Lilac Racing By And a Vintage Tea Party

Back in the time of violets & magnolias everything seemed to move at a gracious pace & arrive whispering gently of the promise of spring, however, the unfolding eventuality of the season has not been quite so sedate, after all. I fully intended to post of lilac & wisteria as they both simultaneously responded to their appointed queue in predestined loveliness ...mmm I'm not sure I remembered that it was also a season of chaos. Hot & cold, windy & wet & ...dry AND then, quite suddenly, we are zooming towards Christmas & the end of the year & all that arrives with it. In truth, I find that I have significantly mixed feelings about the whole deal. December isn't actually Jesus' birthday, I can't much be doing with Father Christmas although St Nic seemed like a good stick. We simply do not have ANY snow or mistletoe at this end of the world, hence steamed Christmas pud is really quite ludicrous and, well, family tensions & expectations (in general) year after year have rather taken the edge off things. Yes, there are still some bits I like.
What is happening, in just a few weeks though, that's lovely is.. a tea party. My darling & I will have been married for 30 years on the 6th December. We have been talking a lot lately, as we always do, & reflecting on just how wonderful it is to have this time in life together..God willing, the chance to grow old together lovingly. We really wish that we could invite you all & that you could come to our tea party in the garden, sadly, most of you live way too far away. Here is the invitation anyway:

Create a digital invitation When looking for tea party images I found this via weheartit...what fun!! the flag says "Jugs of tea"!! : O                           and isn't this so sweet but it'll probably be more a touch of this quite handy that in my fossicking at St Matthew's spring fair this morning I found this little set Perfect for one of the little people that will be coming along. One such little person, namely Kaitaiki, joined me in the garden today & together we did a bit of topiary trimming & the like. I found this hairy lonicera for Kai to have a go with ...he promptly announced, "Is this the ugly one today"?! And with all of his four year old commonsense suggested that I might like to leave the cleaning up process until after  we'd finished trimming! I've had other friends in the garden this week too. The blackbirds, thrushes & sparrows all love the apples & pears  that I've been putting  out for them each day.  I just wish that they'd leave my mulch alone & stop turfing out my plants. I am amazed & delighted that amidst the everyday ordinariness & bric-a-brac of the op shop that there are still such gems like this sunlight soap apron to be found. $1.50 at the Restore shop. I love the 1000 pd reward for anyone who could prove that the soap had been adulterated in any way! Even Made in England. The lilac & wisteria really were just beautiful. Finally just finishing now. This one was found round at Kaitiaki's house. Here they all are intermingled. and of course the Lilac Fairy & peeping over the pearl handles I was soo delighted with this vintage fabric that came in the form of 3 curtains that I bought through Trade me recently. The sellers were locals but lived a bit out of town, so very kindly arranged for me to be able to pick up my purchase via their daughter who had just started work at a drive through cafe interestingly named (by the two male owners) The Horny Goat..quite an adventure : )  I've not ever seen this particular fabric before but the grandmother had owned it for well over 50 years & it certainly has that vintage Sanderson feel to it. Isn't this the sweetest spring picture that I came across in one of my old Victoria magazines the other day  Then I found this recipe for sundried tomato, red pepper & pastrami wraps. With a few adjustments I thought that they might be rather delicious for a  tea party..what do you think? Sliced quite thinly maybe? Fly well. Fly free this week my lovelies & remember to take time for you : ) MUCH  XXX