Mrs Plumply And The Beeswax

I don't know about you but I adore honey; fragrant, golden liquid ambrosia.

 We arrived home to the most wonderful gift in the world last Saturday. Bees business on the door step...from a brother who lives on a diversely, productive farm out the back of the "Tuki" & who also happens to keep bees.

 The two mats are full of a very sticky mixture of wax & propolis. Separating the two could be a little trickier than I thought but I'm working on it!

 Propolis has wonderful antiseptic & healing properties. And the wax I melt together with olive oil to make a polish with a thousand uses. I came across a recipe for an olive oil & lemon juice concoction recently..it seems to work very nicely (smells good). Have you ever tried it? What did you think?

I've been coming upon rainbows all week. These were made by the low winter sunshine, shining through the prisms in our bedroom.

 Aren't they beautiful..

 Do you remember the garden beds that Katie put me on to a couple of weeks ago? Well here is my little version for the winter..

A couple of weeks ago we went to an upmarket vintage sale out on Napier Road. Interesting enough, but just a tad Lardy Whoup for me. However, outside, I did happen to find this old milk can. Isn't it brilliant & at more of a garage sale price too. What shall I do, paint it or leave it as it is? 

 I also bought two of these Italian planters (the top oblong one) which is perfect for right here.

There are some things that I find you just never come across in our op shops in New Zealand, vintage enamelware being one of them. So I was delighted to find this wonderful large bowl that I bought on Trade Me on my doorstep, bundled up in cardboard yesterday morning. Lemons seemed a perfect thing to put in to it. But... 

some people had other plans & quite soon the lemons were unceremoniously replaced with dates.

 What a grand idea for a chilly winters Saturday morning.. wholemeal date scones. I love this bowl!

 They really don't take long,

 leaving just enough time to make butter curls.

 No, we didn't eat them all at once...tempting though! Would you like one?

This morning as we walked over to feed Anna's dear wee cat Paikia we came around the corner to find  a "public swing"..I was very tempted to stop & have a turn.

There have been rainbows in the sky & rainbows in the night. When I stepped outside about 11.30 last night I found a full rainbow around the moon. Mr Astronomy tells me it's called a halo..so there you go! My poor little overworked camera did it's valiant best but was unable to capture the full spectrum for me..it was an amazing sight.

 Having been useless at growing orchids, but ever keen to have another go, I was most startled to venture down the back this morning & find this lovely in full bloom under the kindly shelter of a palm tree.

 I found these two treasures in one of my gardens this week.

 Like Charlie (the borrowed cat) this elderly rhododendron belongings next door but the pleasure of it is spread around.

 I think the angel's were giggling too much when they painted this camelia & had a little painty accident.

 The big tidy up goes on...and ON! We put some old floral carpet in a wardrobe & discovered the smallest patch of very old wallpaper right in the corner on the back wall that has escaped all efforts of coverup through the years.

 At the Mart the other day I also found this fun vintage tin.

 I am so glad that I was reminded of my lovely book Apples for Jam by seeing the delicious lavender shortbread & apricot coulis made over at Millefleuilles last week. What a delight this book is & how gorgeous the shortbread looked!

 The front cover announces "RECIPES FOR LIFE"...lots & lots of vintagey, innovative, colourful pictures.

On the opposite page is this lovely memory:
"There is children's laughter escaping out through the iron gates and past the oleander and daffodils, sprinkling on to the just-cut lawns that line the road and fluttering up to me through my open window, falling over my shoulders like fairy glitter. And that atmosphere of sleeping head to tail in trains and on holiday, and knocking on walls to see if others are awake."


I am having a little bit of trouble taming my sewing room..it's a very small room & it has a bed in there too. I am most fortunate to have a sewing room I know. A useful step in the mastering process was to find these vintage shelves. What do you think? I may have to cajole "He Who Has The Folding Gene" in to giving me some assistance & I simply shant show you the mess on the other side... that would put you off your tea.

 I have found myself two painted sewing machine draws which I am rather fond of & had thought that perhaps a third might be quite useful..so I asked very nicely if "He Who Has The Folding Gene" might like to donate one of his garage draws to a happy cause? I was fairly surprised that quite smartly he returned bearing the extra draw....after all he didn't really need sooo many draws to store all those nails & screws bits & bobs did he!

Only thing is, he had pinched one from here!!

In the corner I have made a nice stack of vintage suitcases. I am thinking that labels might be useful..then I won't have to open each one to find the.....lace!

 Oh, now, Mrs Plumply....yes she came to stay a little while ago & I didn't mind at the time because I thought that she would be heading off again quite soon, but to my horror she has made herself right at home & announced that she rather likes it here! Humph!!! I am not impressed, so if she never knocks on your door my best advice is don't let her in!!
My curvy little friend here is one of my favourite finds. Why on earth is there a lion on your coffee pot you may well ask?? Well Simba is the signal. You see one morning I came out & presumed that Rob had sorted the coffee pot as he usually does, put it on, & went off to have a shower, but oh dear, oh dear there was nothing in my sweet pot & the rubber seal was soon a molten mess. Fortunately, months later, all has been restored & my little poppet whistles on another day. If Simba is on the top keeping guard we are all set to go..I still check every time now though!

 This was the scrummiest idea I found in a magazine recently..baked apple crumbles.

 Wishing you a sweetly scented week. Thank you so much for visiting & your kind & lovely comments. I do so appreciate you all.

MUCH

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