something for a gift or for work, however,  i do take plenty of care and time. i wonder why i won't allow myself the same consideration?

i have only recently realised that i do this.

slowing down and being mindful and appreciative of life is important for us all. the series of noticing and gratitude photos i shared last year were a way of helping me to slow down and observe life's wonderful details which are so often missed when we are busy rushing through our lives.  now i have identified that my lack of patience and rushing is what seems to be holding me back in my own creative work i feel happier that i can be mindful of this in the future.

since writing this post about playing and process a few weeks back,  i have bravely enrolled on an experimental art 'e' course run by artist amelia critchlow. i just happened upon it one day during a morning' blog hop' and it seemed to be exactly what i am in need of... a little permission to allow myself to play, to  actively put aside some time each week for 6 weeks and to have fun experimenting with new ideas and techniques. i am very excited. i hope i can immerse myself in the process and not get hung up about whether i am any good or if things are coming together quick enough... i will practice patience and tend and nurture myself as i do my seedlings, with love and care and maybe after time i will be able to see some fruits starting to form.

wishing you a happy week x

daisies

this seems to be turning into a week of flowers... forget - me- nots on monday, dandelions yesterday and today daisies...

i love daisies, from tiny lawn daisies to large shasta daisies.  i don't have any daisies in my lawn yet this year but i have started to see them scattered across open green spaces while i am out and about.

last month, whilst playing around in my sewing space , i randomly and roughly stitched some of my favourite fabrics together and experimented with a yo yo and a little freehand machine embroidery.  the sample did not work, one bit looked crap so i cut it off.  the remaining part ended up being a curved shape which when backed with a little felt evolved into a  (very rough) wrist cuff.

on seeing the possibilities i then decided that i would like to create one based on a daisy. i did a little sketch, chose fabrics of  golden yellow , cream and white and i started to play...

 

 this is how it turned out...

 i think perhaps it is a little large... but  i feel there are possibilities for a smaller modified cuff and i  am also using the idea to work on a few pendants.

sometimes i get stuck creatively and  am too much thinking of an end item rather than just experimenting and seeing where it leads me, so this little daisy cuff to me represents how i must make time to experiment, play and just enjoy the process. and to also be aware that whether there is a finished item at the end or not,  that it is the process  and exploration that is well worth experiencing... a little like life perhaps!

at the moment i have little time to experiment to my heart's desire as i am constantly designing and preparing new projects  for our teaching classes. i enjoy coming up with new ideas for workshops but i am really going to discipline myself to focus on my own creative development this year too... and now i have told you all here.. i will have to!

 : )

a little blurry...

my head has felt a little blurry recently, full of ideas, projects and plans... 

sometimes  often, my mind overflows and over complicates. these past few days in the blur of my heavy head cold i have been feeling more than a little overwhelmed. yesterday i remembered this post by susannah and i printed out her very generous free down-loadable worksheet 'unravelling the year ahead'. it is brilliant and though i have mused through many words to focus on this year i am narrowing it down and the ones that keep surfacing are;

'calm' ~ 'un-complicate' 

the worksheet also invites you to meet your future self in december 2010 and also a few years on too . this part is really useful as without projecting how we would like our lives to be, how can we have a plan to make steps to travel to that destination? i have written notes in my journal based on susannah's questions and my thoughts have calmed and are gradually finding their own gentle space within my whirling mind. 

i know denise has chosen the word 'balance' this  year and diana has created her own word 'unprocrastinate'. i would be interested to hear if any of you also have chosen a word to focus on and any ideas of how you organize your thoughts.

wishing you all a very happy week ahead.

g x

things i love ~ linen...

... this  beautifully crisp piece of linen was found today in the remnant box at my local fabric store priced at only£2 per metre!!...can you believe?

well, although i don't often buy new fabric (preferring to recycle and thrift) i could not leave it there!..

it would take print really well...am thinking of carving some lino blocks~ maybe?... or a small piece would make a beautiful simple t-towel... obviously keeping the red selvage as detail... any other suggestions gratefully received...

 wishing you all fun this weekend x

walking...

our car broke down last monday... i had taken my husband out for a birthday lunch to this wonderfully unspoilt little pub  hidden down a country lane. luckily the car cut out as we pulled into the tiny car park and not a mile down the road, so we were able to enjoy a hearty traditional ploughmans lunch before calling for assistance.

the car was caput! so we were towed home, which i found rather exciting... the RAC van opened up rather like a child's transformer to reveal a towing equipment system. once safely home we discussed our options. the main dealers are always so expensive so my 'handy' man has decided to search out the problem and tackle the repairs himself... suffice to say this will take time as he needs to order parts and fit in the work around his full time job.

as a result i have not had the use of a car for over a week now .  i have really been enjoying the freedom of walking further and the obvious health benefits of increased daily exercise. i also love all the interesting things you notice whilst walking... cocooned in a car i miss so much as the surroundings just whiz by. 

 

...on thurday i walked over 10 miles...into town  and back to have my hair cut and to visit the library... and i walked the girls to and from school.  i noticed great little shops in town that i had never been to, and also had a chance to observe the activity at the local allotments on my way past. walking helps me to breathe deeply, improves my mood and keeps me chilled.

the result of feeling fitter is that i also am eating better. it's funny... i know how i would like to live my life... be healthy, exercise more, eat well and yet i do not always get there... but i see the car being out of action as a blessing... i only hope that when it is mended that i continue to make time for some long walks.

 I am also taking part in a seed swap... there is still time to join in...for all the details,  pop over to julia's blog

where does the time go?

 

my eldest girl is growing up. yesterday whilst eating tea i caught a glimpse of her across the table and remembered her face as a bonny 6 month old baby... it stuck me how she still has the same happy gentle disposition but that now she has grown in to a lovely 11 year old. it doesn't seem possible that i have this tall, independent girl who has just 2 weeks left in primary school.  these feelings of her suddenly growing up have been brought on by the purchasing of her senior school uniform yesterday afternoon and a parents evening at her new school earlier this week. i am really excited for this next stage in her development, though obviously anxious about new challenges for us both... the teenage angst, rebellious behavior, heartache, boys!.  i also felt i needed to be prepared for the homework getting harder (for me!) so have purchased this book as maths was never my strongest subject. hopefully now whilst helping her i can improve my understanding too. she loves story writing and her teacher told me that she loves reading her stories... she said they are very enid blyton, with charming language and lots of adventure.. (that'll be the famous five influence then!) i also stumbled upon this book on creative writing and have ordered it for her... it looks great. 

i am so proud of my story writing, film watching, animal loving,  kind, funny, caring, daring,  happy, singing, dancing, beautiful girl and i wish you fun and happiness on this next part of your adventure. x