Sunday, August 7

I confess that I do not quite understand the nature of the occasion. Someone somewhere has declared today open garden day, or some such. People can join and have their garden placed on a list for public viewing. We have arrived to visit a local garden in Keltanotie.

It has apparently taken twenty years to make, and it has an extremely interesting atmosphere. It feels maze-like, with lots of narrow paths that go in circles, so that I feel I am in a nineteenth century children’s story. I come to expect a talking rabbit to appear. This becomes justified when I turn a corner and find a large cat sitting in a house inside a huge wooden cage that also contains a tree for climbing on.

We come across a little house that has window frames where glass bowls have been glued to the rear of the window glass. I stop and photograph a detail. The family who have made the garden have made a lot of use of metal junk, and old glass. Many bedframes and headboards have turned into trellises and dividers. Many pieces of cutlery have twisted themselves into ornaments.

We leave inspired while recognising that it has taken twenty years to achieve and it requires attention every week of the year.