Better late than never

Well, the Friday Review didn't really work out quite as it should have done. Sorry about that.

I was reminded today that, a year ago to this very day, we were pinning up for the final exhibition. What a great feeling that I never have to go through that again.

Since my last blog lots has been happening - Claire and I are working hard, and seem to have enough jobs to keep us busy. I managed to pass one unit of the RHS Advanced Horticulture exam, and am going back for more later this year. My garden is finally showing signs of being cared for, although the design is still on the drawing board. At least the weeds are being dealt with slowly but surely, and I've even got some vegetables planted this year!

Have been on a couple of weekend breaks so far this year - ah the joys of having weekends off! The first was to Amsterdam in February - bloody freezing.

The second was to Marrakech in March - bloody boiling, but very beautiful.

Then I went on my very first skiing holiday ever, to Les Deux Alpes, in April. What a laugh:

I asked Tim to tilt the camera so it would look like I was going downhill, but unfortunately he tilted it the wrong way.

But here's one of him on the way home:

and no, he doesn't normally travel by wheelchair.

Anyway, that's about all the news for now. Hope to see some of you lot at this year's barbecue this week for a real catch up.

Friday Review

I know it's not actually Friday, but it will be soon and that's when the Friday Review starts.

OK folks - a quick update is called for and then I'm going to continue my blog with a Friday Review, which will keep you all up-to-date with EVERYTHING.

1. Claire and I are setting up in partnership - Down to Earth Design has it's first commision and we are doing just fine.

2. I am studying for the RHS Advanced Certificate in Horticulture - just call me a masochist.

3. My butterfly and bee bed looks a shabby mess.

4. My entire garden looks a shabby mess, but it's ok - I've actually started a design for it which may, one day, be built, which is more than can be said for any of the designs I did at college.

5. I have been to my first rugby match - it was really violent!

6. I have joined the Guild of Landscape Designers - worth checking them out.

7. We had a visit to CED, the stone place in Thurrock, which was very interesting (if cold). And it made me SO glad that I'm not a student anymore, because we did the tour with two groups of students and they looked so sad and downtrodden.

8. We went to a Lighting Seminar at Hadlow, organised by GoLD, which was interesting, and it was lovely to see some old faces.

9. I went to Wisley for the day with my Mum - alway a pleasure, never a chore.

Oh I went down to Westonbirt for the weekend to see the autumn colour - I was a little late, and most of it was on the floor, but it was a great weekend anyway. My friend and I stayed at Fawlty Towers - how we laughed!

Anyway, sorry no pictures - I have one or two of Westonbirt but not of anything else.

Hope everyone else is ok.
That brings us pretty well up to date.

BB

No not Big Brother - Butterflies and Bees! That's what it said on the packet anyway. I've got a bed outside my house which used to be filled with old, nasty conifers and I dug them out and burnt them at the end of last year. Since then it lay fallow, but I had a plan. I was a little bit busy during the months of April and May, but towards the beginning of June, I finally managed to sow my butterfly and bee experiment.

It seemed to be a big let down.

Nothing happened for ages - although that may have been because the weather was so dry. I thought I'd left it too late to sow. I thought it was going to look terrible, but I persevered and I watered it lovingly with a watering can, and chased away my cats, who discovered there was a lot of fun to be had rolling around in a dust bath.

But then - to my surprise - almost it seemed overnight - there was an array of flowers!



It just got better and better - more flowers appeared, and in the middle, like a great big surprised exclamation mark was a huge sunflower, which I'm sure wasn't in the packet. And all day long it's busy with the hum of bees and the movement of butterflies. It really does what it said on the tin!





And then one morning recently, I was upstairs and I saw a couple walking along the road. And they STOPPED OUTSIDE MY HOUSE! They stood admiring my flowers! It was brillant! I could hear them saying "oh isn't that lovely!". Then a couple of days later as I was getting out of my car my next door neighbour was there, and he told me that he liked to just stand and look at the flowers first thing in the morning (bit weird, but hey, I'm not complaining). And he said that my flower bed was the talk of the street. Well, I have to say I felt a bit chuffed. I probably can't tell you what half the flowers are - and at the end of the day it was just an experiment, but I think it looks just lovely, and it's obviously brought some pleasure to other people to. And that's what it's all about.

The Graduate

Recognise this place?
















