03 Feb Tuesday…with a blackbird

This morning I cycled into the countryside to meet a friend for a walk…on the way it suddenly became really foggy and started snowing, and although it was really cold it actually felt great to be out in the elements…

I’d had a long cycle ride at the weekend too, and one of the things that was lovely about it was the amount of birds I saw; , 3 robins,a thrush, lots of seagulls, crows, sparrows, a blackbird and even a goldfinch…

But it was the blackbird that really stuck in my mind; I’d cycled quite close to it in some undergrowth, and noticed the extraordinary colour of its beak and eye against its black feathers…it was such a particular orange and it kept popping into my mind all the way back home…it was a colour I wanted to remember…

Anyway, back to this morning;

I’d been at school with the friend I was meeting and we somehow got talking about our old school hymn books…we basically used them as sticker albums…so when I got home I dug it out.

It was quite nostalgic looking through; remembering my favourites, the ‘rare’ ones and the ‘smelly’ ones…

But what also struck me was that even at 8 years old I’d been organising things into colours! ( she’d spelled my name wrong in the card, but I liked her writing…) So the hymn book then set me off onto a table composition…the colour was the trigger…I didn’t have many flowers about today, but had saved some from last week in the reliable ‘tupperware in the fridge’ trick…

….I had also done a big shop yesterday, so was well stocked up on brightly coloured spices ( which I’d kind of thought would come in handy… ) I’d collected these ivy berries in the woods on the bike ride at the weekend… …and when I added them to the composition, they suddenly completely made me change tack… …the blackbird came back into my head!

So basically I created my personal  ‘Ode to a Blackbird’!

( there’s also a Steller Story here )