Cally Creates

Photographer Emmanuel Coupé

2012-01-25T18:51:00.008Z

Emmanuel Coupé - Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Photo SC9376

Emmanuel Coupé - Lochan Urr, Glen Etive, Glencoe, Highlands, Scotland. SC9887

Emmanuel Coupé - Loch Tulla, Glencoe, Highlands, Scotland. Photo SC1077

It's been too long since I went camping in North/North West of Scotland so I thought I'd take a virtual tour courtesy of the wonderful photography of Emmanuel Coupé. His photographs from Scotland, and around the world make me long to travel, but also help satisfy my urge. They are available to buy as Archival quality prints.

Emmanuel Coupé - Quiraing, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Photo SC8633

Emmanuel Coupé - Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Photo SC5306

Myung Urso

2012-01-22T19:05:00.009Z

Myung Urso - Brooch: Dialogue - 2011 (via Klimt02)
Natural dyed silk, thread, sterling silver, lacquer

Myung Urso - Neckpiece: Gray Scape 2011 (via Klimt02)
Natural dyed silk, thread, sterling silver

Myung Urso - Brooch: Hometown 2011 (via Klimt02)
Natural dyed silk, thread, sterling silver, lacquer

Great pieces, I always like when you can see the hand of the maker in the construction, and white/grey/red is always a colour combo I love.

More Winter Colours

2012-01-22T17:38:00.012Z

Indoor Hyacinth is more vivid than than outdoor plants in January

This was about 2 weeks ago, still in flower but determined to fall over at every opportunity. I usually grow them in soil and can pop a skewer in as support, not very attractive with a hyacinth vase. Out in the garden the pinks are paler, which fits well with the grey greens and frosted leaves.

Clematis stems with their own brand of winter beauty

Hydrangea Petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea) has straddled the shed roof.

Clematis 'Markham's Pink' seed head

Osteospermum (perennial)

Frosty Hebe, the one I posted the frosty close-up of the other day.

I intended to do a big post of art that looked liked winter gardens but I need to sleep, here are two, hopefully I'll have time for more later in the week but family are in town so I may not blog much.

The work of paper artist Peter Gentenaar looking like a winter flower.

Paperstring chandelier by Nithikul Nimkulrat.

Wintery hues

2012-01-20T23:22:00.007Z

One of my String pieces, against Shed 3b South facing

Lychnis seed pods against frosty grass

Honesty by Shed 3 East facing

Christmas tree

Shadow on Shed 1 East facing

Some photo's I took this month, I just love the softness of the winter light in them. I've put several shots in with things on slightly different blue shed backgrounds as I was telling my friend Liz how I tweak my paint shades for each one, and sometimes different sides of each one, so that I'll have more options for taking photo's against them. A small section of one is almost turquoise and the rest are varying mixes of pale grey/blue/green. Even more variation comes from the direction they face, the sunny sides having warmer more yellowy tones some days, but also fading or cracking more quickly to give added texture, which I love so much.

I can't help but add a few others with different blues, some are several years old and I may have posted them before but it's nice to rummage in the photo archives sometimes:

Chair from trip to an Ice Hotel Wedding in January 2006

North West Scotland (I forget the name of the place)

One of my String pieces, against Shed 2 North facing

Part of my patterned blue/green fabric stash

A few of my MOO cards in blue-ish colours

Winter Garden Colours

2012-01-17T16:34:00.004Z

Winter sunset behind the tall birch trees

After the last post of silvery frosted leaves I wanted to show that the garden isn't without colour. And Liz, the little colour palettes are for you, so you could see what the family version of my plant book looks like in places.

The Hydrangea above it was a bit of a surprise, I was convinced the heads would have been ripped apart by the gales but the constant winds all year have toughened up all the plants so many things have held up well. Although I'm not really a fan of bright blousey Hydrangeas I do love them once they start to fade though I'd never seen them that way until I inherited this one with the garden.

Heuchera 'Georgia Peach' is a favourite with varying shades of deep pinks, mulberry and marmalade shades depending on season and weather conditions. I've got several new Heucheras with equally wonderful colours but they are tiny plug plants just now. Heucheras take a long time to bulk up in my garden so I'm giving them 3 years until they have enough leaves for good photos.

We've not had as many lovely sunsets as usual so when I spotted this one I had to capture it. If only I could have successfully photographed the 1000's of starlings that were doing their daily sunset flight in front of it. Absolutely mesmerising, but impossible for my camera to capture in such dim light.

On a cold and frosty morning

2012-01-17T15:46:00.003Z

Beautiful frosting on the Hebe this week.
It's been -4C, no more mildness, but a few breaks in the wind.

All the ground hugging foxglove leaves looked like this.

Alpine Strawberry leaves, a promise of things to come.

Frosty Epimedium

Same Epimedium without frost.
I've really appreciated it's glossy leaves through Winter

Subtle colouring on this small Azalea.
It will have lilac blooms around May

And of course, the seasons little wonders - snowdrops.
I'd seen some pushing through last week but then found that in other parts of the garden they were already in full bud. They will need a bit more time and sun to tempt them to open.

Indoor greenery

2012-01-14T03:02:00.004Z

The lovely greens of a succulent and an indoor Hyacinth in December. The Hyacinth is in full flower now and smells great, especially in the evenings when there's some heating on and the warm air carries the scent through the room.

Brooches that look like rocks and minerals

2012-01-12T04:53:00.003Z

David Choi - Brooch via Crafthaus

Isabel Dammermann - Perpetua Brooches

I've been dipping into some of my old posts to enlarge the photo's in them and came across the original Brooches that look like rocks and minerals post in 2008 and decided it was time for another set.

Anna Wallis - 'Silver Crystal' Brooch via Velvet da Vinci Gallery

Amy Tavern - Fabricated Memory: Jewelry Box 1980 via Velvet da Vinci Gallery

Hanna Liljenberg: Brooch via Klimt02
Looks like a piece of Hubnerite

Sofia Björkman - Blackened Brilliance series 2010-'11 via Klimt02

Sofia Björkman - Blackened Brilliance series 2010-'11 via Klimt02
Has echoes of this Goethite over Quartz on this page.

Anna Wallis - 'Drip' Brooch via Velvet da Vinci Gallery

Minerals - Dioptase

2012-01-12T04:27:00.000Z

Dioptase, Malachite via irocks

Dioptase via irocks

Dioptase via irocks

Dioptase via irocks

Dioptase via irocks

Dioptase, Calcite via irocks

Dioptase, Malachite via irocks

A natural progression from the green minerals in the last post. These types of blues are my favourite colours so I really love Dioptase.

Minerals - Green Pyromorphite

2012-01-12T04:18:00.001Z

Pyromorphite via Arkenstone Fine Minerals/irocks

Pyromorphite via Arkenstone Fine Minerals/irock

Pyromorphite via Arkenstone Fine Minerals/irocks

Pyromorphite via Arkenstone Fine Minerals/irocks

Pyromorphite via Arkenstone Fine Minerals/irocks

Pyromorphite on Quartz via Arkenstone Fine Minerals/irocks

My last post put me in a green mood. Here are some lovely pieces of Pyromorphite, it comes in other colours but the green are enough for today. I'll post more of my favourite minerals through January.

Evergreen foliage in winter

2012-01-10T22:59:00.004Z

Cyclamen Herderifolium
Lonicera henryi - evergreen honeysuckle
Uknown Erica or Calluna (almost luminous yellow in Summer)
Pieris 'Mountain Fire' which changes colour each season
Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'

Every year the Winter interest aspect of the garden fills out a little more to the point where there is now something looking good in every bed, border or large tub. I love the way their colours and shapes become so noticeable when all else is dormant. I was out the other day and noticed one daffodil already forming a blower bud, several cyclamen doing the same, small daisies, and violas in flower and more flowers on the Claire Austin rose than it had during Summer! The snowdrops have started to push up and should be in flower soon. By far the most reliable performer this year has been Lamium Rosaseum which has literally flowered non stop since late Spring last year, it must be a blessing for all manner of insects.

Happy Gardening New Year 2012

2012-01-07T00:16:00.005Z

Cally Creates New Year Message (click to see in sharp focus)

My New Year wish for all you gardener's in 2012. The foliage in the photo is Oxalis Sunset, an annual which I've managed to keep alive in the house from cuttings I took in late Summer/early Autumn. It's such a great plant, like foliar sunshine. I plan to take more cuttings this month from the bits I've overwintered so that I'll have lots of it to plant out in April.

Have any of you managed to over-winter plants that you normally think of as annuals? I'd love to hear which plants do well. Mine were in the house in a room that wavers between 10 and 14 degrees centigrade in an East window with occasion daylight bulb use on dull days. But I've also noticed that the mild winter has allowed numerous annuals to carry on growing outside, most noticeable the Osteospermums which are twice their Summer height - I'll need to get cuttings from them because I don't believe for a moment that cold isn't coming. You can view all my plantings of 2011 and indeed 2012 here and I'd love to see others add their gardens too.

Silvery foliage

2012-01-06T15:31:00.005Z

At this time of year the Silver grey/green foliage of Saxifrage, Sesliria nitida and Scenecio Cineraria in the garden fit well with the cold temperatures. Gales and winds have been almost non-stop this winter so I've not been out much at all for fear of being blow all the way to Edinburgh. There have been several expected casualties but I've been really surprised by just how many plants have held on tight. Many look a bit bedraggled but I'm confident there will be a happy resurgence of life in Spring. As always you can see all my plants and gardening goings on over on Folia.

Silke Trekel - Spatial Structures

2012-01-06T01:42:00.000Z

Silke Trekel - Spatial Structures via Fingers
Photography by Christoph Sandig, all images copyright Fingers

These appeal to the part of me that likes to play with slotted card shapes. Silke has made that type of delicate and vulnerable creation into something much more durable, permanent and best of all, wearable with her enamelled iron constructions.

Zander Olson - Tree, Line

2012-01-05T21:14:00.004Z

Zander Olson - Tree, Line - Untitled 2008

Zander Olson - Tree, Line - No Mans Land 2004

These are great aren't they. Zander Olson says: ‘This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire and Wales,involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint.’

Wyatt Ellison - Bear Head & Boulders

2012-01-04T22:08:00.004Z

Wyatt Ellison - Bear Head and Boulders, on Etsy

We don't have bears here, but it certainly has been wild. Storm force Gales 100 mile an hour winds, power cuts. I'm embarrassed by how dependent I am on having internet access. I can manage without food, heat, money and do ok but take away my broadband and I feel lost. So glad it's back.

Antalis Calenclock by Ken Lo

2011-12-31T04:22:00.006Z

Antalis Calenclock 2012 by Ken Lo via Behance Network

Great idea to have your clock and calendar integrated into one item with the pages tearing off each month. I bet we'll see lots of clocks and calendars inspired by this in future. It certainly has my head buzzing with ideas now.

