*winter roses and the waves of life

Pictures from short before nature was awakening.

Winter roses are such grateful plants, they opened their first flowers in the beginning of the year and are still blooming! The welcome rain made everything so lush and green, it is a whole other world compared to only a few weeks ago (like on those pictures). The lilacs are blooming very early this year and I just saw that the quince tree started to blossom as well. I moved my seedlings from my window sills into a cold frame box inside the greenhouse, so they are safe from the still cold nights, but develop into strong plants. When I do not work in the garden, I paint, write letters and read. I started to read "The Lost Bookshop" by Evie Woods and I enjoy it very much. When trying to work further on my last knitting project, I immediately knew that this phase is over now. More and more I manage to accept that everything comes and goes in waves in my life. It does not make sense to try to hold on to something, it only blocks me if I try.

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*Playing with the April winds

{Music: Beth – Relaxing Acoustic Guitar Harmonics Nature Happy Vibes – Oak Studios}

We had a stormy April so far, with the most beautiful peach bloom and lots of dandelion flowers. The winds invited me to play and we had daily visits from woodpeckers and pheasants in the garden. Our Easter was calm. I painted a lot and brought some blooming wild cherry twigs inside to decorate them and I made cherry cake and cared for my seedlings.

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*Birthday dogs & stamps

Recently I made this Birthday dogs pattern and decided to also make a matching stamp set for decorating my letters. I painted them with my kakimori brass nib pen, then scanned the results and prepared the right size in photoshop for the stamp company. I also transformed one of my bird paintings into a separate stamp which is the biggest stamp I ever made so far (apart from the ones I hand-carved in the past). I love how they turned out and already used them for different occasions!

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*interwoven

I don't know where the last two weeks have gone. I'm sitting here with some warm drink, the wind is howling and the fresh grasses are moving like the waves of a green sea in front of my still a bit tired eyes. Little seedlings are blocking my window sills and the lush pink of the peach tree bloom is glowing surreal through the dawn. On the weekend we have been walking along a feeder stream of the Kamp river and I saw a kingfisher for the first time in my life. I almost couldn't believe my eyes! Since my early childhood I was fascinated by this kind of bird, but never spotted one in real life. Contrary to two weeks ago, spring is now on the fast track, suddenly I feel like I am not able to follow all the tasks that are waiting all around me, especially in the garden. Yesterday the weather was pleasant enough to work outside the whole day and at the end of my works, I sat down on the ground and felt woven into the essence of all things. As if the air has changed its consistency and the borders of my body have dissolved.

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*Between apricot blossoms, spring sounds & ceramic angels

{Music: Tenderness (feat. Chris Coleman) – Tony Anderson}

Spring is slowly arriving and it is wonderful to be able to pick fresh greens for tea again and smell the fabulous scent of the apricot bloom, feel how the winds are getting more gentle on the skin, listen to all the pleasant sounds out there, just witnessing how everything comes back to life. My special visitor found also a place in this little movie and I'm showing some of the ceramics I made during winter and burnt  in the kiln recently.

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*Bandana scarf for Triin

This third Bandana scarf I knitted for my dear friend Triin. Somehow I had to think of her when I saw this deep cranberry red colored fine yarn and in this moment I knew it would be for her. I hope she will enjoy it just as much as I do!

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*spring flower heart

My first series of watercolor paintings of the year.

It feels good to play with colors again!

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*Poems under the oaks

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

{Mary Oliver}

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*Spring is slowly settling in & the short, but profound life of Walter, the Sunday's child

Slowly spring is settling in. 

Violets have started to bloom in cushion formations in the garden and I took the liberty of picking a few to make myself some tea. Their scent alone is the epitome of spring awakening. One of our apricot tree is also suddenly in full bloom and every morning I witness how the rabbits are grazing fresh greens in our garden. The birds are enjoying the rain that we had lately and so do I. We had the first thunderstorm of the year and it felt fantastic and somehow it's hard to believe that winter is finally coming to an end! I had wonderful 8 days with Walter, the moth that hatched in the middle of March, he really helped me to blind out my current physical state. I feel grateful for the time I had with him and already miss his presence. It's terrible that Giant Peacock Moths are more and more dying out because of the chemical sprays that people use. I don't understand how those can still be allowed. It's a real crime towards all life on earth.

It's hard to get over how adorable his face was!

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*Bandana scarf for Jana

Close-ups of the blue triangle scarf that I knitted for my dear sister. The pattern is from Susanne Müller, available for free on her ravelry page. Again, I used a different kind of wool and thinner needles, so I adjusted the number of stitches. I hope she will have good use for it! I find the size really practically.

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