BEAUTIFULLY FRAMED.....

.....even if I say so myself!  I had been invited to coffee this morning with a friend I used to work with, but hadn't seen for many years and as it was about half an hour from where we live, I left in plenty of time just in case I got lost, although she had given me very good directions.

Because it was the first time I had visited her in her cottage, I didn't want to appear too eager, so had plenty of time to stop before the appointed time, and took quite a few photographs, thinking that if I got nothing else, then I would have a good enough blip.

How wrong could I have been?  The cottage was beautiful and the garden was amazing - nothing formal as J said she preferred not to have plants in straight lines.  There were so many beautiful flowers and plants - tulips, grape hyacinths, pulsatillas, primroses, narcissus, pansies, snakeshead fritilleries and aubretia - to name but a few, all tumbling over each other - I knew then that I would have difficulty later choosing just one photograph.

I was introduced to J's dog, Kanga (short for Kangaroo, as she used to be very bouncy when she was younger, the dog that is, and not my friend!) and having taken photographs of her, realised my choice was going to be even harder.

We had coffee and I was offered a home-made flapjack - well it would have been rude to refuse and actually, yesterday was my fasting day, so I decided to enjoy it - and I did!  There were two on the plate, but you will be pleased to hear that I resisted the urge to have that too!

However, the dog decided that it looked lonely sitting on the plate, so while we were out in the beautiful courtyard garden at the back, Kanga "snook in" and gobbled it.  I  must admit, I did wonder when J took our coffee cups out to the kitchen, why she didn't pick up the plate too, but I'm sure Kanga was delighted she didn't!

So - a lovely morning spent catching up with J and then I rang another friend who lived on my way home, so had another coffee catch up with her.

I then drove back through the countryside, stopping every so often to take more photographs of fields of oil seed rape, gateways, thatched cottages, sheep and lambs and generally enjoying the beautiful sunshine.  I have been truly blessed today.

“What I've always found interesting in gardens 
is looking at what people choose to plant there. 
What they put in. 
What they leave out. 
One small choice and then another, 
and soon there is a mood, 
an atmosphere, 
a series of limitations, 
a world.” 
Helen Humphreys : The Lost Garden

P.S.  Before someone tells me that this is "wonky" just remember this is the garden taken from inside a very old cottage!