Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

I have been looking forward to last weekend for a number of weeks.  The Teen had a Girl Guide camp to attend so the Engineer and I decided to do something just for us.  In fact, as I have been allowing the Engineer to spend as much time building his workshop as he needs (and I've even been helping on occasion) he suggested we go to Kew gardens.  My mum in law, C, had suggested I go to the Marianne North gallery at Kew and had bought me a book on her work for last Christmas, so I was eager to go and thoroughly approved of the Engineer's suggestion.

 

So, on Friday afternoon we dropped the Teen off at her camp and then drove to London.  We had booked a room at a Travel Lodge near Kew Bridge.  I have to say although the room was a little tired it was clean and well equipped.  We had our evening meal in the hotel and the food was quite good, the bed was very comfortable and we both slept very well.

On Saturday morning it was sunny and bright - a perfect day for a visit to a garden.  The view from our hotel window was across to some maisonettes and in the front garden of one was a lady sitting in the morning sun crocheting a blanket; this made a smile for the rest of the day.

 

Breakfast was good and we were joined by what must have been a school rugby team from Australia, large teenaged boys with voices that cracked.  They were all polite and well behaved. There were a lot of other Australian voices too and one family who were from Wales.  They were all in London for the Rugby world cup which we had forgotten about until we tried to book a room for the Saturday night and found that the Travel Lodge was the only place that had rooms left.

 

After breakfast we walked over Kew bridge to the nearest Kew gardens entrance - Elizabeth gate.  It was a 10 minute walk which started on a typical city street, crossed the Thames and finished by a village green and cricket pitch and beautiful big houses with gorgeous gardens and huge ornamental gates outside.  The whole area near the Elizabeth gate had a nice feel to it.

Some Alpines and the dew of early morning

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day; we walked and walked, so much that our feet were hurting.  The Engineer liked the Alpine house as a piece of engineering, I just liked everything.

 

We visited the vegetable garden and I got very excited about the kale; it was such a wonderful colour that I wanted to take a leaf and draw it then and there.  I pointed out the carrot fence to the Engineer who had not been convinced about the whole concept when I suggested I grow carrots.  Next year it will be carrots and courgettes in our garden.

 

It was a lovely late summer's day and as we had arrived so early the gardens did not seem to get crowded until much later.  Just before lunch we went to the Shirley Sherwood gallery of botanical art to look at the works on display; some of it took my breath away, it was so beautiful.  The Marianne North Gallery was mind blowing too, not because of her work, which is lovely, but because of the sheer amount of it.  Every wall is covered in paintings - there is absolutely no space between them.  It really was an overload for the eyes.

I have no photographs of the art works as photography was not allowed in the galleries and I respected that, although some people didn't.

Victoria water lilies

 

We left the gardens just as they were shutting and went back to the hotel via a shop for some real milk for my cup of tea later that evening.  We had an early dinner and watched Dr Who and then the England - Wales rugby match which was nail biting. 

The following day, Sunday, we had breakfast early and drove home, stopping off at the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens at Wisley as it was on our way.   

 

Its a very different garden to Kew with some very formal areas which were beautifully kept.  There was a sculpture trail in the garden and many were very nice but these two were our favourites:  The hare is part of the trail but the bear is a permanent fixture.

 

After some lunch we drove back to pick up the Teen who had had a good time at camp.  I think I would like to revisit Wisley on a week day as it may be a little less crowded. 

 

I am now trying to finish off my pepper as I would like to draw some acorns and conkers, maybe a composition with both. 

My day

What a beautiful day it was today, warm with a gentle breeze.  Not like autumn at all, hooray!

I had a healthy breakfast:

A handful of strawberries and raspberries with a sliced banana and some shredded wheat crumbled on top.  Just add a pot of fat free yoghurt, yummy.

Then I hung out the washing: it was a little misty outside to start with but I hoped that would burn off.

Next I prepared another meal to go in the large slow cooker, once cooked it will be portioned up and frozen for later.

While the slow cooker was gurgling away I popped to the local garden centre.  I had a cup of tea whilst sitting in the sun and then bought some cyclamen, beautiful colours and interesting leaves.  The only down side was the Christmas decorations that were on sale, yes I said Christmas decorations!  No wonder this year is seeming to speed by, retailers are blending one season into another. 

It was so sunny that my sedum, which is usually covered in bees of one kind or another, was visited by a butterfly which stayed long enough for me to get a photograph.

While all my business was going on the Engineer was finishing putting the shingles on the roof of his shed.

All in all a busy and productive day.  I even started to do a pepper in colour pencil .....watch this space.

Cooking

Today I have been mostly cooking, stocking up for next week and longer.  If I cook my own ready meals it not only saves me time during the week but also saves me money.

Caribbean pepperpot stew in one slow cooker............

Pepperpot stew before it went in the slow cooker. Slimming world recipe

...........and a chicken curry in the other slow cooker.

My own recipe

My plan is to do a chilli as well and tonight it will be roast chicken for dinner.  The left overs from that will do us another meal and at least one lunch for work for me.

The Engineer is still busy putting the shingles on the roof of his shed.  He is making good progress although it does frustrate him that it seems to be taking so long.

I have finished one of my projects though.

The granny stripe blanket (pattern from attic24) is now complete.  I love the colours, just right for autumn.

SAD, colouring and watercolours

A couple of weeks ago I took the plunge and purchased a light to try and help deal with my Seasonally Affective Disorder.  It is not something I have ever really tackled before: I have just accepted that during the dark winter months I will get more down than usual. 

http://www.sad.org.uk/

But this summer I was hoping to come off the small dose of anti-depressants that I take.  Unfortunately this year has been particularly difficult for our family and I thought it wise to stay on the tablets for the time being.  So to combat winter (I don’t mind the cold, I just hate the dark and the rain) and on advice from a counsellor, I have started using the light for about half an hour a day from the 1^st of September. 

 

I tried to do some art during this time but the light is SO bright that it’s impossible so I have acquired an adult colouring book and I do that for half an hour.  It is brilliant (excuse the pun): I use pencils (cheap ones, not my best ones) and carefully colour each amazing design.  I use the same technique which I use for my colour pencil art work and I add shading etc.  It’s very soothing and quite addictive.

 

There are some positives to winter that I try and remember:

Snuggling down on the sofa next to the lit wood burner with a good book and some chocolate. 

Thick stews (just for me as the Engineer and the Teen don’t like them).

Snow, as long as it doesn’t last too long and I can go out and play and then go back inside.

Wrapping up with hats, scarves and gloves to go out on a cold crisp day. 

The sense that nature is waiting and sleeping ready for spring and that winter won't last forever.

 

I went back to my Wednesday morning art class this week and was brave; I didn’t take my colour pencils but instead took watercolours.  I am very comfortable with colour pencils but watercolours scare me.  I decided to paint a red pepper and my lovely art tutor demonstrated how to do washes.  She made it look so easy, .... its not.  It’s basically learning to control a whole new medium, one that uses water!  So below is my very first attempt, I can see where I have used too much water, not enough water and basically got a bit scared. 

 

I will keep practicing though.  It is nice to use a paint brush, there is a nice feeling to seeing the paint appear on the paper and feeling the paper underneath your brush.  I also didn't have very long to do this so its only about half an hours work, I will add some more to it later on.