A Time for Blossom and Ladybirds...

"Breathless, we flung us on the windy hill,
Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass."
- Rupert Brooke

This week the sun shone and the first blossom appeared, frosting the trees with frothy white flowers. Such a beautiful sight against the blue sky...

In my garden, the spots of red amongst the plants turned out to be ladybirds, and I rescued them as I went, moving them out of the way of my weeding hands and carefully transplanting them on more permanant residents...

By day the sun shone and we all enjoyed mornings in the sunshine of the garden....

... And by night the house was filled with the scents of hyacinths...

"Treading quietly, I slowly open my bedroom door and step out into the softly lit hallway.
With one sleep filled eye still closed I am stopped in my tracks, overwhelmed by the
sweet smell of hyacinths. Nostalgia steps forward and paints its hues into this
midnight scene, indelibly marking the moment. And as dawns grey light
heralds another day, it is the first thing I remember as I open my eyes."

- My Name is ZING

I hope your week has been a good one. x

Thought of the week
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,the whole world belongs to you.
- Lao Tzu


I am linking this post to week 28 of I Saw Sunday

And After The Mist Came Sunshine!

Earlier this week we awoke to a misty landscape.

"This morning wears mist like a shawl, a veil to disguise the swelling of the fresh green buds. Today, I can only imagine the traces of Spring laying swaddled in the fine gauze that March has casually thrown over her shoulders and wrapped around her still bare bones."- My Name Is ZING

But by yesterday we had the most glorious sunshine that drew us all out into the garden.

It looked like Spring had well and truly announced itself. The sunshine was like a drug and I soon felt quite intoxicated ... and achy too!

We are now at one of the balance points of the years - the Spring Equinox. So I wish you all balance and Sunshine!

I hope you enjoy the photos. . .

"Today the Sun shone huge sweeping golden beams, filling my room
and leaving no space for me inside. I put on my shoes and stepped outside,
just in time to join Spring as she arrived in my garden." - My Name is ZING

"Walking around
an early spring garden
going nowhere."
- Kyoshi

I was ably assisted by Bina one of my cats.

The other two were enjoying the sunshine, asleep in their cat run
(the big Aviary that you can see in the photo below.)

"Hands scratched and stinging, mud beneath my nails, I pull and gather, trim and cut.
Clearing the way for burgeoning new growth to see the Sun. Exhilarated by the
energy of the earth, I smile at my secateurs." - My Name is ZING

In the spring, at the end of the day,

you should smell like dirt. - Margaret Atwood

Thought of the week
"In order to cause a shadow to disappear,
you must shine light on it." - Shakti Gawain

There was a new midweek 'confession' this week. I'd love to know what you thought of 'the hand'? Are you one of the 99 percent? or are you in the 1 percent like me?
(So far it looks like my 99 percent theory is holding up!) :-)

I hope your week has been a good one. x

I am linking this post to week 27 of I Saw Sunday

All of the My Name is Zing posts are written by me.
They can be found here - My Name is ZING

I Have a Confession to Make. . .

This week I really must confess that this hand sticking out of the earth in my garden prompts negative reactions from 99 percent of people who see it! (Too many horror films, methinks.)

I see it as a positive, as an 'alive' earth reaching out, but then I am a bit of a hippy at heart. lol

I made the hand a few years ago with some left over cement. I filled a rubber glove with it and hung it on the line to dry. Actually I made a pair, but in peeling the gloves off of the other hand one of the fingers broke off! I did have the single finger pushed into one of my plant posts for a while. but people kept getting the wrong message. ;-)

So what do you think of my hand? Does it freak you out too?

This is the fourth of my new mid week posts under the title I Have a Confession to make. . .

I will be back next week with another confession. :-)

Weird Feelings, Book Editing and Nursery Rhymes

"These few quiet moments, as the sun dips in the watercolour sky and daytime trees become silhouettes etched onto the surface of twilight. The horizon is glowing flame orange, fading up into purple night. Stillness reigns, as a solitary bird sings another precious day to sleep."

- My name is Zing

Not much to tell this week. It has been a weird kind of time, with a strange sort of feeling floating in the air (did anyone else feel that?) I haven't been spending much time online as I've been editing my NaNoWriMo novel. I have done all the rewriting and the story itself is intact, but I am tracking down missing punctuation, odd gaps and places where I have shifted tense. The whole book thing was an experiment in trusting myself. I started writing without a plot and no idea of storyline, and just felt my way through. In hindsight, I am so glad that I went with my instincts on it all. If I had thought about it and planned and plotted, I would never have written this book.

