Time to Say 'Goodbye"

We now have just three more nights left in our home of 33 years. We are mostly packed up with just the bed, a sofa, a table and a couple of chairs to see us over the weekend. Plus of course my trusty Mac!

This has been a great house for us, and when I look back, what really stands out are the parties. We were pretty young when we first moved here and each year we would hold a summer party and invite everyone we knew. Later on we celebrated major birthdays and anniversaries and of course there were the children’s parties, usually themed in some way.

In the pre-teen years it was usual to go and do an activity before coming home for a barbecue

Over the years I came to realise that although I enjoyed the parties themselves, what I really loved was the planning and preparation. Although some items were bought in, we never used caterers and most things were home made. Of the early parties, the curry party for 100 was particularly memorable as someone managed to set fire to the stove (I’m still not sure how) but disaster was averted and the party carried on (not sure I would be so laid back about this now).

Then we come to the last parties, my husband's 60th in 2010, and the very last party, my son's 21st last year

So its goodbye to the dear old house, but taking so many happy memories forward into our new lives.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, or other festival you celebrate at this time of year, and a happy and peaceful 2015

NB apologies for the different size fonts Squarespace have changed their platform and I con't seem to change the font size and I just don't have time to work out how right now!

Garden Colour

“To-day I think
Only with scents, - scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed,
And the square mustard field;

Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;

The smoke’s smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.”

— Edward Thomas

Whilst autumn has arrived around here, its not really at full stretch in the countryside yet. The native trees are still to reveal themselves in their full glory and its early to be crunching leaves underfoot. In the garden, however, things are a bit different.

There are browns and golds, seed heads and sedums

pots hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

The colours are glorious, there are rich reds

and pinks

and things that shine

Whether naturally or with the intervention of man. Almost certainly our last autumn here I will savour every moment.

Mottisfont Mists

One Saturday near the beginning of April we decided to visit Mottisfont Abbey, a National Trust property about 25 miles away from home. This is normally a property to visit in the summer as it is the proud possessor of a beautiful walled garden which is home to a stunning collection of old fashioned roses. There was a special reason for visiting now however, in that the gallery was housing an exhibition of Patrick Litchfield photographs - I will be writing separately about the 3 photo exhibitions I have been to recently, so this post will be concentrating on Mottisfont itself.

it was a misty day with a soft light and on and off drizzle, but the trees were spectular

There were statues and magnolias

and in the distance a shepherds hut almost disappearing into the mist

Hidden away was this fabulous mosaic by Boris Anrep one of the artists who used to stay in the house regularly. It is said to be a likeness of the owner Maud Russsell with whom he had a long standing love affair after the death of her husband.

I have always associated the walled garden with the wonderful display of roses you can find there in June, and to be honest I didn't think it would be very interesting in spring. I couldn't have been more wrong.

There were wonderful vistas

stunning Colours - the lilies at the top are Crown Imperials, one of Shakespeare's flowers

blossom bursting forth

trimmed box, and pergolas waiting for summer and the Roses

In all a veritable visual feast - see you next time with the April Photo Heart Connection, then its back to Berlin!

Contemplating Life Without a Camera

“The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.
”

— Annie Leibovitz

Not long before Christmas I broke my camera. it was in its bag on the kitchen bench and somehow toppled off. I though it would be OK as although the bag was open it had padding and the camera didn’t fall out. However when I looked through the view finder I couldn’t see properly. It was impossible to compose a picture accurately and I couldn’t see the guides. It would take pictures, which was helpful in the short term, but I couldn’t see using it in its current state as a viable long term solution. It was going to have to go back to Cannon which even if it was reparable could take up to six weeks.

I panicked, aside from the cost, how was I going to survive for up to 6 weeks without my camera? It was at this point I realised how important my camera was to be and how much I dislike taking more than the occasional picture on my phone.

I realised that for me photography has become a spiritual practice rather than simply an interest. If I am feeling a bit down getting my camera out, even if only in the house or garden, never fails to lift my spirits. It make me look outside of myself in a positive way and enables me to notice the miracles around me.

