Autumn Cottage Diarist

Restoring A Pond

It's the time of the year when my thoughts turn to water gardening - and
this year my son is restoring/reinstating a very overgrown little pond
at the front of the house. It was the first pond we ever had here at
Autumn Cottage, dug out by my own hand (I have the wonky back to prove
it!) and a source of delight for many years.

But over the last five or
six years it has been neglected, slowly filling up with a matted mass of
the roots of Phalaris picta, "Gardener's Garters" which grows
invasively, and had certainly invaded most of the pond. Hugh spent
yesterday afternoon and evening cutting and lifting out the sodden root
mass, then today we all made a journey to one of my favourite garden
centres, "World of Water" near Romsey, where we sought out a new pond
liner and I made my annual purchase of some very reasonably priced Acer
cuttings.

I am making quite a collection of those, adding just one or
two each year as they are rather expensive. Hugh and his friend are back
hard at work now, so I'll bring more updates to the pond restoration as
it progresses. 

All the show gardens here were photographed today at "World of Water" - while below is my own "show garden" in the process of being created by my dear hard working son!

Accessorise!

Phew. 24 hours with my dear Coz and I realise that it is going to take a little more time to conquer what now seems to be a bit of  post-viral
exhaustion. I hate this feeling of floating and not having the energy to lift a cup. Bah!

Brenda has left now to visit friends, family and just generally "potter about" for a few weeks, while I attempt to get my act together to prepare for a few days holiday in Lisbon. I will travel as light as possible, so one of my tricks  is to take just a few items of clothing but lots of accessories, chief of which are lots and lots of scarves. Here are just a few that I have hand washed and hung in the conservatory to dry. I fold them into net washing bags - a packing trick from Brenda, inexpensively compartmentalising pants, bras, tights, etc, so that they can all be packed into one case cavity but still easily sorted.

Most of the long scarves shown here are silk, which collapses down into nothing, but can add a dash of vibrant colour to the few simple garments I will take, transforming each item for day or evening wear. Boy, can I do with some sunshine  - this is a cold and wet English spring and right now I'm feeling thoroughly fed up with it.

Girls Will Be Girls!

  A wee bit risqué, but how can I not share the utter joy and mischievousness that my cousin carries with her wherever she goes?

This is my dear Coz Brenda, normally resident in Hong Kong, but staying with me at present. I am  recovering from a virus, she is still battling with one, stoically, after an exhausting intercontinental flight. But today, we sat and chatted like two sisters (we are both "only children") - girly talk in the steamy (in more than one respect!) atmosphere of the bathroom. We gossiped and giggled, compared men and haircuts (no, not the ones on our heads, silly!) and both gave each other a huge tonic of laughter.

Sometimes, girls just need to be girls together - and can you imagine having anyone more fun to be "just girls" with  than this person, who sparkles with far more than just the diamonds in her ears? Thanks, dear Soul Sister, for bringing such joy into my life!

Solitude

Finally given up and taken to my bed properly for the day as I have been
struggling with a cold which has turned nasty (I hesitate to call it flu
- lets say it's just a virus), and the legs won't support the body much
at the moment.

I've had a wonderful time over the last six weeks teaching a journal
writing course, in which I  quote some of the writings of Deena Metzger,
an immensely inspiring Writer and Teacher. So today I am hunkered down
with her book "Writing For Your Life" and one particular writing
exercise which I feel very inclined to carry out. It's on the theme of
Solitude - and that is very much where I am at the moment - both
mentally and physically......Want to give it a go as well? Here it
is........choose to do just parts of it if you like - write to whatever speaks to your heart.

(My place of solitude, for a year alone, would be in the cottage from
which the photograph is taken, on the Ardnamurchan peninsula on the
West coast of Scotland)

"Imagine that you are given a year off from your life. This year off
will have no impact-unless you choose for it to-on your domestic,
professional or financial life. There will be no sacrifice required in
order to take this year off, and you will be able to provide yourself
with everything necessary. However, there is one condition that you must
accept in order to take this year off: you will have to spend it
entirely alone, without speaking to anyone.