Sculpted clothing - The T/Shirt Issue

2011-12-24T11:39:00.003Z

Most beautiful Wolf sculptural clothing by Mashallah.Design

These are from The T/Shirt Issue page of Digital Portraits.
The T/Shirt Issue blog has even more wonderfully sculpted geometric pieces:

Here's what they say about themselves...
"The T-shirt Issue is an interdisciplinary collective that combines fashion, design and technology into unique basic apparel, ranging from daily wearables to conceptual installations.

We are fascinated by the triangular polygon, a geometric shape we see as the basic unit of digital substance and wearable form. All our products are made in a new digital environment that allows us to reconstruct every piece of clothing from the core to any degree of complexity. With this new approach we establish a new dimension in which 2D, 3D and the space in between is reconsidered and experimented with.

In doing so, we stir triangular shapes and fine fabrics into basic apparel that subtly exposes its digital descent. As the possibilities in polygonal shaping are unlimited, we also engage in the conception of extensive art pieces to shed a light on the extremities. Our ultimate mission is to lift the hurdle between possible and impossible and redefine the aesthetics of all things jersey."

Cally Creates - Cushion/Pillow covers

2011-12-17T22:53:00.003Z

Seaweed Fronds Cushion Covers - €19.99

Sketch <9090> retro Cushion Covers - €19.99,

I've been so busy trying to get Christmas presents sorted that I forgot to list some new cushion covers in my Envelop shop. Bit daft of me because they won't be shipping new orders until 7th January.

I really need to go to bed but I have to stay up because my belly has still not managed to comprehend, never mind digest, all that I have eaten since this afternoon. I was planning to just make a simple Jerusalem artichoke soup, a great Winter favourite of mine. But one thing led to another and I found myself steaming carrots, cauliflower and beetroot on top of the soup. Surely that should be enough, but I got impatient waiting and decided to make a salad to tide me over - but it turned out HUGE filled with Beetroot, Pomegranate, Cranberries, Pears, Jerusalem Artichokes, Feta. It was so tasty I ate the whole thing. Problem was, the soup turned out just as tasty and I couldn't stop eating it either and I loved every tasty mouthful.

Wim Delvoye - Carved Tyres

2011-12-13T18:03:00.000Z

Wim Delvoye - Untitled (Car Tyre) - 2007 - H 81.5 x 19 cm - Hand carved car tyres

Wim Delvoye - Untitled (Car Tyre) - 2009 - H 122 x 38 cm - Hand carved car tyre

Wonderful hand carved tyres by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. Although started in 2007 I'm only just discovering these now and love them, there are lots more to see here. They have similar qualities to the work of Cal Lane who I first blogged about here. Here is one of her pieces I've not show already.

Cal Lane - laser cut car door via Artboom.

Wim has some really large works such as his steel Towers. And smaller ones can be seen on his Scale models section. I'd seen some of his earlier pieces before but didn't know who they were by, like this huge 2002 piece Caterpillar #5:

Wim Delvoye - Caterpillar #5 - 2002 - 350 x 900 x 300 cm
Laser-cut corten steel - Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

After the Storm came the snow

2011-12-10T15:58:00.006Z

Snow last December.

Thursday's storm was pretty full on and the house felt a bit like a cardboard box because we could see the walls wobbling in and out with the gusts. The joys of mobile homes, but we were luck not to be one of the 50,000 people who lost their electricity supply. Apparently more stormy weather is due in a few days but for now things are calm and I awoke to a beautiful inch or two of snow. It's not deep but I suspect it is quite wet snow because it manage to crumple my Skimmia Japonica, which was only just recovering from last year's snow damage. Other than that most things have been pruned or supported so as to resist all but the heaviest of snows

Inspired by the black trees in snow I put together a little selection of black and white niceness, a fantasy Christmas wishlist:

1. Duncan Shott Magnetic Cloud Keyholder £20
2. Sagemcom Sixty Retro Style Digital Cordless Telephone approx £90
3 & 4. Sanna Annuka for Marimekko
5. Nordic Knit Booties (can't find a source for these)
6. One of my own cushion covers approx £17.

Shop - Art Print & Laptop Skins- Ammonite

2011-12-07T01:38:00.006Z

Ammonite Unframed Print from $16

One of several colour options for my Collioure Organic Cotton fabric on Spoonflower

Italian Gas - Art Prints from $16,
Also as Laptop & iPad Skins $30, iPhone Skins $15, iPhone cases $30

I used to be very sea obsessed, hence my life long love of watery colours, and a fairly long love of shells, though that began to wane when I started to get obsessed by seeds in the Summer of '92. The print above is based on a n A2 charcoal sketch either of one of my own ammonites, or one in the Museum of Scotland, probably 1990 - I forget which. If it was in the museum it was possibly drawn to scale, they have some huge ones whereas mine are fairly small. The background I've added is based on one of my textile patterns from around the same period. The Collioure fabric show is loosely based on designs from that period as is the pattern on the Italian Gas print, but the photographic part of that is from my flying visit to Italy in 2008 when we popped over from France (friend's wedding) for me to take photo's before catching our flight home. A mad 6hrs of non stop photography because there was so much there that I loved.

Ammonite Framed prints from $33
Ammonite skins for Laptops and iPads - $30

Shop Cally Creates - Art Print - Italian Gas

2011-12-06T19:54:00.003Z

Italian Gas - Art Print/Mini 8"x 9" $16. Other sizes available.

Italian Gas - Framed Art Print/Scoop Black Mini 10"x 12" $33. Other sizes & Frames available.

The original photograph was taken in Italy in 2008 (on the 6hr mad dash visit) and has been combined with a printed textile I designed at college in the early 90's to make a more textured graphic image.

Fine art print on natural white, matte, ultra smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using an advanced digital dry ink method to ensure vibrant image quality. Custom trimmed with 1" border for framing.

Cally Creates - Cushion/Pillow covers

2011-12-03T13:58:00.005Z

Cushion/Pillow covers available in 3 sizes from €19.99 with free worldwide shipping

I couldn't sleep one night last week so I finally followed through on some projects that have been hanging in the air for years. Like getting my college textiles properly scanned and adapted for digital printing. It's one of those things I keep starting but then abandon because I don't really like editing them on the computer, it seems to take too long so I always abandon the process halfway when the house, garden, family or my stomach make more pressing demands. But a sleepless night and howling winds helped me get back on track and finish preparing some for upload.

The first items available for purchase are these 100% cotton cushion/pillow covers and a 4 napkins (not shown). Since the designs are from my college days in the early 90's I'm calling this collection 'Revived'. The name seems a little ironic given that this is me accepting that I am just not well enough to hand print my own work any more. It's taken a good long while to come to terms with that but now that I have I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest and I can start getting work out there again, albeit old work - but I think a lot of my old designs are very suited to modern tastes, which was not the case at the time I designed them. Maybe my habit of keeping every-little-thing isn't all bad after all.

Of course, nothing beats the feeling of making something from scratch - it's what I truly love to do, but since that isn't an option I feel OK about going digital for a while. And it's giving me an excuse to unearth old designs again, which is always immensely good fun. It feels like Christmas every time I open a folder or folio.

Other designs, colours and items are awaiting approval (there seem to be technical glitches) so watch this space to find out when more are added, it most definitely won't be all black and white - You know how much I love colour. I'll try and rework a few designs each month if I can.

You can also buy some of my repeat patterns as fabric from Spoonflower. This one is Collioure fabric in Black and white (colours available too) which you can purchase as swatches, fat quarters and by the yard in several colourways and fabrics including Organic Cotton Knit. $5 a swatch $11 per Fat Quarter.

Collioure fabric in Black and white

Designer tents

2011-12-02T23:46:00.005Z

I don't need a tent, but I do love this one's from Field Candy. Not that I would spent so much money on a tent even if I did need one Animal Farm is £449 and Men Only is £555 - ouch!

I wouldn't want to be in a tent just now, the gales have returned after a brief partial easing over the last few weeks. Hard to believe that this time last year we'd had 1/2 a metre of snow already. There was a little sleet the other day but it's been pretty mild for November and it's only now that the cold is becoming sharper. Snow predicted for Monday.

Webbed trees & sad Morran news

2011-11-30T15:28:00.007Z

The flooding in Pakistan meant all the spiders headed for the trees so they were completely smothered in webs, amazing. See more of these amazing National Geographic photographs.

I feel like there is so much sad news this week. Saddest of all, because it can't be changed with time, was that Camilla Engman's lovely wee dog Morran died. It's so strange to feel so much love for a dog you have never met but Camilla's was one of the first blogs I ever followed and Morran was a big part of that, so many great photo's of her that I feel I really watched so much of her life over the last 7 years (see some of the photo's on Flickr too). Goodbye little Morran.

As a fitting artist tribute to Morran Camilla had an open invition in October for people to submit artwork featuring Morran to be considered for a book, with all profits going to charity. There have been so many wonderful entries and many of them are already posted on the Studio Morran blog. Here are a few:

Maite Ortiz

Suana Verelst

Petra Wester Norgren

Marloes de Vries
Fiona Purves
Cady Fontana
Kerstin Svendsen

Photographs by Edward Burtynsky - black things

2011-11-16T10:21:00.004Z

Photographs by Edward Burtynsky.

1. Nickel Tailings No.1 (Ontario) from the Tailings series.
2. Sip Breaking #23 (Bangladesh) from the Ships series.
3. Oxford Tire Pile #9b (California) from the Oil and Urban Mines series.
4. Oxford Tire Pile #4 (California) from the Oil and Urban Mines series.
5. Tanggu Port (Tianjin) from the China -Coal and Steel series.

Post Halloween and I still have a fairly large collection of black images I wanted to share. These ones are all by Photographer Edward Burtynsky (his photos aren't always black). Whenever I waiver in my consumer or energy use restraint I should look at his website and remind myself of what is involved, before and after, in our culture of mass consumption. Makes me want to get out in the garden and grow more seeds.

My Halloween - food, face, flowers - 2011

2011-11-15T17:03:00.001Z

Much belated, a few snippets from my Halloween Dinner party:
1. Autumn Squash and a lovely Black Bear brooch from Adadine (guilt gift from Mr P).
2. Facepaint always makes me happy.
3. Oxalis plant in a ceramic raku fired bowl I made in the early 90's.
4. Japanese snacks in a small ceramic tealight holder.

More birds from John and Fish

2011-11-15T10:55:00.007Z

Japanese White Eye, taken at DaSyueShan 15k, Taichung County, TAIWAN
綠繡眼．攝於台灣台中縣大雪山15K

Gray-chinned Minivet, taken at Dasyueshan Trail, TAIWAN
灰喉山椒．攝於台灣大雪山林道

Taiwan Blue Magpie, taken at Xingyi Park, Taipei City, TAIWAN
台灣藍鵲．攝於台灣台北市行義公園

More photographic bird beauty from John and Fish. I really can't get enough of these amazing images. Always a joy. Clicking each photo will take you to it's Flickr page. I previously blogged about them here.

