Crab Apples and a Country Scene

The pear blossom was lovely but it’s fading fast. The petals are scattering around the garden like confetti at a wedding.

The apple blossom will be lovely for a few more days and looking fabulous right now. Delicate pink petals, rosy buds and fresh green leaves are filling out the trees with all the promise of fruit later on.

The crab apple has beautiful, almost crimson petals. Such a show, followed by little red fruits which make a tasty jelly later in the summer.

The kale is trying its best to flower now but I keep nipping the buds off and we eat them. They are so sweet and tender that they’re good in a salad but usually I steam them over boiling potatoes, especially good when I make my easy-peasy fish cakes. Just potatoes mashed with tinned fish and browned in a little oil in the frying pan. Served with our favourite chutney or picalilli.

The vegetable growing is keeping us well fed but the ornamental parts of the garden are important to us too. Every week something new springs into bloom.

We have two potted rhododendrons. A deep pink one with big showy flowers and a mini one with pale mauve flowers. The little one is struggling a bit. Needs some tlc. I resolve to treat is with more care in future so the lovely flowers will increase.

I love colour and especially the colours of flowers. So pure and strong with a sheen on the petals and a translucency which is so pleasing. The wallflowers which I left in last year have flowered really well again and they are a mixture of pink, cream, gold and orange. Beautiful.

Just look at some of the colours in the garden at the moment.

Talking of colour, I got round, at last, to making the cushion covers for an armchair which sits with the dining table and chairs. Now they are covered with the same fabric and although I don’t always go for an overall matching look I’m very happy with the result. I made a cover for the scatter cushion from the offcuts as well. The room is more tied together now and the colours are lovely.

I sewed zips into the cushion covers so they are easy to remove for washing.

There is always plenty to do. Not often that I’m bored. Home is a creative hub where you can do what you like, when you like. Inevitably it leads to an inclination to hoard things which you think you might use for something. I can’t resist buying knitting yarn in sales for possible future projects or packs of felt, saving bits of fabric, ribbons etc. It’s really good when you have an urge to make something when the materials are there at hand. I think it stimulates your imagination.

Drawing and painting are also satisfying ways to pass time. It really doesn’t matter whether it’s technically good or bad. What matters is the enjoyment, being absorbed in a creative pursuit. Consequently, I always have paints, paper and canvases stashed away for a rainy day. Nothing worse than a creative urge which can’t be fulfilled.

I’ve started a new painting. Just at the drawing stage. I shall paint it with gouache this time on watercolour paper. I buy blocks of paper with the sheets glued together at the edges. You paint on the top one then separate it from the block with a knife around the edge when the painting is completed. I’m not keen on all that soaking, stretching and taping down involved with loose sheets. These are really good to use and again it means instant gratification because I can get on with it straight away. Perhaps I need a little more patience.

Here is a drawing I did some years ago. I often like to outline a drawing with pen to give it definition. This was drawn from a photo I took at Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire. The scene caught my eye and it was lovely to draw.

I hope you’re finding plenty to do and staying safe until life returns to some kind of normality. With you again in a few days.