The Fairy Sweeper Helpers and Other Sparkly Things

Some people have Garden Fairies..

I, have Fairy Sweeper Helpers..and they can be girls or boys!

 I also have sparkly things in my garden.

 I am grateful for the gift of my garden chandelier every single day.
Anything that is warm & sunshiney & sparkly in winter is good isn't it!?

The light comes in lower...sneaking up on us with pretty surprise rainbows.

Even with our feather duvet on it's a wee bit chilly in the night here just now but I find myself quite pleased about that because it means I can get out our precious handmade bedspread & treasure it some more. I hate to think how many hundreds of hours that it took for someone to lovingly make it.

My dearest friend Cheryl came & shared her birthday with me yesterday.

We had such a precious time.

"Look, she said, there's a rainbow on your arm".

I'm glad that it's her nails you can see & not mine!

Garden Fairies are frequently too busy to pay much attention to such things as fingernails.

 I called in to St Andrew's road on Friday..the tree ripened apples at the stalls down that way are exquisite.

 The truly tree-ripened fuji apples have this funny translucent thing going on inside. I wonder what the effect is called?

 Margaret, from round the corner, popped these gorgeous poppies in to me yesterday to say thank you for us helping to organize a pot swap next door. Aren't they amazing.

 She has them growing close to her house where they are sheltered & the soil is very dry.
I love their silky crinkliness don't you?
They look lovely in the old amethyst glass vase I found last time we were away.

There are monarchs over wintering down at the Showgrounds..wasn't this great camouflage!

As we scrunched amongst the crisp leaves we found quite a number of butterflies sunning themselves on the ground.

Matt came home this weekend (got a ride back with friends) so it seemed the perfect time to cut our 12 kg Musque de Provence pumpkin. The one that we bought from Clyde Potter at the Farmer's Market a few weeks back. Inside, it is the most amazing colour!! And yes, we've shared it round the neighbourhood.

I made two small jars of guava jelly this week using 1/2 the amount of sugar & adding just a squeeze of lemon juice. I wish you could taste it...it makes people close their eyes & swoon. We kept thinking that there was something very familiar about the flavour...something we were missing & then Rob got it! It tastes like the most divine tangy, perfect turkish delight you have ever dreamed of. 

 I remembered an old recipe of Nan's the other day. I used to love her fruit delight. I would often help her to make it with all different kinds of fruit. I wrote the recipe out in to a special book when I was 15.
Firstly I made it with lemon & just as the recipe says. You can find it here in our kitchen blog.

 Only I forgot to take a photo until it was nearly all gone!

So while Matthew was here we made another version..

  using some tamarillos.

 I love the colour it went! It is such a nice light dessert, very versatile & actually really good for you since it has eggs, fruit & gelatine in it  & not much else.

Last Sunday afternoon we popped out to Haumoana, which is near the coast & about 10 minutes away, to pick up some mandarins.

As we came up over Black Bridge I saw the sea & a new walk way. 

It was freezing but we hopped out & walked briskly to keep warm as the sun was almost setting. 

 What we found at the end of the road was truly Paradise.

As we left, the moon that Jupiter was about to cross, appeared quite suddenly & enchanted us all the way home. I was so overwhelmed by our serendipitous adventure & so thrilled with my photos I made a little movie which can be found just here.

It is so nice of you to visit...thank you!

I hope there is some simple wonder & good food going on for you this week too.

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