Back in the spring I fell flat on my face while running for a train, smashing my glasses and cutting my face slightly. This all healed quite quickly but had the longer lasting effect of damaging my confidence especially crossing roads when I would have kind of mini panic attack concerned that I would fall over ( I had previously tended to skip across roads quite fast and I didn’t feel safe doing this any more). However If I was out with my camera I had no problems with any of this, it was as if my attention was absorbed in something other than myself that was more important than worrying about if I was going to fall over or not - my attention was fully engaged with seeking beauty in the ‘sparkling moments’

So I decided my camera was essential to my wellbeing and I couldn’t really mange without one for six weeks - what to do? an additional problem was that I was in the middle of one photography course with a local photographer and was due to start an e-photography course in January.

I went into work next day still wondering what to do and then I remembered that the shop I had bought my camera at had a second hand department. I quickly looked at their website and discovered an old Cannon body an a price that was just about affordable. Fortunately I didn’t have a meeting so was able to take an early lunch and high-tail it down to the shop as quickly as I could. Success! I returned to work with a new camera body (and anyway I reasoned it would be useful to have a spare for emergencies)

My camera is now with Cannon and is repairable at a cost that is just short of my insurance excess! It may not take the full 6 weeks to fix.

in the meantime I am using my new body to practice with the 1.8 50mm lens I got for Christmas (which I used to take all of todays pictures)

Enjoy your day!

Carried Away With Grunge?

I think I have mentioned previously that I am currently taking a photoshop grunge e-course and am really loving it - the problem is how to stop myself getting completely carried away and adding grunge to absolutely every picture I take.

Yesterday I popped out to a local stately home I haven't visited in a while. Its a National Trust property the Vyne near Basingstoke. The building has a fascinating history which you can find out more about by reading this article.

True to form I don't have any grand pictures of the facade but here you can just see it peeking out between the trees across the lake

Something different to see on this visit were a number of art installations around the house and garden - unfortunately there are no details on the website nor was there info to pick up so I can't tell you mud about the artists or their concepts, and I have to say that some of the NT volunteers were clearly not smitten by the whole thing!

One of the main pieces was a fabric tree with birds and flowers situated in the tapestry room with roots descending into the room below via the fireplace, seen here together with some lovely wooden pomegranates, a symbol of Catherine of Aragorn who apparently visited with her husband Henry viii

This picture only shows a small branch of the tree against he background of the room but the tree in its entirety was huge!

My favourite installation however was in the library

I loved all the little cut out figures and of course really couldn't resist grunging up this one

Out in the grounds the most impressive feature was the summerhouse which also had an installation of birds partying - they were really spread about the space so didn't lend itself to photography, but this might give you an idea of the summerhouse, the birds and the beautiful garden around it

Inspired by the installations I decided to try my own artistic concept by merging the summerhouse with the fabric tree and one of the birds - I'd love to know whether you think it works.

One final ungrunged picture from the way back to the car park - the green on these willows and their reflections was just stunning

Hmm only two with grunge, not bad at all considering my current obsession, see you soon and keep sharing the sparking moments!

Shalfleet Revisited

On Sunday I visited the house we lived in from when I was ten until when I was thirteen. We were able to do this because the current owners had opened it under the National Garden Scheme.

When we moved to the house it was a dream come true for my mother whose passion was gardening. At last a huge garden to do just as she wanted with, and what a challenge! While the back garden had been kept under some sort of cultivation by the previous owner, the bulk of the garden had been allowed to run wild so that a the point at which we moved in it it was six foot tall with nettles and grass. The first task was to clear it and keep the lawns mowed. Practically a full time job for my mother who didn't work outside the home.

It looks a little different now!

The house, a Georgian cottage, has been extended: a walled courtyard turned into an additional room and an orangery and new garage put in the place of the old sheds and pig sties. I am pleased to be able to say this has been very well done and looks very much in keeping with the original building. There have been pains to preserve original features and the sash windows on the front of the building look as if they were the ones that were there when we lived there.

The front gate appears to be the same too

The back garden has changed from the vegetable patch we had

into a series of charming garden rooms

The front garden too has been landscaped

Sadly we were only able to live in this beautiful spot for three years before work took my father back to the mainland after 30 years on the Isle of Wight. Leaving the garden nearly broke my mother's heart and I'm sure if her spirit is anywhere to be found on earth it would be here.