Ivanka - Concrete and glass bench

2011-11-05T22:19:00.001Z

Ivanka - Concrete and glass bench found via Feltbug

If only all concrete street furniture looked this good.

Halloween costume inspiration - black & red

2011-10-30T18:31:00.001Z

Sylvia Ji 'La Adelita' 2010 via the Joshua Liner Gallery.

I love this Sylvia Ji painting. Although it has much deeper meaning it also makes for great Halloween inspiration and it combines my love of dressing up, Dia de los Muertos and Freda Kahlo in one glorious image. These are large painting in Acrylic and gold leaf on wood panels and you can read more about the background to the works in the Las Adelitas exhibition on the Joshua Liner Gallery flickr page for the show.

Sylvia Ji 'Red Quechquemitls' 2010 see full exhibition at the Joshua Liner Gallery.

Sylvia Ji 'La Madrina' 2010 see full exhibition at the Joshua Liner Gallery.

Andrea Peira's winning Photo in the World Body Painting Festival 2011

This is exactly the sort of thing I like to do, but when you live in a mobile home and like candles it's just not practical, so I make do with enjoying the work of others unless I'm invite to things in large open spaces. The Photograph above was by Andrea Peira and the costume and body painting was by Birgit Mörtl+Melanie Rodel Body Painting Festival 2011

Birgit Mörtl+Melanie Rodel - Body painting & costume for the World Body PaintingFestival 2011 (via weddingphotography.com)

Halloween make-up via Hairdresser-Models.eu

Halloween inspiration - black white grey & stylish

2011-10-29T12:45:00.003+01:00

Mummified drink bottles by one charming party

Marshmallow goody bags by one charming party

Crushed Oreos adorn the top of the cake to resemble dirt, inside is red sponge. By one charming party

Halloween table display with pumpkin painting tutorial on Apples & Onions

Black lace candles on Family Chic

Table setting for Black Halloween in Sweet Paul Magazine

Black Pumpkin styled by Paul Lowe for Black Halloween in Sweet Paul Magazine

Framed Embroidery by Paul Vitale for Black Halloween at Sweet Paul Magazine

Spanish Moss tealight holders and white Ranunculus with wording make more grown up table decorations via One Charming Party.

Chiharu Shiota - In Silence - 2008

Sweet Paul's scary portraits tutorial is here.

So you have some ideas for the house, but what about you? I always think about how I'll do my hair, or my wigs. Here are some tamer than usual ideas for a more stylish party...

Désirée Dolron - Xteriors VI - 2003 (via Alain Truong, see more on Artnet)

Dusan Jaukovic working with Morpheum Couture for Best Shop (via Haute Macabre)

A Tribute to Dorian Gray. Shot by Vincent Alvarez for Soon International. Found via Haute Macabre.

Next up, what to wear? Perhaps that should have been before the hair, but I usually start with hair and work a look around it. When you are going for something stylish that shouldn't mean giving up on the costume side of things, dressing up is half the fun. One option is to think Couture or Avante Garde catwalk style take some Halloween fashion tips from the runway shows and magazines.

Gareth Pugh via About a Girl.

Gareth Pugh - Spring Collection, Women's 2010 via Million Looks.

Gareth Pugh - Spring Collection, Men's 2010 via Homme Times.

Gareth Pugh via About a Girl.

Peter Pilotto Franken-Fashion mask for model Guinevere van Seenus on Dazed Digital.

Chic Gothic Glam, shot by Craig McDean for Vogue Italia. Found via Haute Macabre.

Photographed by Jerry Bennet :: Modeled & MUA by Manchester
Wardrobe and Styled by Alex London. Found via Haute Macabre.

Photos from Max.Tan’s F/W 2010 collection via Haute Macabre.

Iris van Herpen - Capriole - Paris Haute Couture Show

I have so much more but don't have time to find the links, perhaps another time? FOr now I need to get on with my own Halloween arrangements, like dusting off Mr P's green lady painting 'Tina' by J.H.Lynch which is perfect for Halloween in a mobile home since it oozes kitsch. I'll try and get a photo if I have time.

Blues & Greens

2011-10-28T01:03:00.004+01:00

Green weed in Blue window

I needed a bit of blue so these are random shots from my old photo's, and the frozen one is Mr P's.

Blue sky and Rowan from the window

Blue door where I used to walk the dog

Frozen flood water in local fields (thanks to MrP for this one)

Halloween costume ideas - Day of the Dead

2011-10-25T12:13:00.006+01:00

-2006
-2005
..-2006
2003

I love Mexican Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead. All that colour, art, creativity and food, what a joyous way to celebrate and remember loved ones who have died. Every few years some friends host a Day of the Dead Party instead having a traditional Halloween party. In the early years I started off with simple skulls make-up and a plain red wig but in subsequent years I was inspired by edible Sugar Skull candy and opted for much more colourful face painting and costumes and lots of colourful flowers in my wig to give that true Mexican feel. As always, I did other people's faces first so my own was a bit of a last minute rush, but even messy painting looks jolly when it's in such bright colours. I always enjoy doing them.

Hendrik Kerstens photography

2011-10-24T21:17:00.006+01:00

Hendrik Kerstens - Bag

Hendrik Kerstens - Lampshade, Napkin and Paper Roll

Since I was talking about being creative with bin bags I thought I'd show you some of the work of photographer Hendrik Kerstens who photographs his daughter in the style of the Dutch masters. You can read a little about his work and how it began here. His work is another great example of how imagination and creativity can more than make up for a lack of budget and materials when it comes to creating looks and costumes at Halloween, or any other time.

DIY Halloween Lighting Ideas

2011-10-24T19:01:00.004+01:00

I like to set the mood at Halloween with home made or customised lighting.

I make paper Pumpkins to work as wall and window decorations, lighting and masks.

• Fairy lights, which are a year round feature, get a Halloween twist with orange paper chain and shreds of orange crepe paper (only on led lights that don't get hot).

• Tealight holders and glass jars get wrapped in orange paper chopped with jaggy tops and grouped to look like little fires.

• Rather than doing scary faces on pumpkins I prefer something more decorative or abstract so that I can keep using them past Halloween.

• Paper pumpkins ensure I still have a spooky vibe on the night. Made from orange paper and drawn on with marker pen then cut out. They look great in the window with tealights behind them (safely in jars) and if you attach two lengths of wool either side they double as pumpkin masks if you have guests who don't have the time or interest to make anything. The one in the photo above is in front of a small table lamp with a 4w energy saving bulb to give a gentle light.

Halloween face painting - elf/goblin/sprite

2011-10-24T16:32:00.006+01:00

Elf, Goblin, Sprite? I just painted in a way that suited the ears I'd been given.

A friend gave me her green ears • sitting by the fire

Here I am as a Goblin type of critter in 2005. It was a mild dry October that year so we had the party outside around a tiny barbecue based bonfire with orange tea light lanterns and pumpkins around the garden.

Halloween Invitation 2011

When I was a kid I absolutely LOVED it when we were out Guising (Trick or Treat) and would occasionally go to a house that had made an effort to be spooky. In the 70's it was very rare to encounter that and I vowed when I grew up I'd always dress up for the Guisers. Since Asda in the UK was bought by Walmart there was a definite importing of Halloween as a commercial concept and all the other supermarkets have followed suit so Halloween themed houses are much more prevalent these days, but I far prefer a home-made look rather than a bought one and for me getting creative is the most fun part of Halloween. Having ME has meant not a lot of partying but having had a nice Fancy Dress dinner for 4 last year I decided to increase that this year and tweaked the Elfish Goblin with some fangs to make the above e-vite for it.

Halloween costume inspiration

2011-10-24T16:03:00.001+01:00

Junya Watanabe - Commes des Garçons - Autumn/Winter 2008-09

When friends say they don't have anything to make a fancy dress costume with I always remind them that you'll never be stuck for a costume if you have some old tights and a bin bag (panty hose & trash bags). Several of my best, indeed 1 prizewinning, outfits were made with those basics and perhaps some wire or cardboard scraps, or a bit of tinfoil to tweak my own clothes into creations fit for any costume party.

I've had a LOT of fun over the years stretching old tights over shapes to make weird headwear but beware, I found out, to my great dissapointment, that sometimes people think you've made a bad attempt at being Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) from Star Trek.

The collection above by Designer Junya Watanabe is clearly not made from bin bags and tights, but the effects are similar, albeit painstakingly sewn and crafted, not held together with glue, pins and tape like my 'collections'. The point is that you just need to use your imagination a bit. Costumes don't have to be about recreating something that already exists. Some people may look at you with bafflement if you don't dress as a character but don't let that stop you coming up with something creative and original if you are feeling inspired.

Update: A follow on post shows the work of Hendrik Kerstens who uses a plastic bag to style his daughter like the Dutch Masters.

Free Halloween invite & tutorial

2011-10-24T14:03:00.008+01:00

Part of my 2005 Halloween Party Invite (180dpi 15cm wide)

Want to use this to make you own invites?
• Click the invite above to enlarge the black and white image.
• Save to your hard drive.
• Scale to the size you need and print out.
• Colour in the lettering by hand - orange, bright red and green work well.
• Leave it at that and add your details on the back. or read on for the 3D version...

Here is my original mock up (a bit streaky as the ink was running out).

Place party details behind the front flap in contrasting colour

Flip over tabs of different heads on the body.

Wig hand coloured to match the text.

Well, not so much a Tutorial as a 'Look how I did it'. When I made this originally it was actually part of a flip to change card showing the body with my head in various fancy dress outfits from previous years with Jack Skellington as the main one and Ghostly Woman, Dia de Los Muertos Skull and Edward Scissorhands as flip down options simply attached with a bit of Scotch tape at the top, like a hinge. The corners of the flip tabs are folded forwards on the left so you know they can be lifted and and backwards on the right to make the layers stick out a little from each other to give a better 3D look. I cut a slit in the centre of the card so that the text on the front would fold back to reveal party details in a contrasting colour underneath. The Tree and landscape silhouette was from a photo I took nearby and the oversized moon was added in Photoshop. Why not try making one with things related to where you live.

I hope you can have some fun with this or are inspired to try something of your own. I'd love to hear if you do. I hope to post more Halloween inspiration through the week.

Frozen Planet - Amusing Penguin thief

2011-10-23T05:25:00.000+01:00

I know I tend not to post video links but my brother sent me this chuckle worthy link of a Penguin stealing stones. Much more amusing than it sounds, mainly because of the way they walk and the shifty guilty way he looks around. I'm not sure if everyone will be able to view it because sometimes BBC things don't play everywhere. It was filmed as part of the new Frozen Planet series with David Attenborough which starts in the UK on Wednesday (26th Oct 9pm BBC1) which I'm sure will be great since the team they have are always dedicated to hanging around for months on end in the most extreme or uncomfortable conditions waiting for the best shots.

And since I'm linking to a bit of animal humour, Simon Tofield (who's first comedy animation several years ago, Cat Man Do, reminded me so much of Mr P's cat) has another one called Double Trouble which is spot on what is was like with the cats I cat sit for when a new kitten was introduced, including the bit where it goes under the rug.

