'Rewired or Retired'?

'Rewired, not Retired' - that was the title of a magazine article I came across in the dentist's waiting room recently. I only had time to skim the article sufficiently to see that it was about people who had successfully begun a new career after retiring from their first one, before I was summoned to the torture chair.

"I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. 

So I do it three or four times a day." 

 Gene Perret.

But what an excellent and memorable title especially in the light of the recent 'shock-horror' announcement that the official retirement age will have to be raised to allow for the huge 'black holes' in the pension funds. I found it difficult to understand the outrage expressed by those interviewed by the BBC because I am well past so-called 'retirement age', working all hours and wouldn't have it any other way. Well, to be honest, I'd prefer not to work quite so many hours, but the idea of retiring is something I don't even think about! Ever since I was entranced by a programme on TV many years ago, about a couple who, on reaching that magical age had bought a canal longboat, done it up and turned it into a thriving business, I've felt strongly that  'retirement' is not for me.

"Retirement kills more people than hard work ever did." 

Malcolm Forbes.

I can see that things might look very different for anyone who has slogged their way faithfully through forty or so years of a job that they didn't much like. Probably the thought of retirement at a certain point would be all that kept them going and to have that prospect of freedom and leisure delayed, even by a year or two, might seems outrageous.

But when your worklife/career has been as 'intermittent' as mine has, because of family responsibilities and back problems, the opportunity to work more or less unfettered and consistently later in life is something I welcome. I've had a few shocked comments from people I've met, of the, 'you don't work, do you?' variety and the woman I saw about applying for Pension Credits was completely flummoxed about whether I was eligible because she had never come across anyone of my age who was working! But didn't Freud say something about work being one of the keys to a healthy life, a concept that the Humanistic movement has expanded upon?

For some people, that sudden release from what they regarded as a prison of daily drudgery can bring all sorts of emotional problems they hadn't anticipated -

"When a man retires, 

his wife gets twice the husband 

but only half the income." 

Chi Chi Rodriguez.

Recognising this, classes have been set up to prepare people for their changed situation. Here's an excellent article about the pyschological hazards of retirement. Once they have taken the cruise they had promised themselves and sampled the habit of getting up late, they may begin to miss the structure their work gave to their lives, they realise they are no longer needed, no longer part of something bigger than themselves. They may begin to perceive themselves as being 'on the scrapheap' and the freedom they had so looked forward to can feel more like emptiness.

The often poignant BBC sitcom of a few years ago, 'Waiting for God'  comes to mind!

"Retirement is the ugliest word in the language"

Ernest Hemingway.

So it came as a bit of a puzzle to me when a Greeting Card Universe reviewer insisted that I should put some  of my 'Enjoy your Retirement' or 'Best wishes for your Retirement' cards in the 'Congratulations' category!! What is there to be congratulated on? Having finally reached the end of the line? Having stuck it out all those years? It seemed a ridiculously inappropriate categorisation to me, but I went along with it, on the grounds that the reviewers know what's best for our greeting card sales - or maybe I'm missing something?

What do you think?

These two 'retirement' cards perhaps reflect a difference in attitude to retirement between men and women. The man now has time to stop and listen to the birds singing; while the woman is rejoicing in her new-found freedom! Probably something to do with the hormones!

  

These three embody the idea that somehow retirement brings with it 'peace and quiet' - maybe it does for some?

       

And these are the result of my 'naughty' pencil getting up to its old tricks yesterday!

 

Retirement Greeting Card by helikettle

Retirement Ringer Mug by helikettle

Men's 'Jogger' T-shirt by helikettle

Onwards and upwards...

Lavenders Blue, diddle, diddle, Lavenders Green...

Did you have to sing that silly song at school? I did and it always annoyed me because even as quite a young child, I just knew that lavender is neither blue nor green - it's, well, it's 'lavender'! Though I'd probably have described it as 'purple' as a child.

About five years ago, I bought five miniature lavender plants from an artist friend who had given up painting to help her son set up a garden centre. I had fond memories of the lavender bushes in the garden I grew up with but knew that my present garden was too small for lavender on that scale so the miniature ones seemed perfect for the job.

But there's nothing miniature about them now!

This one almost blocks the pathway round to the French Doors of the dining room where I mostly work! But I don't really mind because, even in Spring and Autumn, when there are no flowers on them, they give off a wonderful scent. Very relaxing if I happen to be working close to them, planting bulbs or sowing seeds - and the butterflies seem to adore them!

Now I could write about the wonderful properties of lavender, the many comforting and healing uses for its essential oil and how it got its name from the Latin word 'lavanda', meaning 'thing to be washed'. But you probably know all that and if you don't and are interested, Wikipedia will tell you all you need to know!

