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Sunday 8 February 2015

Speaking..."Flower" and of Fairies

A week or two ago I noticed a field,
a field full of wild sweetpeas.
One day, I stopped & went to look...
 I discovered a world of glory.
An unkempt paddock that nobody gives a second glance to as they pass by; merrily festooned in magical pink. Bees & bumble bees gleefully going about their flighty business by the thousands & thousands, swooning from flower to flower,
to flower... 
 In the language of flowers sweet peas signify delicate pleasure.
 Sweet, delicate pleasure it was indeed, to return to the field with Nina, a basket & some scissors. We didn't mind the bees. We worked around them gently.
 One boy decided he'd rather stay in the car thanks!

One day just before Christmas I spotted a little retro green typewriter. I adored it & bought it & had it sent up from Wellington. I thought that I would simply sell the very ancient Underwood & all would be well. I used old Greenie to type out the meaning of the flowers that I put in Sarah's bouquet for the wedding in early January..
 & afterwards both machines sat out, as I used one & prepared to sell the other. Then one day Rob came past & said "You know I still really like the Underwood" & I replied, "Oh bother, so do I!". So now we have two typewriters...which was never the plan, but really rather handy when there are two avid typers who came to visit & found them to be irresistible indeed! Soon, everyone got down to business & tipetty, tappetty, typed to their little hearts content.
 It's a very busy time of year right now for flowers & bees & picking & growing plums. Even in her plumy absorption, my gathering friend Ruth gathered these flowers from her garden recently & left them for me to pick up with some plums. Later she asked if I got the message? Well...you speak Flower don't you?! The pink Cecile Brunner...are pretty & pink, the Double Delight is just that, & exquisitely fragrant & the maiden hair...is well maiden's hair! Such a sweet message isn't it!
 We all know a little Flower....perhaps, more than we realise.
I have a little story to tell you about tulips. I read it in my "The Enchanted Garden" book, by Claire O'Rush that Sarah & Matt gave me last year. The story is in the chapter called "Flower Healing"...& you know, they really do...heal, that is.

..."Folklore tells of a meadow in England that was inhabited by fairies (meaning that they kept their underground courts beneath it & used it's surface for the revels in the moonlight). In a nearby cottage lived an old woman who tended a very pretty garden, wherein grew a bed of especially lovely tulips. The fairies delighted in this spot, & they would carry their infants thither, singing them to sleep with sweet lullabies. Sometimes, musical airs of such mellifluence were heard in the vicinity of the tulip bed that it seemed as if the flowers were making music of themselves. At dawn the fairies returned from the meadow where they had been making merry, & could be heard caressing & murmuring to their infants as they carried them back to their fairy fort.
The tulips remained in bloom all summer through because of the fairy enchantment & were as fragrant as roses. This so enraptured the old woman that she would never suffer a single flower to be plucked from it's stem.
In time she died; & her successor uprooted the enchanted flowers & planted a parsley bed in their place. the fairies were so distressed that they cast a blight over the whole garden, & for many years nothing at all would grow within it's confines except rank weeds. Yet the fairies tended the old woman's grave so that the grass which grew over it was ever bright green, & the loveliest flowers disported themselves wantonly among the blades, although no human hand ever planted or sowed or in any way ministered to the grave.
This story seems to suggest that where human insensitivity does not recognise the presence of love & the harmony & beauty that are it's gifts & it's manifestations, the life forces wither away, withdrawing to & remaining with the source of that love. A salutary lesson, perhaps, in our ecological troubled times."



And so a week or so later I took Rob back to see the field, but what should we find when we got there but decimation!!
I couldn't believe my eyes. 
All gone!
So we gathered seeds instead & pondered on the unsettling lesson, that life is in constant flow; whether we like it or not.

Peach coloured roses are all about sincerity.
Sincerely, Evelyn.
These zinnias are in your honour dear friends as they symbolise: lasting affection & thinking of an absent friend.