This exercise, like several of the others, depends on your willingness
to enter the reality of the imagination. After working with the
questions that follow for some time, you may discover that your daily
life will be to reflect the imagined experiences. When you finish.
writing this series, you may have transformed yourself from someone
who dreaded being alone to someone who thrives on solitude.

Consider responding to the following questions as if making journal
entries  during your year away. At the end of the writing, you will have
something resembling a journal of the year. Or write these as small
stories, which, again, at the end of the writing, will become the larger
story of the year in solitude.

1. Imagine that you have a year to pursue your inner life in silence.
You will live alone without telephone or visitors, in the utmost
simplicity.  Where will you go? What solitary environment will suit you?
Do you prefer the mountains, desert, islands? Are you inclined toward
mild or rigorous weather? Do you want to create your own shelter, or
must you find a place that can house you? What basic necessities are you
taking with you? What things will you leave behind? Describe the
environment you have sought for this time. How does it resemble your
present living situation, and how is it different?

2. Write a letter to your loved ones explaining why you're going.

3. Describe single days in your new environment or life during the first
week you're away, during the middle of your retreat, and during the last
week.

4. What are you writing during this year? What creative work are you
doing? What did you expect to do before you left? What did you actually
do?

5. What are your fears? Your discomforts? Your anxieties? Tell some
anecdotes that reveal the difficulty of the situation. What has been the
worst part? What has been the greatest gain?

6. Imagine this retreat in a city rather than a rural area. Which city
do you choose? What does it mean to live in solitude in an urban
setting? How do you live a solitary life in a large city? Compare the
rural time with the city time. What ad- vantages does each have? What
difficulties do you encounter in the city? De- scribe the urban
environment specifically and your particular daily relationship to it.

7. Write the first and last paragraphs of the piece that you complete
during this year.

8. What has it been like to be completely alone? Not to speak? To be
completely dedicated to your work?

9. What were your most significant experiences?

10. Describe your return to your usual life. How have you changed? What
difficulties and joys do you encounter as you return? What have you
gained? What are your regrets? Who are you now? "

Music for the Feeding of the Soul

To London on Saturday last, to see the Portuguese Fado singer Mariza at
the Royal Festival Hall - and all I can think at the moment is how mad I
am with myself that I did not take my camera!

I didn't think I would have much opportunity for taking photographs, and
certainly did not think I would be able to take them in the auditorium.
I was wrong - the evening was light until late, the riverside skyline of
London is just spectacular these days, and there were flashlights going
off all over the auditorium while Mariza was performing. So I am here to
tell you that I mucked up big time this time!

This photo gives just a tiny idea of the London skyline at night - though in
fact on Saturday it was MUCH more beautiful than this - the sort of
beauty that you can really only appreciate on the spot rather than in a
photograph, as the scene stretches as far as the eye can see.

The concert was wonderful. It's difficult to describe Mariza's voice -
its difficult to describe Fado if you do not know it. I think the
description on the programme starts to get close to it - its the sort of
music that came from Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, but of course with
a totally distinctive style of its own.

I think I would add in Edith Piaf and Leonard Cohen, as a sort of "if you liked them, you might like this" corollary - though in fact Mariza and Fado are like none of them exactly. Deep, deep soul, deep connection *with* their soul, and oceans of Passione, Passione, Passione! The music soaked into me like nothing else I have ever heard - just as well that I am off to Lisbon in a few weeks time, so that I can get a longer fix in the Fado houses there, and from where Mariza herself grew up and learned her craft.

If anyone is interested in hearing her spectacular voice (still as
powerful at the end of nearly two hours as it was at the beginning),
watch and enjoy this video (Click on the CD), of the making of her new album, "Transparente" . Narrated in Portuguese, but with considerable content of some of the songs that she sang in her concert - and there are many lovely photgraphs and other interesting content at her own website - enjoy both!

Inside "The Monastery"

  A new "reality" programme on TV last night, but as far different from Big Brother as you are likely to get.