Yes....last time I was at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich I was wearing something a little more, shall we say, ivory, than the batman cape I had to hire on Graduation Day. Tim and I had our wedding reception there in August 2004 - it really is a beautiful place.

Graduation Day was brilliant. I was much more nervous than I had been for the wedding - I guess it was because it's not something I've done before! I loved the whole thing - and the atmosphere was so happy.



Here's me and Pam, my best friend. The sun shone, everyone was smiling, and it was nice to see David Carey and Robert Holden representing us on the teaching side. It was very hot in the chapel and everyone was fanning themselves and looking very shiny but none of that detracted from the joy of the occasion. It was a very fitting end to our hard work and recognition was voiced for the difficulties we had all been through to get there. It was a time to be proud, and to thank those around us for their help during the dark days of masterplan, Tom Turner, sketch designs and model making (has anyone still got theirs?).

It was great to see everyone, albeit briefly, and I hope we can all stay in touch, one way or another, through the blogs or just regular gettogethers.

Next blog - my butterfly and bee border in the front garden - which is attracting comments from the neighbours! Anyone would think I know what I'm doing, garden-wise!

Hampton Court the Sequel

As I was saying......went back to Hampton Court to help Fern and Heidi to dismantle the Hadlow garden. It was hard work, but amazing to see the garden, and those around it, being deconstructed. During the show they look as though they've always been there, and then, within a few hours, they are reduced to empty spaces, just plants in pots and piles of rubble.






We carefully lifted all the lovely wild grass and stacked it in bread trays to be taken back to Hadlow.


It was a very interesting few hours - and working on the garden next door were Tommy and Kirsty from Groundforce. I tried not to stare or rush over and gushingly say I'd always admired his work. What a fine figure of a man. We had to borrow his wire cutters at one point and I went a bit trembly in the knee department.

Anyway - it was a good laugh and nice to see the other side of the show garden coin.

Next blog......Graduation! How we laughed! How we sweated! But that's all to come.

Moving swiftly on

Well it's been ages since my last post, so I thought I'd fill you in on what I've been doing. Now, where was I? Ah yes, just about to head off to Hampton Court to try and water my wilting garden design seedling.

We had a great day out. I really like the Hampton Court Show, it's so much nicer than Chelsea - more relaxed, more room, generally a nicer atmosphere I think. My Mum and I met up with Claire and Phil, and during the course of the day also met Raina, Dan and Martin. I took loads of pictures, and here are a few:



This was Rik's garden - beautiful planting and I loved the silver ball thingy! I loved it!



Here's one of the Hadlow College garden - Kent CaCO3, designed by Fern and Heidi. It's not a very good picture, and doesn't do the garden justice. Apparently Joe Swift thought it was fantastic!



1001 things to do with root vegetables.




Can't remember which one this was, but liked the picture. I think it was the outside kitchen. I really liked that idea. I've been doing a lot of barbecuing because it's so hot and I'm getting fed up with trekking backwards and forwards to the kitchen, because you know that just when you sit down you've forgotten the salt and pepper, or the knives, or something like that, and actually having the kitchen outside makes a lot of sense if this whole global warming climate change is really here to stay.


The image uploader seems to have gone on strike so I can't add anymore. I'll try again tomorrow. There'll be another exciting instalment on Hampton Court - I went back on the Monday after the show to help Fern and Heidi dismantle the garden. I thought that, apart from being a helpful sort of a thing to do, it would be really interesting to see the behind the scenes stuff after the show was over. I'll tell you all about it next time!

This is the life

Isn't this great? I'm taking a few weeks to recover before I start thinking about what to do next and it's just lovely.

We went to Ascot on 23 June, here we are in our finery just about to leave:



The new Grandstand is awesome - a beautiful building. I don't know who designed it, but it's like an airport - big and airy and full of natural light:


I found myself checking out the materials used, the fixings, the concrete, wondering how it was all put together, thinking about the design of each and every aspect. Sad, that's what I call it. I even took some photos, but I'm too ashamed to show them.

It was a lovely day - saw the Queen, that's Prince Philip behind her. It's amazing the lack of security there - they searched my bag at entrance (it's about 2" square) but Tim could have been hiding an AK47 under his tailcoat - there were no metal detectors or anything like that, and Her Majesty was only a short distance away from us. Lucky we're not terrorists.



