amaryllis

Never in doubt.

Thank you for your friendship this week. I'm going to be spreading compost on the garden because that is what Tracey the Boot Camp Gardener has decreed so you can be sure that whatever you are doing is going to be somewhere above me on the scale of Weekend Fun. Enjoy your weekend!

spring sunshine

Light Wash

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)

© The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

It was sunny on my day off! I hung out the pillow cases and watched them blow on the washing line, drank a mug of coffee and listened to a blackbird in the holly tree, admired the dayglo pink camellia flowers, looked carefully at the green buds on the cherry tree, gloated over bold patches of daffodils by the summer house and thought briefly about cutting the grass before putting on my sunglasses and going for a spin in the car with the sunshine roof open. By the time I came home winter had left the building.

emergency cake

There are days when comfort food is essential.

If you have given up chocolate for Lent

the only answer is cake.

Coffee cake.

meanwhile

...MasterM and Drummond the horse are getting on just fine.

MrsM is delighted to receive this aquatic action shot but MrM looks slightly faint and goes off to check the insurance policy for clauses excluding 'phones dropped into rivers within ten days of purchase'. 

diverse dinosaurs

MrsM
Why are there paper dinosaurs in reception?

Office Manager
There was a Diversity meeting last night.

MrsM
How lovely! What could be nicer than paper dinosaurs?

Office Manager
Cake would be nicer than paper dinosaurs.

snow petals

I can see the white camellia when I open the curtains in the morning. Day by day I watch the buds grow fat, willing them to stay closed until the danger of frost has passed. Now the slender branches bend with the weight of flowers and I am astonished. Was there ever such a year, such a reckless abundance, such a storm of snow petals? 

recovery plan

Girl in a white dress resting on a sofa

Alfred Emile Leopole Stevens

Apologies for absence over past few days - sometimes I try to do too much and my body protests. It is probably a hangover from my brush with meningitis and is very annoying but over the years I have put together a plan of action which starts with "stop doing stuff (including writing) and get some sleep". So I wrap myself up in my Donegal blanket, lie on the sofa, and remind myself that it is better to suffer from having too much fun than too little. 

daffodils in a jug

Kate's Flowers

Winifred Nicholson (1936)

My mother says:

"I wish that you could see the wild daffodils in the woods but it is so wet today that it wouldn't be much fun. The daffodils in the orchard have come out very early - just look at that selection in the jug - but I am afraid that there won't be any for Easter which is such a shame. Come and look at my hellebores - if you stand just here you can see them without getting your feet wet. I'm definitely going to plant some more for next year - they seem to like it in that spot. Now stay there because I'm going out to dig up some snowdrops for you to take home. I have been moving them around this year so that they flower in the right places where I can see them next year. And what do you think of my camellias? These are the ones that I have grown from seed - I don't know if they are going to flower this year but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. "

My mother is always looking forward enthusiastically to the next season, the next year. It is the life-enhancing characteristic of real gardeners. 

carpe Iris

Seriously, you turn your back for one moment and the next thing you know the Iris are in full bloom. Not that I'm objecting but I would have preferred to appreciate the process a bit more. A petal here and there rather than an overnight explosion. But now they are here I'm committed to full time Iris appreciation. Can't waste a moment because they'll be over if I blink.

(And before you Classical types get angsty I can confirm that the correct accusative form of Iris is Iris because I checked with MrM.)

an enchanted world

The Star

Edgar Degas

MissM and MrsM went to watch 'The Sleeping Beauty' at Covent Garden last week. They clapped as loud as anyone when the divine Marianela Nuñez completed the Rose Adagio and swooned ever so slightly at the sight of Vadim Muntagirov doing jetés. Kristen McNally was commendably Gothic as Carabosse and MrsM's secret passion for James Hay remains undimmed. All in all a very satisfactory night out at the ballet.

Two Dancers on a Stage

Edgar Degas

MissM and MrsM were particularly impressed by the bouquets received by La Nuñez. One was the size of a small garden and must have required an individual delivery van. Somewhere in London there is a wholesale florist planning a family holiday in the Bahamas.

Dancer with a Bouquet of Flowers

Edgar Degas