world day of prayer

African Mirage : etched, painted & stained glass : janet driver

photos : Margaret Howard : early saffron-centered crocus

Our Almond tree looks beautiful with its early blossoms like bright stars against the dark hedge down the garden...it is still very young and rather straggly though, so another pruning job on the horison!... I'm just wondering if its a bit too cold for any bees to be around for polination... there have been fewer and fewer bees and butterflies compared with when we retired and moved to Wivenhoe...we planted a whole lot of lavender in our front garden and in the summer the bushes used to be full of bumble bees... until last year...how many of us have been unwittingly using neonicotinoid insect sprays that have been killing off the bees ? I was horrified when I got home and read the small print on a hand spray I had hurredly picked up from a pile near the checkout of a large local garden centre...I couldnt believe they would be selling this stuff at all, especially marked up at sale price just by the exit...so now I stop worrying about the insects and leave them to all the small birds flying around searching for food...and never touch that awful spray !

Claude Monet : R. Seine near Giverny

oil on canvas: janet driver : the Needles, Isle of Wight : afternoon haze

I happened to see this clever photo of a kangaroo that made me laugh, and I thought you might like to see it too...[ apologies to the photographer, as I do not know their name ]

I couldn't find any more of the paintings by Spencer of Christ in the Wilderness... but... you might like to read the Lectionary Essay by Debbie on www.journeywithjesus.net : "beasts & angels"...

Waking up in the morning : Stanley Spencer, from his series of paintings: Christ in the Wilderness

Christ in the wilderness:paintings series by Stanley Spencer... During the 1930's - 40's the artist planned to paint a picture for each of the 40 days of Lent to be hung on the ceiling of his local church so that people could come in to use them for meditation right through Lent... someone has remarked that the large figure of Christ in billowing robes would perhaps appear like large clouds as people contemplated the paintings... although sketches/studies were made for 18 of these paintings, Spencer only managed to complete 8 of them, which are now in a gallery in Australia... however if you would like to spend time this Lent looking meditatively at these paintings, then you might like the small paperback book "Christ in the wilderness" by Stephen Cottrell, which includes copies of Spencer's paintings together with the new Archbishop of York's reflections. I will also try and put some of these paintings up on this blog so that you may use them for your own Lentern reflections if you wish...

Christ in the Wilderness : Stanley Spencer

Ash Wednesday... beginning of Lent

Jesus is tempted...jesusmafa ... see more on curious christian.blog

something quitedifferentfrom the jurassic cliffs yesterday...light as a feather... which reminds me of Hildegarde von Bingen, the C 13th mystic who prayed that she might be like a feather on the breath of God... quite something from a lady who seemsto have been quite powerful in her day...

oil on canvas : Janet Driver painted with a palette knife after walking along these rugged cliffs in Dorset a few years ago...This was an experiment to see how paint could be applied with thick layers of texture by using a palette knife rather than a brush to give the feel of ancient layers of rock and grassy tussocks catching the sunlight... then I tried using the same method on the sea pouring into this cove and splashing up in waves that must have worn down the surface over centuries...however did these cliffs survive ? and how long before the waves break through the cave, leaving an archway into the sea?

from a walk along West Quay this looked such fun with several pots on top of one another...

Can you imagine the artist deciding to be tied to the mast of this ship in order to immerse himself in the experience of a snowstorm before painting this picture ? It has stopped snowing just at the moment and the sun is shining on odd shapes formed by the snow, making it look really beautiful despite the cold...I'm not at all sure I would like to be in the centre of a blizzard, but I do like this painting for cunjoring up the feeling of being in a snowstorm at sea so brilliantly...

another photo inexplicably turned upside down :(

oooops another photo has been turned upside down as it was added to my bog :( this was a January sunset... I didnt take it standing on my head...honest !

p ooooops another photo has done a flip flop and turned upside down... apologies, I cannot correct this !

...one of the first signs of spring ? :)src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fYYAlGsUudo/YBKu88qbIZI/AAAAAAAALiQ/1lsf-YFaG4kuPntHGWqgVhdahu9KiJiBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/CD3D954A-3C41-484A-8494-EBBE249751B7.jpeg"/>

We are often wealking past this house by the river these days...recalling the story of a pair of swans who befriended a lone goose, and apparently the three were usually to be seen together as a threesome along the river... recently we have only seen the white goose, all on its own...a little apart from the gaggle of darker grey geese gathering on the other side of the river, making quite a noisy din together... but then one day we couldnt hear the gaggling geese and noticed they had all gone away: presumably on their annual migration ? ... then, turning the corner at the end of the Quay, we saw that one grey goose had remained... for there it was, happily wandering in the salt - marsh beside the white goose, each following the other's every move...

...and yesterday they had clearly discovered something really tasty to eat down by the edge of the reeds...

I happened to come across this on the internet and thought you might also enjoy it ! [www.insnova.com for more t shirts...]

ginger cat chooses warm spot in glorious sunshine on a very cold morning...near river Colne, Wivenhoe.