What a difference a day makes!   I did a hard prune on a clematis plant a few weeks ago. I took the photo on the right 2 days ago and it shows the new growth on the Clematis.   Compare that to the photo on the left that I  took yesterday.   All the new growth overnight (that is when plants do their growing!!)   Impressive.   Some days I feel like I’m making that kind of progress as I practice my violin ..not always … just some days and that feels great that I’m making some kind of progress and not slipping backwards.

A lovely flowering plant (whose name tag is somewhere!) in the front yard, flowering away.  I’ll bet the little Annas are visiting this one!

Some of my garden bounty from yesterday .. all the tomatoes are self-seeded.  The green ones ripen in a day or so and taste very yummy.    A few more Spanish Musica beans .. prolific beans they are!

Little JaneE Kat at her sump pump water fountain!   She likes the water that spills over and I think she really likes having her little outdoor showers in this hot weather.  Once she is sprinkled with millions of sparkly water droplets, she wanders over to the grass to stretch out for a nap or sometimes she snoozes on the back stairs.

Here she is on the back stairs… she is so precious and sweet!   And she totally runs our household!

I have always loved faeries .. really and truly … so I have to have them in my house and in my garden.  There are two of these silhouettes and I located one of them yesterday!

Here is the largest of the garden faeries .. I’ve put in a huge apple that had fallen from the tree .. for the birdies to nibble away at.

Hey watcha bean doin??    (groan, ha ha )

What a little compost and water will do to the strawberries .. I’m rewarded with more little berries and the promise of a few more for a treat.  Thank you strawberry plant!    A month ago I was trying to be tidy (ha ha ) in the garden and had piled up containers of these plants, thinking that they were done.    A few days later I was in the process of moving them over to the compost when I noticed some of them were flowering and one had a small berry, all ripe and so I ate it and when I was done, I moved the pots back into the sun.

Red lupines (I’ve learned) are native plants.    Yesterday I was standing beside this container .. the sun was hot ..and I heard the popping of the pods as the heat caused the casings to burst , leaving the seeds (or most of them) in the container.  Hmmm .. I thought, these are definitely related to broom as that invasive plant does the same thing.   Anyway, I’ll have lots of seeds for future lupines and won’t worry if these plants spread .. they are so pretty and the Annas will have more flowers to sip at.

While I stood there, watching my little JaneE sleep away .. she must have sensed that I was there …she opened her eyes .. and seeing nothing important was happening (no treats being given) she resumed her sleeping.

The joy of music as always been a special element to my life, I love the feelings that are raised by the type of music.   If I want to do the dreaded housework then I must listen to energizing drumming, belly dance rhythms, energized world music.  When I am gardening, there needs to be either the same when I need to drown out construction noise or else soothing world music.

I’ve always loved the world of the violin which ranges from passionate soul stirring  rhythms to playful tunes which get my feet dancing and then the loving soothing tunes which make me stop working away and just listen to the magic of the strings and follow the notes as they play out to the wind.

Recently I’ve discovered the world of Adam Sutherland, a Scottish fiddler who has just released “Squall” – I purchased this the second it was available.  This music is just so beautiful and I don’t think that I will ever have listened to the music on this album enough.

Music is very powerful and his music is so very magical .. here is one site which shows some of his music and more about this incredible musician:

https://www.shetlandfolkfestival.com/archive/2014/visiting/adam-sutherland-friends

So .. another world of violin for me to explore.  A little different from the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra that came here to Victoria a number of years ago.

Driving around town one day, months back, I happened to be listening to an interview with Ian Rankin (the famous Scottish author).   I love his books and didn’t know he was Scottish .. but once you hear that voice, there is no mistake.   A gentle Scottish voice is like a song.

Anyway, what he said intrigued me and I totally agree.  He talked about always having music playing when he wrote .. the music created a bubble in  which he could create, write,  think and be.   That isn’t a quote but it is how I remember his explanation.

The analogy of a bubble works for me also as a description .. I visualized a translucent gently rainbow coloured bubble creating a personal world within which I was free to create and enjoy …..

That is exactly what music is for me .. to surround my environment with music for my soul and my spirit.  Whether I am engaged in daily house activities, decluttering, doing laundry, going for a walk or working/playing in the garden.   There is always a mood enhancing bit of music I can play to encourage myself in my endeavours.

And always, as I see/listen to musicians, I think of the many hours/days/weeks/months/years they have worked in order to attain their skill.

And I remind myself of this each time I go to practice my bowing, so that I will not give up.

So .. time to do that and then get going with this day ..

🙂