Summer evening light

There are some landscapes that become so familiar you no longer look at them; but there are some views that, although they aren't dramatic, take on a special quality because you do see them regularly.

Last night I took my camera with me when a drove to the pilates class in a neighbouring village, I wanted to capture the view across the fields where Suffolk meets Cambridgeshire. This is one of my 'slow-burn' inspirations which will emerge into a print or painting one day; there's something about the arrangement of trees and small woods across a gently rolling eiderdown of wheat fields, side lit by the evening sunlight, that makes the space in front of me seem vast. If views where music this one for me is Vaughan Williams's 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis' and I imagine myself taking giant steps over the fields as light as air.


On my way home two hours later, the sun has just dipped below the horizon and clouds are rolling in from the north-east. You can just see a fine crescent moon on the edge of the cloud.


The horizon glows pink, red and gold silhouetting the squatting woods that seem to nestle down lower into to the wheat fields as if settling down to sleep.


It's frustrating that photographs (unless taken by a master of landscape photography) flatten and shrink the view. But I can use these to recollect the images in my head.

I did ask for it!

At 5.30pm Tarragon took his harem around to the outhouse door to wait for me to open it and retrieve the feeder full of mixed corn for their 'Corn Supper'. But, I was busy preparing our supper – I knew they were waiting but I decided they could wait, they knew that I knew . . . they had a cunning plan!

Then out of the kitchen window I spotted them . . .


. . . . an act of vengeful wanton vandalism. I suppose I asked for it!

Smashing fete!

Behind every big event there's hours of planning and hard work . . . and committee meetings – for those of you unfamiliar with English village life, I can inform you that 'The Vicar of Dibley' is not entirely fictional. Our Village Fete is no exception – we have discussed, persuaded, painted, un-twiddled bunting and carried boxes of stuff up the hill; so it is with relief that Saturday afternoon passed without rain, hissy-fits, bad language or any falling out among friends and neighbours. In fact it was all jolly good fun with sizzling barbecued sausages and lashings of home made cakes and cups of tea.

(At this point I intended to show you a little movie of the smashing time we had, but after the fourth failed attempt to upload the file I've given in to Blogger's non-cooperation.)

At the end of the day Cliff and I undertook the marathon task of counting the money and producing a report for the committee at the after-fete supper. We've got this down to a fine art and after just under two and a half hours our sums showed a record breaking profit of almost £3,500 HURRAH! By next spring we'll have forgotten what hard work it all is and will probably agree to doing it all again.

So, with 'Village Fete' ticked off everyone's 2010 calendar, life returns to normal and I can concentrate on getting ready for next weekend's Saffron Walden Open Studios event. I will be exhibiting alongside Annette Jacob at her studio in Duddenhoe End, just west of Saffron Walden near Audley End. I hope that some of you can come along.


All flowers picked from the garden this morning.
Top: Sweetpeas, Sage, Alchemilla Mollis, Ground Elder, Geranium Psilostemon, Astrantia, Rosa glauca and a double white Rosa pimpinellifolia.
Bottom: Roses – the white one is 'Iceberg' but I don't know the names of the others, the deep pink one in the front has the most beautiful rich scent!

Shopping options – Etsy and Folksy

I've recently re-opened my etsy shop with a new image and name, Magic Cochin's Emporium. I'd been concidering opening a folksy shop instead so I could price items in GB pounds, in the end I decided it would be a shame to ditch the etsy shop.

However, this morning I was tweeted (is that the correct term?) by Emma, saying she would prefer to pay in pounds. Maybe others feel the same? I had a rethink and decided that I would list all items on etsy AND folksy. At the time of listing the prices will be as near the same as I can get them, but as you known the currency exchange rates fluctuate daily; if you want to get the best possible deal you can check the GBP/US Dollar exchange rate on here.

Here are the links to Magic Cochin's two Emporia . . .

Magic Cochin's Emporium (etsy) – prices in US dollars

Magic Cochin's Emporium (folksy) – prices in GB pounds

Celia x

The stamp of approval

I'd fancied getting a Magic Cochin rubber stamp for ages . . . I could customise packaging and envelopes. Yesterday morning I searched on the web for a supplier, there were lots to choose from and most had web sites where you can design your own stamp or upload an image – most of the prices were shockingly high!