Just one thing I will mention though, that Wikipedia leaves out - a few drops of essential oil of lavender, even fewer of Ylang Ylang and fewer still of Vetivert, sprinkled in a warm bath will give off an aroma that has to be experienced to be appreciated! Sadly I lent my excellent book of aromatheray 'recipes' to an aromatherapist and never got it back but that mix I do remember, even though I haven't been able to remember the author's name to try to track down a replacement!

I think lavender is sometimes associated with old ladies, which is a pity. Perhaps it's because nobody except VERY old ladies puts lavender bags amongst their linen to keep the moths away these days or dabs their brow with lavender water. We've grown more sophisticated in our tastes though sometimes 'old' ideas are recycled and become all the rage! I was pleased to discover that lavender is making a come-back as wedding confetti, as an alternative to rice or those paper horseshoes and bells that just hang around on the pavements after weddings, looking untidy and a bit sad.

So I've created a few 'lavender' products for my Zazzle store - I think these stickers would add a special touch to the envelope of wedding invitations, or even a letter or card of condolence -

'Sweet Lavender' Stickers by helikettle
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And, of course, I had to make a mug!

'Sweet Lavender' Mug by helikettle
Create mugs at zazzle.co.uk

'Lavenders Blue, diddle diddle...'  - oh really!!!!

A Smile on Sunday

Has anyone come across this pair?

Painting 'en plein air'

Does anyone paint 'en plein air' these days? This wonderful, now quite elderly artist, Meg Stevens, who lives and paints not far from where I live, certainly does! Not shown here are her snow paintings but she has said on the subject of painting outdoors -

“Every picture is a fight. It wouldn’t be worth doing, I suppose, if it weren’t. One suffers cold, heat, stiff neck, tennis elbow. Brolly springs a leak, blows away. Easel collapses. Seed’s in one’s socks and prickles in one’s pullover! I can’t decide if it’s me fighting to find how to say it or the picture fighting to get itself said. That they do get themselves somehow said is not a tribute to my skill, but to the beauty which,in spite of all that we do to our environment,insists on breaking out wherever it finds the smallest chance”.

I used to go forth with my sketchbooks and paints before the advent of the digital camera. I produced mainly thumbnail sketches but sometimes the full works!

Last month Carole Barkett posted some photos of deer on her Country Mouse Studio blog, when they were tame enough to come right into a built-up area. And it reminded me that there are hazards in painting outdoors; not just the wind that blows the paper about or the spots of rain causing 'interesting' effects or even  the biting cold that turns your fingers numb. (Yes, you've guessed it, I love the colours of the winter landscape so much of my sketching was done in less than favorable weather conditions.)

All those hazaards I have coped with and I've put up with the grumbles of my family as they stamped about trying to keep warm while I finished my sketches. What really put me off forever was something a bit more unusual!

I was in Knowle Park, in Sevenoaks, a lovely area surrounding Knowle House, where, if you're very lucky, you may just catch a glimpse of the deer for which the park is famous. It was nearly 40 years ago and of course, it was winter. I decided on a view that I wanted to sketch and it involved perching quite precariously on a steep grassy bank overlooking one of the avenues of trees.

Totally absorbed in my painting, it was a while before I noticed a shuffling, rummaging sound and when I eventually looked round to see what it was, I almost froze in terror. Several large deer, complete with antlers, had silently crept down the bank from above me and were rummaging enthusiastically in my bag of watercolours! I'm not sure which frightened me most, the apparently huge deer looming over me or the fear that they would eat my expensive tubes of paint!

Somehow I managed to gather up my things and 'escape' - though I'm sure they wouldn't really have done me any harm. I've dug out and photographed the watercolour painting that eventually resulted from that afternoon's sketching:

Notice that it doesn't include any deer! Whereas Carole has made the most of her close encounter and created some lovely products for sale through Zazzle: here are my personal favourites -

Deer Mug by countrymousestudio
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Deer Baseball Cap by countrymousestudio
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Deer T-Shirt by countrymousestudio
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Happy outdoor sketching to those who are brave enough - and watch out for the deer!

July Garden Update

With the change in the month came a change in the weather - our first real rain for weeks! In Wales, usually known to be unrelentingly wet, this first half of 2010 has been the driest since 1929 and the second driest for 100 years! So the heavy rain at the end of last week was welcome for the garden and fortunately it came in the night and  brought to an end the really hot weather, though it's still been pleasantly warm.

It's also brought with it a noticeable change in my garden with many of the flowers that made late May and June so glorious, past now their best and the later flowering plants not quite reaching their peak. I look upon it as the garden taking a bit of a rest after the abundant, almost extravagant displays of June. 

