Sing Forever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-mrYd1VKwc&feature=related

I will sing for you at the start of each day
I’ll sing forever, sing for you
In all things I do in the dawn of my life
I’ll sing forever, sing for you

Shutting out night, my life renewed
Happy for love that is to come
Opening eyes I’ll follow you
Glad to see, glad to be yours

Echoing what you say, echoing what you say
Shining out what you are, shining out what you are
Out of dark into your light

I will sing for you in the light of each day
I’ll sing forever, sing for you
In all things I do at the noon of my life
I’ll sing forever, sing for you

Shutting out night, my life renewed
Happy for love that is to come
Opening eyes I’ll follow you
Glad to see, glad to be yours

Echoing what you say, echoing what you say
Shining out what you are, shining out what you are
Out of dark, into your light

I will sing for you at the end of each day
I’ll sing forever, sing for you
In all things I do in the eve of my life
I’ll sing forever, sing for you

I will sing for you each and every day
I’ll sing forever, sing for you
In all things I do to the end of my life
I’ll sing forever, sing forever

Sing, sing for you

Midsummer

First, choose a night that keeps the heat of day.

Next, order cool breezes from willow trees

soaked overnight in dark mysteries. Then,

remove bath from bathroom and place amidst

a filigree of ferns in folds of lime trees.

Now, frost rim of bath with silver moonlight,

line base with lemon verbena leaves and

place wild honeysuckle on taps. Slowly,

fill to brim with infusion of rosemary.

Order peacocks to open a jewelled screen.

When all is secret and silent remove clothes;

consume fig and elderflower salad.

Roll in rose petals, place parsley in ears

submerge body in water, dissolve all fears.

Rebecca Farmer

Rosa "Eglantyne," "Sceptre'd Isle," "Rosa Mundi," "Septre'd Isle."

But I Only Love Your Feet

...I love your boots
because they have wandered
over the earth and through
the wind and over the water,
until they brought you to me.

Sunday Morning Safe And Sound

He's home from Afghanistan. Safe and sound and in one piece. Phew. Rosa "Constance Spry."

Allium Sativum Does Best In Rich, Well-Drained Soils

I ought to know why garlic is growing up through the steps in my kitchen garden. Any ideas?

Breathless, Of Derbyshire

Oh my God, Helen Yemm has mentioned my name. I can't believe it. All the years I've read her column and done exactly what she tells us to do (well, except the bit about not pruning when you're just bored and itching to "tidy up"), and there she goes, actually reading my comment on her blog... Go and read her divine exploration of Titania's Bank, from a Midsummer Night's Dream; rush out tomorrow morning and get the plants in and plant up your own garden in time for midsummer; rush out and buy the Telegraph. Just know that after reading Helen's column, you will never be quite the same again. Welcome to my dealer...

I may have to go and lie down on the sofa with a damp cloth on my forehead and wait until Gardener's World starts in ten minutes. Now if Jethro Gibbs turns to camera halfway through tonight's episode of NCIS and whispers my name, I may very well spontaneously combust.

Lamb Kebobbies

Or lamb kebabs, to most normal people. Want to see what a really tip-top lamb kebobbie looks like? Pop over to tha Phantom's blog, where the git is preparing another garden feast. Lucky Mrs Phantom.

http://thephantomstapleremover.blogspot.com/2008/06/barbecue-2-putting-my-blog-where-my.html

Here's a couple of snaps of my barbe, on the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May.

Guess the star sign of she who lays vegetables on her barbe in ordered rows... We made Sophie Grigsons' htipiti with the yellow peppers and cream cheese stuffed chillies with the... chillies. The aubergines were bashed to bits after a good old charring and made into baba ganoush. And next time there will be the Phantom's kebobbies and everything else Jamie does on his garden barbe / bread oven.

From Sacred Space, This Week

"Jesus said, ‘Take up your cross.' (Mark 8:34-35) It is not something you go looking for in faraway places. Sooner or later the Lord hands us a cross, and our job is to recognise it. For each of us there are events that made a difference. Our sorrowful mysteries will be different for each reader. Maybe it was a meeting with a friend, a lover or an enemy. Maybe it was a sickness, or a triumph. We try to see our life through the eyes of faith, with a confidence that God in his Providence can draw good out of the most awful and unwelcome happenings. This is true wisdom, to find a faith that can carry us through darkness, doubt, and suffering. They call it the mystical phase of religious development, and many of you who form the Sacred Space community are there."

http://www.sacredspace.ie/

Ever thought something was written with you in mind? Makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, doesn't it?

Clematis "John Paul II" growing on an east facing fence, looking towards Poland. Click on the picture to enlarge then save to your screen saver.

Helen Yemm's Blogging, Or Can My Life Get Any Better

No seriously, I've just clicked onto Helen Yemm's blog from the bottom of her Telegraph column. Oh thank you God for the internet and Helen's son, who appears to have set her up for blogging. Good man!

I've been reading Helen's column for a number of years, and in truth, the gardening section of the Telegraph newspaper is the main reason I buy it on a Saturday morning. And the hatch, match and dispatch... This week's Telegraph column features Helen in startlingly good ranty form. It's the mark of a good writer to be able to transfer irritation via a few ink stains on paper.

Click on this link; read her blog; leave comments on her blog. Just don't put a plant in the wrong area of your garden...

http://helenyemm.com/

Safely Out Of The Desert

photograph by Elliot Smith / Guardian Unlimited