Opportunities for Spreading Joy! ......an experiment....

While in London a few weeks ago I recieved a parking ticket, which I appealed as I felt I had a good case, I hadn't knowingly or diliberately flaunted the parking rules or restrictions and apart from anything else felt it was unjust. The lines where I'd parked had almost completely worn away making it very difficult for someone like myself not familiar to the area to be fully aware of where the bay started and stopped and if at all the rule was still in operation, and nowhere on the sign did it say "please park within the faintly marked barely visable bays".  Further along the road the lines were non exsistant where the road had been patched, I wrote in my appeal letter that I felt it is the councils duty to keep the lines clearly painted in and to make sure signage is clear if they are to enforce this rule. However my appeal fell on the deaf ears of Gina Cole and was declined. So I felt a little upset largely because there are many ways too numerous to mention here that I could put thirty pounds to better use.

I decided that the only thing I could do was turn it into something positive, creative and fun for myself, thereby extracting any of the poisonous vitriole that wanted to spew forth from my bitter tongue at the injustice of it all. So this is what will arrive on the desk of the parking civil servant on Monday Morning, I wish I could've installed a little video camera that would start recording when he or she opens the box.

The cheque is inside this folded letter which is full of stars!!!!

The letter reads!

"The world is getting louder every year, but to sit and dream is a beautiful thing" -David Lynch

what we have here is a dreamer someone completely out of touch with reality. when she jumped, she probably thought she could fly. -        the virgin suicides

Magnificent Sentinels of Beech Trees!

At this time of year especially as I turn into the driveway at Hayford and cross the threshold that leads to home I feel as if I cross over into a magical kingdom guarded by tall and proud Beech trees lining the driveway like magnificent sentinels, while at their feet sentries of ferns welcome me home with a silent fanfare of iridescent green waving to a symphony of birdsong.

Usually as I walk up the driveway Walt Whitman or Rabindranath Tagore poems spring to mind, but this morning my task was of recording this beautiful place I've called home for over fifteen years, as I prepare to move I decided to film the house and the garden and the land as a precious visual reminder. And the poem that came to mind this morning was......Emily Dickenson, 'I Dwell in Possibilty' because that's what I have to keep reminding myself so that I can let go of my attatchment to here and her poem helps me do that...

I dwell in Possibility –

A fairer House than Prose –

More numerous of Windows –

Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –

Impregnable of eye –

And for an everlasting Roof

The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –

For Occupation – This –

The spreading wide my narrow Hands

To gather Paradise –

Forever Seeking The Light.........

I havn't blogged in a while and thought I must start blogging again in 2013........before New Year I wanted to make a banner and never got around to it, but today I thought to myself...it's not too late even if it were June it's still 2013 so I'll make my banner...all be it 3 weeks late. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it once I'd made it but during the making I thought it'd be nice to hang it in the trees and photograph it, typically it took longer than I thought so by the time I'd finished I was losing the light.....however I didn't give up and photographed it anyway...there were many photo's but i've just posted one here.........this will be my mantra for 2013.......! This year my daughter graduates university and my sister gets married.......and I have several plans up my sleeve!

I took a few candle lit ones too...........gathering light!

So for 2013 my step daughter Holly bought me this book for christmas and I've started filling it.....so far I will be visiting Berlin, Buenes Aires, Brooklyn, Italy......meeting Bob Dylan, doing a drawing a day, having a pop up shop, exhibition, learning a language....learning an instrument....I'm going to be qiute busy!

Learning to sail.....although I'll probably learn in a smaller boat than this to start......

Get a camper van........

Have adventures!!!!!!!

Marvels of the Universe! Ferns,Fireflies, Juliette de Bairacli Levy and the nature illustrations of Ernst Haeckel

I am currently having a love affair with ferns, walking down the lanes these past few weeks is just sheer heavenly delight...they are soooo vibrant, they give off a kind of electric vibrancy that merely being in their presence is energising

Being in nature this morning with the first burst of sun for a few days is such a treat...John Burroughs expresses it perfectly:

"To find universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a birds nest or a wild flower in spring- these are some of the rewards of a simple life."

and Walt Whitman..."I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars,"

 This Hogweed seedhead below is just like a starburst....

I really love botanical illustrations and I came across these incredible early 20th century illustrations a while ago by Ernst Haeckel  on a site called Wikimedia Commons, where the pictures are free to use.

I just think these drawings are exquisite and other wordly...... such reverence for nature in this microscopic detail is unbelievably divine

I was so fortunate as a young child to go to a small village primary school, My first teacher was Mrs Templeman and I loved her, of course it was back in the days when teachers weren't restricted by National Curriculum and were free to engage with thier young students however they chose, fortunately Mrs Templman chose to take us on long walks every fine day, catching insects in the fields and drawing them, playing in the stream, fishing for newts and small fish, looking for frogs under cool stones and marveling for hours over tadpoles...in the afternoon she might read to us under a tree  from "The Magic Faraway Tree", one summer holiday my friend and I spent weeks gathering moss to build our very own slippery slip down the riverbank..imagine our disapointment when it didn't work.
Later at secondary school I studied Rural science and never tired of spending hours doing detailed drawings of stamens and sepals and seed heads from our very enthusiastic teacher. I really believe that these two teachers had such an impact and influence on me and I'm so grateful that my love of nature remained intact.