I nearly ditched the idea as a frivolous whim, then I found Speedy Stamps. Within a few minutes I'd uploaded my Magic Cochin artwork, sized it, selected the sort of stamp I required and paid. Speedy Stamps promised that they'd deliver next day.

This morning, before I'd even made my first cup of tea of the working day, Derrek the postman was ringing the bell outside the courtyard gate and handing me a padded packet . . .


How's that for service! Wooohooo! Thank you Speedy Stamps :-)

A classic model in working order

I actually preferred sharpening pencils with a knife because sharpeners never seemed to do a good job. Up until the weekend I had two pencil sharpeners in my studio; a little metal one that lives in my pencil case, it's fiddly to use and a bit blunt and a plastic box pencil sharper which has a habit of breaking the lead in the pencil. Neither are things of joy!


But, now sharpening pencils has transcended into a happy ritual with the help of this . . .


. . . a classic vintage desk mounted metal pencil sharpener in full working order.


It's been installed on a shelf in the office and sharpening pencils is now a satisfying interlude :-)

Magic Cochin's Emporium now open

I've re-opened my etsy shop with a new name . . .


the shop will sell cards, books, vintage and printed gifts.


Must dash . . . back soon :-)
Celia
x

A tonic for the senses

While recovering from whatever laid me low over the holiday weekend, I had time to just look at the garden and think . . .

What is a garden for?

A place to sit outside

For enjoying morning sunshine, midday shade
and evening sun.

Colour

The intense saturated colour of an Oriental Poppy,
one of many I grew from a packet of seeds,
each a different shade of red.

Form and pattern

Curves like an Art Nouveau arabesque,
the iris flowers beside the pond, with exquisitely
complex patterned petals.

Anticipation and scent

I found this plant through it's scent – drifting over
a hedge to a footpath I was walking.
I found out its name, Elaeagnus 'Quicksilver',
bought one for our garden and waited.
And waited. Waited for four years.
Until this year! There are buds, now tiny flowers
and the most heavenly scent – I wish I could blog the scent!
Vanilla? Apple pie? Ice cream sundaes?
All of those wrapped up in floweriness :-)

All photos taken this morning in my garden.

Behind the scenes

This blog is about what's going on in and around my studio . . . so I intended to blog about a busy day working in The Riverslade Gallery on Friday followed by a bit of Bank Holiday fun and relaxation . . .

"CUT!" Let' s start again.

Those things didn't happen, because on Thursday night I went down with a tummy bug and I didn't even begin to feel better until yesterday lunchtime – it wiped out three and a half days. But you don't want to know about that (and I'd rather forget about it!) and I'm now back in my studio drinking a cup of tea and easing myself back into a working week.

You all know that I focus on the positive on PPPs (and even on the busiest stressiest day I can usually find something fitting for a PPP-post) so here are tasters of things coming along later this month.


A happy looking box arrived at the weekend. Its contents . . .


. . . my smart new business cards :-) This is all part of my website makeover and my preparations for Saffron Walden Open Studios weekend on 19th and 20th June when I'll be exhibiting my work alongside Annette Jacob's textile creations at her studio at Duddenhoe End.


Meanwhile, preparations for our village fete are reaching a peak; one of the things I'd volunteered to do was to give the Bean-Bag game a new look (be careful when attending village meetings where wine is served!). Cliff had an inspired idea and left it to me to paint while he went to check out some footpath routes. So I spent yesterday afternoon in the garage painting and to the accompaniment of Classic FM. If you'd like to play iBean bag an app, come along to the village fete on 12th June.



PS: It's a new month, so voting over at the Little Blog Awards is starting for June's winner. If you'd like to vote for PPPs click on the link in the side bar.
Celia
x

Rain, beautiful rain

It has been over a month since we had the tiniest drop of rain – far too long even in this corner of Suffolk which is probably one of the driest spots in the UK. I know that when the heavens open day after day in July, we'll all be moaning and wishing for dry weather! But the past weeks have shown me that without rain we cannot have lush and green garden, seeds won't grow and newly planted out vegetables suffer and wilt.

Last night it rained. Walking through the garden this morning, I could hear dozens of honey bees buzzing in the wisteria blossoms on our garden wall and all around the plants were singing 'Thank you for the rain'.

