genuine piece of magic. columbine flowers.

I only know one piece of real magic. Here it is. Aquilegia, or columbine, is a much loved early summer garden flower. Here is a lovely one from my garden,

It's a flower that those who love gardens know really well, and they are a delight in the flower border. The name 'columbine' comes from the latin 'columba' meaning dove. Have another look at the flower. Can you see the little doves?

And now you will always see them. And I think that's a genuine piece of magic.

poem. almost enough.

  in the garden a

bird sings the sky
is blue there is
no noise from traffic the
tree whispers leaves are
shining the air is
warm what a beautiful
quiet place

haiku. tagetes. summer flowering.

summer flowering
summer's here at last -
flowering bright against blue,
reflecting sunshine





Perhaps the summer really has arrived. The tagetes seem to think so!

floral ampersand. haiku.

Ampersands keep the seasons flowing. Here's my haiku;

open ended
seasons passing &
leaf & bloom & fruit & seed
& seasons passing

I have been drawing aceo floral ampersand cards to take to the fair at the Diffusion Festival Publishing Weekend in Cardiff on 25th & 26th May.
www.diffusionfestival.org

I am really enjoying my pointing finger pen nib. 

haiku. spring mosaic. fritillary

mosaic of spring -
each tiny piece put in place
creates the season













                                                          

I know it could still snow, and there will be frosts and bad weather, but the fritillary reassures me that the spring is here. All is in place, and all will be well.

Haiku. below zero

below zero
quiet caring night
carefully lays a blanket
over sleeping grass


                              When is this cold weather going to go away?

www.francescakay.co.uk

poem. beach huts. car park

long stay

parked up
until
the winter ticket
runs
out





I wonder how much it costs to purchase a car park ticket for a beach hut? And how you work out how many hours/months it is likely to be there?

www.francescakay.co.uk

Haiku. spring. different light.

Spring sunshine, changes -
a train floats above rooftops
swans float on green fields

www.francescakay.co.uk

Poem. Heralds of change. Daffodils

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Heralds of change

A splash of cold as

sharp spring rain is falling,

Nature wakes.

Stout stems and long leaves

moving in harsh spring wind,

New season comes.

Look at these flowers

glowing in pale sunshine,

Winter creeps away.

Bright trumpets pointing

through spring to summer glory,

The world is turning.

Wild daffodils are my favourites, so dainty and yet so hardy in the cold days of February and March. 

This poem has rather more capital letters and punctuation than I usually use, but it's spring, so why not!
 www.francescakay.co.uk

Haiku. frosty morning. March 1st

March 1st and the garden is shivering, waiting for the thin warmth of the spring sun.

daylight

early spring morning -
sunshine slowly unbuttons
a cold coat of frost

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Poetry. Snowdrops. Radio

Here is a link the Jason Mohammad radio programme on Radio Wales for last Friday, 22nd February. At the beginning of the programme I talked to Jason about snowdrops, and read my poem At Last, which celebrates snowdrops and the ending of winter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qsqxy

Here's the poem, it's from a collection called Garden Seasons.

No stopping it
as buds swell and soften
the silhouettes of trees

No stopping it
as the birds sing
of each day lasting a little longer

No stopping it
as the air, though cold and grey
now tastes fresh and new

No stopping it
the Spring at last,
and the garden is waking

Frost can grip the soil
but snowdrops burst through

Nothing holds them back,
those first small drops
in the great spring flood that
sweeps away the winter

www.francescakay.co.uk

Haiku. cake ingredients

I always think about where ingredients come from, and I love the idea that the seasons and sunshine from a far off land arrive in my kitchen and are transformed into cake. Perhaps that's why cakes taste so good in the winter.

cherry & almond cake
comfort of warm fruits -
ripening in distant lands,
homely sunshine taste

www.francescakay.co.uk

Powercut. Silence. Dark.

                                     I love it when the house falls completely silent.

Winter. Haiku, Cold

A Travelling Snowman.

 Here is a rather wistful snowman on top of a car in Hay on Wye yesterday.

I think snowmen are probably always conscious of the brevity of their lives, but this one has more than just the thaw to think about.

Merry Christmas - Dancing Trees

Merry Christmas from Francesca and the Dancing Trees

Autumn haiku

                                                 The pears are ripe now -
                                                 Each curve recalling blossom,
                                                 Summer sunshine, rain

All is Safely Gathered In - Harvest Time

Now the wheat has been harvested, I can ride in the stubble fields.

The sun is shining and Thomas and I are alone in a gold and green field.

My favourite pictures are those with Thomas's head in the foreground, as I capture the view we can both see.

The view from a horse's back is the best in the world.

Wordsworth's Daffodils

This is the beautiful wild daffodil. It's the flower that Wordsworth would have seen.  It's small and dainty, and has a subtle charm that today's larger and more brightly coloured daffodils lack.

 They have reminded me to look at the
famous poem again, and appreciate it.

These are in Turnastone Churchyard, which
earlier in the year was a carpet of
snowdrops.

Early Spring Flowers

 

The first flowers of Spring in my tiny garden