A haiku a day...

Vendredi

I smell marigolds:

childhood garden scents condensed,

nostalgic perfume.

Samedi

Cicada tempo,

crazy insect jazz rythyms,

bedtime serenade.

Dimanche

Butterflies play chase,

spinning circles together

for an airborn kiss.

Lundi

Mushroom stroganoff:

too much wine in the sauce makes

for a boozy meal.

Mardi

Supermarket sweep,

miles of aisles, fill the basket,

then escape Carrefour

Mercredi

A balmy evening,

the nuns keep cool with icecream,

lick, pray, shiver, lick.

Jeudi

Lined up in the heat,

spontaneous siesta,

three peas in a pod. 

x

A haiku a day...

Friday

Belly catches up,

send out warning signs too late,

too much on my plate!

Saturday

Soaking in the bath

to the sounds of pouring rain,

wet outside and in.

Sunday 

Grouchy, tired me,

being my worst self as I 

refuse sweet slumber.

Monday 

Mascara hurry,

smudges appear, shouts break out

on the other side.

Tuesday 

May day, lilac skies,

magical clouds float, swifts screech,

the river flows by.

Wednesday 

Pre-meditation

I spy a butterfly perched

amidst my flowers.

Thursday

Erratic pixie,

swift and nimble as she plays

her magic fiddle.

x

Badger of the week (5)

Inspired by the design of a lovely skirt made for me by a friend, and my love of woodland creatures, I got the old sewing machine out last weekend and stitched up this crazy beauty...

I didn't have a pattern, it's just a long panel of fabric folded in half. The waistband is done using a thick piece of elastic - I measured the length by holding it around my waist and finding where it was comfortable. Then the top of the fabric is folded over and stitched down, making a sort of tube which the elastic gets threaded through. Then the ends of the elastic get stitched together, then the sides of the skirt are stitched and the bottom hemmed. And that's it - an easy peasy sewing project that took less than an hour to complete!

So where's this week's badger? Here! sneaking out from behind some berries, near a giant ladybird!

There are actually 2 badgers altogether as well as squirrels, deer, foxes, rabbits, butterflies, birds, raccoons, and more. I also stitched on this little heart shaped patch that I've had sitting in my sewing box for years, waiting for the right project...

And here's what it looks like on (excuse the slightly awkward pose). It's really comfortable, and because of the elastic waist, can be worn in different ways, high up on the waist or low on the hips!

A happy badger sewing project :) What have you been making lately, badger themed or otherwise?!

x

oh to be a butterfly!

It seems that the butterflies in my mum's garden like nothing more on a sunny afternoon than to flutter along to a certain purple plant and spend the day sun-bathing and lazily flapping their wings as they teeter on wobbly petal platforms which sway in the breeze. They spend hours sampling the pollen and hanging out with the giant bumble bees who also like to congregate there. When it was really sunny this last weekend, there was barely a flower un-occupied with a wingéd visitor. I snapped this red admiral showing off her glorious wings...

Up close you can see that the butterflies have really furry backs. Like a luxurious rug for the fairies and pixies that hop on their backs and get taken for rides amongst the flowers and trees giggling to themselves and clinging desparately on as they whizz around the extremely unpredicatable (and rather loopy) flightpaths that the butterflies so love to follow.

Here she is again seen from another angle...

Look how long and graceful her tiny thin legs and long twiddly antennae are :)

Nearby a small tortoiseshell came in to land/show off her beautiful wings. The markings were so colourful and intricate, ranging from tiger stripes (she's fierce!) to opulent blue splodges around a deep golden amber back...

And here's one of their bumble bee friends, feasting away. Making honey is a hungry business...

He's sat on a different flower - but it's still a purple one. They really seem drawn to all shades of lavendar and lilac and violet and plum. I think these insects must all be royalty of some kind. I wonder if there's a butterfly palace somewhere underground where they all head off to when the sun goes down. Each of them gets a throne and a little crown studded with teeny tiny diamonds and they sit around looking haughty and important, discussing world affairs and how much things have changed since the good old days when they were all wee young caterpillars without a care in the world. They don't need robes, what with their wings being so exquisite, but they probably all wear fancy princess shoes around the palace. Clip clop clip clop go their little royal feet as they parade for one another in the grand palace hall where once a week they host a glamorous butterfly ball, inviting moths and the bumblebees and sometimes the centipedes (but never the mean angry wasps). Every morning when they wake up in the beds made out of their old silken cocoons their ladies-in-waiting (ladybirds of course!) wake them up and fuss over them for a good hour, paying them compliments and catching them up on the local garden news. They bring them acorn cups of fresh dew and rainwater to splash over their faces and they comb their furry backs until they glisten and gleam. Then all the butterflies fly off to spend another day on the purple flowers back in the garden....

You never know, it might happen.

Anyway, yes, I think it would be rather grand to be a butterfly.
x

Flutter by butterfly..

Lately lots of butterflies have been fluttering across my path including...

1. A peacock butterfly in Snowdonia (chasing this lovely ended up with my stepping in a bog that was more than ankle deep. mmmm stale bog smell! Luckily I was very close to a mountain spring so I washed my toes clean. Nature giveth and it taketh away!)
2. A red admiral spotted in a field near Cirencester

3. A ringlet butterfly found in a lane near Cirencester. Even though it's not as colourful as some of the other butterflies, this little lovely was a delight to watch flutter about. It's wings were light and airy and it moved so quickly and gracefully...

4. A small tortoiseshell found in a field near Cirencester (a little blurry, sorry)

And finally... 5. A gatekeeper spotted on the Devonshire coast last summer. This is the butterfly that sparked off my interest and first got me snapping all these pictures

My photography skills (and camera equipment) are somewhat limiting, but it's nice to get more than just a glimpse of these ephemeral wingéd beauties and to be able to have another more careful look back home on the computer screen. I will learn all of their names, yes I will!

What butterflies have you spotted? Do you have a favourite? What are your tips for photographing these lovely flighty creatures?