Rain, Rain Beautiful Rain
sung by Ladysmith Black Mambazo

There is one garden resident who is slightly disappointed by the arrival of rain and cooler temperatures . . . Tarragon. He has spent the dry weeks working on a new landscaping UGP* – a cool shady dust-bath for his ladies. I'm sure he'll soon start work on his next project!



*UGP = Unauthorised Gardening Project

Sunny South Suffolk

This morning I had to drive over to The Jessica Muir Gallery in Long Melford to collect one of my framed prints for a customer. I found Jean, the owner, unpacking a box of the most wonderful quirky little hen, cockerel and cat ceramic and wire sculptures – if you would like to see them dash over to the gallery, I'm sure they'll be selling fast.


As you can see it's a glorious sunny day here in south-west Suffolk, my route between Long Melford and my studio follows the Stour Valley and the lovely villages which nestle in the gently sloping wide river valley. I needed to do some shopping, so decided to take the opportunity to stop at the small town of Clare and call in to some of the many small shops in the streets around the square and churchyard.

This unpretentious shop is the bakers, it uses Marriages flour to make its dough – and that means the bread is extra flavoursome (just ask my under-gardeners – they eat Marriages mixed corn and Layers Pellets).


After filling my big shopping bag with vegetables and fruit from the little open fronted Greengrocers, I headed around the corner to the ironmongers. I love this shop! It's much bigger than you expect as it extends on and on at the back. It's the sort of shop where you wouldn't be surprised to see Ronnie Corbett behind the counter. I bought one of the brushes you can see in the photo and a big ball of garden string, the sort that smells of garden sheds.


Suddenly we're here in the season and sunny days and fetes on the village greens, tourists in camper vans and on bikes . . . the Chelsea Flower Show is about to open and summer has begun – Hurrah!

PS: My garden desperately needs some rain, but I don't want to spoil the party atmosphere!

New web site... coming soon!

Earlier this year I made lots of improvements to my studio's computer system and the intention has been to give my website, online gallery and blog a makeover.

The blog's new look as quick and easy, the website makeover has been the tricky part – the old files couldn't be updated on the new system, so I really needed to start with a clean sheet (and new software). Today I decided that the only way to test whether my new look for the site is going to work is to publish it . . . and then make corrections and additions over the weeks ahead.

The online gallery is in transition and will become a portfolio of work on the new website and my etsy shop will be re-launched.

I pressed the publish button a few minutes ago (eek!) and it's not working smoothly yet, so be patient until it all settles down. I'm sure it's going to make my life easier as soon as the teething problems have passed.


Have a lovely weekend – looks like it's going to be a scorcher here in Suffolk!

Celia
x

On the edge of The Wild Wood

A few weeks ago I noticed some unusual leaves unfurling in The Wild Wood. The plant grew bigger and bigger, buds appeared near the top, this week delicate custard yellow flowers opened . . .

The plant is Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus), readers in North American may know it by the old English name the first settlers brought with them: Swallow Wort. Confusingly Greater Celandine is in no way related to the Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) which flowers much earlier in the year and is a member of the Buttercup family and has small narrow shiny golden petals like this . . .


Look closely and you can see that the Greater Celandine is in fact a kind of wild poppy, and like other poppies it has a sticky poisonous sap in its stems. The sap of the Greater Celandine is yellowy orange and is very toxic – in fact it burns! So best to look and not touch! In the past it was used to burn away warts and rather alarmingly for burning away cataracts from the eye! It is associated with old walls and stony pathsides in places that have been inhabited for centuries – maybe a relic from an ancient physic garden.


Yesterday lunchtime I took my lunch over to the opposite bank of the stream behind our Wild Wood and sat in the corner of the field beyond, there is a wide uncultivated field margin which hopefully helps biodiversity and the local wildlife.

As I wandered through the garden on my way to The Wild Wood I'd picked herbs and salad leaves a and added them to my lunch – you can't get a much fresher salad . . .


It wasn't long before the ginger studio assistant sniffed out the aroma of paté and tracked me down!

"Have you left some for me?!"

Saffron Walden Open Studios

This summer, Essex will be buzzing with art festivals, exhibitions and trails – all part of Essex Summer of Art. Essex is a diverse county, it has an image of being on London's fringe inhabited by Jamie and Essex Girls, but there are seaside resorts, marshes, market towns and tranquil picturesque valleys too.

Artists in and around Saffron Walden have joined forces to put together a weekend of Open Studios on 19th and 20th June, this will follow on from the Saffron Walden Arts Festival taking place the previous weekend. Yesterday evening there was a launch party in The Riverslade Gallery, to unveil the smart new brochures.


