Simon's Blog

As you explore the old gardens of Calke Abbey you half expect to bump into Mr McGregor as he tries to fend off Peter Rabbit.  This feeling was doubly so when you explore the old potting sheds with their collection of pots and ancient gardening equipment.  It really is quite enchanting.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Well the Obama health care bill appears to have got through Congress and no doubt will be signed into law.  So what?  Now I am not an American but I do love going to America and have a huge amount of sympathy for the country but for the life of me I cannot understand what all the fuss is about regarding health care.   

I know it is not I the constitution but surely a modern civilised nation should ensure that all its citizens have access to health care – yet 32 million Americans don’t.  I have no idea whether the Obhama health reform is the best way forward or not but you can’t get away from the facts – 32 million people.   When you add on the every increasing health care problems for people with chronic problems you have to ask why wasn’t something done before.  Not being American I can’t say.

This brings us to our own much loved/maligned NHS.   This is far from perfect and indeed is in need of major reform but the one thing you can say is that no one is left without health cover.  Not the poorest or least deserving – they all have health cover.  I just wonder if this isn’t one of the defining features of a civilised country?  Maybe maybe not.

Here endth the rant.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Well they are wrapped up and awaiting to be posted – it is a bit of a relief to get the prints from off my desk and into the parcel.  Now all I have to do is hope that one or more catches the eyes of the judges – not an easy thing but we always live in hope but expect the worst.   Rejection is part of the game.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

After singing the praise of the British weather I then became frustrated by it – typical.    This afternoon there were very few opportunities to get out and capture any photographs – the light was so dull and of course it kept raining.  Anyway I did managed about 10 minutes this afternoon and started to do some work with complimentary and harmonious colours.   

The Grape hyacinths is a case in point.  The blue of the flowers is in harmony with the green of the vegetation –  well that is what my colour wheel says.  To be honest I have never really given this too much attention – preferring to fly by the seat of pants when it comes to these matters.   Does it appear to be a good photograph? was the selection point in the past.  Now I am trying to improve my garden photography so I need to be more precise with my colours – these are a vital element to making a great plant photograph.  Well that’s the theory anyway – lets see how it works out over the summer.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Well the fine weather of the last few days has now turned to a fine drizzle.   Whilst some people may be put off by this I find the weather invigorating – it’s one of the reasons that Britain is a green and pleasant land.  Well that is what I keep telling myself when the drizzle is seeping through your coat or worst of all down you neck.   So I do moan about the weather like everyone else – I wouldn’t be English unless I did – oh the bloody rain moan moan.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Oh it is happening – I am becoming a member of the ‘middling folk’.   For those of you not sure what this means I take the meaning as that put forward in the middle ages – that is those in the middle comfortable with their life – not peasants but certainly not nobility.   I prefer this term to the more pejorative ‘middle class’ although I have some sympathy with the Marxist analysis.  Enough of this sociological analysis – why have I come to this conclusion?

Well it struck me this morning as I sat in the restaurant at Calke Abbey – a National Trust member enjoying the day with other like minded individuals.   I am a member of many of the ‘middling folk’ groups – the afore mentioned National Trust, one of England’s finest institutions, RSPB, RHS, & RPS.  Perhaps I have lost the drive of youth to be different, although I am different in so many ways, or perhaps it is just that I have reached that time in my life where I enjoy walking through the countryside, enjoying the simple things.

Now we ‘middling folks’ have our own haunts – one of the best I know is the International Bird Fair in August.  Here we turn out and celibate all things middling.   (God I have just reread this and I sound a real old fart – perhaps the best definition of ‘middling folk’ going.)  It is amazing what a walk through the countryside can do to your perspective.  We middling folk also have real power as we tend to vote in elections and so have a great amount of influence on the political classes – also note that the groups I am a member of are some of the best financed lobby groups going – you mess with the middling folk at your peril.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Some of you might know that we had the garden revamped last year.  On of the problems of having a garden designer in is that the plants are all new and so tend to be on the small side.  They are also planted with the next five years in mind rather the next summer.  The result of this has been that the garden is somewhat sterile at the moment – gardens, like all living things, mature and, dare I say it, get a character of there own over time.  Ours is still very new so has none of the idiosyncratic touches of the mature garden.   We have started to address this.

Over the last month we have introduced spring colour to the garden.  We have also replaced plants that have died and new plants where there was space.  The result is that the garden is starting to look more lived in.  There is a lot more to come but we have made a start.  However, I think it is important to recognise that I am not the gardener in all this – that honour falls to my wife Mandy.  My input is more in the visualisation and where to plant – well that’s I think.  The reality is that I say it should go in one place and then Mandy gives me that knowing look and I alter find that it has gone somewhere else – usually a place much more suited to the plant.  I know my place.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Well I think I have done it – I have selected the four prints I am going to submit to the RPS International Print Exhibition. (well almost – I will sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning.) They are the strongest set I have ever submitted – however, this is no guarantee that they will be selected.  Once you have submitted the work it is down to the judges and their own peculiarities and prejudices. Such is life.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini