Nothing changes

I spent some of the weekend clearing out our junk room/music room to make more space for Gray's expanding collection of guitars, guitar stands, musical hardware, software, microphones with stands, recording machines etc. It had got to the point where he could hardly get in the room, so I thought I would go through some of my stuff. I find this very difficult - I can spend a whole day going through things, looking at old books, reminiscing about my childhood, unpacking material and old clothes I've kept and then packing everything back up again! I was shocked when I came across this notebook I hadn't seen for many years. I must have been about 8 years old and I'd bought it to record my first ever family holiday abroad, to France. What surprised me was - nothing changes does it? I'm still doing the same thing all these years later!

Nature table 1

Gull's feathers collected at Pagham Harbour © 2007 Nicky Linzey

Do you remember nature tables at Primary school where you could bring in things of interest that you had collected over the weekend? Well my conservatory is resembling this at the moment. It seems I cannot stop collecting things when I'm out walking. I've got stones, shells, a bird's nest, wire, rope, sea urchins, plastic insects, leaves, feathers - I could go on. I draw them and then I cannot bear to throw them away, sometimes they get moved outside to let nature take it's course. I can be ruthless but only when someone's coming for dinner & I need the space.

Sunset over Dorset

As you can see I've put up a photo of me. It's a bit of a cheat really as you cannot see my face. I hate posing for photos and Gray took this one when I wasn't aware of being photographed - I like it because I was having a lovely time in one of my favourite places by the sea. We went to Dorset at the weekend to a hotel we hadn't been to for a while, to do some coastal walking. It turned out to be too hot for that, so we went inland and found a beautiful walk in the lush green countryside north of Bridport. In the evening we watched the sun go down from Chesil beach - there was a festival type atmosphere as the beach was packed with families fishing and camping overnight. I always find it weird when the moon is in the sky the same time as the sun. To the left was a bluey/pink hue with the moon in a cool sky and to the right there was this blazing orange orb that was too bright to look at - amazing.

Inspiration

This podcast from two of my favouite bloggers is so inspiring to me, I'll say no more - just have a listen . . .

Morning walk

This morning I decided to record my morning walk in pictures so here it is:

Flower power

It was my birthday a couple of days ago and I was given so many beautiful flowers, I get a lot of pleasure from having flowers around the house, however the next day My Jack Russell started scratching and scratching and it wasn't fleas. He's what the vet calls atopic (allergic to everything) but normally one vase of flowers does not affect him - as there were so many they were making him itch like crazy. So it was hard for me to do but I've taken them round to my Mum's this morning, now I've got a calm Jack Russell and she's got a house full of my beautiful flowers.

I remember a couple of years ago walking through Hyde Park on a warm, breezy Spring day. The pollen from the horse chestnut trees was actually visible in the air and everyone was sneezing and coughing, by the time I got back to the car I could hardly breathe. My throat felt like sandpaper, my eyes were streaming - it was like I imagine a chemical attack to be and I'm not normally affected by pollen. It's amazing what nature can do.

Sprouting...

This has to be one of my best buys for a while. Since we went to Riverford Organics and found the lovely punnets of sprouting seeds, we've been trying to buy them locally - with no success. So I was really pleased when I spotted this 'sprouter' just before last Christmas and bought it to give to Gray - I love it when I find the perfect present for someone (I managed to find him other presents too!). So now we have our own supply of sprouts on a daily basis - freshly grown & full of vitamins.