The drawings below remind me of creatures from a Leonora Carrington painting

One of my all time favourite people is Juliette de Baracli Levy, pictured below the spider web as a young shepherdess, she would almost certainly be head of the table at my fantasy dinner party. Our cat hasn't been well so yesterday I was re-reading her Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat, where she describes how clean spider webs can be used to mend gaping wounds because of their adhesive qualities...

... her enthusiasm for the healing power of plants just dances off every page...it's contagious.......
"The medicines in herbs are derived from the cosmic forces of sunlight, moonlight, and starlight; from rain and dew and the minerals of the earth's soil layers, as well as hereditary properties. Any herb can have it's medicinal properties analysed to a certain extent; only the cosmic and the hereditary cannot as yet be measured, which is unfortunate, for it is in this 'streaming spirit' of the herb that most of the healing powers are contained."

If you're interested in learning more about this amazing woman and her extroidinary life there is a wonderful film of her on DVD called  'Juliette of the Herbs'

... more magic from nature......I've never seen fireflies, only Glow-worms.....I really hope one day I do, the photos below were from Anthology Magazine blog and they were taken in Japan.

Pop Up Shop and Home.........

I am very blessed to live in the most Magical place on Dartmoor and when the sun shines it's heavenly, this sunny picture is from Wednesday....today is typically misty and moody...I like that too, as I write it's raining a torrent

A corner of my home.....

...a corner of the courtyard....

I'm a practicing Buddhist.....I practice and study the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin...which involves reciting two chapters of the Lotus Sutra twice a day and then chanting Nam myoho Renge Kyo... in a nutshell the basic premise is that everyone is a Buddha....and deep respect for the sanctity of all life...which sounds easy but is actually qiute hard to practice. I had a meeting here on Thursday and picked flowers to give a posy to everyone who came...they looked so beautiful that I just had to photograph them...each one local Devon wild flowers....Fern, Cow Parsley, Red Campion, Stitchwort, Forget-me-not, Buttercup and Ladies Smock......

And for this weekend in the mist....a pop up shop...rather hastily assembled over in the yard-tack room,
if you look closely you can see Warpaint grazing in the background....

My favourite Birch Bark.... a series of Specimen Days.....

afore mentioned Fern...framed in all it's vibrant green glory against the white threadbare cotton.....

Just loving playing with constellations and the myriad stories they present.....

The Magical land of New Cott Farm...AKA Dartmoor Yurt Holidays

Where the yurts are gently nestled among Bluebell woods, babbling brooks, sweeping meadows and open sky that goes on, uninterrupted forever!

As you arrive at New Cott Farm, you'll be greeted by the charming Paddy, Wendy and Larry's dog, who for any of you who know the book Courtney, by John Burningham, will feel a sense of familiarity when you meet him...Paddy will lead you through the gardens and the vegetable patch above, and chickens....through the fields scattered with the beautiful soft lilac Ladies Smock at this time of year and past plunging waterfall streams..........

To the first glimpse through the Pines and Beeches, of Lakeside Yurt...........

One of the many bridges that cross of the streams at New Cott Farm, this one leads to the wood fired outdoor shower and compost loo at Lakeside yurt......

The beautiful stillness of the lake that greets you every morning as you open the doors of the yurt, or lying in bed with the doors open gazing out......

The yurts are all cosy in the evenings or on wet days, with the woodburner lit....

Instruments provided for fireside evenings...

The open kitchen is just so adorable, with everything you could need, including cafetiere and fresh coffee, with a view of the Bluebell woods as you cook......and the lake while sitting down for  a long and lazy breakfast...

Paddy leads the way up to Sunshine Yurt, as the soft scent of coconut infuses the air from the Gorse blossoms as we approach this sunny meadow-side heaven....

The little swing hanging from a tree just by the stream......

And this is the view that greats you as you emerge from the Yurt.....such wonderful expanse of open sky that instantly instructs your body to breathe deeply and stretch without a single thought otherwise....

The alfresco dining at Sunshine Yurt.....

 ...with views  to the woods across the meadow..............

where you can take a stroll and explore the private 26 acres of this idyllic moorland sanctuary

The magnificent view of Bell Tor on the approach back through the meadow, it's extrodinary how the vista changes with each turn of the head, just in one place, woodland, greenhills with brooks and sheep, the expanse of meadow and sky and then the imposing Tor.

....although I wasnt there at night this time....the star gazing is to die for, and in the summer months lying under the Milky Way you are guaranteed several shooting stars.......so wishing is definately a must as your night time activity.

Click on each picture to enlarge and to see more visit dartmooryurtholidays.co.uk