A Thing of Beauty...

Hello lovely ones!
My goodness it's June and three days into winter here.
I love turning the page on my Victoriana calendar each month and was delighted to find this rose red joy staring back at me this month's beginning.

Isn't this a sweet idea...but oh dearie me I can't remember which magazine I was sifting through!

I love Jessie Wilcox Smith's illustrations...here is another picture from my library discard treasure book "Best of Friends".

I was growing a tamarillo tree in a pot -you know, one of those times where you buy this tiny little tree & you say to yourself "I'll just pop it in this pot over here until I decide where to plant it?" only the tree put down some happy roots, tucked in the shelter of the lemon tree & now it has some fruit. Not sure if they'll fully ripen now that the frosts have begun to grace our mornings with crispness.

This sweet forget-me-not near by seems to have forgotten itself & popped up a flower just because.

Lots of people complain about leaves.
 Some even wage war on them & the trees around them.
 I love them!
 So much so that I have been dragging them home from round the corner near the park...bag after bag and then a neighbour dropped off a trailer load last week.
 How wonderful!!

I have been scattering them all over the place as mulch, especially down underneath the fruit trees.

I adore the vibrant colours & the pleasing shapes of the flowering cherry tree leaves...

so I tend to leave them be as long as possible so that I can enjoy their lovely display.

Of course, leaves do take themselves off just wherever they please, so in the end there is a lot of raking & sweeping...but it's good for you & keeps you warm. Sometimes a helper is required. (Borrowed cat who crosses the road by herself everyday to visit us!)

The days are shorter (& chillier!) but the light is sometimes amazing & makes the colours so much richer,

especially at days end.

Lured by the sight of two vintage prams outside The Mart in Havelock North the other day I spied this sweet little house, outside on a table. Do you think it's a bird house?

And an unusual bird bath that seemed quite perfect to me..

 for the garden at the front that I have just rejuvenated this last few weeks.

A while back, outside a secondhand shop, I found this sheet music free for the taking.
Oh what a perfect title for a song!
The pegs I thought, a rather clever idea found on Pinterest...very handy for spare threads, especially crochet weight or even bits of wool, I expect.

Very kindly, my mother sent a Victoria magazine in the post just recently.
What a divine picture I found in the first few pages...perfect for the quote from John Keat's poem Endymion.

Isn't this so romantic...Among the Wildflowers.

(If you click the picture you will see it bigger)

Beauty is often fragile & fleeting which is why it must be sort out every day, like this winter flowering iris. I am always amazed by it's audacity, so fragile yet flowering in the chilliest part of the year, happiest under trees or slightly sheltered near the house or other quiet spots.

Out walking this week I was suddenly struck (as I snaffled the fragrant twigs of winter sweet as I passed by) with the realization that there are two different flowers for the same bush...look. Same scent, different form.

I had a special visitor this week..about last Tuesday.
A lovely lady called Kay.
She came to talk to me about my garden.
She wrote a lovely story..here it is..click on it & hopefully you can read it...if you're interested!

One day out op shopping I came across this forlorn little picture...the one with the little girl & the bird.
There just seemed to be something special about it.
It's a little dark for me but I have recently found a place for it on the wall over here.

Then I found it on Pinterest & the artists name.
What was even better, I discovered that Simon Glucklich painted this picture of his little blind daughter listening to the first robin of spring.
The picture is entitled "Spring Song" & painted around 1925.
Isn't that so lovely!

Of course when you have boys come to your house for dinner you never know what you might find in your plug hole! Not sure what pasta animal this might in fact be...any ideas?

I have talked to you about Bright Star before...perhaps my favourite movie ever.

Too beautiful not to mention again...indeed A Thing of Beauty.

Even the movie trailer is wonderful!!

Thanks so much for visiting & your lovely comments...so much appreciated!

I hope your day today, your week is graced with beauty too.

 ♥♥♥♥♥