This is the story of five men, selected from hundreds, who have chosen to spend forty days and forty nights in an English monastery with the 22 Benedictine monks of Worth Abbey in Sussex (with 22 "Big Brothers" I suppose you could say!). Two weeks in and already their souls are starting to shine out and become visible.

The "fronts" with which four of them bore on arrival to protect themselves are starting to descend (the fifth guy has spent time at a Buddhist monastery and already seems greatly at ease) and it is just so beautiful to see what is behind them.

One man has particularly taken my attention - he has spent a good deal of time in prison as a result of being involved in paramilitary activities in Northern Ireland. Last night, he said that he has spent a lot of his life living shame and rejection, and to walk into somewhere where he has felt complete acceptance from day one "has been like walking into heaven". There is SO MUCH learning (and so little "preaching") in the programme, I think it would enrich anyone who watches it. Far from pontificating, the brothers are all prepared to engage in intelligent, thoughtful discussion. To watch listening, and being listened to was wonderful, for a start.

I encourage anyone in the UK to take a look next week, Tuesday at 9.00 pm on BBC2. I see from the next episode trailer that some conflict arises - but when the courage and bravery to look at themselves is being engaged with, when souls are being washed and hung out in the sun, it's not surprising that a little abrasion against each other takes place to scrub them up nice and clean, is it?

Picture taken from BBC Website which has more detail on the series.

More information from Worth Abbey's own website

A Walk Around Oxford

A very busy week this week, so I have had little time to be out and about with my camera. So I thought you may all like to see some of the City of Oxford, as it was last Friday evening when I attended Susan Greenfield's lecture. We took a stroll in the evening sun around a French Market which was visiting in the Old Bus Station Square, before the lecture started, then later dined at one of the old houses, shown at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy this visual tour :-)

All types of tempting bicuits in the Market, fresh from France that morning!

Some wonderful Moroccan pottery on display - though unfortunately, a little too unwieldy to take into a lecture theatre, or some of it would have come home with me!

 

The front of the Ashmolean Museum, the site built to house  Sir Elias Ashmole's "Cabinet of Curiosities" in the 17th Century.

Some of the 18th Century houses with beautiful, wrought iron balconies, opposite the Oxford Playhouse.

Houses full of Character in Golden Cross Yard,  an old coaching inn courtyard .

The Golden Cross Inn, where we dined, dating originally from 1193, and containing spectacular Tudor wall paintings, now preserved behind glass.

(I hope to visit this building again, to take much more detailed photographs of the interior)

One of my favourite buildings in Oxford - at one time, the whole of the city would have looked much like this. Notice the UNstained timbers of the house, just left to weather naturally.

The hard black and white appearance of so many "traditional" timber framed houses, stems in fact from a Victorian habit of staining the timbers in order to weatherproof them.

Traditionally, timber framed walls like these would either have been plastered over, or left in their natural state.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Oxford, home of the University and "City of Dreaming Spires".

Quenching the Thirst For Knowledge

Absolutely thrilling to attend a lecture this evening by one of the
foremost scientists in the UK, Neurobiologist Professor Susan Greenfield, first woman Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and a passionate advocate of the presence of women's voices in scientific investigation.

Her present work at the Templeton Foundation in Oxford "investigates whether science can elucidate the nature of belief and its effects on human
consciousness".

Her lecture tonight, presented at running speed and with
great enthusiasm and passion, considered the neurobiological
foundations of consciousness. It related directly to part of my studies
which is concerned with the phenomenological approach to human
perception and was quite fascinating for throwing light onto a whole
area of understanding with which I am just becoming familiar.

I have grown up in a world where science on one hand, and philosophy, religious
and spiritual beliefs were often on opposite sides of the fence, with
little discourse between the disciplines. Now there is an intelligent
and exiting movement of exploration growing, led by people such as
Professor Greenfield, people who are prepared to say "this phenomenon -
belief, emotion, feeling, etc exists - let us look at it from many different directions, let us bring all our skills and ideas to bear and see if we can understand it more by our sharing of ideas".

