An angel in the garden...

You know,
 it's time...
Time for me to pause & reflect on where I've come from & how I got here..
Here, in this garden of an angel.
You see, I didn't just arrive all by myself.
I have been guided by so many kind hearts & gentle hands & I am so grateful.
This particular garden gate was opened for me by my dearest friend Cheryl,

when one year's end she gave me the sweetest card I'd ever seen.

And a little seed ♥ was planted in my heart
 & soon enough...
 along came my friend Gaye with her watering can filled with spring water & cheer germs..

Gaye & Pene are best of friends & terribly clever & gorgeous woman.

And in it's time, that little seed began filling up my heart, with a new kind of hope.

Gaye was the gentle soul that told me about Keriann & her blog Sweet Mary.

(I do wish that man would get out of my picture!)

Here she is with all her Sweet Mary creations.

You can find the loveliest story about Keriann just here at Coddle & Covet.

I had never even heard of a "blog" before I visited Sweet Mary.
From that first little visit, the fragile hope plant began to respond to the light, as she once had many years ago, before the weight of the world sat on her & squashed her & blocked out the light & the joy & the purpose.

I was always destined to create beauty & to be in a garden.

 I just hadn't quite been granted my wings, as yet, when we took on this neglected plot..

 back in the days when we bought our first home in Hawera.

But it was my Sue that held out to me the golden rope..
the precious thread that would tie me into life, for the next 20 years & more.
 It was she, who gave me my "Garden Fairy" wings & the joy & satisfaction of creating beauty. Together, garden after garden, year after year we have created abundance & beauty...
As Sue says, over at Style Me Vintage,
"Well, I blame Walt Disney's Grandpa Bunny Bunny...you will have to check him out....and my Aunty Dorothy! They taught me to see beauty from a very young age and so my obsession with all things beautiful began."

 Garden Fairies have many friends...this one is Molly.
She never fails to go "mental" when she hears my car or discovers me in the garden.
Like Mary, who "wasn't wanted" in The Secret Garden, I was found through a garden.

So here it was that in the new year of 2010 An Angel in the Garden was born, right here in this space & truly changed my life forever.

This was my first post:

"I've often wondered what an ordinary life would look like if it was viewed as a movie? My life?

Life is lived so daily...we only have the now..this moment...this very experience...viewed through the eyes of the heart...& then it is gone.

We all seek intimacy, all long to be seen & known for who we really are.

 So why are we so hesitant to express ourselves in full colour?

An angel in the garden that's me..most at home tending plants & creating beauty with the help of the Creator!"

What a delight then, to receive this kind & precious gift 2 years later from Gaye for my birthday back in January. 

You can find Violet Annie's Cottage just here.

But the best part of all, is that the story goes on & the kind hands & gentle hearts are also yours dear friends.

 My world has changed because of you.

It is almost this way.. 

"The spell was broken. My uncle learned to laugh, and I learned to cry.

 The secret garden is always open now.

 Open, and awake, and alive. 

If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden." 

 THANK YOU!

 And life goes on...
Sweet Mary has become...Little Vintage

 AND as I have mentioned before, Rob & I have been gathering some vintage picnicky things around us.
I think we're ready to go!!
We'd love you to pop in & have a peek at our website..

Picnics are really just lovely adventures waiting to happen..
Look at the spot we found on Sunday..
such a perfect day!

I would be so glad if you could let me know what you think about our little website, if you have the time to visit.
Thank you for coming & seeing me, everyone of you.
You are all so precious to me.
With very much love & big squishy hugs,

♥♥♥♥♥