Still Life

Pashley Manor was built in 1543. It remains today a family home which sits in eleven acres of gardens surrounded by glorious uninterrupted countryside on the borders of Sussex and Kent

It currently holds the coveted Christie's Garden of the Year award and is described as being one of the finest gardens in England.

The tulips which put on such a wonderful display last month have now faded and it will be a few weeks before the roses come into their glory

Right now the gardens are providing a stunning backdrop to an exhibition of about 150 pieces of modern sculpture all of which are trying to attract purchasers

Take a walk with me and look at just a few of the pieces I would buy If I could afford them
(Prices in USD)

Piggy back. Mary Cox. $2700

Reading Chaucer. Philip Jackson. POA

Not titled or credited $250

Lucretzia V. Lou Johns. $1300

Dreamer. Kate Denton. $4100

Bulls Head with plinth. Kate Denton. $4100

Jack Frost Creeping. Graeme Lougher. $2300

Skittles With Scarletti. Philip Jackson. POA

The Little Flautist. Mary Crow. $3400

Leaf form. Peter Clarke $800

Family. Bob Allen. $4400

Mr Bennet's Daughter. Philip Jackson. POA

Freeflow. Bob Allen $9100


That's it! I could have easily gone on and on posting pictures but I had to stop somewhere!

I suppose that a modern day non–Hindu mantra sits somewhere between a prayer, a habit and a superstition. It’s something chanted, listened to or carried out which somehow helps one to blot out all that is around thus enabling the mantrist (Is there such a word? If not I claim it as my own!) to focus on that which needs to be achieved and nothing else around.




I’ve been thinking about this. In fact as I was writing the first paragraph it occurred to me that I was muttering to myself! I’d never really thought about it before. I’m a very poor typist and even after years of banging away at my keypad I still often have trouble finding the letters. So I say ‘where are you little B’, or ‘come here you naughty W’ and the key magically appears!


I must just tell you this! I have problem with my keyboard at the moment. Because I tend to nibble cookies and things as I type I get a build-up of crumbs and other gastronomic debris between the buttons, so now and again I attack the keypad with my vacuum cleaner hose. Well, I got a new cleaner the other day because the old one packed up and went Hoover Heaven (not actually true, I took it to the community tip). For a long time it had got less and less effective and it sucked dust in at the front it blew it out of the back! I did wonder at one stage if the dust cloud hanging over England which stopped flights was less to do with the Icelandic volcano and more about my Vacuum cleaner! Anyway, I used my smart new black machine to clear out my keys yesterday and it was so powerful that it sucked up one of the letters! I only discovered which one had gone when I spelt the name of that black and white striped animal that looks like a donkey, ‘ ebra’!


I digress! The other thing I need is quiet music. It’s always classical and more often than not spiritual. Right now I’m listening to the Faura Requiem. Nothing too rousing or I go double speed and the spell checker throws its hands up in defeat!


My grandfather was a funny chap. He had a couple of mantras which he employed regularly. Every morning as  he shaved and went about his daily ablutions he used to quote the bible. I supposed it helped him concentrate on the task in hand. How, I really don’t know! But it wasn't any old preaching. His wife’s name was Maudy and he used to go ‘I’ll lift up my hands Maudy, and say unto him Maudy, father I have sinned against heaven Maudy and am no more worthy Maudy to be called thy son Maudy’. Come to think of it, Maudy had a sort of Mantra too. Her task was to make sure things were turned off before retiring to bed, and she’d wander from room to room tightening every tap and checking every plug muttering ‘off, off, off...!


Grandpa’s other one was more of a plea! If it was a sunny day and we going for a family picnic, he’d go out the back garden and point up to any cloud that happened to be passing and shout ‘Send it down David’ at the top of his voice in the hope it would start raining! Quite what David had to do with it I was never entirely sure!


You are probably thinking what a weird lot we are! But I bet if you give a bit of thought to your habits you’ll find you are not so different! Now admit it, when a black cat crosses your path, you spin round three times and spit on your little finger!




I've finished. Time to turn off the soothing music of Mo-art and stick on some Led -eppelin!

This weeks Carry On Tuesday prompt is right HERE!

Click once or twice on pictures to see bigger or BIGGER!


It was hot today, very hot, so I decided to take a walk in the forest under the shade of the trees. But I didn’t just go to any old forest! I went to the National Pinetum!

The Pinetum features over 100,000 trees and flowering shrubs.

Its claim to fame is that it has the most complete collection of conifers in the world with 7 specimens of each all at different ages to provide a continuing genetic resource.

