PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
Door to a Mystical Land, Sour Grapes, and ‘Trust Me, I’m a Corgi’
Red geraniums, blue hydrangeas and white lilies
In actual fact, it’s not a door to a mystical land, which is a little disappointing. And the grapes were even more disappointing. But it, and they, were fab to look at when imagining there was a Narnia the other side of that door, and that the grapes would be lovely and sweet and juicy.
However, the grapevine belongs to the neighbour out the back. No matter what he does with it the grapevine grows back every year and gets very invasive. I’m always amazed at how much plants want to live.
The neighbour cut it right back again this year and seemed to think he’d got rid of it altogether, but here it is appearing above the trellis at the back of my garden.
Last year I didn’t manage to really get into my garden but I did nip out there every now and then to see that the grapevine had grown right over my shed — I thought it made it look all magical and mystical and like it was a door to another (delightful) world.
The grapes looked fab, too.
So now I’m looking at the grapevine shooting up at the back there again and I’m not as horrified as the neighbour … It’ll be interesting to see how far it gets this time.
My previously pink, but now blue, hydrangeas are starting to show themselves. Lovely!
My red geraniums have started to flower. Geraniums always remind me of one of my favourite childhood books — ‘The Little White Horse’ by Elizabeth Goudge — although the geraniums in the book were salmon-pink. But the whole atmosphere of that book was one I can be nostalgic about now — a whole world of positive things untouchable in my mind by the naff stuff going on in the real world.
I know that I could read it now and find plenty of things I no longer consider that wildly positive. But — I’m not going to read it now and spoil that little patch of loveliness in my brain.
My neighbour brought me round these white lilies — their perfume is filling the house. It’s amazing. She was going away and didn’t want them to be unappreciated.
So I’ll appreciate them for her!
Another ‘Day’ that should be automatically observed every day falls on July 28th, and that is World Nature Conservation Day. This acknowledges that a ‘healthy environment is the foundation for a stable and healthy society.’
Mahatma Gandhi — ‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.’
And, if humans aren’t providing enough harmony, there are always dogs.
This Doggo is saying: ‘You can trust me — I’m a corgi. You’re in good paws and it’s very therapawtic to chat to your dog. Or, indeed, someone else’s dog.’
Last year Dennett started the Photo-a-Day Challenge to help combat the virus blues. She takes photos every day and chooses one or two to represent the day. Then, she adds a one-word descriptor and maybe, some narrative. A simple way to observe and preserve.
It’s about noticing and appreciating your environment and sharing it with us, as these photographers and story-tellers have:
Erika Burkhalter/Eileen Vorbach Collins/Anne Bonfert/Sasha Meyer/Tracy Aston/Lisa Bolin/Juan O. Aguilera/David Wade Chambers/June Nguyen/Mia Verita/Susan Alison/LensAfield/Barbara Radisavljevic/Diana Lotti/Barbara Dalton/Kim Zuch/K. Barrett/Penny Grubb
(If your name should be on this list — or, indeed, should not be on this list, please let me know — I’m not yet sure about the etiquette of tagging people.)
Last week:
The week before last:
The week before the week before last:
Susan Alison’s Amazon Author Page |Susan’s Etsy Store | Susan’s website
