The Garden at Stone Cottage

“Life begins the day you start a garden”
                                           Chinese Proverb

The garden at Stone Cottage
Is such a magical place,
It wraps around our home
Like a scarf around a face.
Despite the heat and the dry
And the wind, it still thrives,
As it demands our attention
And helps shape our lives;
A true reflection of us,
Of our efforts and care,
So generous in returning
All the love that we share,
Teaching us about nature,
Of its fascinating ways,
Watching our garden evolve,
Surely the most special of days.

IMG_20170703_092005

But there’s so much more to the garden
Than just the plants and the trees
Its insects attract the birds,
Its flowers draw the bees,
So the garden is never still,
Always movement for the eye,
Whether a breeze rippling through,
A visiting bird or butterfly,
Or a bee hard at work
As it moves from flower to flower,
Mesmerising us
For hour after hour;
A world within a world,
Where from stress we are free,
Our garden at Stone Cottage,
There’s no better place to be.

TOOTG Copyright 2016-2020 01

Thorns and Roses

Sometimes it’s the ones you love and care for the most that turn around and hurt you.

tpotg-rose-and-thorn-frame-01

A thorn pricked my finger
And now it is bleeding;
I was giving the rose water,
It was so desperately needing,
And I simply reached down
To cup a flower and to smell,
When the thorn struck me,
And the bloom from my hand fell.

Why did it prick me
When to its needs I was tending?
I was just trying to smell
The scent it was sending
And to hold and admire
Its beautiful flower,
Why then did it stab me,
Try to turn my love sour?

TOOTG Copyright 2016-2020 01

Cuddle Hunter

While explorers and adventurers seek out hidden treasure or dangerous wild animals, climb mountains or dive to to the ocean floor, I’m happy just to look for cuddles………

old-writer-cuddles-with-frame

I am a cuddle hunter,
Now be careful how that’s said.
If you get it mixed up,
It could be very rude instead!

I search for cuddles daily,
I search both near and far;
They can be hiding in my bathroom,
Sometimes waiting in my car.

Sometimes they’re on the sofa
Or even on the stairs;
I can be standing in the larder
When suddenly one appears.

I like it when they creep up on me
And take me by surprise,
And when I feel them squeezing me
It makes me close my eyes.

I like cuddles in the morning,
And after lunch as well.
But those cuddles in the evening?
Well… I’m not supposed to tell!

TOOTG Copyright 2016-2020 01