The result is stunning, particularly in the spring when the trees are set off by hundreds of brightly coloured azaleas and rhododendrons.

There are mighty pines reaching high into the deep blue sky

There are tiny conifers hugging the ground

And all around blossoms abound!

I'll return in the Autumn. It'll look very different then!

Walking to work

What a difference a few days make!

Last weeks Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair never travelled anywhere unless cocooned inside a bullet proof Jaguar escorted by no less than six motor cycle outriders in an American style motorcade.

Today was new Prime Minister David Cameron’s first day in parliament and he walked there! He was accompanied by just two discreet body guards and surrounded by tourists!

He apparently said that to be sped through the streets of London ‘presidential-style’ would be pure ostentation!

Good on you Dave!

I gave you the key

I try not to repeat my posts too often, but this weeks prompt from Writers Island, the key, tempted me to break my rule! So here goes!

Don't forget to take part in this weeks birthday edition of Carry On Tuesday.


 Click HERE!

Rosey's recipe

This week’s prompt at Sunday Scribblings is one word, recipe. Well, I cooked for years. I was a chef, so when I read it my mind suddenly became a recipe book! Should I write out the instructions for creating Daube de Boeuf Provencal or would Viejas con Papas Aarrugadas be more suitable? Perhaps not!


And then my thoughts drifted back to the time my friend Rosey asked five of us to her pad for lunch. I remember that she’d been given a recipe by our mate Bernie for something called Prenez Garde de ce plat Eclate. He’d suggested she have a go at it. He was the first to arrive that memorable Sunday morning and he greeted us with a glass of plonk and a suspiciously knowing smile. Rosey was slaving away in the kitchen, wooden spoon in one hand and a glass of Chardonnay in the other.


It was one of those meals where everyone contributed something – Rosey had more than enough to do preparing the main course. I made some mushroom pate with which to start the feast and someone else had made a spotted dick and custard. Bernie brought wine, and a selection of cheeses appeared courtesy of one of the girls.When Rosey’s creation was safely in the oven we all took our seats and got started on my pate.


When we’d finished Rosey looked at her watch, squinted, then looked again before declaring that the Prenez Garde de ce plat Eclate was probably ready.Bernie took advantage of the space between courses to go out into the garden for a cigarette from where he watched Rosey through the kitchen window with a rapidly broadening grin on his face.


Well, I thought a bomb had landed! There was an enormous bang and the sound of a breaking window pane. We all jumped out of seats and Bernie dived for cover as shards of glass flew into the garden. Fuzzybutt and Scruff shot across the room and launched themselves into their basket. Rosey staggered into the room holding a half empty dish in her oven-gloved hands. Her face was blackened with smoke dust and she was wearing most of the main course all over her apron. It seems that just as she was about to open the oven, her creation exploded blowing the door off and shattering the kitchen window.


Needless to say Bernie was suitably chastened by what had just happened. Fortunately Rosey saw the funny side of it and started to giggle. In no time at all everyone was in fits of laughter. Even Bernie had a rueful smile on his guilt ridden face! He knew that the recipe was designed to explode, but not quite in the way it did. But then Rosey is never one to measure ingredients so it’s more than likely she put ten times as much of the offending constituent in than she was meant to! Interestingly, although a couple of us including Rosey could speak French,  no one realised that  Prenez Garde de ce plat Eclate translates as Beware this Dish Explodes!

Don't forget to pop across to Carry On Tuesday Just click HERE!

What a Carry On!

Carry On Tuesday is one year old! I have just worked out that I’ve spent a whole week of the last year trawling through novels, poems and songs to put it together! It’s not just picking the prompts that’s so time consuming, although I have to say it gets more difficult each week. It’s finding the bits of background for Carry On Tuesday Plus that gets me scratching my head, often into the early hours of Sunday morning!


So now it’s time to decide whether or not to carry on with Carry On! I tend to think that the amount of time I invest is disproportionate to the number of folk who join in. If I was working with a single word prompt as do our colleagues at Sunday Scribblings or Writers Island, it wouldn’t be an issue. I also have to consider the fee charged by our unreliable friend Mister Linky! Your thoughts would be much appreciated.


So, Carry On Tuesday # 53 is ready and waiting. If you’ve not joined in before, why don’t you have a crack at this week’s subject – it could make all the difference to my decision! Simply click HERE and you'll find yourself there!

The bluebell woods

Join me for a walk in the woods.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Under a canopy of fluttering beach leaves a carpet of bluebells rings in the sun filled days of summer. 

My contribution to True Colours Thursday