Back in Blighty after the big skies of New Zealand last month, I was engulfed by domestic chores, lurgy and apathy in front of the everlasting cold weather (any excuse, I know...).
But with the sun out again at last, my energy has returned and been directed towards the garden, in an attempt to revamp the veggie patch...
Obviously in an ideal world my energy would increase tenfold on demand to tackle simultaneously: the neglect of my professional life as well as the one of the walls we live in, the hours of reading in the books sitting near my bed, the kilos of earthenware clay needing wedging - I discovered a couple of years ago that I really liked playing with clay and surface decoration techniques - the many recipes collected over the years that I still haven't tried, the exhibitions not visited yet and closing soon, the list is endless and should include saving the whales and relieving hunger in the world obviously.
But I'll start small and dig the veggie patch... it won't earn me any money but it will keep the family in organic vegetables for the summer, and we won't have to buy overpriced, over travelled and over fertilized salad for some months.

I do hope I have inherited the genes of the women in my family, as they died in their late nineties with their brain intact, and most of their faculties still there. I'm always hugely pleased and hopeful when I come across people like Elsbeth Juda or Sabine Weiss (radio interview in French, click the following link for some of her images ) who, at 101 and 89 respectively, not only boast really rich and varied works but are also still engaged in the world.

So, back to the garden, graced first thing this morning by a fox; I do understand that the urban fox is essentially vermin, but such pretty vermin:

 And the tulips planted last October are coming out, the promise of imminent colour:

 

I'll get back to my bulging archive pictures in the near future ( I'm very careful about giving myself deadlines !)