"I was the world in which I walked." - Wallace Stevens

Also this week I developed a swelling under my tooth, so by mid week we had to drive the ten miles to our dentist to pick up two lots of tablets. While I was waiting at the chemist for my prescription, I popped outside and took this photo of my favourite statue. It was created to illustrate the nursery rhyme that the town in famous for. Are you familiar with the rhyme?

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes
- English Nursery Rhyme.

Better pictures of this wonderful statue can be seen here - Fine Lady Statue
A great picture of the statue and the cross can be found - Here

Thought of the week

"The place where you lose the trail
is not necessarily the place where it ends."
- Tom Brown, Jr.

Sorry that there was no midweek 'confession' this week :-)
I will endeavour to get back to my usual routine next week.

I hope your week has been a good one. x

I am linking this post to week 26 of I Saw Sunday

Seeds, Awakenings, and the Tipping of the Scales. . .

Things happen so quickly at this time of the year.
Nature is poised and ready and burgeoning new life seems to be bursting forth everywhere. One moment it is winter, and the next you can feel the spirit of spring walking through the land.

February ended with low grey skies but March bought glorious sunshine and called me outside into my garden with tales of seeds and dark earth.

This week I will let the things I have written on my blogs over the last seven days and the photos from my garden tell the story. . .

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart
and bring forth a flower."
- Shigenori Kameoka



The Last Day of February. . .
"Low cloud, grey skies, drizzle. Lichen covered stone. Catkins swaying in the breeze. Tiny new buds emerging from winter twigs. Forsythia's first yellow blazes in the shadows and the hardy evergreen sits solid in the rapidly waking earth." - My Name is Zing

"May the outward and inward man be at one." - Socrates

The Courage of Seeds. . .

Deep seeds, dark and cosseted
down in the black and fertile earth
pregnant with potential, pale green life
slumbers, awaiting the moment
that calls forth roots and surging life.
Seeking transformation, the
slender white shoots, climb
pallid and potent, imbued
with an urge to become,
they emerge into the light.

- Out of My Ocean

"I want to cultivate the seed that was placed in me
until the last small twig has grown."
- Kathe Kollwitz

"A spark in the sun, this tiny flower
has roots deep in the cool earth."
- Harry Behn

The Soft Footsteps of March. . .
"Dressed in the yellow light of her spring sunshine, March tiptoed in and left the door ajar. Winter shouted after her as she trailed new life. The coldness of his breath chilling my hopeful bones. For now they coexist, sharing the earth... but as each day passes the scales are tipped in the favour of Spring." - My Name is Zing

"Sow the living part of yourselves in the furrow of life." - Miguel de Unamuno

Here Again...

I walk in dappled shade,
bird song, my breath, a gentle breeze.
Leaf green and luscious, new life springs.
Wings swoop and swirl in playground sky,
veins flood with movement, joy at life
in its unfolding and perfect pleasure.
Singing flowers, a serenade in yellow,
daffodils salute, sun light paints
pavements and pale winter skin.
I rejoice in the great wheel turning,
Spring is here again...

- Out of My Ocean

Thought of the week

"Stop leaving and you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see.
Stop running away and you will be found." - Lao Tzu

I hope your week has been a good one. x

What is happening in your part of the world?

I am linking this post to week 25 of I Saw Sunday

Words and Photos - Susannah Bec.

I Have a Confession to Make. . .

This week I really must confess that my desk is no longer the calm and beautiful cat laden space it was when the photo was taken! It seems to have gradually morphed into a place of clutter. No room for the cats among all the encroaching things.

I searched out this photo for Pauls blog, where he asks for a photo of our work space.

In finding this photo, I realised that I have no idea how my desk has managed to become the mess it is as I sit writing this post!

So first thing tomorrow, the clutter will be gone. So that cats may safely roam my desk again! ;-)

Do you manage to keep your work space tidy? Or do creeping things take up residence?

* * *

This is the third of my new mid week posts under the title I Have a Confession to make. . .

I will be back next week with another confession. :-)

Photo Bina and Mitz on my desk.