Very Few Things Beat Reading In The Sunshine

With the first draft of my fifth book completed, I  am now taking a hard-earned break in the garden with this great Stephen King novel:

Very few things beat reading in the sunshine

Berserk! Draft One Complete :)

The first draft of my fifth novella, Berserk!, has now been completed. And I am quietly happy with its mad denouement :)

Berserk! Story-boarding Chapter 12

Berserk! Cover Design

With the end of the first draft of Berserk! in sight, I have started work on the cover design for the book:

My original photograph of one of my local woods

Work in progress on the book cover for Berserk!

Epsom Salts and Nag Champa

Having a nice long epsom salt bath in the hope that it eases my continuing back pain. Burning some nag champa incense to soothe my soul...

Berserk! 2 More Chapters Needed!

Well, it looks like I need another two chapters to finish off the first draft of Berserk. This news has surprised me!

Story-boarding Chapter 11

Summer Solstice Writing

I sat out in the garden this Summer Solstice afternoon to do a bit of writing. By a fluke of timing, the chapter of Berserk! I was working on was set on Summer Solstice and details a Summer Solstice ritual. I love coincidences like this :)

A Misumena vatia Spider

I will conclude today's celebration of Summer Solstice with these two pics featuring a Peacock Lily and something rather curious I found lucking within its petals:

A Flowering Acidanthera Peacock Orchid

Misumena vatia spiders are curious little creatures which actually change their colour to camouflage themselves. The spider hiding in my Peacock Orchid was as white as the driven snow but this species can take on the most spectacular colours in their bid to surprise their insect-prey. I am no real fan of bugs, arachnids and other such critters, but sometimes the creatures you find amongst the garden flowers you grow can be just as fascinating as the plants themselves.

A Misumena vatia Spider with it's Breakfast :o/

Bee Resting On Arum Lily

It is not just flowers that flouring during Summer. Insects do too. Here is a shot of a bee taking a little rest on an Arum Lily in my garden :)

Papaver somniferum

More Summer Solstice images, this time of Papaver somniferum:

Lavendar in the Sunshine

Another Summer Solstice image - Lavender in bloom, backlit by an intense Summer's sun really does make for an eye-catching magickal scene :o)

A Magickal Scene ~ Lavender in the Summer Sunshine

Feverfew

Another Summer Solstice Celebration post, this time on a pretty little herb I found growing naturally in my garden - Feverfew:

Feverfew

Feverfew was used in medieval Europe to relieve many ailments, including inflammation, menstrual pain and general aches and pain. It was also used as a protective charm against plague.

One of my cats exploring a Feverfew plant

Feverfew

Feverfew

Field Poppy

An on my Summer Solstice celebrations rage, this time with a short post on the Field Poppy:

Field Poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are one of Britian's most vibrant and beautiful wild flowers. Given their delicate splendour, is is no surprise to find the flowers are rich in folklore and symbolism.

Most people know of the poppy's connection with Armistice Day (often called Poppy Day). This association grew from the WW1 battlefields in France, where the fighting churned up the soil and brought thousands of dormant poppy seeds to the surface and decorated the land where so many had died in swathes of the gorgeous red flowers. The colourful scene which marked the fields where so much horror had suffering and death had occurred is, perhaps, best remembered in the following poem, written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

Borage - A Beautiful Talisman for Courage

I continue my Summer Solstice celebrations publishing some of my gardening photography with one of my favourite plants:

Borage, a.k.a. Starflower, is famed for its reputation as a giver of courage and bravery. Just tucking one of its flowers into your pocket before a particularly stressful situation is said to be enough for this most beautiful of herbs to work its wonder. Such was this plant's mettle-inducing reputation that ancient Celtic warriors and Roman soldiers partook of its magick by drinking Borage wine before engaging in battle.

I don't know how true these claims for its courage inducing qualities are, but I am sure that their eye-catching splendour really does lift ones spirits.

Foxglove: A Velvety Cavern of Delight

In my third post celebrating Summer Solstice, here is a photograph of what I happened to glance inside a Foxglove bloom. I have to admit that I got spellbound for a moment inside its colourful, velvety cavern of delight:

The Interior Of A Foxglove Bloom