Poem on a plate…

Crunchy bite of toast
Soft kiss of frothy coffee
Warming breakfast hug.

Haiku for a cold May morning!

Photo from “a little bit of heaven on a plate”

Feeling the heat

Mixed layers of colour,
Delicate sheer strata
Form the fabric,
Now attacked by a
Smouldering, smelly, hot tipped
Soldering iron.

Burning, searing, melting
The heat fuses and bonds,
Cutting back beneath the surface
Exposing deeper colours,
Revealing interesting shapes,
Transforming to new beauty.

A recent workshop on fusing and bonding synthetic fabrics provided a great opportunity to play!
And as I stitch and reflect I wonder if there are some parallels here with our experiences of life when we feel the “hot tip” of difficult moments, cutting away surface layers to reveal deeper beauty.
I still don’t like the pain of burning though! I seared my fingers a few times….

A trip abroad…

Well it’s been a while since I last posted – during which we have enjoyed a little trip across the Channel to France. Just for a couple of nights, I was tagging along, accompanying my husband who was singing with the Broadstone Community Choir on their Normandy tour.

Smooth crossings and good weather all weekend contributed to an enjoyable exploration of Valognes (twinned with Wimborne) and Bayeux where the choir sang two concerts. I was excited to see the world famous Tapestry, which lived up to all expectations.

It was a weekend of sublime choral music, beautiful tasty food, in a landscape of ancient and ornate buildings.  The art and architecture were reminders of violent and destructive history, and wars both medieval and modern.  This weekend we were met with appreciative audiences, lively markets and friendly service.

Thank you to the choir members, who as well as making beautiful music, were welcoming and friendly to me – tagging along.

At last…

Against bright
Morning blue sky
Exploding white petals
Lighten like stars.
Amelanchier flowers
Now opening wide
Cheerfully calling
Hello and
Inviting
Early birds to
Rise and shine.

Spring is here!

In all the years we have lived here, this tree (Amelanchier) has been the first to flower and herald the arrival of spring. Usually this happens sometime in the first two weeks of April. This year we are nearly into May! But today the flowers are open and the sky is blue.

Spring clues

Sunshine opens my ears and eyes -
Songs of invisible skylarks
and a cuckoo call.
At my feet shy violets
peep through grasses.
Along the path
still bare trees raise branches
skywards to the blue.

 

A wonderful spring day today, and such a relief to walk around Badbury Rings in sunny warmth, with clear views to the coast and inland hills. Everything very bare, but full of spring noises, with little promises and hints of joys to come.

Treasure in the puddles

It is hard to believe I am writing about the weather AGAIN!
Saturday, temperatures are rising, but clouds descending. We swish along country roads which are rapidly becoming running rivers as heavy rain falls.
We are doing our bit to support local rural communities by visiting events in local villages. A fabric sale to raise money for the local church, open gardens to support a community shop, and a bazaar creating funds for the community library.

So much hard work has gone into preparing for these events, but their success is often determined by the weather. Today was gloomy, lots of puddles and umbrellas, and crowds not in abundance. But there were some special moments and great finds.
We feasted on warming soup,  excellent coffee cake, and a selection of interesting second hand books! And we returned home with some treasures, a “bag of gold” fabric scraps, a pot of cheerful cowslip trumpets and a 1930′s bowl for my kitchen shelf.

Eggs Florentine

A visual feast of baby nettle leaves,
Dotted with sunny buttercups.
A spread of poached eggs and spinach
On crunchy toast of winter twigs.