Forgiving Night For Day

When I was in Perth WA I visited the PICA Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. Those of you who know me will not be surprised and would expect nothing less.

Jacobus Capone 'Forgiving Night For Day' exhibition was an evocative meditation piece, nostalgic, delicate and poetic, exploring how we process and express emotional states.

Below is my response to 'Forgiving Night For Day'

A new sun, a new dawn, a new day.

New bird song fresh and soaring up, filling the air with a cacophony of melodies.

With each new day, we are forgiven for the day and night before.

Yesterday’s Josie ceases to exist.

Today’s Josie exists moment by moment.

This morning’s Josie in the shower ceases to exist.

Josie eating breakfast ceases to exist.

As the day goes on Josie ceases to exist.

Every moment reborn, fresh, new, wonderful.

We are blind.

Senses, feelings, emotions our thoughts transient.

Walking and living with our eyes closed.

Forgetting to breath.

Josie’s childlike state ceases to exist.

Does Josie Exist?

Silence, stillness every day is peace.

Muses across the crease.

Are my memories real?

Have they ceased to exist!

In the past, out to grass.

Repeating patterns fingerprints and footprints everywhere we go.

Another glass of wine and another and another until nothing

There is no such thing as nothing?

There is always something!

My child like spirit sprinted through childhood wading through adulthood.

Dreaming.

Wishing.

Hoping.

Praying.

Begging

Another glass of wine.

Blue eyed Budgie baiting.

Logistics waiting.

Perverts masturbating.

Another glass of wine.

What happens when you open your conscious flow?

Like blue eyed budgie scratching around.

Soul to soul.

Sing.

Be proud.

Josie Bounds 

Be the change

Summer feels a long time ago as the winter weather bites even harder. How I long to be warmed by the sun, kissed by the moon and surrounded by the wonderful scent of the lavender in the garden. Walking in the paddock today I'm hoping for another bumper crop from the fruit trees. Last summer the peach, fig, pear, plum and apple trees gave us an abundant crop of fruit. Jay and myself made peach and pistachio confiture, peach and lavender sugar confiture and the most delightful tasting dessert sauce, which went very well with vanilla ice-cream.

The freezer is full of figs and I'm looking forward to making ice cream, drying the figs and of course making the obligatory confiture. During last summer we made sublime sourdough bread, unfortunately my starter has died and I am having to make a new batch, which brings with it new hope and aspirations for the coming year.

The potager is sleeping and I cannot wait to be able get going and start to grow our vegetables. I am enjoying poring over seed and plant catalogues and reading my trusty allotment gardening books, what excitement awaits! I am planning our next building project, the chicken coop and pig pens, getting ready to welcome our new members of the family in the spring time. Not too sure how our two Jack Russell's Penny and Justice will take to these additions?

Only six weeks to go before spring starts to arrive, there are signs throughout the garden as the bulbs are pushing their way through to herald the beginning of warmer weather.

I will leave the last word to Albert Camus, "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer" How very true!

  

Happy New Year from La Menantelliere. The new year brings hope, faith and love. Because, hope makes all things work, faith makes all things possible and love makes all things beautiful. May you all have all three in abundance in 2013.

We are looking forward to an plentiful harvest from the potager and welcoming the chickens, our new members of the family in the springtime. The chicken coop is under construction from reclaimed and recycled materials. I would especially like to thank Lou and Dan for the invaluable reference books on keeping small livestock.

Alice Walkers 'The Chicken Chronicles' a memoir is a lovely read and provided me with more inspiration and excitement at getting the chickens.

Our renovation programme is coming along nicely and thanks to Dom (website development) we are very pleased with the new barn conversion and the development of our website.

I am finishing on a note from Frederick Eden, A Garden in Venice, 1903. A garden is not made in a year; indeed it is never made in the sense of finality. It grows, and with the labour of love should keep on growing. And hopefully La Menantelliere will keep on growing from strength to strength. 

Madame Josephine xxx

la maison se dorer au soleil

la rocaille nouvelle

Lavender in the garden

lavender @ La Menantelliere

Last year we started to plan and make the foundations for the garden, paddock and potager at La Menantelliere. We planted 120 lavender plants, edging the formal paths leading you down to the what will eventually be the meadow area. I love lavender and there are lots and lots of varieties, I am not a lavender snob nevertheless looking back I have learnt that you do need to do some research and choose the variety and size of your plants accordingly, site and size specific!

Chateau des Pommiers

I have taken my inspiration from Chateau des Pommiers in Southern Burgundy, I can imaging walking down the path at La Menantelliere on a sunny day with a warm breeze being surrounded by the scent of the lavender bushes filling the air with fragrance. Lavender is one of the best fragrances and all around best aesthetic gifts from Mother Nature and so pretty too!

lavender shortbread

I love using the lavender from the garden in cooking, making beauty products and into pretty gifts for all my family and friends. I have used the lavender suger I made a lot in baking shortbread, fruit crumbles, cakes, rice puddings and cream.

Click below on the various links to discover lavender.

Hedge Nursery

Downderry Nursery

Thompson Morgan

I hope you enjoy discovering the delights lavender can bring to your potager and garden.

p. s. bee's love lavender nectar!

bienvenue sur mon petit morceau de paradis

’La Menantelliere’ is a lovely family home situated on the Deux Sevres and Vendee border between Poitier and La Rochelle. The surrounding region is of gently rolling countryside, with beautiful lakes and forested areas. The medieval village of Vouvant was recently voted as the most beautiful village in France is 16 km away and is a must for dining out. Only an hour’s drive from Poitiers (home of Futuroscope) and the impressive coastal towns of La Rochelle and Sables d’Olonne, the setting for this authentic property is perfect for a secluded holiday. Within easy distance are golf courses, lakeside beaches, sailing, fishing and horse riding. Many of the nearby villages have their own summer fetes and market days along with excellent, good-value cuisine that typifies rural France.

Please follow the link below for more information about La Menantelliere.

Owners Direct