Sarah Anne Johnson - Arctic Wonderland

2011-10-19T12:08:00.000+01:00

Sarah Anne Johnson - Explosion - 2011 (via Julie Saul Gallery)

Sarah Anne Johnson - Ripple - 2011 (via Julie Saul Gallery)

Sarah Anne Johnson - Dark Cloud - 2010 (via Julie Saul Gallery)

Sarah Anne Johnson is a Canadian Artist and these pieces are from her Arctic Wonderland series.
It's hard not to feel like winter is rushing up on us which is probably what is drawing my eye to artists depicting places I associate with snow. More gales and rain this week but with a colder edge turning the rain to sleet. Today it's 4c outside and the windchill is -1, brrrr, time for thermal undies (she said, as if she'd not been wearing them all year round anyway because they are comfy).

Autumn chills

2011-10-18T12:51:00.010+01:00

Unexpected chrysanthemum bloom like a firework

Achillea, flowering late after a move in Spring.

Aster 'Tonga' unperturbed by foul weather.

The weather has been so bad I've not even planted my Spring bulbs. The few still dry days we've had have been dedicated to getting the house watertight before winter. We started early so it would be finished by October but after discovering part of the house was about to collapse - the 3 day joinery job has now been 3 weeks so far, and there hasn't been time to even think about getting the heating fixed. I'm getting a bit anxious since they are predicting another hard winter. Last year the big snow blast that halted the country arrived in late November. Hopefully this year everyone is prepared and if it happens we'll deal with it in a less embarrassingly pathetic manner. Snowy countries must have thought we were complete wimps since all our news reports made it sound like the most extreme natural disaster had hit us.

Yesterday the rain stopped for a bit and I really wanted to get out planting, but instead I had to rehang a door (no fun having front door and inner door unattached in go around filling all the gaps I found in the walls and windows as the rain or wind came through them the day before. I hate missing the last bits of colour outside, and have hardly managed to get any photo's with the wind so constant, but here are a few of the Autumn flowers in the garden.

Pyracantha berries at their Autumnal best.

Cherry 'Spire' still good on a grey day despite 1/3 of it's leaves being whipped away in September gales.

Other things doing well just now are the flowers of the large Sedums (the 'ice plant' kind), amazing red leaves on most of the Blueberries, gold and orange leaves on the Enkianthus & Amelanchier. The Rowans lost their leaves a few weeks ago (gales again) so there is more light around for the several other annuals and perrenials still in flower like Dianthus, Verbena, Heather, Primrose (they think it's Spring), Rudbeckia, Lamium, Sweet Peas, Scabious, Lychnis and even some Foxgloves.

Eszter Burghardt - Edible Vistas & Wooly Sagas

2011-10-08T09:59:00.008+01:00

Eszter Burghardt - Edible Vistas

These amazing macro photographs are by Canadian-Hungarian artist Eszter Burghardt who sculpts these incredible miniature landscapes to reflect the isolated atmospheric beauty of Iceland where she has completed several artist residencies. Working from memory she uses Icelandic wool for Wooly Sagas and kitchen ingredients for Edible Vistas.

I love them. When I first saw 'Edible Vistas' I thought they were real photo's of Iceland, when in reality they were made from things like chocolate cake, cocoa powder and milk. I love the use of poppy seeds to capture the feeling and texture of dense grey-black volcanic rubble. With Wooly Sagas it is easier to see that they are made from wool, but this doesn't detract from the way she has captured the scenes, and in particular the feeling of intense heat from Volcanic activity.

Eszter Burghardt - Wooly Sagas

They make my tilt shift garden photo's look utterly amateur but rather than be put off I'll strive to do better because they are always great fun to work on. It's another one of those activities that takes me back to childhood, being under the covers in bed and using the folds of the fabric to imagine snowy landscapes, mountains, caves and other worlds. Eszter's landscapes inspire me to keep playing.

Not the usual plant thefts

2011-09-26T20:07:00.004+01:00

Wind stole the Elderberries this month

Gales stole Clematis Miss Bateman in late Spring

Powdery Mildew stole the Geranium Phaeum

And I stole this single rose, from the bushes near the dentist, 2 yrs ago, but the memory of the scent lives on.

Hawthorn Shield Bug

2011-09-25T13:01:00.006+01:00

Hawthorn Shield Bug nymph - Acanthosoma Haemorrhoidale, about 5mm

Look at the Panda faced little fellow I founf in the garden this month. It's a mid instar nymph of a Hawthorn Shield Bug. There are very few Hawthorn berries around but they clearly like the Pyracantha too and get the goodness out of them with what I call their 'doober' a little sucking tube, which may or may not be similar to the proboscis of other insects. I know with butterflies they can curl theirs up whereas the shield bugs tend to tuck theirs under their body when they are not using it. I don't know what they eat the rest of he year but they are vegetarian.

Hawthorn Shield Bug hiding out in the Pyracantha berries

Hawthorn Shield Bug mid instar nymph

The distinctive red of this fellow is already beginning to take on some hints of green, which can be more clearly seen on the photo below from a week earlier. I didn't even realise it was there till I checked my berry photo's and spotted it. When I went out a week later he/she was still on the same clump of berries, posing for the shots above (too windy for good focus).

The webstite British Bugs is great for Identifying theses sorts of critters and shows photos and illustrations of them at all difference life cycle stages. I'd seen the much larger adults before but I'd never seen the tiny and variously coloured young. I'm very happy to have a garden they like since they are becoming rarer in Scotland. Below is an adult one I spotted in April and which I tend to see around the garden from time to time. I had no idea about all the variations they go through before adulthood.

Adult Hawthorn Shield Bug - about 15mm long

I'll be watching out for the wee thing over the coming weeks to see if I can photograph it as it turns green and grows bigger, though perhaps it will move elsewhere to blend in.

Another first was spotting a 5th instar nymph of a Parent Bug beside my Sweet Peas, I managed to get it onto a broken terracotta pot for some photo's before returning him to the foliage to hide.

5th instar nymph of a Parent Bug - Elasmucha Grisea

It's hard to believe but the wind here still hasn't stopped, I'd hoped the tail end of Hurricane Katia would mark the start of a calm period but I was very much mistaken. Last week continuing gales trashed my coldframe and lots of the propagated plants inside. They represented months of time and love and were going to make a huge difference to the new bit of my garden next Spring, and for filling out gaps left by winter casualties.

I've saved what I could but it was a very sorry mess, and now I have nowhere to house the 100's of plants that need winter protection. Time to cobble together something that can handle wind, rain, pest invasion and possible heavy snow (and on that note the men still haven't replaced the garage roof that collapsed in the snow in December).

Scabious 'Black Cat'

2011-09-20T11:49:00.007+01:00

Scabiosa 'Chat Noir' (Scabious 'Black Cat') logged here on Folia.

These were slow to develop from seeds sown earlier this year but are now opening up. I expected the dark ones, it's all in the name, but there are actually more which have the brighter colouring. The two colours look great together

The closed bud stage lasted about 2 months for them to open up. Last week the larger ones began to open one or two tiny flowers around the edges and this week those same ones are fully open. There are still lots in the early bud stage so I think there will be flowers into October. This year they are mainly growing up through the dark Sweet Pea mix but I'd love to try them in amongst golden or lime green foliage.

The two colours that came up, bright and dark.

John & Fish - Stunning Bird Photography

2011-09-17T23:12:00.000+01:00

White Eared Sibia: Photography by John & Fish

White-eared Sibia: Photography by John & Fish

Japanese White-eye: Photography by John & Fish

Formosan Yuhina: Photography by John & Fish

Incredible Birds photo's by John & Fish. I'm totally taken with the photography of this brother and sister team in Taiwan, John is the Photographer and Fish assists. All the photo's are from their Flickr site which I could look at all day long. They have the sort of vibrant colour that I love in print designs, but rarely see in real life bird and plant shots that aren't tropical rainforest based. And they have such wonderful names too. I've always wanted to visit Taiwan for the beautiful landscapes, but I had no idea that they had such wonderful small birds. Somebody get me a suitcase, but until then, Thank You John & Fish for sharing your amazing photographs. Get details of where they are exhibiting here.

Here's what they say about themselves on their Flickr profile page.

Hi, we are John&Fish, John (勇士丸) is elder brother (artist), Fish (小魚) is young sister (assistant), we came from Tainan - a ancient capital of Taiwan, and now we are working and living in Taipei city. We like bird photography very much, almost spent every weekend (since 2005~now) went around the island to capture their beautiful shapes, for those we have to thank our motherland-Taiwan for giving such beautiful creatures to us.

As someone from a Country known for it's less colourful birds, often referred to as LBJ's (Little Brown Jobs) I'm reluctant to look out at the bird feeder today lest the Sparrows sense my disappointment at their lack of sartorial pizzazz. On seeing the next shot I said "Ooh, look at these two" but when I showed Mr.P he only had one thing to say... "Jedward".

Taiwan Yuhina
The Taiwan Yuhina (Yuhina brunneiceps), formerly known as "Formosan Yuhina", is a small songbird endemic to the island of Taiwan.

Jedward (Photo by Getty Images Via The Telegraph)
Jedward (Juvenis Dementis), formerly known as "John and Edward", are twin singers endemic to Ireland.

Playing at dressing up - Summer into Autumn

2011-09-17T17:22:00.001+01:00

Another spot of pretend shopping from August, inspired by the change from Summer to Autumn. It was before the reds started to show on the leaves and is more about those lovely pale but vivid Summer skies we see here in Scotland on many August evenings. The light still speaks of Summer but there is a noticeable drop in the temperatures as the sun sets and you know Autumn is around the corner and you'll need to start looking out warmer clothes. Most of my warm clothes are Black, Teal, Grey or Red but I love the idea of some Mustard/Yellows that so perfectly link the late summer Rudbeckias and Heleniums that are then overtaken but the yellow leaves of many of the trees.

Items shown in the composition are: 1. Wool blend coat by Pink Martini 2. Look From London Laugh On Tights 3. El Naturalista Shoes - Spring-Summer 2010 4. L'annello in titiano realizzato da Michela Nosè. Photo: Fondazione Politecnico di Milano 5. Techno PULL & BEAR pvc - Be.com 6. Green Butterfly photo from Layoutsparks.com. 7. Cally Creates: a drawing from The 4 Day Sketchbook, 1991 8. Illustration from source that had no credit (if you know the name please leave a comment) 9. Yellena James - Gallery

Terada Mokei - Architectural Model Series

2011-09-14T16:17:00.008+01:00

Terada Mokei- 1/100 Architectural Model Series No.11 Cherry Blossom

When I was a kid I couldn't afford furniture for my dolls house so I made my own from paper, especially graph paper from old school jotters. For a few years I was obsessed with designing paper flat pack house contents and folding and slotting them together into bits of furniture. I'd colour them with felt tips, and add details cut from magazines to give them some style, like furniture facades, lamps, kitchenwear etc. from my Mum's old Habitat catalogues (RIP) and cut out clothes from magazines for the wardrobe, though that then eveolved into making little clothes from fabric scraps. It was fun, and I loved having a chance to create fantasy homes, landscapes and wardrobes where anything goes, slides, swings, secret compartments, mountains, spaceships,undersea themes. Clearly that it was the beginning of a lifelong passion for creating them in real, full scale life for living with or for themed parties.

