garden

It's lovely how 'garden' is a noun and a verb. I've been watching Monty Don's series 'Around the world in 80 Garden's' and thoroughly enjoying it. He goes from country to country looking at lovely gardens and talking to gardeners, garden historians, garden-lovers and so on. All the gardeners look amazingly healthy and happy - it seems linked to the longevity of their gardening careers. Anyway I think I love it because I realise that I love gardens, love being in them and looking at them and smelling them and taking pictures - really love all that - but I'm not a very keen gardener. I get dejected by forever repotting and throwing away dead plants and stopping small people from ingesting potting mix. For this reason conventional gardening programs leave me cold - because I don't want to 'recreate the look' or find the exact plant for this or that soil. I don't want to hear about root-rot or pruning. I like the colour and feel of gardens, the patterns and textures. I love leaves and flowers. And I like to think about the links between the gardens people have and who they are.

leaf

I've been reading Keri Smith's two beautiful books (The Guerilla Art Kit and How to be an Explorer of the World). We were inspired to make some leaf sculptures at the Botanic Gardens. Ella also did some 'sap-exploration'- she's deeply interested in tree-sap at the moment - collecting bits of it in pockets and bags. Last time we were at the Botanic gardens we made flower sticks - threading flowers and leaves onto sticks. I'd seen Bhutanese girls from the village of Laya making these in a break from collecting firewood on Tribe.

my sister's garden in Fremantle

I went on a holiday to Fremantle for four days to see my sister. How lovely to travel peacefully solo, to take a break from early rising and toy-tidying. How amazing to visit a home where all items are not in the process of continual rearrangement. How lovely to get home and hear and see and hold my children.

Cranbourne Botanic Gardens

something to eat

Something to eat? Shell perhaps? Nice pink flower? Shiny fresh green leaf? Or perhaps I can tempt you with a small tasty stone? Just whatever you do, don't allow any gravy to touch my food. And Dad - you know I never eat beetroot. And NO MEAT for Jamie OK? Not even a scrap of mince because he's a vegetarian. And also no potato - because he will have to take that off his plate and push it away as far as he can. Mash - eugh. Mushrooms I will need to pick those out of my food and leave on the table. Broccoli - I DON'T eat trees.

---------------------

So thank heavens for:

PEAS

and

avocado

and

TOAST

and

cucumber

and

vegemite

and

risotto

and

PIKELETS

and

sushi

and

yoghurt with jam-corner don't mix it up

and

muesli

and

CHIPS

---------------------

Mum says:

"No 'YUK' at the table."

and

"If you take something off your plate, clear it up later."

and

"Tidy your plate away and say thanks."

and

"DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT THE FOOD - OK?"

---------------------

"But why you've got a cross voice Mum?"

---------------------

Trees with love

Grey - with colourful spots

We've had a lot of grey lately so I've been on the lookout for bright. There's a lot of it about, as they say, if you look closely.