Marc Provins

Two leaves from the fatsia japonica in my front garden. One leaf is fresh growth, the other at least a year old, and looking the worse for wear after riding out our seven month winter and then being exposed to intense heat and strong sun.  I never stop marvelling at the resilience and fragility of the natural world. 

It's been a long, strange winter and this apparently delicate beauty has survived it, Beast from the East and all. It's one of several hellebores in my garden, a gift a few years ago from dear friends. All my plants have stories and associations and that's what makes the process of growing and nurturing so life affirming for me.

I feel unanchored. My roots have been pulled from the ground and exposed. We are in the process of trying to move house and I need to let go of this beautiful space that has acted as a protective layer for the last eleven years. Every surface is painted with memories of our life together, two people and a cat. Now it seems the right time to start a new chapter, all together, to make a new home and leave this place for the next people to enjoy and grow in. 

Today I've been thinking about smiling, this is because I've been smiling. Yesterday I found out this blog has been shortlisted for a prize, not just any prize but The Blog North Awards. You can vote for my blog here if you would like to, and check out all the other shortlisted blogs too: www.blognorthawards.com/vote Smiling is intrinsically linked to photography and has been for decades, probably since Kodak made people aware that they were creating 'memories', and that you should smile for the family album. The Brownie was the camera that made photography mass-market and Eastman Kodak's clever marketing campaigns really created a culture that we mostly adhere to today. Although we still say cheese for the camera, the family album now exists on Facebook, our computers and smart phones, I guess history will reveal how enduring these pictures prove to be.  So for your delectation today I've searched magazines from my living room for smiles and scanne...