These events always make me laugh - at the start everyone looks so wonderful, the men all done up like dogs' dinners and the ladies in their ridiculous hats - everything is so refined and demure. But at the end of the day, after drinking your own bodyweight in champagne and losing the contents of your TESSA on a 50:1 outsider in the last race, it's like carnage. People staggering around, hats all over the place, shrieking women with no shoes on, harrassed officials trying to herd everyone off the premises. I was laughing my head off, because I'd managed to stay reasonably sober. I even saw a man pushing a supermarket trolley full of drunken women towards the car park. They just couldn't make it. I don't know, youngsters nowadays, just don't have the stamina necessary for these occasions.

Tuesday 27th found me at Lords for the Twenty Twenty match between Surrey and Middlesex. I'm not normally a cricket fan - dull dull dull are the three words that spring to mind when I think of cricket, but the Twenty Twenty matches are quite good because they don't last very long. It started at 5.30 and was all over by 8.30. Now that's the sort of cricket I can put up with. No photos of that I'm afraid - but there wasn't much to see to be honest.

Wednesday 28th and off to London for a visit to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. Interesting stuff. Some really good models and images by architecture students - and a fantastic sculpture outside by Damien Hirst. And more free champagne, which is always nice.

You may have noticed a lack of anything garden designy in my life currently. Well, that's completely deliberate. I finished the year never wanting to see another garden again, hating plants, hating materials, hating the whole bloody industry. I had had my fill of it.

But a soupcon of curiosity is slowly coming back to life now, a feeling that maybe I will one day actually want to use what I've learnt.

Tonight I'm off to see New Landscapes 2006, the exhibition by the Landscape Architect graduates at the Menier Gallery in Southwark Street and tomorrow I'm taking my Mum to the Hampton Court flower show, so hopefully these events will ease me back into the scary world of garden design.

Hope everyone's having fun - see you on 24 July, if I don't bump into you at Hampton Court!

Life after Hadlow

Yes there is! You can't imagine it, but it exists.

Hope you are all ok and settling into the new regime, which for me is currently a regime of sleeping, eating, standing around with cups of tea and generally being in a daze.

Had a brilliant weekend on the Isle of Wight - it was great fun. Such a good atmosphere, it's amazing that there were 60,000 people all in one place, most of whom were drunk, and there was no trouble and everyone was happy. I managed to spend the whole weekend outside in the baking sun and stayed exactly the same colour. I think when Procol Harum were singing "Whiter Shade of Pale" they were looking at my legs. Maybe I was a bit over-zealous with the Factor 30, but you can't be too careful, and let's face it, I haven't seen much of the outside world for the last 4 years so I thought I should be well protected!

On Friday night the final act was The Prodigy - they were just brilliant live. Everyone was dancing and jumping - there were some real old ravers there blowing whistles and waving their arms about. I tapped my foot a bit and hummed along. Didn't want to embarrass the kids.


On Saturday night my son and I were trying to force our way through the huge crowds to the front to watch the Foo Fighters when a voice behind him said, "don't you have homework to do?" Incredibly, it was his Chemistry teacher. I don't know who went more red, him or me, as I'd taken him out of school without a good reason! She didn't look anything like the chemistry teachers from my day, the old bloke who taught me had bouffant hair and a penchant for wearing womens blouses, but back in the 70s that was just seen as being a little eccentric. Amazing that out of all those people she happened to bump into us!

The Proclaimers played on Saturday afternoon - I thought they were really good too. Back in January Tim and I were invited to a Burns Supper and everyone had to prepare a little piece of entertainment for after supper. It was quite a well-to-do crowd down in Tyrells Wood and everyone was ra-ra ing and reading out bits of Burns poetry. Well I'd tried to find something I liked, but couldn't make head nor tail of most of it, so when it came to our turn I produced a Karaoke machine from the car and Tim and I gave a rather brilliant rendition of "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers (the most Scottish song I know). We handed out lyric sheets and everyone joined in. Needless to say, it lowered the tone of the evening by several notches and we haven't been invited back. Anyway, they played it on Saturday, and I knew all the words! Result.

Stephanie, my daughter, disappeared on Saturday afternoon because she wanted to get near to the front to see Dirty Pretty Things. When she reappeared she was attached to a long haired boy with a pierced lip. Didn't see much of her after that and apparently he's coming to stay next weekend.