I wil leave you with a mix of past and present and hope that your week has had many sparkling moments.

Brideshead Revisited?

I really love York, I think it's my favourite city in the country. Not only is it crammed full of history from Roman times to the present day, it's also stuffed with beautiful buildings, a great selection of independent shops and lovely cafes and restaurants. It has a real buzz about it.

We were there last week for our son's graduation and have been there on a number of occasions over the last 3 years, but I haven't really taken many photos. Why? Partly I think it's the style of photography that I enjoy, in that I don't really do panoramas, or photos of icons unless I can find a new angle on them. Rather, I usually focus on the detail (the more rust the better) and take many more photos of nature than I do of buildings. Also as I have written about in a previous post I don't do pretty. I managed to take one photo of York this time round, mainly because of the glorious colour of the evening sun on the stone of the lantern tower, spotted as we were on our way to have dinner.

At this point I thought I would review previous pictures I've taken in York and include a couple here. When I looked however I only found about 5 and I didn't like any of them very much - they were mostly bits of houses obscured behind flowering trees and didn't really give any sense of place. So I have decided not to include them.

Other than the graduation ceremony itself the highlight of this trip was a visit to Castle Howard - again no panoramic pictures of the grand facade, you can watch either of the versions of Brideshead to see this.

Brideshead Revisited - The Complete Collection (Digitally Remastered) [DVD]

Starring Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Laurence Olivier

Brideshead Revisited [DVD] [2008]

Starring Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Felicity Jones

Instead, as usual, I have focused on the small elements that took my fancy in the house and garden. To be fair, I don't love Vanborough and the Palladian style of architecture or Capability Brown style gardens. I was however drawn to the sheltered rose garden and the rather grand fountain. First though we went round the house which was only partially open due to the filming of a drama called 'Murder at Pemberly' Austen sequel? the mind boggles!

The first room that really caught my attention was a child's bedroom which is not mentioned in the guide book

I loved the old toys especially the ship

I was also drawn to this bust in the antiques corridor, apparently collected by the 4th Earl when on a trip to Italy in 1738, and this detail of a Burne-Jones stained glass window in the chapel

Now to the outside, the view from the Boar Garden was impressive,

but what really drew my attention was the Atlas Fountain installed in 1853.

Its not the kind of thing I normally like but it looked so right in the grand surroundings and the play of the water on the statue is quite magical, as were the vista's on every side of this giant water spout.

Even if I had wanted to take a panoramic view of the front I wouldn't have been able to as there was scaffolding up for the filming and large numbers of white vans parked out front!

On to the Rose Garden - the perfect time to see it in all its glory, though again the prettiness didn't attract the photographer in me, although the gardener was very impressed.

I particularly liked this, with the seeds reminding me of pomegranates, I think it was a peony

Back to York and a couple of final photos I took while having lunch outside before driving home

This is the herb garden by the patchwork museum and co-incidentally our favourite Italian,

and I'm including this one just because I like it!

Time Capsule 12.12.2012

Hi there, I decided to join in Xanthe Berkeley's 12.12.2012 time capsule Facebook Group. This is my offering, though I have to say that 12th December was a pretty boring day except for one amazing thing.

Basically I got up drove to a meeting in Southampton (thought of taking a photo of the traffic jam heading into Southampton, but realised that taking photos with my phone, even while stationary, was probably a traffic offence so decided against). Couldn't really take any photos of the meeting which went on all morning so took a picture of the view from the Car Park. After the meeting I drove back home ( too difficult to park near my office in Winchester due to large numbers of shoppers visiting the Christmas market), and spent the afternoon working before continuing to make gift cards, have supper, and go to bed.

The amazing thing about 12.12.2012 was the hoar frost - it was magnificent, the most impressive I have ever seen - it had spikes! The photos were taken around 8am in the morning, about 2 when I got back from Southampton and the last one around 5pm. they were all taken either in our garden or just outside our gate.

Hope you enjoy my time capsule!

12Dec12 from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.