My Alchemist climbing rose went from this:

through various colour stages,

 - to this:

- and is now in dire need of dead-heading! But it's really earned its keep, not only in terms of the pleasure it brings but it started me thinking about occasionally using photos for greeting cards, something I hadn't previously done very much.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the predominant colours of the garden change with the seasons? We begin with the yellows of primroses, daffodils and crocuses and the purples of bluebells and yellow and blue irises in Spring.

Then the early summer flowering plants seems to be predominantly pink, blue and white,

while the later flowers tend to be bright reds and oranges.

 These nasturtiums in my kitchen window-box are just beginning to peep out from behind their rather over-sized leaves.

And my organic runner beans, planted rather late in a tub, are just beginning to flower - red again!

It's been really difficult to photograph flowers this year because we've had such a windy few months and the plants tend to sway around vigorously, which my camera doesn't much like!

The big white daisies are getting going -

Mine never stand up straight because the high walls mean they have to lean forwards to get the light - but I rather like the way their stems curve!

I moved my lilies last Autumn and they seem to be sulking, producing mostly just one bloom at the time -

And the self-seeded Californian Poppies are a bit thin on the ground this year.

It seems to be mostly the orange and red flowers that succumbed to the very low temperatures last winter, though my lovely red salvia that I thought was well and truly dead, has sprung a few new green shoots recently. Probably too late to flower this year, but at least it's alive - as is the Spanish Jasmine in my front porch, which looked thoroughly dead until a couple of weeks ago! I always give plants the benefit of the doubt and don't immediately remove the dead-looking ones for the sake of tidiness -  and I'm invariably rewarded for my patience.

Of course there are exceptions to the colour pattern I've described but it seems to me to be striking enough to make me wonder whether there's a scientific explanation - maybe to do with the amount of daylight available?

Earlier today I enjoyed a picnic lunch in the Linda Vista Gardens (above), celebrating the birthday of one of our Walking Group leaders. It's a beautiful terraced garden, sloping down from the edge of the town to the Castle Meadows, open to the public but as not many people know of its existence, it tends to be little frequented, except when the ABGV Borough Band puts on a concert of a summer evening. (You can see one of my pastel paintings of the audience on Red Bubble.) It's one of the most peaceful spots I know of around these parts, with a view of the Blorenge mountain, and one of my favourites places to go to take photos. Today there were still plenty of roses blooming as well as all sorts of lesser know plants and I had a field day with my camera! So if anyone needs flower photos for reference for a painting, please just ask! It's quite likely that I'll have something suitable on my poor groaning computer!

Sweet Pea Mug by helikettle
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'Giant Sweet Peas' Tote Bag by helikettle
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'Giant Sweet Peas' Keds Shoes by helikettle
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Watercolours to die for!

I was planning to post an update on my garden today. But then I happened upon a wonderful watercolour artist, Ruth Steinfatt, through the Greeting Card Universe forum and decided the garden could wait until I've shared her lovely work with as many people as I can!

Ruth told me,

'I didn't get started painting until I retired and it really has fulfilled a long time dream. Flowers are my first love but I also find living on Vancouver Island I do a lot of coastal scenes. Watercolor is my choice of medium  and to take a blank piece of paper and watch your image appear never fails to thrill me.'

Ruth teaches watercolour painting and if she could teach me to paint half as well as she does, I'd willingly reconsider my views on whether art can be taught! Her flower paintings, in particular, have such a sparklingly fresh quality about them that I was curious to know whether she paints from photos or from the plants themselves. Here's her reply -

'I paint from both photos and the real thing.  I just finished some sweet peas that I did sitting in my garden.

'I find painting from a photo just fine providing you take lots of pictures of the stem, leaves, and the flower from different angles so you can have an interesting composition.    LIGHT is the main thing that you want to capture so early morning or mid afternoon will give you the most intense shadows.  Light is what makes  your paintings sing!'

'Collages have become great fun for me as well... using old sheet music covers, watercolor and acrylic mixed.  I also have started mixing acrylic and watercolor for a different effect -'
 

Ruth has a Zazzle gallery  and she also sells her work through Greeting Card Universe. It was a real challenge for me to decide which of her cards to show here as they are all so beautiful. So I chose a variety of subjects from Ruth's GCU gallery to demonstrate that she doesn't 'just' paint flowers! (But I couldn't resist the 'Peace' roses!)

     

        

You can find out more about this inspiring artist and her amazing work on her blog, 'Painted Words' and on her 'Wildwood Watercolours website.

And, by the way, I've also just come across Michele Webber's latest Squidoo Lens which is packed with useful information about understanding watercolour paints. I doubt whether you'll find a much better source of  information on this subject!

Sunday Smile Spot...

....especially for those who are fed up with the World Cup. (footie fans would maybe enjoy it too!)