The Architectural model series by Designer, Architect and Modeller Naoki Terada would have totally enthralled me. The scale is far smaller than a dolls house, but all the more captivating because of it. He was tired of late nights making the tiny paper models that were needed to bring alive his Architectural models and decided to mass produce them so that he could get a bit more sleep, and also share the pleasure of working (playing) with the paper models themselves. As a kid I'd have spent hours making them outfits, though for people with less creative urges (or time) there are Dress-Up Stickers to add to your tiny models.

Here are a few of the many models you can buy as kits to self assemble from Terada Mokei.
Photography by Kenji Masunaga.

Terada Mokei- 1/100 Architectural Model Series No.12 Construction Site

No.6 New York and No.8 Christmas

Paper Tweezers from the 1/100 Architectural Model Accessories Series.

Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf'

2011-09-07T16:08:00.003+01:00

Annual Rudbeckia - flowering for a second year

Damn slugs completely demolished several perennials this year* including Helenium and Eupatorium, but these Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf' have almost made up for the loss with their late summer colour. I have a few perennial Rudbeckia but these ones were sold as Half Hardy Annual seeds so I was most surprised to see them growing with great gusto in this their 2nd year (having not been very impressive last year).

Not only are the much more floriferous with the flowers sporting several colours, every one of them like an autumn roast dinner, but they also grew to twice the height, about 2ft instead of 1ft and have the happy habit of being ignored by the slugs. I'm hoping they'll return every year, but to be sure of more I'll sow what remains of the seed packet. Even in areas where I only put a few (to test where they'd be happy) the individual flowers that have arisen have been so varied that they give lots of delight. This and my perennial Rudbeckia plants are all tracked here.

* we couldn't do the usual protective measures because the constant rain made the clay soil/grass inaccessible for most of the year.

Jung Jung's Knitted Vegetables

2011-09-06T04:35:00.000+01:00

Intricate and detailed Cloch Lace knitted vegetables by Jung Jung.

Finally a good use for old drained batteries - power an Energy Seed Lamp.

Time to buy tulips

2011-09-01T16:09:00.007+01:00

Tulips amid Brunnera at Inwood Garden in Spring

For Liz, me in an actual skirt beside Lathyrus vernus at Inwood Garden

Yes, it's the time of year when many of us are excitedly thinking about Spring, even though Autumn hasn't kicked in. It's bulb t buying time. For most Spring bulbs we can buy and plant now, but with Tulips they prefer it if we wait until October at the earliest before popping them in , so there is time to ponder what will work. The examples above are from Inwood Garden, just South of Edinburgh in April this year.

I've never seen quite such an amazing display of Tulips in a garden, there were 1000's, some grouped in pots near the entrance, others planted in borders. Many were very artfully coordinated with the trees and shrubs that were coming into leaf which doubled their beauty. I was actually a bit speechless, which is very unusual. Unfortunately the sun was so bright most of my photo's were hard to make out. The ones above were in teh shade but all the others were in full sun.

Tulips toned perfectly with Hosta at Inwood Garden.

Tulips in the borders at Inwood Garden

It was during that amazing 2 weeks of hot, dry gloriously sunny April weather, before the month of gales, when we joked that maybe that was going to be Summer over. Turns out it was fairly true. I'm glad I made myself go out that day and enjoy other people's gardens (also went to Shepherd house, another gorgeous local garden). My own display was much more humble, but brought us equal joy and over a surprisingly long period, eben through all the bad weather. It was pure luck that the Tulips matched the Honesty so well.

Tulip Atilla (purple) and Shirley (cream, but develops purple edges over time)

The Honesty flowered until July, it just kept getting bushier and taller.

Lovely with the Honesty & Tulips was Wallflower 'Bowles Mauve', still flowering now!

I found a rough guide to which tulips showing which varieties flower when, at what height and rating their ability to naturalize. See the original information here. Here's a mini version:

Greigii

early Mar-April

8-14" (20-35cm)

Excellent

Fosteriana

mid Mar-April

8-10" (20-25cm)

Excellent

Kaufmanniana

March-April

6-10" (15-25cm)

Excellent

Species

some in March

8 - 14" (20-35cm)

Excellent

Single Early

late Mar-Early Apr

10-18" (25-46cm)

Average

Double Early

early-mid April

12" (30cm)

Average

Triumph

mid Apr-Early May

20" (30cm)

Above Average

Darwin Hybrid

mid April - May

18-24" (46-60cm)

Excellent

Single Late

late April - May

18-30" (46-75cm)

Above Average

Parrot Tulips

May

20-26" (50-65cm)

Average

Lily-flowered

May

18-30" (46-75cm)

Excellent

Double Late

late May

18-24" (45-60cm)

Average

Viridiflora

mostly May

18-30" (46-75cm) usually

Average

Fringed

Depends on variety

Average

Echinacea Purpurea opening in stages

2011-08-31T15:37:00.005+01:00

It only ever gives a few flowers so they are waited on with baited breath each year. I was trying to photograph each stage but this one surprised me by opening suddenly yesterday. Two flowers and three more to come. Not the bulging mass I hoped for when planting them but they are in a tough spot competing with tree roots from which I can't extract it to put it in a better place. The slugs did their best to destroy it but we picked them off nightly for 2 weeks until it's leaves were big enough to manage on their own. Now that it's flowering the effort feels worth it, even for just 5 flowers, but what great flowers.

Floor Fabric Food

2011-08-30T16:41:00.005+01:00

Brown Floor with Blue shoes, liked the combo and looked for similar in my hard drive. One of my Fabric Prints and a small Pak Choi that hasn't yet been planted out - oops.

Product love - Apple

2011-08-29T15:55:00.003+01:00

One of my early textile designs recoloured in Photoshop on a Mac around 1991 or '92,
with a Cally-fied Apple logo on top to show that Apple made it all possible.

Update 6th October: I was really sad to hear that Steve Jobs died yesterday. Hopefully my original post below says something about the impact he had on my life and work. He will be missed.

I was sad to hear about Steve Jobs resigning his post as CEO of Apple last week.
I feel a bit anxious at the thought of him stepping back and how that might change things at Apple, though he is not leaving the company, just that role and the involvement it required. With PMS raining down on me like a storm it's no wonder I got a bit weapy as I watched You Tube footage of him giving a commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. I'm such a Nerd, I'd have loved a speech like that at College instead of the stuff I often struggled not to sleep through.

He is definitely someone who has literally had a big impact on the quality of my daily life for more than 20yrs. His visions, brought to life, made my work not just possible, but pleasurable and my old Macs are still Iconic objects in my house.

The only Mac I owned but haven't kept is the PowerMac 7500, designed during Steve Jobs absence from Apple and definitely not an icon of it's time the way the other's have been. Thankfully he came back and before long the Mac Cube, then iMac and then iBook were born and computer design has never been the same since.

I've never had a Mac die on me, ever, or get a virus, so they were great value for money even though they were often twice the price of others. They all still work and were only upgraded because they were getting too old to work efficiently with modern software and internet developments. The 7500 was given away after my Cube came but the others live on and have all retained some value as still valid useable Macs or collectors items.

5 Mac's we've each had or shared since 1996. Spot the one that didn't have Steve Jobs involved?

I've added things I was typically working on on each Mac and it's interesting that the newer the Mac the more I work with old designs and pieces from my early college days. At the moment I'm slowly updating 1000's of my old textiles designs and patterns to jpgs and getting them into some sort of order to actually get some of them printed. I'd never dream of doing that without Apple and Adobe on my side.

Apple Mac Love Affair - the early days:
1984: Macintosh 128k
Played with in Macy's
1985: Macintosh 128k
Did my first Graphic drawing on one, was hooked
89-94: Mac LC & Quadra
Colleges, so I'm guessing based on dates and looks
94-96: Mac Quadra, Mac Classic & Mac Colour Classic
All at work or work placements.

My Own and Mr P's Mac's:
1996: Mac Colour Classic
Shared - Ex work freebie soon replaced by the workhorse that follows
1997: Power Mac 7500
Shared - End of line sale - for our Graphics business, lumpy but efficient
2002: Power Mac G4 Cube
Mine - Refurbished ex-display bargain, rekindled my true love of Apple
2007: iBook G4
Mr P's - but I was never off it, what a glossy white delight
2011: MacBook Pro
Mine - Unbelievable Birthday Present, Thank you Bro, thank you forever

I had my first play on a Mac in Macy's in 1984 but never saw one again until the next year when and American came to stay with us and brought his new Macintosh 128k with him (he carried it as hand luggage). It was great, so dinky for a desktop computer at a time when IBM PC's where huge. And it had the mouse, (remember, that thing that IBM said no-one would ever use). I drew a picture of a camel and a palm tree beside of a pyramid (auto filled with brick pattern - mind blowing technology at the time). My first digital image, I loved it. I still have it actually, in a folder somewhere, it looks like it was done on an Etch-a-Sketch but for the times it was astonishing that you could do graphics on a home computer.

When I went to various Colleges they were all to do Art so Mac's were pretty much standard throughout and were in colour by then. It cemented my loyalty to the Mac and introduced me to another love, Adobe, initially through Photoshop, then Illustrator and finally InDesign. It's a shame Apple and Adobe have fallen out, I feel like a parent watching their kids fighting and knowing that the family would function better if they just got along like they did when they were young. Business and ego's tend to spoil a lot of good things.

The Cube and Apple Studio Display were my most exciting purchase. More than I could afford but utterly worth it. My quality of life literally improved overnight. Quiet drive, fast and space saving. They needed 80% less desk space and every inch counted when I worked from home in a tiny flat. As a delightful bonus it came with the new kid on the block, iTunes, and we all know where that has taken us. I couldn't have loved 2 inanimate things more.

My old flat in Edinburgh in 2002, with Apple Display and Cube (peaking in on left edge)

In the past it was mainly people doing creative jobs that used Macs because they were so geared to visual and audio performance and software, but thanks to iPods iPhones and iPads more people are seeing the benefits of beautifully designed things. I am concerned by the frequent and obsessive upgrading which seems incredibly expensive and wasteful but I suppose that's just endemic (right word?) Western Culture these days. I never upgrade until I really truly need to because I can no longer use my existing software.

Anyway, the change in people's buying patterns for phones and music has clearly tempted some to change their computers too (Yay and Welcome!) and I noticed on Friday that the stats page on Blogger was showing something I'd not seen before, Mac OS users being greater than Windows users with 50% of blog visits coming from Macs. Steve Jobs, you are vindicated, good design does matter, people will pay more for the effort to develop it and was/is worth pursuing.

