Nestling Into Autumn In "My Cool Caravan"

No, no I'm not skiting, truly.

I was just going to tell you about these books that Rob came across at the library on Tuesday afternoon.

You know, sometimes a great book just cannot be beaten.

 These three have been keeping us well entertained.

While the feijoas have been falling by the bucket load in the back garden.

I have under planted-the big feijoa tree with violets, that are just beginning to flower..the feijoas quietly slip their way to the ground & nestle amongst the violet leaves, waiting to be found.

Our long hot summer has been great for most fruiting trees, the figs have been prolific & have had plenty of time to ripen. They are delicious in a fruit salad along with passionfruit & blueberries.

The birds adore the figs too, but there seem to be enough for us all to share.

Rosewater & honey make a lovely addition to the fruit flavours.

The persimmon tree is laden & just colouring up now.

I needed to make a very lemony dish to take to a celebration the other night.
I remembered this lemon pie. I first made it when I used to babysit for a family when I was 17 & it's still as good as it was then. You can find the recipe here.

Kaitiaki loved meeting Lucy last week & he had a grand idea.
He suggested that we might like to put a coconut in the palm tree, then we could feel that we were on holiday all the time!

It's amazing how Lucy can sit plonked in the middle of the driveway & right beside the house (well more or less) & yet seem completely private & not in the way at all!

I found a nice bright geranium in sale.
 Isn't red so cheery!

This little retro glass holder wouldn't normally appeal to me terribly but it really is very sensible for the glasses in the cupboard & traveling.

A dear retired Welshman came to visit & gave Lucy a well deserved electrical warrant of fitness on Tuesday morning. His name was Taffy..how perfect was that!

Rob bought all the power cord bits & made up a safe & sturdy connection cord & now Lucy has lights & the little fridge goes too.

My friend Ruth came for a wee birthday cup of tea yesterday morning.

 Raspberry, cranberry & elderflower tea is delicious, have you ever tried it?

On Sunday morning we were out the door bright & early by 9 am..& found just the spot to wait for David, who had entered himself the Hastings half marathon. I was all set & ready but there's obviously quite an art to the business of "running" photography & I rather missed my queue. Still, he was glad we came to see him & was very pleased with himself, finishing 30 seconds under his goal time.
Afterwards, on a bright sparkling autumn day, we headed south for a bit to have a pot of Earl Grey tea at the Paper Mulberry Cafe once again.

 It's such a lovely rural spot, yet only 20 mins from home.

So rural, in fact that, the cat under the washing line was having a rabbit morning tea all to himself.

Charlie has very silly lately (borrowed cat) playing "you can't see me" up on the arch way.

At this time of year there are so many insects & "things".
I was fascinated by this little black beetle.

So I put him in a match box for a little while to watch him.

Do you remember the poem by A.A. Milne called "Forgiven"? It was in the little book "Now We Are Six"

"I found a little beetle; so that Beetle was his name,
And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same.
I put him in a match-box, and I kept him all the day ...
And Nanny let my beetle out -
Yes, Nanny let my beetle out -
She went and let my beetle out -
And Beetle ran away.

She said she didn't mean it, and I never said she did,
She said she wanted matches and she just took off the lid,
She said that she was sorry, but it's difficult to catch
An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match.

She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn't mind,
As there's lots and lots of beetles which she's certain we could find,
If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid -
And we'd get another match-box and write BEETLE on the lid.

We went to all the places which a beetle might be near,
And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear,
And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout:
"A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!"

It was Alexander Beetle I'm as certain as can be,
And he had a sort of look as if he thought it must be Me,
And he had a sort of look as if he thought he ought to say:
"I'm very very sorry that I tried to run away."

And Nanny's very sorry too for you-know-what-she-did,
And she's writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid,
So Nan and Me are friends, because it's difficult to catch
An excited Alexander you've mistaken for a match."

When the cascade had just begun -the tumult of events that lead to so much busy-ness & change-I had bought this wardrobe thing-a-me-bob at the Salys for $70..

well, the almost finished result looks like this:

And my new sewing room is looking so lovely.

I am just delighted & very grateful.

I'll share it with you next time.

I hope that your week is rich with creativity & filled with friendship, hugs & a sense of true well-being. Thank you so much for visiting.

MUCH

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