Monday

Today is so beautiful, that I sit outside in the sun, only the little buddha statue for company but he  is surrounded by the bright yellow of crocuses reflecting the sun.  I am waiting for a bumble bee to appear but not yet it seems.  Blackbird makes an appearance and finishes off the pear core which I threw out for him yesterday.  My pair of doves are off somewhere on the green, normally they mooch around the garden either in the cherry trees, or the maple, all is peaceful.

Wandering back into the house I visit LS in his studio, he is sorting out the cedar hangers for two scrolls to be finished off. Taking photos I am given a talk on the concave and convex nature of these rounded poles, and take a photo of the scroll caps, looking at first like ivory, but they are not, ivory is not allowed in the studio unless it comes with a client's scroll.

Bone knobs, made by a lady in Kyoto in her small shop

Lengths of cedar wood, chosen because they hardly lose their resin over time

In actual fact they are bone, and have to have their centres filled in.  The intricacies of scroll fixing is interesting, by opposing the convex and concave nature of the two wooden poles you end up with a straight scroll, even though there is only a marginal fluctuation in the wood. 

There is something quite special with the anticipation of spring, everything is new, the tulip leaves unfurling alongside cuckoo's pint, which weed though it is, is also anticipatory of spring, I always let this wild plant go through to its red berry stage and then crush it beneath my feet, just in case any child think the berries interesting enough to eat, which of course they are not being poisonous.

Waiting for the flowers to unfurl is one of the great delights of the garden, my lilies need renewing as the bulbs get smaller each year, and I have a fancy for a white scented one, they fill the garden in the evening with a sweet perfume.  The same happens of course with the tulips if you leave them in the ground and do not bring the smaller bulbs on they gradually lose their stamina.
Edit; Lunch in the garden produces my first queen bumble bee of the year, it rests on the fencing soaking up the sun, and above my head Missie our solitary collared dove sits preening.  She has been bullied out of the garden by another pair, but if either one of us is out there she will appear and sit in the cherry tree, she prefers LS to me and is happy to keep him company when he paints the fence.

Missie

Buddha in everlasting contemplation

As an addenda to that read yesterday these words from the Dalai Lama,
'the need to act - TODAY. He says there is only two days in the year that nothing can be done.  One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow.