Thursday 30 June 2011

The Thursday Poem




To Daffodils

Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon:
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the evensong;
And, having prayed together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay as you;
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you or anything.
We die,
As your hours do, and dry
Away
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.


Robert Herrick
(24th August 1591 - 15th October 1674)


from the book: Poem for the Day One

Monday 27 June 2011

Start the week with a quote...

image from The Graphics Fairy





Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours

Sunday 26 June 2011

Prayer for World Peace


Dove of Peace ~ Giclee print



We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within, knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

We pray for social justice, for the alleviation of the crippling poverty that condemns millions of people around the world to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving, who are condemned to homelessness, slave labour, prostitution, and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war, for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere, for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation, intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping, training for entertainment, abusive pet owners, and all other forms of exploitation such as overloading and overworking pack animals, bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

We pray for an end to cruelty, whether to humans or other animals, for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving;
that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us, and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

prayer for world peace ~ dr jane goodall


Thursday 23 June 2011

The Thursday Poem



Say not the Struggle Nought Availeth

Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the sounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor raileth,
And as things have been, things remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back through creeks and inlets making
Comes, silent, flooding in, the main,

And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.


Arthur Hugh Clough
(1st January 1819 - 13th November 1861)


From the book: Poem for the Day One

Tuesday 21 June 2011

A little vignette...

















...on the dining table.

Once the dolls' house is finished and in its designated space in the living room, then half my dining table will be free again, my loves. My little vignettes can actually be placed in the centre of the table then ;-)

I know that some folk will probably be thinking that I should clean the water jug and basket but there is something about their tarnished appearance that I just really like.




















A closer view of the little glass cloche.....which is actually a cheese dome! 

















The little vintage china dolls head is so pretty.  She looks very happy nestled in her bed of sweet fabric flowers.















I thought that these pepper pots were so gorgeous ~ even though one has a discoloured lid and another has no lid at all!




















The lid-less pot makes a perfect little one-bloom vase.  This beautiful rose is from my garden :-)

Monday 20 June 2011

Oh blue and white china ~ how I do love thee!


I'm sure you have realised by now, sweetie~pies, that I have quite the love affair going on with blue and white china.  I admit that I'm not the monogamous type when it comes to the different patterns, designs or makers ~ I pretty much love 'em all ;-) 


A closer view of my blue and white china cabinet. I thought I would use some of the vintage doilies (from my ever-growing collection!) which have pink in them as a change from using plain cream or white ones :-)  I am thinking about either painting the inside of the cabinet or attaching pretty paper as I'm not so keen on the vast areas of bland wood!


The bottom shelf has some of my more delicate ornaments on display, as well as a few pieces of my blue and white collection.


I thought it would be nice, sweetie~pies, to mix in some of my pieces of brass with the blue and white on the middle shelf.


The top shelf is just pure blue and white ~ for now, any way
;-)


A mixture of pretties on top of the cabinet :-)  The plant was previously in the porch and was looking a bit sorry for itself as I tended to neglect it I'm afraid!  I had to pinch out quite a lot of dead leaves and spindly stems but it is looking waaay healthier now ~ I will have to try to remember to take a photo to show you, my loves.

These three little pieces are very tatty indeed but I love them nevertheless!

This little plate, one of a pair, is a fairly recent acquisition.


And here is the other little plate, sweetie~pies.


Since I don't need to be in and out of the cabinet I have set out a few more pretties in front of the doors.


I decided to thin-out the display on the corner shelf beside cabinet. Mind you, the single items I now have on each shelf take up plenty of room so I would be hard-pressed to fit any other little bits 'n' bobs on there! The little basket at the bottom belonged to my Great Aunt Mary. It is more than a little "wrecked" but I still love it :-)


I moved some of the blue and white china out of the cabinet ~ my collection was filling it up somewhat!  These pieces are not quite so "precious" ~ if you see what I mean ~ as most of the items left in the cabinet, but hopefully if Daisy does knock any of them over they will survive intact!


It didn't take me long to start changing things!


A closer view of the knitted cakes ~ alas not made by me, my loves.


It's such a hard life, isn't it, being a much-loved moggy ;-)


Little Miss Daisy likes to soak up the sun ~ and makes herself comfy on my lovely vintage cotton lace curtains!

Start the week with a quote...



















image from The Graphics Fairy



Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

Sunday 19 June 2011

A walk to the bottle-bank


Oh yes, my loves, I certainly know how to have a good time ;-)  I do like to take photos of this short walk, though ~ it's amazing at how familiar scenery changes over the course of the year.  The pair of shoes in the photo above were just laying like this on a grassy area.  I wonder if their owner got into trouble for coming home without her shoes!


This poor tree has been dead for quite some time now.  It looks terribly sad standing there amongst all the verdant greenery of its neighbours.  Still, that is what living is about isn't it ~ life and death. 


I recently received an invitation to join a group on Flickr which shows photos of signs and since then its dawned on me just how many signs there are all around us, sweetie~pies!  I suppose we are just so used to them that we don't even notice them most of the time :-)  


These trees are on the edge of Walsworth Common.  I don't know what they are but they are very lush at the moment.  Look at those brown patches on the grass though!  It's been so dry in recent weeks but thankfully we've had a fair bit of rain this past week or so.


I have taken photos of this bench before ~ it seems to have been at this precarious angle forever!


And here, my loves, is the object of our destination ~ the recycling bins.  People are so lazy, aren't they *sigh*  Just how difficult is it to actually put the glass, plastic, etc in the flippin bins!  I expect they are the same folk who then complain about the cost of council tax.


Another sign ~ and one which folk take no notice of.  It wouldn't surprise me to find that these people are amongst the first to make a fuss about the rats, etc.  And apart from anything else, just how good for the ducks is it to be eating bread I wonder ~ somewhat removed from their natural diet methinks! 



These fluffy little babies were so cute!  I'm not sure if they were baby coots or moorhens to be honest.  Whatever they were, their Mum didn't seem in the least bit concerned that her babies were wandering off without her LOL


This chap was having a very good grooming session!


We walked back across the Common.  This jungle of overhead lines is on the London to Cambridge railway line.  It all looks very dangerous and complicated if you ask me!


Yet another sign.

And in other news..... 


This isn't a very sharp photo my loves, I know, but I had to rush to get my camera when this jay landed on the log-store in the garden t'other day.  We don't get them visiting very often but it's always nice to see one.  At least it is for us ~ the other birds get very agitated and the blackbirds will chase the jay away.


Poor Daisy had to wear a collar after she had been spayed, as she pulled out her stitches!  I was absolutely amazed at how quickly she started to heal up, though, sweetie~pies.  She had the op on the Thursday and had pulled out those pesky stitches by Friday morning ~ and the skin was starting to knit together already!  How incredible is that!  We took her back to the vet and luckily she was able to just have the collar and not need to have any staples :-) 


As you can see, the collar is now off and Daisy is back to her usual self ;-)  She has recently discovered this comfy spot on the top of Beverly's wardrobe and happily spends part of every day snoozing up there now.  She is spending more time than usual upstairs at the moment as we have a house guest in the shape of my parents' dog, Jacob, staying for a few days.  Never mind Daisy, he is going home again tomorrow LOL 

Prayer for World Peace



















Dove of Peace ~ Giclee print



We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which we live and move and have our being.
We pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;
that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world;
that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;
that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;
that we may value each and every human being for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within, knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

We pray for social justice, for the alleviation of the crippling poverty that condemns millions of people around the world to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.
We pray for the children who are starving, who are condemned to homelessness, slave labour, prostitution, and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture even members of their own family.
We pray for the victims of violence and war, for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.
We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere, for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation, intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping, training for entertainment, abusive pet owners, and all other forms of exploitation such as overloading and overworking pack animals, bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

We pray for an end to cruelty, whether to humans or other animals, for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.
We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving and the strength we gain in loving;
that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;
that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;
that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

We pray for these things with humility;
We pray because of the hope that is within us, and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;
We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.
We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

prayer for world peace ~ dr jane goodall

Thursday 16 June 2011

The Thursday Poem






















The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost
(26th March 1874 - 29th January 1963)

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Jessi Arrington: Wearing nothing new




I came across this inspirational TED video on Kathryn's blog (Schoolmarm Style) and just had to share it here, sweetie~pies :-) 

Kathryn's blog is fab, too, so do go and visit!

Monday 13 June 2011

Start the week with a quote...




It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Sunday 12 June 2011

A little bit of weather ~ and some Morris Men!














This photo is a teensy wee bit old now, sweetie~pies, but I thought I would still share it with you.  For a while that evening, the sky was so beautiful that I just had to take a photo of it.
















We popped along to the annual Walsworth Festival last month but didn't get there until quite late in the afternoon so missed a lot of what went on.  Still, we were in time to watch the Letchworth Morris Men in action ;-) 
















It was a very windy day LOL














Aeroplane trails in the sky :-)
















And this, my loves, was the scene yesterday evening: hailstones, thunder, lightening and heavy rain!

Welcome to the Great British Summer LOL