Bags, Tops and Bracket Fungi

Hi Everyone, I hope I find you all well.

I have had a busy week, sewing and walking as well as the normal daily household chores.

My week started with the completion (minus buttons which are on order)  of my mini sewing carry all, mini is really a misnomer here as it seems able to carry quite a lot, a bit Tardis like really, and it was admired by my sewing friends at Knitting Sew and Natter last night. Finally we have found a home, having been a bit nomadic over the last few months, cafe's church halls aside, we are now established in The Heath Citizens Community Hall, Heath Park Cardiff, where we meet every Thursday from 7 to 9pm, a small but very friendly group happy to share our expertise as well as learn from others, may we go from strength to strength. Next labour of love, was Jessica's bug top, I still have to get the correct colour zip to complete it but it really does look lovely and I am really pleased with it.  My friend Bunty loved the material and asked for the supplier, Dowtys of Hereford, Bunty is opening a new workshop near Tavistock, Devon and will be running workshops, contact information below beside picture of Jessica's top and the mini carry all.

Whilst walking this week and watching the seasonal changes to my local park (Fairwater Dell) I spied a beautiful fungal growth on a small tree trunk, it turned out to be a Bracket Fungi, information instantly supplied by my husband, and of course I Googled and found out more about the fungus itself and plunged myself into a plethora of poetry about fungus, and found this lovely one about Bracket Fungi by William D Hamilton, an English evolutionary Biologist.  I hope you enjoy it along with the photo I took in Fairwater Dell of the Bracket Fungi.

THE BRACKET FUNGI.  published 1952

(W D Hamilton 1936-2000)

The beechwoods on far hills are turning gold,

Suns shall light them, and in evenings

Red suns on red horizons rolled

Shall stain them deeper, sweeter and less cold.

Soft rain shall drench them, mists shall drown,

Leaves through stagnant stillness spinning

Go drifting quietly down and down.

Wet earth is black, the piled dead leaves are brown.

The stately trunks snake-coloured, and on these,

Live, or dead but still upstanding

White hands of bracket fungi seize

Hands tough as leather, soft as cheese

Quietly encircle, quietly pull and kill.

And when that cobweb-shattered sun

Sinks huge to a yet more distant hill

The pallid hands grow fleshy, pink and fill

That beauty with their growth. 

Thank you once again for joining me, have a lovely week wherever in the world you are, and I will be back again next week.

Daisychain

Spring days and Bamboo

Hi everyone  I hope I find  you all well.

On my walk in the local park checking up on and feeding the local wildfowl, at present 6 drakes, 3 ducks and 2 moorhens on the dell pond and 2 drakes and 1 duck on the lower pond stream, I have observed the stirrings of spring, crocuses  daffodils and swathes of bamboo lining the stream banks, wonderful.  A lovely daily walk enjoyed by me plus many other locals, mostly of walking their dogs.   The day is clear and sunny, the wind brisk and cool, causing the bamboo and the trees to rustle as it passes through their branches. The bamboo is striking  and luxurious interleaved with red and green dogwood  making a really colourful backdrop to the path on the one side and stream on the other. My thoughts turn to the bamboo and it's many and varied uses, such a versatile plant, although some would say too rampant for their liking, never in my estimation, you can always tame a rampant plant if necessary.  There is a lovely poem (anonymous) that celebrates bamboo and I have chosen that for my offering this week.

Beautiful Bamboo (anonymous) 

From Chinese chop-sticks to rice-paddy hats,

So much depends on flexible bamboo,

That’s used to fashion floors in humble flats,

Forms fans as well as woven welcome mats,

And helps to lift aloft the teahouse too.

While from Tibet and far-off Katmandu,

To where the Geisha girls are seen with suits,

It forms the fishing poles and scaffolds you

See on the sides of buildings in the blue,

And lends its hollow length to Buddhist flutes.

And giant grass whose rapid growing roots

Have multi-purpose versatility,

It feeds the multitudes with yellow shoots,

And formed for holding fish and nuts and fruits,

It bends to make amazing basketry.

