Triumph and Boiled Lettuce

I have been so grateful for the world of blogging in the 

last few weeks. Reading the lovely posts of my blogging 

companions' creativity & everyday adventures has kept 

me anchored & sane.

We have been facing the most terrifying & stressful of times.

My poor darling has endured the most despicable work

related bullying over the last few years.

 Finally, this week, a number of nasties have concluded & 

at last been fully disarmed.

We have discovered through this time that we are both

strong & capable but also sensitive & vulnerable.

We have held on tight together & come back round once 

more to being so grateful for the simple, beautiful things

in life & for a love & friendship that has endured

& deepened despite the storms. 

"Grow old with me the best is yet to come"

I didn't fully understand how this would be 

until more recently.

When your children leave home everyone bangs on 

about the "empty nest syndrome" & the major upheaval

that this will be in your small wee menopausal life, 

 just the same as they always tell you that you better

hang on to every minute of your children being small 

"because they grow up sooo fast".

What no one ever says is that it's ok to wish your 

kids would grow up sometimes & that the adult relationship

that you get to have with them after they have left

home will be with you far longer & possibly be much 

more satisfying than you could ever have

imagined all the while that you were all growing up

& struggling through the early years together.

The thing is there are always

new miracles,

fresh starts

just around the corner..

let's hold tight to the wonder of the simple things

.....these really do look like fairy's hats
don't you think?!

And just look at Archie who I found in a 

recent NZ Gardner mag

bet he never imagined he would ever grow such a carrot!

I found these in a sheltered spot in my garden 

this week..

sometimes it's just seeing things in a new light that helps

although I am not very good at change, without it

there are so many things that we would miss out on.

The last few weeks have been profoundly wet & sometimes

very cold which means in spite of the feather duvet inner 

& snuggling up together we were still a teeny bit cold. 

Then I remembered the magnificent wedding cover 

that I had 

carefully tucked away in the linen cupboard.

It is just so exquisitely hand made.

I bought it at the Antique

Centre in Napier a few

years ago

now you see without winter I might never have retrieved this

beauty from the cupboard & marveled at the workmanship

and been just warm enough when covered in such loveliness!

a surprise bloom..no wonder she's called "Dove"

Today we headed down the road to a local car boot sale

but found that it wasn't on this week so we popped in to a 

garage sale on our way home & Rob came across this

well treasured National Cookery book by Una Carter

"medalist"

not so sure that we'll ever make the stewed brains or the 

 cooked lettuce & probably especially not the boiled

cock's comb but it is quite an astonishing thought that

this one cook book embodies the cookery life experience

of another woman in another time..

I didn't get out & about much this week but I did pick up

this vintage teapot at Connections. There was just something

so familiar about it. It'll at least make a good prop for 

a new tea cosy perhaps.

a bit chilly to be swimming just now I would have thought

but then who would imagine that this little one would 

be having ago just now too..resilience!