Thursday, February 12, 2009

theme thursday - fish


Gollum with a fish

Alive without breath;

as cold as death;

never thirsting, ever drinking;

clad in mail, never clinking.

Drowns on dry land,

thinks an island

is a mountain;

thinks a fountain

is a puff of air.

So sleek, so fair!

What a joy to meet!

We only wish

to catch a fish,

so juicy-sweet!

JRR Tolkien

Saturday, February 7, 2009

winter landscape




A weekend with our older daughter in Oxfordshire meant a long walk through cold, muddy fields with a bitter wind flushing our cheeks and finding its way through every small gap in our clothing. Our boots were heavy with clay as we scrambled over stiles, crossed an icy stream on a narrow wooden bridge and our breath clouded in the chill air and left droplets on eyelashes and faces.








Winter Trees
The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve.
On their blotter of fog the trees
Seem a botanical drawing.
Memories growing, ring on ring,
A series of weddings.

Knowing neither abortions nor bitchery,
Truer than women,
They seed so effortlessly!
Tasting the winds, that are footless,
Waist-deep in history.

Full of wings, otherworldliness.
In this, they are Ledas.
O mother of leaves and sweetness
Who are these pietas?
The shadows of ringdoves chanting, but chasing nothing.
Sylvia Plath




We watched the winter sun set behind the hill, our shadows lengthening behind us





and made for the pub, yellow light shining through the panes, a cap of black, thatched reeds keeping out the cold
and inside to the fire, the dogs, the men in tweeds and corduroy,
and steaming hot chocolate.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

theme thursday - statue

Not sure if this lovely sculpture in the courtyard of the Luxembourg Parc Hotel in Paris qualifies as a statue.
When is a sculpture a sculpture and when is it a statue?
Anyway, it's by Antonio Nocera and it's very beautiful.



When I was a child one of the games we played at parties was musical statues. This man on the South Bank in London reminded me of that game. A real musical statue!



Monday, February 2, 2009

snow day



Coco has stayed indoors nearly all day today.




winter jasmine & ivy


cornus alba



Despite my telling her how beautiful the garden looks, she remains unimpressed.




Sunday, February 1, 2009

snow!


It's snowing!!

Just wanted to say it, really.