It shows also that Firefox is tied with Internet Explorer. I'm surpriseed so many still use IE but I suppose people like what they know and often use what is pre-installed (hence the Safari users, sorry Apple, Firefox beats Safari hands down for me). I highly recommend you try Firefox if you haven't already. Imagine if people had refused to use Google because it wasn't a Microsoft product?

I have used other PCs in various jobs and they only confirmed for me that the extra cost of my Macs over the years was totally justified and that I never, ever want to use Windows or Internet Explorer if I can possibly avoid it. At Ikea I got my Department buy a Mac (until then I was taking all my work home to do on my own computer in my own time). Suddenly people went from rarely using the Dept. PC to fighting over time on the new Mac, the passion of the convert. Within a year they had to order another to meet demand and have been getting Macs ever since.

I know that Windows has incorporated lots of Mac OS stuff these days and is no longer visually hard to bear, but I still prefer Apple's commitment to looking forwards instead of playing catch-up. I hope they can keep doing that now that Steve Jobs isn't fully involved. Looking after your health is important and hopefully taking a step back will mean he and his forward thinking brain and instincts will be around to keep an eye on Apple's direction for a long time to come.

August flowers - vibrant colours

2011-08-24T18:35:00.003+01:00

1. Fennel & Crocosmia. 2. Fuchsia. 3. Solidago- Goldenrod. 4. Cleome- Spider flower.

Even on an overcast day these flowers seem to glow as if the sun was still shining.

Summer foods change to Autumn foods

2011-08-22T23:31:00.008+01:00

Nothing says summer like wild tomatoes on toast. But already the Summer veg is showing hints of Autumn. The raspberries are almost done and being replaced by brambles, though they are mostly not ready just yet, another week or two of warm sun needed.

No more Elderflower, Hibiscus and Lemon cordial (below). I can probably start picking rose hips soon so perhaps something along that line for days when I want rose coloured liquids and a boost of Vitamin C to ward off those colds that so often catch you when the seasons change.

The Rowan berries have been fully red for a week, a sure sign of the Summer winding down. It feels like we never really had a Summer, so much rain and wind, but then I look at my garden pictures and there was so much happening, I can enjoy what I snapped over a few days for the rest of the year. Not that the garden has stopped giving, there are lots more flowers to enjoy as well as edibles. Still picking what the wind left of the Blueberries and the Aronia 'Viking' is so abundant it's more than made up for the missing Blue B's.

Yesterday I pulled my first carrot, A beautiful Organic Early Nantes variety, so tasty and one of the few vegetables not bothered by pests this year and the Rainbow Chard seems to be perking up a bit and has the loveliest stems of bright yellow, red and raspberry. The Alpine Strawberries seem to be going on forever, they've clearly loved the wet weather.

Berry coloured kitchen

2011-08-22T23:25:00.002+01:00

Sorry for multiple reposts, Blogger is doing horrible things with my text, images and alignment, still trying to fix it so I'm fiddling with posts to monitor changes.

The Berry colours aren't just happening in the garden, they are in the kitchen too with raspberries and beetroot being the main glorious culprits in the making of smoothies, hummus, and all manner of finger staining delights. This particular one (above) was long, dark and quite woody, not juicy like the big round ones I use in salads (shown below), so I was blending into things where the other ingredients would stand out more, like elderflower, aronia and raspberry frosted smoothie, and raspberry ginger pear and coconut milk ice cream (not shown, I ate it too quickly).

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - Hot berry colours

2011-08-15T17:09:00.019+01:00

Achillea 'Red Velvet' (twice), Cornflower 'Double Black', Viola 'Rose', Mimulus 'White Flame, Aster chinensis Matsumoto Crimson

Viola (possibly 'Red blotch') with Heuchera 'Purple Palace', Pelargonium 'Lord Bute', Sanguisorba officinalis 'Red Thunder', Osteospermum 'Sunny Sheila'

Clematis Purpurea 'Plena Elegans', Knautia macedonica (twice)

Allium sphaerocephalon, Persicaria amplexicaulis 'JS Caliente' (not as red as this photo implies), Osteospermum (unknown variety grown as an annual)

Renamed my post as I realised it was the August Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and May Dreams Gardens, something I've been meaning to link into all year. There are so many things flowering just now I can't keep up with the photo's but these ones I had uploaded already and are all in flower on the 15th, looking very summery in their hot colours. I may do more posts of other colours this week.

Of course there are plenty of other colours in flower just now, Yellow stars include Rudbekia, Tagetes Orange Gem, Coreopsis, Fennel, Ragwort, Santolina. Blues come from Hyssop, Nigella, Monkshood, Clematis, Viola. Whites are everywhere making the garden glow at night mainly from the Feverfew and the various large flowered Daisies but also Clematis, Dianthus, Cosmos, Sedum, Foxglove. Purples from Verbena bonariensis & Rigida, Clematis, Osteospermum and my beloved Kale. Paler pinks from Phuopsis (which has been flowering for months and months), Brachyscome, Mallow, Hydrangea... the list for so many of these colours goes on and on.

I'm so thrilled that my new patch which is only a year old has so much thriving in it already, mostly grown from cuttings, divisions and seed or gleaned at bargain prices. I've spent less on this than the 'average' UK woman spends on clothes and make-up each month. And on that note, I was shocked to read that 85% of UK women over 50 spend £1500 on their holiday wardrobe!!! I'm stunned, I doubt I've spent that on my entire wardrobe in 10 years. Imagine how many plants you could buy. And that was a report done during a recession, goodness knows what they used to spend.

Anyway, I'm going to spend some time today doing a bit of an update on my FOLIA
garden tracking page to get photo's on for as many of this months flowering plants as possible. I invite you to take a look and maybe even start documenting your own growing activities there.

A slice of July

2011-08-08T16:31:00.014+01:00

The most beautiful way a pest could destroy your multicoloured Kale, and other photo's from the garden last month...

Because I've not been well enough to garden much I like to grab a bit of everything when I can to bring inside. Below is the result of a 30 minute haul towards the end of July. There were plenty of things missed but that was OK because there wasn't barely room for so many flowers in the house. My bettery ran out befoer getting photo's of the most sculptural jar of eucalyptus, allium christophii, heuchera and pink seed podded honesty. The honesty has been amazing this year changing from green, to deepest purple and now to shades of pink, shown here in this photo from one of the plants outside on top right of this montage of July flowers...

The leaves of Brunnera 'Jack Frost' are turning from white to a metallic silver and really set of the purples and plums of the Sangiusorba, Clematis, Astilbe, Berberis and Heuchera.

Also enjoyed this week lovely colours and themes in Daphne's posts Frill and Vroom Vroom.

Novel Foods Act - Mesquite, Chia, Stevia

2011-08-06T11:48:00.001+01:00

Raspberry & Beetroot smoothie with Strawberry, Aronia,
Date, Prune, Cranberry, Viola, Acai and Spinach.

All I wanted was Mesquite powder for my smoothie, is that too much to ask? Apparently it is because I live in the UK where it's been classed as a 'Novel Food'. “A novel food is defined as a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption within the EU before 15 May 1997.” FSA. The act was set up to deal with GM foods, but doesn't even relate to them now as they are covered by separate legislation, but it suits big business and pharmaceutical companies to keep these foods from eating into their markets. As with so many of these types of things it's all about politics and money. I hate that.

Pak Choi,and Pear smoothie with Maca, Cucumber & Celery.

It doesn't matter that people have been consuming Mesquite for 100's of years. Places that used to sell it online have, in the last few months, either stopped or are not allowed to sell it 'for human consumption'. It's all very frustrating, but my mood was lightened when I looked at the Detox Your World website who were selling mesquite but giving a suggestion list of what you can do with mesquite other than eat it. Brought a smile back to my face, and of course that's exactly what I'll do with it, I won't eat it, no, I certainly won't eat it (said the child in the berry patch with the purple stained face).

I'm sure we'll be allowed to it it again in time, just like we can now eat Goji berries again (which they put on the Novel foods list around 2004 despite people having eaten them from UK hedgerows since the 1700's). I think they are this year finally giving up their attempts to stop us eating Stevia and hopefully Chia will come soon, though until then we can watch with envy as Americans grow a wie and bizarre range of edible Chia pets, Chia Priesidents and even a Chia Mr T. I'm more partial to a Chia Mac...

Until then, we overprotected Europeans must search out places that will sell us these 'products' for storing in a jar and looking at longingly. I'm off to buy mine now, let's hope none of them spill into any of my meals!

Peppersmith Mints & Gums ( 20% off )

2011-07-30T09:39:00.007+01:00

Mmmmm...

Seems there's a bit of a colour theme here of late, lots of yellow which coincides nicely with the arrival of a most delicious new tooth friendly mint from Peppersmith. Sicilian lemon & fine English peppermint Fresh Mints, they are bloomin' lovely, as are the Peppermint ones, but I have a particular weakness for anything with lemon in it (this week I'll be experimenting with Lemon Cornbread, I'll report back if it works). But back to the mints, like all their products they make them with good ingredients like xylitol and none of the nasties that are standard in most of the gums and mints out there. I'll let Peppersmith tell you about them in their own words:

'They’re made with the finest Sicilian lemons from the Femminello and Monachello varieties and picked from the superior winter crop. They also have a touch of our distinctive fine English peppermint, farmed in Hampshire, giving them a nice cooling freshness.

What’s more, accredited by the British Dental Health Foundation for being good for teeth, they actually help reduce the risk of plaque and tooth decay. And as you’d expect from us they’re free from artificial flavours, colours, preservatives and aspartame.'

No Aspartame. That's a huge selling point for me, it's why I stopped buying gum. Now I can have Peppermint or Spearmint, and they are developing a Cinnamon one which I can hardly wait to taste.

A good ethos twinned with good design always gets my attention so I can see myself being a long term customer, a few minutes nosey-ing around their website lets you see what they are all about. I'm quite nerdy about nice packaging and love both the box styles they have (one with a drawer, one with a flip top that catches to close) and they bring a sense of fun with a different moustachio'd movie star or historical figure inside to reflect the twin mint leaved 'moustache' of their logo. I also like the papers included to dispose of your used gum, so no more excuses for leaving it on the bus seat for me to sit on in my new jacket (15yrs on and I'm still annoyed about that).

So there you have it, Peppersmith, great products from great people, so great that they made a code for you to try them with 20% off, just type in CALLY when ordering from their E-buygum webshop, valid until 7th Aug 2011. You can also follow them on twitter and facebook or sign up for their newsletter to get product news and special offers, which is how I got hold of those delicious Lemon mints this week. Click here for stockists, or do what I did and ask your local health food shop or cafe to stock them (thanks Real Foods).

Fantasy shopping inspired by Silver Ragwort

2011-07-29T14:15:00.003+01:00

Apologies in advance for any weird formatting or odd postings, blogger seems to be doing a few strange things with my drafts lately and I have to keep deleting and editing, not sure if that means multiple viewings for subscribers.

