Keeping cool

Water and the fresh green of ivy

Can you reach the waterfall with your fingers?

Feel the freshness on your face

" Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.

Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better

It has no equal.

The weak can overcome the strong

The supple can overcome the stiff."

(Lesson seventy-eight, Tao Te Ching)

Shallow water to cool our hot feet

Can you feel the little wavelets lapping around your ankles?

During the hot, hot days of summer

there is nothing better than water to energize us once again.

A book to read:

This is a book of wisdom written by Lao Tsu.

It is thought to have been written in the sixth century B.C.

Link to book: HERE

How are you keeping cool these days?

The Taste of Summer

Have you ever taken a sensory walk, noticing what you really see, smell, hear and can touch?

My eyes were drawn towards this emerald green dragonfly

which I luckily managed to capture with my compact point and shoot camera

when out in the country doing pole walking!

The lush green pastures and the deep green pine trees

If you close your eyes, you can actually smell

the beauty of this summer's day.

A woodpile full of curving shapes with many textures of moss and wood

and a perfume of resin.

Closer to home on a neighbourhood walk, soft dandelion clocks prepare

to send their seeds in the air at the next gust of wind.

In my balcony garden a bee lies across my zinnia flowers

to gather pollen.

Can you hear him buzz as he goes from one flower to another?

What I'm reading now: the biography of Alice Herz-Sommer.

A Century of Wisdom, is a testament to the bonds of friendship,

the power of music and the importance of leading a life of material simplicity,

intellectual curiosity, and never-ending optimism.

See the link below:

A Century of Wisdom

A breakfast smoothie.

Now this is a real taste of summer!

I decided to buy a blender in July

and have been making health promoting smoothies ever since.

If you're a smoothie fan, maybe you'd like to try the one above:

Fruit smoothie:

2 apricots, a few strawberries, some blueberries

1/2 cup of pineapple juice

1 soy yoghurt

4 fresh mint leaves.

Blend on a 'pulse' setting and drink without delay!

Makes 2 glasses.

Try it and let me know what you think!

What are you reading this summer?

Inspired by a newsletter from Kim Manley-Ort

on Photographing Summer.

See a link to her site HERE

Thoughts on Summer

A new book, some flowers on my tablecloth

and reading outside in dappled sunlight.

White parasols against the blue sky

Crossing the water to new horizons

Sunrise on the lake and hazy skies

Closed shutters against the midday heat

listening to muffled sounds in the street outside.

The perfume of roses as they climb to the sky

Watching  wavelets break on the beach

and listening to tiny pebbles singing their gravelly song!

The elegance of a sailing boat waiting for evening breezes

and watching the sunset and eating some good quality ice-cream!

This is the ice-cream I sometimes make at home!

It's a single tub serving of  coffee ice-cream.

I make a chocolate sauce with 4 squares of dark chocolate, 

add 1tbs water, 1 tbs light cream, 1 tbs alcohol of your choice (optional).

Melt the chocolate and liquid together gently to blend

then pour the hot sauce over the cold ice-cream.

Oh! the glorious tastes of summer!

When I think of summer, I remember my childhood and all it meant to me:

summer holidays

days that never ended

the beach and the sound of waves

the seagulls cry

sand in-between my toes

and ice-cream cones.

These days, summer evokes life without a fixed schedule,

never looking at my watch

Getting out early to see the sunrise

and

letting myself live the moment so fully that I think I'll burst with joy!

How does summer speak to you?

Summer reading:

 Click below:

The Last Runaway

Elderflower or Marmalade?

Tiny fragrant flowers and a powdering of pollen

Elderflower umbels are in full bloom in May or June depending on the climate.

One lovely way of using them is to make Elderflower jelly.

Steep the flowers in water for three days

Strain

add lemon juice and sugar

and boil until thickened.

This year I've made Marmalade and Elderflower Jelly

Wind down the canvas awning

and set a pretty table outside surrounded by flowers

Put some flowers in a vase

Cut some raisin and nut bread

Make fresh coffee 

Chunky orange takes centre stage

but golden Elderflower edges in on the sidelines.

Which one shall I choose?

Why, one of each is the only solution!

Won't you join me?

What do you like for breakfast?

Creative Moments in July

Colour!

I've always enjoyed playing with colour

ever since I was a child.

Crochet!

I taught myself from a booklet

when I was expecting my first baby

born on July 5th 

and that's today.

This preciously kept booklet only cost 35 cents when I bought it

in White Plains, New York in 1971.

A crochet hook

and a basket full of yarns make my fingers tingle

and want to create!

These are very large flowers

measuring 18cm across

(almost 7 inches)

I joined them all together to make a wall hanging

which creates a corner of happy colour

on a wall in my home.