Primal Scream were also on on Saturday - great band.

On Sunday Stephanie was missing in action, and Justin, exhausted from having to get up for breakfast (something he doesn't normally manage at weekends), slept on a rug under some trees all day, so I wandered round soaking up the atmosphere. What a great way to relax after such a traumatic few months. Stood watching Lou Reed with the sun beating down and it was just a Perfect Day (although he didn't sing that).


Wish I'd had my sketch book (not for sketching purposes) because there was so much happening and I wanted to write it down and then tell you all about it. There was more but I don't want to bore you!

Anyway, still waiting to feel like a real garden designer. When you are about to give birth and you are thinking "I don't feel like a mother" everyone says "it just comes naturally and when you've got the baby in your arms you know you're a real mum". Well that never really happened me, and similarly, even though I am the proud owner of a degree in Garden Design, I don't actually feel like a garden designer. Maybe it will dawn on me soon.

AOB

Well this is odd. Twiddling my thumbs a bit.

I haven't had many images on the blog recently because it was all a bit too much like hard work and I had very little time to sit around waiting for them to upload. But today, the clock has stopped, my shoulders are now in a normal position, not stuck up by my ears, and for the first time in ages, I'm not in a rush.

So....here is a picture of my baby in it's beautiful entirety:



I know it's not perfect - but to me it's beautiful. Although I got the real arse-end space of the studio to pin up in - not even three boards across and various light switches, steel girders, window handles and radiators to contend with, I did my best to use every available inch, and the measuring and planning worked because it all seemed to fit in just right.

I am ridiculously proud of this assorted collection of bits of paper. I didn't like to leave it behind, and I kept wanting to rush over, spit on a hanky and rub its face. How can I leave it there all alone? No-one will understand it like I do! I just hope it can stand up on its own and not need me all the time. Got to cut the apron strings at some point.

On to other business....I have had a complaint that the words of "My Way" in my previous post were not given the usual Jackie Edwards treatment! In my defence, I was a little tied up at the time (7am on Final Pinup Day), and anyway the original words expressed perfectly how I was feeling at the time, so I didn't think I needed to add anything to them.

I'm taking today to relax a bit. And by relaxing I mean that I'm going to help my daughter revise for her History exam tomorrow, do 18 loads of washing, and try to reduce the ironing mountain that has built up over the last month and is now blocking the entrance to the spare room.

Well done everyone, there was some stunning work pinned up yesterday. Looking forward to seeing you all at the Barby. Not sure what happens with the blog now - I guess after this week it will be all over, blogwise! It's been a really good way of staying in touch with fellow students - when there's no time to socialise it's nice to know that you can still communicate. It has really helped me to let off steam, to put my point of view across, and generally stay in touch with you all - and I've had such a lot of support from everyone when things were tough so thank you.

By the way - I won the bid on ebay! So I'm off to the Isle of Wight with the kids!

The Final Curtain

Here we go pop-pickers - todays No 1 -singalong with me!

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

The Endy's

I had a second cousin twice removed called Debbie Nigh and she married a submariner (which I also nearly did rather coincidentally - not the same one) and became very religious (I don't believe the two acts were linked, but then I didn't know her well so it's hard to say). None of that is really related or relevant to anything, except that I keep thinking of her because, after the religion thing kicked in, we used to call her Debbie TheEndisNigh, or Debbie TheEndis for short. And of course, that IS relevant now because the End Really is Nigh.

Aren't words strange? Nigh is just not used now, but when you say "The End is Nigh", you know exactly what is meant. It means near or close, but don't you think that, when used in combination with the other three words, it has a real air of doom about it? It has Old Testament connotations - Judgement Day - and when you say it, you have to use a strange and scary voice and it sends a shiver down the spine. Those four short words used in unison always put me in a sombre and slightly apprehensive mood.

Words are great.

Anyway, enough of my musings and on to more interesting things. I realise that my posts have been a little dull and stressed of late, so I'm writing with Good News! I have cheered up! Obviously I still have virtually all of the last unit to complete in just under 3 days, but hey!