Inspired by the greys and yellows of the Silver Ragwort I posted the other day (and a sleepless night - something moving around under the house, cat, hedgehog, monster?) I did some fantasy shopping. I don't buy many clothes in real life and these days I can't often get to town for window shopping, so I had a bit of fun collating some things I get if money, body shape, comfort, confidence and conscience (eco & ethical) weren't factors. I'd look completely different. I'd look like the way I see myself. Click to enlarge the big picture and hover over the wee ones for makers.

My reality is a much more budget friendly (mostly 2nd hand) and practical for sitting in dirt when I garden, which is 99% of the extent of any outdoor life I have at the moment. But when I was well I used to have a social life, travel, go to openings and, my favourite thing of all, make fancy dress outfits for parties, usually with a spacey/futuristic edge to them. These days I let Lady Gaga revel in that role, she and her team (and mega budget) do it so well. But here is a small selection of things that cover all my old and new life, only missing a pair of chunky grey men's workwear trousers which I already own (free from my old job), no amount of kneeling in the dirt would ruin the knees on those bad boys.

Lady Gaga sparkling origami headpiece at the Grammy's
Designed by Philip Treacy for Armani Privé

1: Melinda Young 2: Masao Takahashi 3: Gwen Hosker

Eco friendly house shoes by ETSY seller elephantandchickpea

Last days to make Elderflower Cordial

2011-07-29T03:16:00.001+01:00

My Elder has been thrashed by the thunderstorms so last week was my last chance to make Elderflower cordial before the last of the flowers went brown. As an experiment I put half the flower heads in the freezer to see if it would be easier to remove them from their stalks - big mistake. They did come off fairly easily but within minutes went brown and horrible. From now on I'll stick to combing them off with a fork. I put some of the lemon and flower water in a bottle and added hibiscus tea, the colour was so summery. Here they are in bud and flower...

Silvery grey and gold

2011-07-26T00:49:00.007+01:00

Neckpiece by Brooke Battles (Via Velvet da Vinci).

Brooke's neckpiece made me think of my Senecio Cineraria, also known as Silver Ragwort. Books and TV gardeners often describe it as a plant that is grown for the folliage and that you should chop of the flowers, but I never do, the bees love them and I think they look lovely at every stage. My main plant has all these stages happening on it just now so there's lots to see.

Orgran Gluten Free Cornbread

2011-07-24T18:54:00.003+01:00

I'm hugely craving this today. Orgran Gluten Free Cornbread

Fresh out the oven with melting soya spread. Equally delicious the next day when I squished fresh over-ripe raspberries onto it, it made it taste like a raspberry sponge cake. But ever since I've been craving madly. I think it's a reaction to having increased my raw food intake to about 80%. The more I eat healthy vegetables the more I crave sugar, fats and carbs. Mmmm.

Pulsatilla - bud to seed

2011-07-14T12:36:00.010+01:00

Pasque flower - Pulsatilla Vulgaris, April-June

Seeds are often as beautiful, or more beautiful, than flowers, as is the case with the Pulsatilla. Last year I only had one flower/seed-head, this year I had lots, waving softly in the breeze. The Honesty has been amazing this year too, with some of the clumps developing purple seed-heads, which have kept their colour even after 2 months. You can see a few are still the usual green colour at the back. See my garden in detail here.

Honesty -Lunaria annua

Otchipotchi tiny white vases

2011-07-14T12:24:00.006+01:00

Otchipotchi porcelain vases available to buy here. I'd love to add one of these to my little collection of tiny handcrafted white bud vases but as always, it's the postage costs that stop me. If I ever find myself in Portugal I'd love to visit and buy lots of Paula's wondrous white delights.

Scottish jewellers

2011-07-14T10:48:00.008+01:00

Iona Brown - Ring with salt crystals - DJCA graduate 2011

I love making crystals, haven't done it for years, so it was nice to be reminded of them and even better to see them incorporated into her jewellery. I don't know how wearable or lasting it is but that is part of the beauty. Lots of my own paper and twig jewellery pieces are still going strong after 20 years despite everyone telling me they would fall apart quickly.

Merlin Planterose - Necklace, Ring and Silver Bowls - DJCA graduate 2011

As someone who liked working with nature to create my own metalwork, bowls and other works I'm really liking the techniques used by Merlin Planterose to, in her father's words, turn silver into stone. She used stone as both hammer and anvil to give a beautiful natural texture to her pieces, which includes stone dust from the process which gets embedded into the silver. I'd love to see and feel the effect in real life.

Scottish jewellers

2011-07-14T09:34:00.004+01:00

Not posted jewellery/metalwork in ages, in fact, for the first time in my life I actually forgot about Degree shows entirely this year (says something about the 'brain fog' taking over me this year, which I find worse than the physical symptoms of M.E./CFS).

Found a few online that I liked. Some from this year, some from previous years, here are two and I'll post more when my brain gets going:

Hannah Eccles - Brooches - ECA graduate 2010

Roisin Connolly - Edinburgh Street - DJCA graduate 2011

Adding June flowers to Flickr

2011-07-13T13:53:00.003+01:00

Finally uploading my June flowers to my Flickr plants album. Not necessarily great photo's but gives a good overview of the variety of life out the window. All the plant details are available on my Folia pages, which is what these photo's are intended for, so I can keep track of what's where when they retreat underground over winter.

I love how I say fill it out, as if there is any space left to fill!

Indoors my handy salad, growing has been a bit thin on the ground because all the space is taken up with plant cuttings. Mr P doesn't mind buying annuals for his garden but mine is on a very, very tight budget so I need to grow as much as possible now to fill it out next spring and summer for free. It's making me look differently at plants I didn't used to like. Suddenly, if something is easy to grow from cuttings and takes up very little space in winter I get interested. I've got a lot of varieties of Dianthus going on, it looks more like Granny Creates than Cally Creates. Another fave is the bright Oxalis which roots really quickly from cuttings. I don't know if I can keep it going indoors through winter but if I do I'll have masses for Spring. The little piles of leaves in the previous post were prunings from the Oxalis which has already been potted on and is growing happily...

Oxalis 'Sunset Velvet'

More June FLowers - spice tones

2011-07-08T00:06:00.006+01:00

Bearded Iris, Oxalis, and Herb Robert leaves all brought some warm spicy tones to the garden this June. The irises have finished but the others continue on rampantly with the Herb Robert always a big hit with small bees. The Oxalis is an annual in Scotland but well worth it for all the vibrant colour it brings, really livening up gaps between other plants and always great next to purple toned foliage. See my garden in detail here

Is a Vitamix too noisy for a mobile home?

2011-07-07T13:43:00.004+01:00

Question, does anyone know how loud a Vitamix sounds in a Mobile Home?

Update 18th July 2011: I bought it, and it is loud, but I don't need my things to be smooth so I mostly only have it on for 10-30 seconds. The violence of it still freaks me out a bit and my heart races with fear before I hit the button, I'm sure my face is a picture of scrunched up worry as if it's going to suck me in and mash me into a savoury dip. I certainly wouldn't dream of having it on long enough to make soup, but that's not why I wanted it anyway. Three days in it's already invaluable.

Deeba Rajpal - Passionate About Baking

2011-07-05T20:39:00.004+01:00

I don't get about blogs much these days, as you know, so when I do it tends to be to get recipe conversions to UK measurements for things I have already or in search of Gluten and Lactose free alternatives to recipes I can't use anymore. I usually head straight for a few key GF/Vegan blogs as they tend to have tried most alternatives, but sometimes I stray into other territory and find new food blogs that I'd missed in my allergy free searches.

Such was the case today with the blog Passionate About Baking, written and photographed by Deeba Rajpal. I clicked on it and the most beautiful series of photographs of Black Sesame Macarons with Cherry Chocolate Ganache appeared and I had to share a few with you. And if you want to make them the recipe is here on Food Wanderings where she guest posted.

Macarons, not to be confused with Coconut Macaroons, you can see the differences in basic recipes here.

More June FLowers

2011-07-01T02:28:00.001+01:00

More flowers because I said I show Liz the garden. See my garden in detail here. First up pink and grey/blue tones, more to follow in other colours.

1. Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow'. 2. Hebe in bud. 3. Dianthus 'Starry Eyes' uncurling it's petals which become white with wine red central markings. 4. An unknown Dianthus in bud, opens mid pink with darker pink markings. 5.The filigree leaves of Cineraria with the flowers of Calibrachoa. 6. Herb Robert in flower and bud.

Food and Flowers

2011-06-30T22:15:00.009+01:00

Got a bit of a shock to realise that June will be over in 1 minute so in a rush to get something blogged I only have a few garden pictures fit for viewing. The best part of June has been fresh food and fresh flowers, and for the bees, the food is in the flowers, what could be better. In the face of a lot of freak weather the gardens have done pretty well and there has been a definite increase in wildlife. See my garden in detail here.

Bees on Cirsium Rivulare

Lunch

Tulips and Alliums

Fallen Tulip petals

Honesty Flowers

Chelsea Flower Show 2011

2011-05-22T21:38:00.008+01:00

Yes it's that time of year again and as I batten down the hatches and staking my tall irises and alliums for the gale due tomorrow (on the back of 2 solid weeks of gusting winds) I don't mind being kept inside when Chelsea is on the TV (BBC Chelsea coverage times here red button coverage details here).

From the preview program I'm liking the look of The Times Eureka Garden in conjunction with Kew Gardens. Plant cells and capillaries (which always fascinate me) play a major part in the design by Marcus Barnett and this is especially reflected in The Times Eureka Pavillion. The initial sketches didn't show much colour but on the BBC coverage it seemed to have some lovely a lot of low purple spires (Salvias?) poking through what initially looks like quite a loose almost cottage style of planting, the plants intermingling to create the kind of patchwork that usually reveals more and more on closer inspection.

The Laurent Perrier Garden also looks to have some beautiful, softly bulging planting but I'm not at all keen on the wooden structure which looks like a copy of the moving panels in one of the smaller gardens last year (I liked the original version). I'll need to watch tomorrow and see what it looks like properly.

It was grounded by the wind but I'll be interested to see what this structure will look like in the air for Diarmuid Gavin’s Irish Sky Garden. Lots more to see and hopefully more ideas that are based on sustainability, bees and being green.

Cherry Blossom rain clouds

2011-04-04T00:11:00.005+01:00

The impending rain shower only made the blossom more beautiful in the garden today. The tree is still tiny but it packs a lot of petal into it's dainty frame. On the other side of the garden teh flowering current came out last week...

Tiny Blog!

2011-03-30T17:19:00.003+01:00

Oh my goodness, so I've just seen what my posts look like on a decent sized screen... hysterical, what a squished up little blog! But I suppose I should leave it that way otherwise it won't show up on small screens, and I know only too well the frustration of web pages that can't be seen without scrolling n both directions.

