Love-in-the-mist and Christmas in the Midst

I have to admit that for a wee while there I thought that I might just pretend that Christmas wasn't happening but denial didn't work out.

It just all gets too busy for me basically...but then when I came across some inspired pictures and

I was reminded of all the lovely bits of Christmas & I'm thinking that making it a vintagey Christmas somehow puts a little Kiwi nostalgia back in to the whole deal. I accidently found myself in a retail shop the other day in Havelock North & stumbled upon a delightful wreath made with a vintage blanket wrap & a Tui or two & an interesting price tag!..so when I got home I scrambled around for the willow wreath that I bought for 50c at the Church fair a couple of weeks ago, unearthed the blanket scraps left over from making lavender hearts & came up with one of these

 
a lonely, one winged
 dove filled the gap in
the centre & the little
 heart I made from a
 fabric with native
wood pigeons on it..
more scraps!

back porch

"Our" wood pigeons are called Kereru & are quite large, make a wonderful flapping noise when they fly & love to eat all kinds of berries, I took these photos ages ago out at one of "my" gardens.

The flowers on the fabric strips are pohutukawa, affectionately known as the New Zealand Christmas tree as they flower at the appropriate time & mirror the red of the holly berry. I also love feijoa flowers which are very similar & flowering in the garden right now.

I've never actually really seen the pointy bit in the middle of the flower before.

I've also been fascinated by bees..& have only recently noticed just exactly how they carry their astonishing pollen load..some yellow, some red!

About last Tuesday, Rob heard me hooting & hollering down in the garden & thought that I must have been having a go at Charlie again for stalking the birds.. but no, I had a stumbled upon a large yellow surprise plonked right in the midst of the flowers. I had quite forgotten all about planting this new variety of cauliflower called "Cheddar" months ago & suddenly here it was

  Funny how you never see a half picked cauli..with only two of us it might have been quite sensible to have left half of it there for a day or two..anyway it is very delicious being freshly picked & all that, but otherwise pretty much the same. You never know it just might fool the odd bloke or occasional child in to thinking that the cheese was already mixed in.
Speaking of blokes..I recently had an enquiry via Trade Me from a lovely lady hoping to catch up with another Cecile Brunner rose & as it so happened I had just loaded in to my car to take to the Pop-up Shop event, none other than Cecile herself, so out she came & was made to stay home. Dear Gwenda, like me just adores this wee sweetheart rose.

 I was thinking through quite how to prepare "her" for posting & decided to trim her little branches & wrap the root ball in damp newspaper. Having moistened the paper I was about to do the wrapping bit when I looked down & saw him!

Poor Mademoiselle Cecile, oh my,
 Gwenda that would never do!!
Cecile has a wee friend called Cinderella.. the tiniest wee rose bud you've ever seen..perhaps a centimetre wide.

We have a very high & ugly block wall at the back boundary that hasn't been seen for years now as I long ago planted climbing roses all over it. I have so adored the incredible display of Constance Spry.. Mary Rose's mother, this spring

& the fascinating love-in-the-mist (nigella) they come in such pretty colours & end in very interesting seed pods.

I'm really understanding the old adage "not enough hours in the day" just now but there are funny little upsides to not being in command of all things..like having daisies growing in the lawn..the urban meadow effect!!   : )  

One of the things that I really enjoy about this time of year is discovering creative delights like these fab cards that I bought very reasonably from Trade Me from the clever & delightful Andrea who hales from Karori, Wellington.

Made from upcycled school atlases that had seen better days, these bunting also proved to be very popular. Andrea's trade name is sunnycot should you wish to look out for more of her work.

Right, I shall leave you with some cherries..yay they're back. We'll have some at the gate again next week!!

Hope all your Christmas stuff is going well : )
MUCH

 XX