Reeds, Beads, Pods and Branches...

With or without a garden, wherever I've lived has always ended up with an assorted collection of dried 'scavengings' that I've retrieved from whatever bit of wilderness I've come across.

Twisted lichen-covered twigs, tortuous branches, gnarled drift wood, skeletal leaves and seed pods, dried flowers, husks and grasses...

All have all vyed for space with more predictable groupings of shells, pebbles and seaglass, while a cow's skull, wild boar's jaw, giant snail's shell, feathers and butterfly wings have likewise squeezed in...

I just love the spindly shapes and forms, colours and textures. This appreciation has been shared by the cats, of past and present, that have been with me, although their pleasure has invariably been more of a shredding, clawing and chewing variety rather than just visual aesthetics.

Here's a video of some of these images, set to the Kate Bush version of Donovan's Lord of the Reedy River... 

I finally finished my latest wooden-bead hanging, though it might not be the last since I still have so many beads left. 

Nevertheless, there's a bit more room in the old bead box...

The new hanging is long and totally unphotogenic in its intended position, so here it is on the floor and over the radiator just because I love the colours...

But, as always, these will never be as wonderful as those found in Nature, simply because they are just natural...