My studio is just a little too far away from Saffron Walden and it's just over the border in Suffolk, but I had a very kind invitation from one of the Riverslade Gallery exhibitors, Annette Jacob – she suggested that I join her in the newly refurbished garden studio at her cottage in Duddenhoe End. So, on 19th and 20th June you can call in to see Annette's beautiful rag rugs, knitting and stitching alongside my linoprints and cards, in the lovely relaxed setting behind a traditional Essex thatched cottage. I'll tell you more about our plans for the weekend nearer the day, but it would be wonderful to see some of you in this beautiful north-west corner of Essex.

Our excitement about the Arts Festival was slightly dampened by the sight of the bandstand which is the centrepiece of the newly refurbished Jubilee Gardens – its lovely curved roof has been vandalised by metal thieves who have stripped off most of the lead. The little garden shelter in the opposite corner of the gardens suffered the same fate. What a sad reality of life, but I'm sure all the events planned to take place in Jubilee Gardens this summer will go ahead as planned and the bandstand and shelter will soon be repaired.

Yay! Summer toes at last!

The sandal-wearing season has started and the only 'Grey Skies' to be seen is the colour of my toenails!

I've won a prize!

A few weeks ago Matron celebrated her 600th blogpost by teaming up with The RHS for a competition to promote biodiversity in the garden. She asked her blog readers to write just 100 words on what you are doing in your garden to promote biodiversity. She said that she didn't want doom and gloom, neither did she want a political rant – just a nice, gentle, uplifting, innovative, clever, creative, inspiring 100 words.

Matron's blog Down on the Allotment is one of my favourites, it is down to earth with a good dollop of humour and her faithful dog Buddy is never far from the action. I hesitated for a week or so, then one evening I sat down and jotted down a few thoughts . . . 100 words isn't very many to describe my garden and all the plants, insects, birds and animals that live there. In the end, this is what I wrote:

"A newt doesn’t just need water – it needs bugs to feeds on; a water forget-me-not leaf to fold around its egg; and logs and stones to hide under in the winter.

So here’s my pact:

No weed-killers and pesticides;
Nectar rich flowering plants;
A half buried log pile and bundles of dry hollow stems;
Seed-heads left on the plants through the winter;
A small pond surrounded by log piles and a bog garden;
Wild-flowers mingling in the borders and lawn.

And the wildlife has moved in… hundreds of inter-connected life-cycles; we’re relying on each other to thrive."


To my utter amazement my entry was selected as the winner! Thank you Matron and thank you to The RHS . . . look at all the exciting things that fell out of the package that arrived in the post this morning! As well as a full year's membership of The RHS (which includes a free pass to all the RHS gardens and subscription to The Garden magazine) there were postcards, vouchers to spend in the RHS shops and at Thompson and Morgan and two packets of seeds. What a lovely way to start the day :-)

Zimni Ogrodnicy (Chilly Gardeners)

Last night at 9.15pm, saying goodbye to friends after the Pilates class, we remarked how chilly it was . . . "There's going to be proper frost tonight!" one friend called as I got into my car to drive home. On the way back along the dark country lanes joining Cambridgeshire to Suffolk, I could hear my Dad saying "Have you earthed up your potatoes and covered the strawberry flowers?" – for years I always checked with my Dad when I should sow seeds or plant things out; I didn't bother to remember for myself. Then one day he was no longer there to ask . . . over the past 10 years the wise gardening advice he gave has gradually re-surfaced in my memory.

I parked my car and remembered that months ago I'd bought a roll of protective fleece for a very cheap price at QD in Newmarket, it was in my office. In the dark I went out to the vegetable garden, after making sure I'd zipped up the cloche covering the courgettes, I unrolled the fleece and anchored it in place over the flowering strawberry plants.


I grabbed a handy trowel and flicked soil over any newly emerged potato leaves (the ginger studio assistant arrived and tried to help!). It felt cruel to cover lovely soft leaves with dirt – but without protection the leaves would be black and crinkled by morning.


I also moved our rather scruffy looking lemon tree into the greenhouse – there are lots of new tender leaves and flower buds appearing. One of the heated propogators is still plugged in, warming the germinating Achocha seeds, and giving just enough heat to the greenhouse to keep night-time temperatures well above freezing.