It seems natural and logical to me to approach enquiry in a spirit of open mindedness, and this lecture tonight really illuminated the possibilities for the growth of knowledge and understanding that can arise as a result of this ecumenical approach.

A Walk in the Woods

May Day Bank Holiday yesterday (Bank Holidays in the UK are always on a Monday, except for Good Friday) and for once the weather was lovely (unlike today when it is colder and very showery), so Alec and I went for a stroll in the woods across the road.

Take a walk with us through this photo essay - enjoy an English woodland in the springtime as I am able to do every day. I'm so lucky, don't you think?

Down into the woods along the metalled road - the road that I drive along each time I go to town.

Off to the left and into the depths of Great Pen Wood

Densly mixed planting of coniferous and deciduous woodland

A fallen tree (see how shallow the roots were) going back to nature and providing habitats for numerous other plants and animals - can you see the foxglove starting to sprout from the top of the root spread?

A squirrel's dining table. Very carefully selected from the surrounding forest floor, they seek out tree stumps or slightly raised areas of ground, where pinecone nibbling is then performed and very tidily kept in one place. You can see cones in various stages of "nibble" on the "tabletop"

No idea why or from where it came, but there is a great stand of bamboo in the middle of the wood, through which the sunlight filters delicately.

Star moss pushing up through the carpet of beech leaves as we move into the more managed, Forestry Commission woodland

Forestry woodland, where the mixed planting in rows can be seen more clearly where the coniferous trees have been logged out.

Another beautiful example of camouflage, a woodland brown butterfly

New leaves of ivy beginning to scamper upwards over a gnarled and furrowed old treetrunk

And back out onto the road and up the slight incline homewards - towards a lovely waiting cup of tea!

Old Friends

Back from a weekend visit to a dear friend in Leicestershire, whom I have
not seen for seven years - but within minutes of arriving at her home,
felt as if I had seen her only a week or two previously. Elaine and
David's hospitality is renowned and my visit was no exception. Within an
hour of my appearance, a bottle of bubbly had been opened - and I must
say it beats a glass of water with lunch, even if only on special occasions!

To accompany the champagne, Elaine served me a delicious salad, initially devised by Raymond Blanc at his beautiful Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire, containing King prawns, artichoke hearts, feta cheese & red onions, with a dressing of olive oil, lime juice and coriander. Wonderful - in fact, three helpings wonderful! I spent a
leisurely afternoon reading ("The Field of the Star - a Pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostella" by Nicholas Luard) and  chatting with Elaine (secretary to a forensic pathologist) and David (now retired from his post as lecturer in the department of Chemistry at Leicester
university).

We talked mainly about their twin passions -  for wine (David runs the University wine club) and their cottage in France, where I am planning to stay in September.  On Saturday evening, I was treated to another delicious meal - this time at a family run Italian restaurant
with an indefinable but very Italian atmosphere, before returning to Elaine's home and a brief chat about her older son, an actor who has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre (you can see him as Jack Cade in the RSC producation of Henry VI in the poster behind Elaine and David)  before falling into bed to the sound of pattering rain and a later thunderous storm.

On Sunday, a leisurely breakfast of tea (English) and croissants (French!) and more lounging about, reading more of my book and the sunday papers (I think this is what the French mean by "le Weekend"), plus long conversations with Muppet & Oliver, two of Elaine's three cats. (I chatted with the third as well - but cannot remember his name!).

Then at lunchtime, off to Barkby, a village just ten minutes away from her home, for Sunday lunch and a charming walk through the village, where I was able to indulge my passion for wall spotting in the church yard (I have a fascination with local building materials)

Lastly, we all took a stroll along the village stream, enjoying England on May Day, at her loveliest, with bluebells and violets edging the pathways, a cow suckling its calf on the other side of the stream, and baby ducklings swimming in convoy behind their own paddling parents.

It was a scene straight out of Birket Foster, and a peaceful end to a lovely visit, before braving two hours on the motorway in my return home to Autumn Cottage.