I decided that I needed something to look forward to after The End, something good and exciting, so I have bid on eBay for tickets to the Isle of Wight Festival. Yay! I hope I'm not outbid at the last minute! I am so excited already about the thought of spending three days in a field listening to live music, that the external examiner is a tiny tiny speck on my happiness, and the marking of the last unit by Jamie just results in a shrug and a small frown, as if I've forgotten something which wasn't really important in the first place. Best of all - I know that when I set off for the Isle of Wight on Friday 9th June I can leave all this behind and just relax.

I must now float, smiling, back to my drawing board.

Peace and love, man.

Not waving....

...but drowning. I've been looking through my old papers to find some of the technical drawing I did in the first year, in a vain attempt to work out what the f*** I'm doing. Unfortunately, I found the project we had to do back then - you remember, the five elements to photograph and draw, and there stuck to the front of it was the mark sheet. How depressing is that?





And here's a close-up, just so you can see quite clearly how well I did then....





This is possibly the hardest unit I've had to attempt. Since the Big F in the first year I've not really spent a lot of time doing construction drawings, it's just not something I do as a general rule, not part of my daily routine.

Actually - looking at the stuff I handed in then, I'm not really surprised it got such a poor mark, but the problem is I'm not sure I can actually do any better now!

Oh well - gotta keep going I suppose. One last push....

A propos of nothing

Although I know I need to completely focus on my college work, the pressures of being a mum have taken over for the last couple of days and I've been helping my daughter revise for her Psychology AS level exam, which is today.

Well - what an eye-opener! Man's inhumanity to man in the name of science and progress!

Apparently there was a study by someone called Rayner in the 1920s when a little boy was placed in a room with white rats and every time he stroked one of them the doctors crashed some cymbals against his head (or something equally horrid) and after a few hours of that he was a gibbering idiot with a phobia about anything white. Those bags of cotton wool balls would send him shrieking from the room - and the phobia lasted his entire life.

And in 1960 some guy called Milgram did a study where volunteers were asked to ask questions of a person hidden in a next door room, and if the answer was incorrect they had to press a button which apparently sent an electric shock to the other person. The other person was an actor and just had to scream as if they were in pain. The volunteers just kept on pressing the button until no more screams could be heard and the other person was apparently dead, but they couldn't stop pressing the button because they'd been told they had to. Weird eh?

Well it all put me in mind of the psychological torture that is the final year. I think there should be a study to see how students react to being systematically ignored, shouted at, ridiculed, pressured, kept in the dark, very occasionally praised, given tasks first and information second and generally made to feel stupid. Oh hang on.....I think I can answer that, no need for the study.

Parents eh?

Just had the most surreal conversation with my Mum about the final crit. "What about the lighting concept?" she said "They must have liked that, I thought it was brilliant, so pretty!". I said "no Mum, they said it needs to be stronger". "For goodness sake" she said "what do they want - spotlights? Can't you just put in a bigger bulb?".

Why didn't I think of that? Sorted!

The Show isn't over until the fat lady sings

And do I look like I'm singing? No

Do I look like a lady? No

Got a C. Got a grilling. Apparently I'm trying to recreate Versailles, even though I don't know what Classicism is. Never even been to Versailles. Jamie had his head in his hands when I was four words into my opening presentation. Those words were "Hi I'm Jackie Edwards".

Got marked down in the Masterplan crit for having typed annotations. Got marked down in the Final Crit for having handwritten ones. I think I compromised the overall quality by trying to tick all the boxes, and I don't think that was the right thing to do. So should you have all of the stuff just thrown together? or just half of it but have it printed in gold leaf or laid out by a professional graphic designer? I guess the right thing is to have ALL the stuff ALL perfectly done. Dur! Well if I've learned anything it's that I still don't know enough - and what I do know I can't express properly in words or pictures or even mime, which I was tempted to try at one point because I just couldn't find the words and my voice was shaking. I guess having half the stuff just thrown together isn't really an option.

Oh well, onwards and downwards. Talking to Katharina yesterday about a friend of hers who was a farmer, and she discovered after he had died that he had 3 degrees. I'm thinking of doing Philosophy next. Anyone care to join me? It might help me find meaning in my life after these last four years of torture.

Stopped off at my best buddy's for a celebratory glass of wine last night and she was so proud of me and full of congratulations, I felt bad about feeling so down! She said "knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and the most intractable failure is a million times better than never having tried". I can always rely on her to say the right thing at the right time and it's true - I'm proud of myself for even trying.

