Here is the rest of the dog Steve! The other picture I took of him was very blurry so this will have to do. He is a very sweet and chilled out dog.
On Sunday, as well as short walks to the marathon, I had a marathon of my own to complete. The monster plant marathon. At the back of the garden, in front of the pond, there was a huge bush consisting of Buddleia, Dogwood and Honeysuckle, all tangled together. All lovely plants. All monsters. Combined they are almost unstoppable, and would probably have begun to take over the world soon if I hadn't stopped them! Honeysuckle seems to grow from the old wood, but this remains underneath in a scratchy tangle, with the odd twisting stem which twists around anything in its way. The Dogwood is amazing. It sends out long runners to the ground. These root in several places along the stem, and a new plant springs up from each rooted part. I managed to dig out quite a lot, and get it back a bit, and must now remember to stop them before they root. The stems are long and flexible, and when they go red they make great wreaths, but they are hard to pack into the bags I use to go to the recycling centre, as they spring out and whip you in the face. I continued on Monday, which is when the sun came out, so the cats came out too.
This clearance will help me to find and retrieve the many footballs of nextdoor's two boys. They will stand on top of their slide and direct me to where the ball has lodged itself, a place often unreachable until now!
Here is the rest of the painting Fresca. A bargain for £5 from a charity shop in Greenwich.
I have included a few more paintings which came from charity shops, and a couple of my paintings too.
A brightly lit and badly lit picture of these pretty daisies.
I scraped together enough of the yellow paint to do the crown in the end! It is not attached, but my Dad will do that.
A painting from early on in my teaching career. I had just started teaching in Reception (4 and 5 year olds) The toys represent what I felt was really going on in my room while I was trying to teach phonics or any other subject. Fantasy land! They were a great class. The Pikachu is saying an actual quote from a child, said during one of my 'lessons'. I can still hear him saying it. I didn't fill in the other speech bubbles as I didn't have direct quotes.
All the toys are mine (surprise, surprise!) I found the Pikachu the other day, and he still faintly says his name.
This lovely portrait is from a shop in Edinburgh.
This painting is done on the wooden panels backing the frame. The plant is Andy's, then tiny fig tree. He watered a stick we found when we moved into our flat in Deptford, as he felt sorry for it. A little leaf popped out of the top of the twig. It is now a very big plant, about five feet tall.
5 comments:
When I look in the general direction of England's location- I do see a rather large tangle- so- that must be your garden?? I thought it was Brexit aftermath but I am glad to know that is is your garden which you are scissoring down to a stub. Well done, Miss. What will Brexit to to our wonderful Pound Land?
Dennis is jealous of Andy's plant that began as a stick. He keeps trying to grow an avocado from a seed, the failure rate is high.
The paintings are all lovely. I have tried growing fig trees from sticks, but have had no success. I may have to move to a place where one is already growing in the yard if I really want a tree. Or I can just buy figs, fresh and dried.
Linda, try putting the avocado seed above the water in a jar where it is a tight fit so the water cannot evaporate and wait until roots sprout searching for the water below. Perhaps make a tiny cut/scratch in the base of the seed first?
Thanks for the dog photo! I'm glad to see the rest of him. He does look sweet.
And bravo for clearing out the overgrowth. We have a couple of dogwoods that Dave planted years ago and frankly, I hate them. I think we're going to dig them up. They're just too big and they shade out too much growing space. Give me a buddleia any day, though!
That daisy painting is lovely. Love seeing your cats enjoy the sunlight and flowers.
...And thanks for showing the rest of the woman with the wrapped... lunch? I love her--she is not trying to look cheerful "for the camera"--and realize I'd seen her before here.
I like when paintings are a little off---like, the drapery of her skirt is like, what?
YOUR toy painting is the best: VERY SUPER.
That sounds like something Penny Cooper would say!
I wonder what the others are saying.
Your painting with the fig (and starfruit, lemon, persimmon, garlic, lime, shell, etc.) is magical and luminous---It is so beautiful, I can imagine it as a book cover. (I mean this as the highest praise.)
But what book?
I had a friend who left a willow basket in her basement sink carelessly, where it was moist enough the willow sprouted. She planted a branch and it grew into a tree.
I like to think we are like that too (we can revitalize, even when we feel like dry sticks).
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