Early this morning I read in yesterday's Times about the 'Ice Saints' or "Eismänner": Saints Mamertus, Pancras, Servatius and Boniface whose feast days traditionally bring frost from May 11 to May 14. Farmers in Germany and Northern Europe knew that it was not safe to plant crops until the saints had done their work. I'd never heard of them before, although it fits with our proverb "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May be out" – don't take your vest off until the Hawthorn blossom (May) is blooming.

A search on the web unearthed the Chilly Gardeners or Zimni Ogrodnicy in Polish. Zimni Ogrodnicy, even the sound make you shiver! Four saints of the catholic church in Poland: St Pancras, (Pankracy 12 May), St Servatus (Serwacy 13 May), St Boniface (Bonifacy 14 May) and St Sophia (Zofia 15 May). Traditionally in Poland these four days are usually accompanied by a sudden cold snap after the first few weeks of beautiful spring weather.

I think I've got the message, I'll be out there tonight, rolling out the fleece and earthing up the spuds again. Zimni Ogrodnicy . . . the Icemen cometh!

The Romans were here

Yesterday afternoon, after a morning trying to catch up with overdue tasks in the vegetable patch (at long last the Purple Podded Peas have been planted out) I joined Cliff and the local walking group for the second half of their Sunday walk. Along the way we stopped to admire probably the most overlooked Roman landmark in England.

Bartlow Hills. Heard of them? Anyone?



These are Roman burial mounds. Not just any old piles of dirt, they were originally the largest group of Roman barrows in northern Europe – I wrote 'were' because 150 years ago, when the railway was built from Cambridge to London, some of the 1,750 year old mounds were flattened. There had been excavations of the main burial chambers in the early 1800s and beautiful treasures were found – jars of perfume, lamps which had been left burning after the tombs were closed and even a swanky folding chair. All of these antiquities were in a private collection and were destroyed in a house fire in 1847.

The remaining hills became hidden in the dense undergrowth but now in the care of Cambridgeshire Archaeology* the scrub has been cleared and an information board installed. Bartlow Hills are tucked away in woodland behind the 11th century round towered village church, it is still a secretive place, you're unlikely to find crowds of tourists and you can climb to the top of the largest mound.


Our walk also went past the lovingly restored windmill high on the ridge above Ashdon. This post mill dates from 1756 and over the past few years we've seen it transformed from a sad derelict pile to an (almost) working mill once again. Although it isn't yet in full working order, the whole mill can now be turned by one (or two) people with strong legs and backs. If some of the Friends of Ashdon Mill are around, you can have a guided tour right up inside the mill mechanism.


And over the wide rolling landscape of fields and woods along the Essex-Cambridgeshire border – click on the picture to enlarge and look at the narrow yellow strip of rape flowers . . . there are four hares in a high-speed, hormone-fueled chase over the furrows.


* If you live in the area and want to know more about Bartlow Hills there will be a free guided walk led by Cambridge Archaeology of the Roman barrows, and surrounding area, on Wednesday 19th May, meet outside the church at 7pm.

You can't hurry an egg

This is a short public information film about egg production . . .

Cast in order of appearance:
Phoebe, Saffron Spice, Silvie, Nutmeg Spice, Tarragon and Ginger Spice.

Sculptors in residence

In the shallow part of the Dragonfly Pond I spied some intriguing constructions in the water . . .


. . . was an elfin Andy Goldsworthy at work in our pond?


I remembered seeing tiny constructions, in a stream, that were made by caddis fly larvae – they build little underwater houses to live in. I looked on my bookshelf for an insect book for information . . .


Mmmm? This wasn't going to be easy! Nothing on the page looked exactly like the things in our pond.


I decided to ask BBC Springwatch, they had liked my newt photos when I added them to the Springwatch Flickr page. In a very short time an insect expert had pointed me in the direction of this book . . .


. . . and when it arrived in the post after a couple of days, I quickly found the name of our clever creative builders, Limnephilus flavicornis.


Another amazing creature living in our garden, eating our Duck Weed (they're welcome - chomp away L. flavicornis) and in due course emerging as delicate buff flying insects. Maybe some will lay eggs in the pond edge to start the life-cycle over again? Others might fly higher and become a night-time snack for the local bats? Their lives are part of the biodiversity of our little patch – and that makes me very happy.