And from that plant with pliability,

That serves the world like selfless Buddha’s do,

We sure could learn to have humility,

To bend and lend a helping hand and be

Much more like bowing, beautiful bamboo.

I have spent the last week cutting out and preparing dress patterns ready to use the wonderful material I have, and am looking forward to showing you the results very soon, my last offering was a fleece top I made, the first zip I have fitted since I was in school, and that was quite a while ago.  I lined the accent pocket with fleece material to make it cosier to slip little hands in, all in all I was really pleased with my efforts.

Thank you everyone, as always, for joining me and allowing me to share a little insight of my life with you, have a wonderful week wherever in the world you are.

Daisychain

Tasmanian shelves

Hi everyone and I hope I find you all well and rested after the weekend.

Why Tasmanian shelves, I hear you ask, it is a tribute to a fellow blogger Jo, in Tasmania whose weekly blogs inspire me, I look forward to opening her blog on a Monday morning and reading about her thrifty life.  Last November she had some shelves built in her office which did not come up to expectations or design, and she has finally made these acceptable as well as reclaiming and old set of shelves and the items on it are an art form in themselves.  Thanks Jo, for the inspiration, and the joy of reading your blog.

We had a wonderful weekend in Plymouth with our gorgeous granddaughter, walks on Plymouth Hoe and on Roborough Down (the gateway to Dartmoor), lots of fun and laughter and an ample sufficiency of cuddles to bottle and bring home to keep us going until next we see them all.  The highlight of her weekend was getting her grandfather to draw around her hands and feet, repeatedly, no-one could do it quite as well as he could.  Thank you for a wonderful weekend, and thanks to our son for looking after Wiffles the cat for us.  I am blessed with a truly wonderful family.

Today dawns wet with some much needed rain, but is clearing for a nice week, I am planning what to do with the garden, and when I can start on my granddaughters dresses, material having been checked and thoroughly approved of this weekend. So a full week ahead of me, but I want to try and spend a fair bit of time searching through my ever expanding poetry collection for more inspiration and coupled with Classical music seeping softly and reverentially from my sound system and into my pores I feel calm, rested and ready to absorb all that I can.

So I leave you with Jo's shelves, and a lovely thoughtful and provocative poem by Krishnakumar Chandrasekar Nair, thank you as always for joining me and have a wonderful week wherever in the world you are, speak to you next week.  Daisychain xx

Pictures, courtesy of http://alltheblueday.blogspot.co.uk/

Those dusty bookshelves of childhood by krishnakumar chandrasekar nair

Oh, give me those dusty bookshelves of the past

Where books held raptures that would last

A dry crushed flower or perhaps a frayed leaf

A worm eaten love story with an ending so neat

And all those fancy tales of faeries so good

Who lost their wands and cried in the woods

And of goblins who stole tulips and roses

All from the valley of love and happiness

And when the moon rose at the midnight hour

I would turn in my sleep and suddenly smile

Lost in a place of spells and charming power

And my cat settles softly between my legs and curl..... 

Hi Everyone, I hope I find you all well  and enjoying your week.

For those of you in the northern hemisphere have you noticed the clamour of the dawn chorus is getting more musical by the day?  I certainly have, the lone Robin's call has been joined by the Blackbird, song thrush and sparrow over the last few days, heralding the glorious onset of spring, sun and spring growth, I love watching for the signs appearing, don't get me wrong, I love all seasons, especially the start of each one.  Our local pond in the Dell is still half frozen but the ducks are greater in numbers and very hungry as are the garden birds, a good sign that nests may soon be built. 

I have bought some new material this week to make dresses for Jessica, and a workbag for me, trouble is I keep changing my mind as to which to use for what, all patterns are suitable for both, have to make up my mind next week as I have to start making them.  In the meantime I have two carrot cakes and two chocolate cakes in the oven ready for the next couple of weeks, one of each for our packed lunches and one of each for Jo, Andrew and Jessica.  I will also know whether my fleece fits Jessica nicely, which will be my guide for the dress patterns.  I am set to become very busy in the next couple of weeks.   

This weeks offering is "Dawn Chorus" by Sarah Dugdale, I hope you like it.