Sometimes begonias are said to mean "deep thoughts"
Dahlia brings the meaningful blessing & messages of  enduring grace. Dahlia is also a symbol of inner strength, creativity & standing strong in you sacred values.
They are also very attractive to bumblebees!
And butterflies!
Yellow roses, like Golden Celebration speak of friendship.
And soft, graceful Dove rather speaks for herself.
In the older texts sunflowers frequently carry the meaning of false wealth...
but the other day when I was driving home on an unfamiliar route, I passed by a road side stall & huge buckets of bright yellow cheerfulness. Right at that moment I knew (with out the slightest doubt) that really,
they mean "exuberant sunshiney joy"!
And this little message arrived from the newly weds. Isn't it the cutest little thank you note you've ever seen!
Thank you too for visiting.
It's so lovely to see you.
But do tell me, I'd like to know...did you know what mellifluence meant all by yourself & just off the top of your head?

We had to look it up!!
Mellifluence is a very old word meaning:
adjective
1.
(of sounds or utterances) smooth or honeyed; sweet


Much love Catherine x0x0x

10 comments:

  1. made me smile on a grim damp winters day

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  2. How wonderful that field of sweet peas was - I bet the smell was amazing. Betty

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  3. Oh, I love The Fairy Night Song! Sweet peas are lovely. It's time to put the seeds in the ground here. We've had such nice warm temps so it's tempting to plant, but we're so far away from real gardening.
    Take care, lovely friend!

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  4. So glad you managed to get some seeds from the Sweet Peas!! So true is the saying, 'here today, gone tomorrow'.

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  5. Such a gorgeous post Catherine, I think if I had come across the sweet pea field, I would've thought I was in heaven. I can imagine how distraught you were to find it all gone again. Will be interesting to see if it is full of flowers again next year. Love both the typewriters, think you made a good decision to keep them both. I never used to be very fond of Zinnias but now have come to really love them. I am glad you bought the sunflowers Catherine, they are such happy cheery flowers, & cannot help but make you smile. No I didnt know what mellifluence meant either :-) Gorgeous thank you note from the newly weds. Have a super week dear girl. Love Julie x0x0

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  6. That field is sweet peas was simply amazing. I would have been in heaven! Lisa xx

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  7. Hello Catherine,

    I cam imagine the taste of honey that comes from that Sweet Pea paddock, glad to hear that you were able to get some seeds. Your typewriters reminded me of one of my girls, she was in Year 6 many years ago and as a treat if the children were good they were able to spend typing on a typewriter which was in a big cardboard box. The children loved it. Couldn't imagine it today with today's technology.
    Thanks for the floral feast today.

    Happy days.
    Bev.

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  8. Hello Dear Catherine, I’ve so missed your posts while I’ve been away from blogging, but I will have lots of fun catching up.
    Just look at those wild sweet peas, they are absolutely beautiful. I’m growing some everlasting ones in my garden that look very similar, they are in shades of pink and white, but it will be a few months before I see their sweet faces. Oh no I’ve just got to the photo of where they have all gone – how awful.
    I learnt to type on one of those glorious old typewriters, and I still miss the cheerful clanking. My keyboard just doesn’t sound the same.
    Such a beautiful fairy story, I’m so glad you shared it and your images are (as always) beyond gorgeous. Thank you so much Catherine, I loved this post.
    I have to away to my Pilates class now (trying to get fit!) but I will be back later to read more. Much love, Barbara xxx
    PS I hate to boast, but I did know what mellifluence meant but I had no idea how to spell it!

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  9. Nice to visit here again and I am in awe with all these gorgeous flowers. Do they grow in your garden?
    I had to laugh as after the great fairy story, a photo was shown of the emptied sweet peas flower field. The fairies there must be enraged. Thanks for this great post

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So lovely of you to leave a comment. Thank you!! So sorry if you've tried to leave one & it hasn't worked. You are welcome to email me at catherine@sunshinevintage.nz instead, if you'd like to, much love Catherine♥

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