Bluebell and Streptocarpus

This morning we ventured out by car to the farm shop at Stancombe Beech, near Bisley, about three miles away. CleanSteve went there often, in the BeforeTimes, and sold his photocards too.

Today we were shopping for fruit, veg and plants, as well as restocking Steve's cards. I was in charge of choosing the edibles, and to tell the truth, it felt like being in Harrods food hall, compared with the outlets I've been shopping in lately! Of course we had to queue, but we were both allowed in at once, and the staff were working flat out to restock the shelves. I've never been so happy to see good, fresh produce in all my life.

Somehow it was quite late by the time we got back and unpacked the goods, and I spent a great deal of time having brunch, because I really couldn't be bothered to go upstairs and do some actual work. By the time I got to my desk, the sun had come round the side of the house and was pooling on the little jar of bluebells, which I picked yesterday. Beautiful light!

I got my online customer orders done, and spent a couple of hours in the garden painting more giant rainbow hearts, and attempting to draw a labyrinth that is large enough to walk on, in a meditative way. I've been meaning to make my own packable labyrinth (for festivals?) since I modelled for a book that the company I worked for was publishing, twenty years ago. I now have the idea, but I don't know if I can buy unprimed canvas and prime it myself. It has to be durable.
 I think perhaps I'm trying to recreate my own festival in my own house, since the holiday I've booked on, in May, probably won't happen, and the festival, in August, is in doubt. I also think that quite soon we'll all be walking in circles. 

Still, I do appreciate the time to be creative. I haven't had this amount of time for years and years. For supper I made chicken Caesar salad, with the dressing made from scratch, too. That's a first. It actually turned out well, and in the process of looking for a vintage egg coddler ( because the dressing requires one coddled egg!) I found some incense and charcoal tablets that were NOT damp, unlike the ones I found in my former Cupboard of Doom the other day. I fired up the charcoal and burner, sprinkled on some incense, and hastily took it out into the garden, because it smelled so strong! It's from Prinknash Abbey, where I also used to work. I'll have to work on some gentler aromas for my home hippy-fest. I've already discovered some cowbells, bamboo wind chimes, and so on, and hung them up in my studio. Next step, I suppose is to organise the poetry readings. That'll be me, reading to an audience of... me and Bomble the cat.