Dawn Chorus

BY SASHA DUGDALE

March 29, 2010

Every morning since the time changed

I have woken to the dawn chorus

And even before it sounded, I dreamed of it

Loud, unbelievably loud, shameless, raucous

And once I rose and twitched the curtains apart

Expecting the birds to be pressing in fright

Against the pane like passengers

But the garden was empty and it was night

Not a slither of light at the horizon

Still the birds were bawling through the mists

Terrible, invisible

A million small evangelists

How they sing: as if each had pecked up a smouldering coal

Their throats singed and swollen with song

In dissonance as befits the dark world

Where only travellers and the sleepless belong

Bye until next week, thank you for joining me once again, have a wonderful week wherever you are, Love, Daisychain

Snowdrops

Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week.

We went for a walk in the gardens at St Fagans on Sunday, one of our favourite haunts, it was very cold and I was extremely glad that I had worn my gloves and hat. The Mallards were busy playing in the lake, or were they just paddling to keep warm?  The daffodils green shoots were warily poking up through the earth, but the snowdrops were resplendent along the banks beside the lakes and in the gardens, but as we walked through the gate into the orchard we were met by a lovely sight of the snowdrops round the Mulberry trees, I really wanted to take a picture but my hands were too cold despite my gloves, so very lovingly and gallantly Richard took off his gloves and took it for me, thank you so much for a wonderful picture. If you come to Cardiff, do go the St Fagan's, entry is free, but a charge is made for parking, by all means look around the museum at the restored historic buildings, but make sure you find time for the gardens, they are really lovely even at this time of the year.  I have picked out two poems for you this week, the first is by Ted Hughes, a rather stark picture of the snowdrop, whilst the second is by Wordsworth, less stark and a perfect contrast to Ted's offering, which do you prefer?  My week to come, to complete the fleece I started and start one of the dresses  I have just bought the material for, plus complete the mini carryall sewing bag ready for my craft groups, pictures when they are done.

Snowdrop by Ted Hughes

Now is the globe shrunk tight
Round the mouse’s dulled wintering heart.
Weasel and crow, as if moulded in brass,
Move through an outer darkness
Not in their right minds,
With the other deaths. She, too, pursues her ends,
Brutal as the stars of this month,
Her pale head heavy as metal.

TO A SNOWDROP   (Wordsworth 1819)

          LONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they

          But hardier far, once more I see thee bend

          Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,

          Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,

          The rising sun, and on the plains descend;

          Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay

          Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May

          Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Shall soon behold this border thickly set

          On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing  
          Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,

As always, thank you for joining me and have a wonderful week wherever in the world you are.  Love, Daisychain

The cold wind doth blow......

Hello everyone, and welcome back I hope you are all well.

Beautiful Wednesday here in sunny Cardiff, it is supposed to be raining according to the forecast with snow (maybe) later on today (and it did albeit briefly), but the sun is shining, the gulls are wheeling in the sky amidst the sparse white fluffy clouds and the Robins are busy feeding from my bird table.    

Not wishing the be a harbinger of gloom, but I anticipate it will start raining around 1.00pm when I come out of the hairdressers, Murphy's law!  Hairdresser's, now that is a subject I have been struggling with for a long time.  I have naturally curly hair, and it needs a good cut, something that has been lacking for the last few years, or rather the care to make my hair look good.  Many hairdressers, and believe me I have tried a few, have suggested each time that my curly hair should be left to dry naturally, and not treated me to a lovely blow dry, or check that it looks good other than sending me out onto the street with damp curly hair, my sister-in-law's came very very close with a reasonably good cut. My son very kindly put me in touch with his hairdresser and she understands curly hair, and how it can be a real pain to go around hair looking like you have been pulled through a hedge backwards!  My first visit to Zalehka was eight weeks ago, and I came out feeling a million  dollars, my hair had been beautifully cut, blow dried and straightened, I felt and looked sophisticated, and the best thing of all is that I have been able to reproduce the style with my straighteners and hairdryer, not to salon standards, but to a reasonable standard, that is what I call a success.  To top that, the comments I have had were all favourable, especially from my husband and son, whose normal comments are based on they though I was going to have my hair cut, what happened?! to that looks really nice, and when I have washed and dried it, that it still looks really good.  Thank you Zalehka, for taking the time and trouble to look after me and my hair, can't wait to be spoilt again today.  Update, it was raining when I came out, but my hair still feels like a million dollars, thoroughly spoilt.

