Chilly evening

 It is getting harder to keep up the motivation to go out and get exercise with these frigid days of winter. Yesterday I was all but resigned that my walk was too much effort, especially as the snow began to drift down again, but I gave myself a Good Talking To. I had noticed that sunset and low tide would coincide, so despite gathering clouds I told myself I would regret it if I didn't pop down to the seaside just to see - after all I didn't have to get out of the car did I?

And, as the wise Sandra Brownlee says "you have to begin ... that's all you have to do" and once you've begun things flow from there, though I often forget this and get stuck in "not doing". So I hopped in the car, grateful for the heated steering wheel and seat, and drove the short way down to the seafront, snow hissing on the windscreen, to see what I could find.

There weren't many folk there, but the tide was low and the sun was glowing from behind the snow clouds, shining on the wet sand all the way round the bay to Eastbourne, with Beachy Head and the Downs, dusted with snow, in the distance

Folk were walking along the shoreline, dogs prancing and dancing on the sand

And the De La Warr Pavilion was looking rosy in the evening light.

Well worth the effort of just beginning; beauty to delight, the brisk evening air to refresh and a walk to invigorate and add to my step count for the day.

Bridget Riley

On Friday we had the pleasure of attending the opening of the Bridget Riley Curves exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion; doesn't that sound delightful?

It was indeed fun, interesting to move from the serene cool view from the balcony above, 

down to, and through, the bruising cacophony of the in crowd seeing and being seen, glasses of wine delicately tilted as ears reached avidly for the latest witticism, then .....

...... into the cool curves of Riley's early works. They dazzle and delight with the singing nature of colour, even those that are simply composed of warm and cool greys. Some I found quite entrancing, others, the more recent works, I was less sure about

but with so many wandering round, it was hard to feel her works the way I believe they were intended to be felt, moving in and out of the shimmer of colour playing with more colour. I shall go back at a later date, in the quiet, with the cool light of the sea behind me, and see how they feel then

this fine jacket belonged to a gentleman who was most taken with my tattoo, cradling the top of my arm gently to present it to his lady friend ..... "did it hurt?" he enquired, "yes" .....  "how long will it last?" .... "as long as my skin I hope"

It was a gently teasing exchange, which pleased the three of us I think

a day of contrasts

Yesterday was a day of wonderful contrasts. In the morning, the sun was shining in amongst the clouds and spring breezes and during a quick wander in the garden I saw the first bumble bee of this year. He was bumbling busily, and buzzily  about the early blooms, particularly taken by a hellebore we planted last year. I had hoped to catch him as he rummaged about it but he flitted off before I could take my picture. I love the way these rather shy, delicately coloured flowers are complemented by the steely silver, prickly leaves.

Two more hellebores are currently in pots on the patio, this one with it's bashful yet incredibly vivid rich pinky purple flower heads is another bought one; the one below comes as a seedling collected either from my dear one's daughter's garden, or from Cecil's cottage;

we have about 15 seedlings in various stages of growth, destined to be dotted through the garden in friendly groups to enjoy themselves and mix their genes with those we have bought. As ever, I love the idea that plants in our garden will speak to use both of themselves and of the people with whom they are associated - the garden as memory.



The crocuses were shining like golden stars in the grass, nestled at the feet of these daffodil stems, which have buds but not quite flowers as yet

Then there were the snowdrops. This one, with a tiny cyclamen just visible in the background, lives in a bed that I'm hoping to plant with a woodland feel. It's near the house, and I'm also planting primulas in a variety of colours, again in the hope they will self seed and interbreed, both with each other, and with the native primroses that are dotted about. I also have some snowdrops taken from Cecil's front garden, which I thought I'd lost, but which have overwintered in their pot, carefully husbanded down in the kitchen garden and are now nodding their heads on the patio along with the hellebores. They will be planted beneath a maple that Mum bought for me years and years ago, which has lived in a pot until now. I wanted to keep it with me through all of my house moves until I found the place where I knew I was going to stop. Last year it was given it's home in the soil.


So, a peaceful interlude in my morning's work.

Then, in the evening, we went to an event at the De La Warr Pavilion. We were given membership of this for Christmas and the tickets were offered free to members. It was a live performance of ISAM by Amon Tobin. I'd not heard of him before; it was not the sort of thing we'd have risked paying for as it was very much outside the good man's musical taste, though I had an idea what to expect, and expected it to be enjoyable. My dear daughter, rather indulgently, offered me ear plugs because - "it's going to be loud Mum" .... "yes dear"

It was, without a doubt, one of the most amazing gigs I've ever been to. A completely mesmerizing combination of sound, light and image, I cannot begin to describe it, but was on the edge of my seat almost the entire time. All I can suggest, is that you pop over to his website, or check out some of the clips on YouTube to get a brief taste of what it was all about. The music was the sort of sound that lodges deep in your chest, vibrates through your body and sends a shiver right through you from head to toes, and the images, projected onto a structure of white cubes, one of which housed him, took us through galaxies, past spaceships, firestorms, rippling water and tumbling blocks of colour and light. It was astonishing!