Not that I think it's a failure! It's not at all - I'm really pleased with myself to have come this far and still be in the game! And the feedback wasn't all negative, both said positive things about individual bits of the work, which I really appreciated. I think I'm just worn out and the crits always leave me feeling that maybe I shouldn't have given up my day job.

I'm sure when I've caught up on some sleep and re-established some sort of order at home (there's been a bit of anarchy while I've been otherwise engaged), I'll feel more like my old positive self.

I didn't get a chance to look at much of the other work- but what I saw was so impressive. Well done everyone - its an inspiration to me to see all that great stuff.

Well, I don't know about you lot, but I'm doing nothing now for the whole weekend. Stuff it - I deserve a break.
Seeya!

We have liftoff

Well, I think it should be postponed due to bad weather. Yes, Houston, we have a problem. Have you seen it out there? High winds.....heavy rain. Just what you need when you're carrying an A1 size model built mainly out of cardboard and cotton wool.

No matter - I will be too busy worrying about dropping the portfolio to care about the model.

Must dash...still haven't finished...doing a bit more annotating before setting off. I've got loads missing, but hey ho, too late to worry now.

1

Well, here we are with one day to go and the storm clouds are gathering. Only about 30,000 things left on my to do list, but I'm not giving up. I'm trying to think positively about the whole experience, and I'm telling myself that I'm doing my best, I can't do anymore than that and if it's not enough well tough.

Rather perversely, I'm quite looking forward to tomorrow. It has an "eye of the storm" feel about it. A moment of calm before another two weeks of frantic activity and pressure.



And once it's over, it's over, I'll never have to do it again.

That's enough now - better go back to the never-ending list of things to be done in the next 24 hours. See you all tomorrow.

3

I was getting really stressed this morning over my still unfinished planting plan, making really heavy work of the whole thing and generally moaning. I was saying to my daughter "God this is such a nightmare, I don't know what to do, I hate it, there's so much to think about etc etc" and she said..."Mum, this is the part you are supposed to like, this is why you are doing the course. Why don't you just relax and try to enjoy it? Look upon it as a treat after all the other stuff you've done that you really don't enjoy?. After all, making gardens with lots of lovely plants is exactly why you went into this in the first place".

And you know, she's right! Why am I letting it get to me? This IS supposed to be the nice bit. So I tried to take her advice and just immersed myself in it, trying not to worry too much about the end result, but just enjoy having this opportunity to learn about all the different types of plants I can use on this site and why I want them.

It worked for a while!

Here's a couple of images from my planting strategy.

4

Just started the 1:50. Thought it was going to be straightforward, after all, I've already designed it right? Hahaha. Wrong. How can I be so indecisive at this late stage? I really want to change some of the materials, but that completely ruins all the stuff that's gone before - materials strategy, precedents etc. So what do I do? Can I do that? Does anyone know? And if I change it at 1:50, does that mean revisiting all the other 1:200 stuff that relates to it?

Got this level of panic going on which is horrible. Keep thinking I'm gonna stab someone - or be sick - or both. Feel like I'm developing Tourette's syndrome because I keep shouting swear words at random.

Can't believe I felt so calm just a couple of days ago.

I'm never going to get it all done, never. There just aren't enough hours in the day and I'm just too slow.

Breathe breathe. No images. No time.

6

Well another beautiful day dawns, the little birdies are tweeting and my cats are stretching themselves in the early morning sunshine.

All is peaceful and serene - a perfect late spring morning in the suburbs. A gang (not sure of the collective noun) of racing pigeons just whooshed past overhead as I stood outside with my first cup of tea, gazing sadly at the wreck which is my garden and wondering how long it's going to take me to get the weeds back under control.

Got up early so at least some of the domestic chores are out of the way and I can start working on the long list of outstanding jobs I made during yesterdays lecture. Its the only way - get started before the family descends on me and start trying to break my concentration.

So - tracing paper, check, pencil case, check, cup of tea, check. Eyes down for your first number......it's gonna be a long 6 days, but when the world is looking so great just outside the window, everything seems possible.

8

Well well well! If I'd known what fun setting out was, I'd have done it ages ago! Why did no-one tell me? Just trying to keep all the fun for yourselves! How I'm laughing as I'm doing this - will anyone ever understand it? I think not. But the box will be ticked and ticks mean prizes.