Update: I'm fiddling with it a little so it looks less like it's floating in a big empty space. When I have more time I'll maybe even get round to applying a blog banner, I must have made about 200 over the last 6 year but they never quite look right so I don't add them.

Bugs, Buds & Birthdays

2011-03-30T10:54:00.011+01:00

So much life in the garden after some fine Spring weather last week. The ladybirds (ladybugs) are making hay while the sun shines! I've only pottered gently but already I can feel my joints and muscles getting a bit more movement in them. Feels like I'm stretching out in tandem with all the buds and shoot tips. Here are the first red leaves and buds on the Berberis...

Clusters of Spring flowers have emerged in the dappled light under the trees and I imagine most of the trees will come in to leaf in April. So much change. See my garden in detail here

It's been a weird month, lots of crappy things at the start so I had to postpone my own birthday but when I finally opened my presents it was amazing, beyond my wildest dreams type of amazing. My brother bought me a MacBook Pro and my parents got me Adobe CS5. I was utterly flabberghasted. I don't think anyone has ever seen me speechless before. I don't think I can ever thank them enough. The whole drive home I just kept saying 'I can't believe it, I can't believe it'.

I can finally make my books and edit years of archived photo's and designs without it being an archaic grind. Well, I will once I can afford to get all my peripherals to work with it, it's so whizzy and new it doesn't recognise my scanner, cables, camera, printer etc. That was one reason I could never get a new Mac, because if I spent any money on it I'd have nothing left to get it workable with all the extra bits. Now I can afford to do that over the next year or so - which is probably how long it will take me to learn all vastly updated software.

I've been fiddling with some old designs just to get a feel for what's new in Photoshop CS5 (I was using Photoshop 7 and I abandoned Illustrator about 9 years ago). They are so much faster though freakishly more complex. I can see there will be tears ahead trying to get to grips with Illustrators bazillion new options. I'm glad I don't have any deadlines.

And as for In Design, it didn't even exist when I got my last Mac, I've always been a Quark Xpress girl. I can tell it's going to take ages to learn since my brain struggles to remember my own phone number these days, but it will be so worth it. Learning curve here I come. Just think, no more compromises, no more workarounds, no more frustration as I wait an hour for a book page to save. These things are annoying at the best of time but when you have M.E. every little bit of wasted energy is like a huge chunk of wasted life. With my memory coming and going I really want to get things put into more books to keep it all from slipping away completely.

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. And so grateful. With all the shit happening around the world I feel guilty about something so good happening to me, but then I think that I should just appreciate how lucky I am, when lives can be upturned in an instant it would be crazy for me to make the most of something so positive happening.

Snowdrops

2011-02-24T12:40:00.004Z

Snowdrop time. Here in the UK you are not allowed to gather snowdrops from the wild but years ago when on a popular woodland walk I found a path covered in slightly squished bulbs that a dog had dug up. Since they were going to be walked on anyway I reckoned it was fine to 'save' them and took them home. Those 5 or so bulbs have grown over the years to become about 12 clumps dotted around both our gardens. The cyclamen are beginning to flower as well. Ive never liked cyclamen, I always associated them with supermarket plants at Christmas but now that the garden is growing more to my plan it's easier to have them as part of a more naturalistic planting, both the Autumn and Spring ones. It's a thrill to see the tiny coils unwind themselves and pop out a tiny head of jolly colour. The cowslip is flowering today as well.

Thanks to all for your comments on my last post, it's been lovely to make brief contact with old blog friends. I'm going to try and make myself do one post every month this year. I've had a non-bed day today so I'm feeling perked by that after the longest post exertion low I've had in a very long time. I usually crash for anything between a day and 2 weeks after seeing people but with all the snow clearing of winter this has lasted over two months and ha freaked me out. Not that I'd do it differently. If I hadn't been clearing the snow on the flat roof it would very likely have collapsed, so I feel all the efforts of December were really worth it.

So in the spirit of achieving something beyond bed I got much needed clothes washed and hung out to dry in the suddenly milder day. The ladybirds (ladybugs) were also waking from hibernation today, stretching their legs in the sun and looking as glamorous as ever in their red coats. I imagine I know how they were feeling, it's like being kept in a stale box and then suddenly having space and air all around you. I could feel myself unfolding. I even let my pasty legs get some sun on them, I worry about not getting Vitamin D when I'm bed bound so today was a good 20 minute top up for them. They are so white, but no match for a snowdrop.

Six Days in France - My first public book

2011-01-17T14:17:00.013Z

'Six Days in France' - Front cover

'Six Days in France' pages 12 + 13

'Six Days in France' pages 48 + 49

'Six Days in France' pages 54 + 55

'Six Days in France' pages 36 + 37

'Six Days in France' pages 28 + 29

'Six Days in France' pages 60 + 61

By now you'll have guessed my M.E. got worse rather than better hence my long blog absence, which makes me even more happy that I've finally managed to collate some of my photo's from France 2006 into a book that can help me travel in my mind, even when I'm confined to my bed. Unlike my previous books this one is available to buy, just click here to preview or order a copy. The photos above give a flavour of what's inside. And to tempt you even more you can get 20%* off using the code ADBLURB by 31st December 2011.

*Offer valid through December 31, 2011 (11:59 p.m. local time). A 20% discount is applied toward a minimum product total of $12.95. Maximum discount is USD $200.00 off product total. This offer is good for one-time use, and cannot be combined with other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.

With my muscles and mind in slow motion these days my old photographs really help to slow the worrying leakage of memories from mind and putting them together in a way that satisfies my eye provides a creative outlet. With that in mind, watch this space towards the end of the year for news on the companion book, Six Hours in Italy.

So what else has happened since my last post? Mostly gentle gardening to keep my muscles working. Mr P's garden has reaped the benefits and with my energy so low he has been amazing at helping with any heavy digging that was needed to transform his plot. He now loves it as much as I do and gets endless pleasure from the plants, animals and insects that now fill it in all seasons.

Oops, I've wilted! Was planning to write a bit more and add more pics but my energy has just evaporated, that's how it is these days. Perhaps another time. So let me just wish you all a Happy New Year and say how much I miss all your blogs that I used to read so much. I want to again in the future. I hope all your lives have had plenty of highs to keep you going through the tough times that most people are having these days. Enjoy the little triumphs as much as the big ones.

Six Days in France by C. Daniels | Make Your Own Book

Still alive

2009-07-09T19:13:00.003+01:00

Checking in after a massive long blog break to let you know I'm still alive! My M.E. has been worse so I've needed saving all energy for family visits and the occasional friend which means my blog has had to take a back seat. Thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments while I've been away. I'm sorry I've not been able to reply and that I've not been visiting blogs this year.

Not had energy for photography but here is a nice turf topped wall I saw when visiting my Granny...

And because it matches in colour, a rhododendron in bloom behind a shed...

My own garden has taken a back seat this year but Mr P has been gradually implementing the plans I did for his garden and it is shaping up wonderfully. It's quite common for him to wander around it before work enjoying the new growth and pouncing upon perennial weeds with a passion I couldn't have predicted. Most of the plants have been grown from cuttings or divisions with some key shrubs bought at sale prices but he's made a couple of special purchases like this lovely Amelanchier Lamarkii which is berrying up nicely just now. Not sure if we'll get to eat the berries as the blackbirds have just noticed them. Here is it's Spring blossom...

Having found a new love of gardening he bought a Brill Razorcut manual lawn mower. It's BRILLIANT! No more wasting electricity on the garden. It's a quality product that will last and can be repaired and maintained throughout it's long long life so he didn't mind the higher price tag, it will totally pay for itself in time. It's lovely to hear the purr of the Brill instead of the loud noise of electric or petrol mowers and the cut is great, his little patch of grass has never looked so good. I'd particularly recommend the Brill to people with arthritis or similar joint problems because it is so much gentler on the body than anything else I've ever used. Currently it comes in two sizes and it's the smaller Brill Razorcut 33 we've been using because, but there is a larger one, the 38 and also I think a motorized version for larger gardens.

Oh my goodness, it's taken 2 days to write this, no wonder I'm not blogging just now. Wishing you all the best of health and weather until I pop in again. Until then, I'll be taking care of myself in a quiet way.

Sleepy Hedgehog

2008-08-20T19:42:00.004+01:00

I am not the only one round here who sleeps through rare sunny days...

We call him Heath (get it, Heath Hedger). I nearly stepped on him last month as he snoozed on a wee sunny patch on the narrow path. You can see more of the wildlife in my garden on my Folia pages.

7 minutes of sky

2008-08-07T17:40:00.005+01:00

July 8th 2008, 8.08pm to 8.15pm (click to enlarge)

A month ago I took pictures of the fast changing sky for seven minutes, these are just a few of them. It was like having a whole month of skies fly by in one ad break. Sky is all I seem to show you these days, but not being out much and not being on the internet either means sky is pretty much the best thing I see each day (not today, day 3 of grey skies and floods).

You probably guessed I've not been well. It takes a lot to stop me blogging. Still not ready to do regular posts but I thought I should update a bit, it's been over 2 weeks. One great piece of news is that my neighbour has asked me to plan her garden for her. When it is done I will be able to enjoy it too so I'm choosing plants for year round interest and going for lots of scents and varied foliage. It feels great to be able to apply my mind to something creative even though I can't do the physical making.

I've still not visited any of you and have taken to inventing stories in my head about what you might be doing, they are all very extravagant... I imagine Susan painting huge murals everywhere, Heather be commissioned to do pinhole wallpaper for a range of exclusive (but not pretentious) boutiques, Lisa collaborating with everyone I admire (oh wait, she's doing that already!), Anna suddenly moving to an island off Indonesia that is threatened by rising seas (not unlikely). I've had these thoughts about all of you who I normally visit. I'm especially thinking of those of you with aches, pains and chronic illness, you know who you all are, I hope you've been having more good days than bad.

Clouds, again...

2008-07-22T19:39:00.005+01:00

Still too tired to blog but always watching the sky and snapping it when I can. That big black cloud dropped 10 minutes of the heaviest rain then the sun came out. We've had two really summery days and tomorrow also meant to be good. The cat is loving it, and is recovering well with lots of sunny places to sleep in our gardens. I went to check on him yesterday (has to be watched as his medication gets reduced) and instead found a sunbathing hedgehog! I took some pics but not uploaded them yet.

Much thanks to everyone who is commenting and visiting even though I've not been doing many or varied posts. I've not been completely useless, 2.5 years late I've finally started trying to edit my Swedish holiday / Ice Hotel photo's. So many images, they are quite refreshing during these few hot days. When I get to blogging more I'll start showing some of them, until then you can see previous photo's I blogged of the Ice Chapel, the Kiruna Snöfestival, and the Ice Hotel.

Tiny harvest

2008-07-15T20:34:00.004+01:00

My 1st blueberry! There bush is only 3 inches high so there are only five berries this year, but I can honestly say it was the best blueberry I have ever tasted. Grow little bush, grow.
Update: It produced about 64 berries the next year. Yee-ha! More details on my Folia pages.