Well today I have the feeling of everywhere making preparations! Getting ready, sorting and tidying! Ready for Summer maybe? The sheep in the field alongside the canal were shorn, looking pristine, a little naked but frisky and lighter in spirit and movement. In fact the lambs looked older and wiser than their mothers in comparison, with their new wool and even growth contrasted with the close cropped, slightly uneven finish of the newly clipped fleece. Bleating loudly as I passed the sheep watched me taking photographs of the exposed ewes and still fleecy lambs. Ready for summer?
Shorn Sheep and lambs.
Continuing my walk through Victoria Park the gardeners were out in force. Mowing with large ride-on mowers and people wielding strimmers, trimming around tree-trunks and lamp posts. Men with leaf blowers returning the leaves to the ground, clearing the paved areas and generally tidying up the park. The paddling pool was full of water and although a nip in the air at 9.30am a small child of about two with her mother inspecting the water with caution. The pool is ready for the half-term sunshine to make the prospect of paddling more enticing.
Arriving at Jephson Gardens the busy-ness continues with the previously stripped beds now being planted up with a new selection of flowering plants. The process of creating these formal flower beds is intriguing as each bed illustrates the order of things. Some beds with the earth tilled a rich brown and exuding an air of expectancy, some beds measured out and plants by the side awaiting a final position. Some discussion happening as the gardeners consult each other and their plans. Some beds with flowers already placed and firmed in looking smart and perfectly regimented. The surprise later in the summer will be the colour and succession of flowers that bloom with the usual vibrant and confident display.
Gardeners preparing Jephson Gardens Summer bedding display.
A newly prepared exhibition at East Lodge greeted me this morning. A bright and cheerful selection of the four East Lodge Studio Artists work. Helen Ballantyne, Bryan Kelly, Sueli Moreton and Gabrielle Rucinski. Please come and support your fellow LSA members and see this wonderful exhibition.
We are ready for Summer!
East Lodge Studio Artists exhibition.
Uplifting observations help give meaning to the beginning of summer and make it more real.
Yes, the flowers in the beds are always so beguiling and their arrangement suggests someone is very good at maths apart from botany.
The exhibition at the LSA HQ is full of poetry, colour, imagination and skill – these artists are the Picasso revolutionaries and will one day enter the cannon of art history.