Fell a little behind yesterday, so have to complete 4 sheets today.

Hope you're all still out there - the blogs are very quiet.

T minus 9 days and counting...

OK blogsters we've got 9 whole days left.

I have worked it out that on every one of those 9 days I have to finalise 3 A1 sheets (or 2.7 actually but I thought I'd round it up for safety purposes).

It's not all that bad - some of them are started, or even nearly finished, but not completely ready for pinning up. But I must admit that there are some which aren't even off the ground yet.

So, the time has come to stop mucking about and get on with it. Here I go. Yes, I'm definitely going. Oh I so don't want to do this anymore. Goodbye.

By George....

I think I've nearly got it!

This is a draft, practice attempt at rendering the design development plan.

And here are some sections.



Been practising rendering for what seems like several years now. I have a claw-like righthand and a squint, but I am beginning to think that I'm actually getting better at it!

Just another step along this bumpy road, but today feels like a better day, even if the unticked list is still haunting my every waking hour.

Right - just going to try and uncurl my fingers from this crayon.....

This sucks

Just had to turn down an invitation to Glyndebourne for Die Fledermaus on 2 June - daren't accept anything which might get in the way of all this bloody work. I just want my life back. Does anyone appreciate these sacrifices? I won't get invited again for another thirty million years.

The stress just creeps up and strangles you. Thinking of buying shares in Kleenex, because I haven't cried this much since my first husband left me. And the way things are going, if I don't buck my ideas up I can see the current one making like a shepherd and getting the flock out of here. And I wouldn't blame him.

Jesus. Just letting off steam. Back to colouring in.

The Glory of the Garden Designer

As you know, I'm a bit of a fan of Rudyard Kipling, and I was trying to put my own spin on his poem entitled "The Glory of The Garden". It went a bit off course, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway. I know I should have been doing some other stuff - but when I get the wordy bug I just can't seem to stop.

The Glory of the Garden Designer

Our aim is building gardens that are full of stately views
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues
With waterworks and terraces - perhaps some modern art
And sometimes it’s impossible to know just where to start

The survey and analysis, let’s get them underway
Far better when it’s snowing, or at least a rainy day
And standing there in wind and hail when nothing could seem dafter
Is vital, if you want to emphasise Before and After.

Our work pertains to gardens and such gardens are not made
By saying “oh how beautiful” and sitting in the shade.
The measurements must all be took and structure put in place
And Ching consulted lest we make a mess of form and space.

Put yourself within it! You must be spatially aware!
And that will never happen from the depths of your armchair.
If you really must sit down, try reading books by Crowe or Lloyd
They help to ascertain the things important to avoid.

It helps to lose your grip on practicality and truth
Put nothing in the earth and grow it all upon the roof
It seems that fads are everything - designs aren’t worth a jot
Unless they’re full of cor-ten steel and logs just left to rot

We strive to innovate, to make the space bizarre and bold
And link it up to what we’ve learned and qualities of old.
Surprise the visitors with ice cold water in their faces!
And yards of snowy concrete, just to emphasise the spaces.

Make it different, make it new, you must have innovation!
How to ensure that passers-by remember your creation?
A glass wall and a waterspout, a lurid box of Perspex
No planting – that would nullify the purity of concept.

But what about the wonder of a new unfurling leaf?
A crystal dewdrop poised to fall upon the earth beneath?
The fat and blowsy borders, which narrow paths in June?
The stillness of the woodlands, beneath a summer moon?

To emphasise a beauty that we cannot replicate
To frame it, serve it up, and just arrange it on the plate.
Surely this is what we do? Or am I all alone?
In thinking we can’t better nature’s glories of her own.

I’ll never be an artist; I know I can’t be taught
I’ll never get to Chelsea or show off at Hampton Court
But one day I’ll make gardens which will only be a canvas
For glorifying nature and the wonders that surround us.

If I can make a difference to a wasted piece of ground
Or plant some trees to outlive me and spread some joy around
These years of slaving, drawing, planning, won't have been for nought
And maybe I'll survive to utilise what I've been taught!

Luckily I didn't ever think I'd make much money
And when I started all my friends just thought it really funny
But when my work is finished I will wash my hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!