Talking of spoilt, we had a lovely gift last week from a relation enabling us to get ourselves a couple of longed for items, a sewing machine for me and a welding machine for my husband, items we would have longed for but never have got otherwise.  My machine, given to me over a year ago and really not working very well at all was on it;s last legs and this gift has enabled me to get a wonderful new Janome XL601 which has an automatic needle threader, and the price included the quilting accesories wirth £100, and a set of leather needles.  Fantastic, I can really get down to my sewing in earnest now.

My Sewing Machine and I

By Trudy Callan

Oh, Sewing Machine, you beckon me,

in the morning light, 

to come and sit awhile

and work together on beautiful 

creations of delight.

I enjoy our times together,

you are a faithful friend.

Always there when I need you.

On you, I can depend.

You enable me to relax and unwind 
and free my mind to soar.

I am so glad I have you;

because with you,

I am so much more!

Thank you for taking time to join me, have a lovely day wherever in the world you are.  Daisychain

 

2015, a new year and hopefully more frequent posts.

Hi Everyone,

Here I am back again after a long (very long and lazy) absence. No apologies, just needed time to restock my batteries.

I have to admit to a very unfruitful run Christmas, I got involved with a number of Craft Fairs, so spent most of August to November making Christmas crafts ready to sell at said fairs, not a success I might add, the quality of the crafts were great (even though I say so myself) all beautifully lined, sewn, appliqued and buttoned, jewellry made, the stall looked great and I am sure I would have made some sales if the organisers had advertised the fairs and we had more that 18 people through the doors over 10 fairs!  Suffice it to say, we all had lovely new stockings for Christmas, new decorations and Jessica has plenty of craft bags, for her books, colouring stuff etc.  Of the two independent fairs I did sales were good and the good quality was remarked upon over and again.  Lesson learned, stick to eBay for my jewelry in future, and my website, www.dragonfliesanddaisies.com, next job is to update that! 

We had a lovely, quiet Christmas, lots walks and not too much over indulgence, thankfully, but ready to start the new year as I mean to go on, healthy eating, happy disposition and lots of healthy exercise (walking mainly).  I need to lose pounds to (weight) to spend pounds on new clothes or material to make clothes.  

My regular daily walk takes me through the dell beside the pond, inevitably feeding the ducks, and yesterday there were two very hungry ducks, three playful moorhens, a lot of ice, and skating seagulls, it was like something from a Disney film, absolutely glorious. 

I couldn't find a poem about skating ducks, I will keep looking but for now I have found one by Angela Wybrow about human skaters.

People love to go skating, across the ice; 

It may be rather chilly, but it’s just so nice.

People wrapped up in coats, gloves and scarves, 

Share each other’s company, and also some laughs.

Fairy lights twinkle, up in the trees nearby.

Excited eyes sparkle, and spirits are high.

Across the rink, the skaters twist and twirl; 

On the ice, their skates create ornate swirls.

Novice skaters hang on, tightly, to the side; 

Their nerves, with smiles, they try to hide.

A good sense of balance is vital, to stay upright; 

Wibble-wobbling about, some people lose the fight.

Some skaters execute some amazing moves; 

That they are old pros, they can easily prove.

Some people hold hands, as they skate around; 

Taking in all of the exciting sights and sounds.

The skaters’ noses and cheeks glow, rosy pink, 

As they make their way around the huge ice rink.

Some of the first time skaters, tumble and fall, 

And they just can’t seem to get the hang of it all.

It’s a festive experience, which is hard to beat, 

And, for many, it’s an exciting winter time treat.

To go skating, at an outdoor rink, people wait all year; 

It’s an activity, guaranteed to bring some festive cheer. 

Angela Wybrow

Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day wherever in the world you are, I will be back next week, I do hope you will join me.  Bubbles