Spring continues.

Sometimes there is so much going on that it becomes difficult to identify any one individual item.  Lives get busy with a mixture of "good" and "bad" and all we can see is a confusing picture where nothing is clear.  If it is possible to look at things one at a time then we're more likely to enjoy the "good" and be able to deal with the "bad".  

The dining room tulips are pretty well lost on the shelf among all the other bits and pieces ... some of which should be there but other items really ought to be put in their proper places: the recycling bin for an empty box, the camera bag for the Gorilla Pod and the kitchen cupboard for the recently purchased tea pot.  Maybe if that were done then the tulips would stand out more dramatically. 

These signs of spring continue and shops are now filled with fresh (home grown) daffodils, tulips and other spring flowers.  

I won't buy flowers that are grown in Kenya where workers are paid a pittance have to to tend the plants in unhealthy chemical laden atmospheres; and where the deep bore holes deprive neighbouring farmers of precious and very limited water supplies.  This is one of the global issues about which I'm very passionate.  I know some of the Kenyan people affected and have seen what these multi-national flower farms do to the local community.  

These are two heads from a small bunch of tulips that I have on the dining room mantelpiece.  In order to show them off at their best I had to remove some distractions.  

So, looking for simple surroundings I headed out into the garden on what feels like a spring evening.  The birds are singing and the air is warmer than it has been.  Now, don't get me wrong ... we're not talking barbecue days just yet!  But it is milder although still rather damp underfoot.  It has been about eight degrees Celsius today and that's forecast for the remainder of the week.

I had a choice of two dark surfaces ... having worked out that the tulips just didn't show up properly against the pale creams of the house walls.  

The coal house door has vertical boards and is painted gloss black ....  the shed is made from horizontal boards and is matte chocolate brown ... the latter combination pleased me better so that's the 365Project selection.   

Distractions removed the tulips appear at their best.  And stepping back to try to identify the separate items on the shelf means that those things that can be dealt with are now sorted.  Altogether a very satisfying photo-shoot this evening and reminder to deal with life, and all its confusion, one bit at a time!

Take this moment, sign and space;

take my friends around;

here among us make the place

where your love is found.

Take the time to call my name,

take the time to mend

who I am and what I've been,

all I've failed to tend.

Take the tiredness of my days,

take my past regret;

letting your forgiveness touch

all I can't forget.

Church Hymnal number 598  (verses 1-3)

John Bell (b 1949) and Graham Maule (b 1958)