Friday, January 14, 2011

Lichen and moss - happy colours

I've been thinking about the little things that make me happy. The big things are obvious, but the other night I wrote down in my gratitude journal:
"Thank you for the moss and lichen colours on Frodo and Sam and the rocks." (We'd been watching The Two Towers, obviously.)
But when I set out today with the aim of collecting some Nature to decorate the house,
I had no particular intention of the Nature being licheny.
But lichen on fallen twigs is what came home with me and the dog.
Getting a few looks from other walkers, inevitably...
I arranged the twigs in glass jars and my enamel pitchers, returning the usual old hurricane lamps to the mantelpiece,
because all that Nature seemed to require a civilising influence once I'd got it in the house...
And there was my display, finished...
... until we shut the shutters and turned on the lights!
Then a whole new aspect of the twigs became apparent...
... for every twig, there is a shadow.
I am enjoying the colours by day and the shadows by night!

12 comments:

maryannlucy said...

Those colours are beautiful, and the evening shadows are fab. The little things are the things we need to focus on, they add so much to life x

Sarah Jane said...

Your display looks so attractive and now you have two for the 'price' of one.

Sarah said...

The beauty and simplicity of nature. x

Marigold Jam said...

Lichens can be used to create some lovely natural dyes too.

Jane

Serenata said...

The colours of lichen are quite amazing aren't they? They look great, you do have some good ideas and the shadows look wonderful as well. Thank you for your lovely message.

Lilbitbrit said...

Your mantle display is so imaginative.

I too love lichen. The front of our house faces NNE so there is always something growing on the bushes, plus moss on the ground.

There were some wonderful lichen formations on the rocks when I visited the Isle of Skye and I put one photo on the back of my Isle of Skye Blurb book.

Christy

Lorrie said...

I love bringing nature into my home. Right now I have three big beach rocks on my mantel. Your lichen-covered sticks have a lot of personality.

magsmcc said...

Gosh, that's quite profound, isn't it? All twigs leaving a shadow. I love the bringing of outside in. We are getting away for three nights at half-term to the mountains, and I was writing a list today of bright, get away from Winter things that we could take with us. And I wrote down, after notebooks and camera, nature book stuff, because isn't there something about brighter and more burgeoning days, even in January, that make you Hope for Spring? Thanks for the link to Willows! It has all been a big smile here!

Elyse said...

very, very cool! and i can appreciate the LOTR connection, too (hubby is a gigantic fan).

i'm having a giveaway. please come by to enter!

xo
elyse

Josie-Mary said...

Nature is a wonderful thing :) x

Tinyholder said...

Thank you Floss, so sweet of you for buying more tickets! :-)

I've listed the ticket numbers here: http://diaryofatinyholder.blogspot.com/p/christmas-gift.html

Lululiz said...

Mosses and lichen have the most amazing greens/greys, I love photographing them.