Free background from VintageMadeForYou

Monday 19 August 2013

It Looks A Lot Like Spring!

Kindness, thoughtfulness and friendship are surely three of life's most precious transactions.
One morning this week (in between rain & earthquakes) we discovered the Postie had cycled passed and left real letters in our letterbox!
There is nothing quite like real mail, don't you agree?
Even better, amidst the bundle of envelopes, was a wee parcel from Threadbear Cottage.
I carried it carefully out to Lucy with my morning coffee & savoured every second of my sweet gift.
Some people are just such fine & thoughtful gift givers & others, not so much.
What an absolute blessing this little parcel was.
With orders pressing & much to be done Julie had still found the time to stitch a special vintage blanket bunting for our lovely girl.
 I love this verse:
LIFE IS A
 GARDEN
DIG IT 
The lovely gardeners soap, so sweetly fragrant, fills up the whole space with it's fresh presence.
 It's all about taking the time isn't it.
About seeing who another really is.
All my life I have been a Cinderella, unnoticed by those I lived amongst.
 It's a very lonely way to live, like you're just plain wrong, a nuisance, The Problem.
To open a parcel like this filled with kind words, friendship & care & to be seen, really seen is the most precious gift there ever was.
Thank you so much Julie, my friend.
Thank you too for all of you who visit & share this journey with me.
Thank you for seeing me & your comments & emails & contact & sharing your life snippets with me in return.
Here are some daffodils for you.
I celebrate each one of you.
Grace.
 We have been very brave as the days grow a little longer & sometimes a little warmer & done some new work in our Lucy.
I am so grateful that Rob is so clever at fixing things.
 If you click on these smaller pictures you'll be able to see them better.








Signs of real spring are everywhere..
..buddleia brings the butterflies out to play.
I visited with my friend Ruth again on Thursday before she heads away for a month,
leaving the plums to blossom valiantly in her absence.
We scampered over the wee creek down the back into the Secret Garden..
 it's the same place we gather walnuts in autumn.
Such an amazing legacy left by a very fine man.
We don't always think of that, do we, that when we plant good things, good seeds, we leave a legacy for those to come after us, that will bless & enrich their lives; perhaps even for generations.
Daffodils are made of sunshine.
I shared them around my little neighbourhood.
I said to Audrey "Audrey when I was picking these I was thinking of you & how I bought you daffodils when you were in hospital last year (she couldn't get up one day: Parkinsons) here I am again with daffodils & look how far you've come in that year!" 
We both smiled.
 Last week in the rain I picked roses. Some of them have flowered all winter..amazing things!
The camelia is Scentuous.
 I love winter roses too.
They have been very glad of all our rain, as have the violets.
 Primulas are such happy spring flowers & come in many lovely pastel colours.
 We are having rain, rather than frosts & for the first time ever..
 Christmas Cheer is blooming very robustly, untarnished.
 It is always the first rhodo to arrive on the early spring scene.
I laughed when I saw this card on Pinterest recently.
"Cheery Wishes to a Shut-In"
The original get well card?
 I do hope that you are all well & not at all shut-in!

And just one wee question before I go..do you think Cinderella might have changed her name, you know...after the ball? At least I have my golden carriage, her name is LUCY!

Thank you so much for visiting.
With very much love & friendship.
 ♥♥♥♥♥

15 comments:

  1. Oh, GK! Your Lucy is so adorable I think I'd want to live in her if she were my carriage!
    You are doing such a beautiful work there. She is glorious!
    YOU are precious and so was Cinderella. She got her prince!
    I am wishing and praying for a fantastic spring for you, my sweet friend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Pom Pom my dear friend. Whatever would I do with out you?! I was thinking of when you got your class to write their own Cinderella sorry last year when I wrote this post. I wondered how their stories went.
      Hope you have a happy beginning of the school year as you gather everyone in once more.
      Much love Katie x0x0x

      Delete
  2. Oh Catherine such a sweet post as always. Lucy looks amazing. I really love the pink light shade over the table - if it was there before I just didn't notice until now. Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers & I can just smell them through your pictures.

    Thank you for sharing yourself through your blog. I look forward to every post & cherish the beauty you share.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Jenny, isn't it funny how details can escape us like the pink lamp shades. Rachel, the lady that we bought Lucy from, cleverly found those little shades. They are plastic, which is very sensible for a caravan & there is one at each end.
      Yes, aren't daffodils wonderful!
      I just found a whole little bunch of the tiny tete a tete daffs this morning blooming away under a rhododendron.
      I so very much appreciate your comments & encouragement, thank you.
      Much love always Catherine x0x0x

      Delete
  3. Catherine,
    I have just recently discovered your sweet blog. I too have a little trailer that I absolutely adore. I think we even have cushions covered in the same fabric! Too cute. I love your new bunting. I just have a paper one in my "Betty". Hugs from Nova Scotia :)
    Beth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Beth, so lovely to meet you!
      Thanks for leaving a comment.
      I have popped in to Summer Friends..what a great name for a blog.
      I look forward to seeing more of your Betty.
      I adore Earl Grey tea too & even more a new blend here called New Zealand Earl Grey (Twinings) & it’s even more delicious...somehow.
      Not quite sure how.
      We pop out to Lucy every day for tea, lunch, a cider together on Rob’s days off.....
      Having a light on out there is so cosy, even Margaret next door finds it comforting to look out & see from her kitchen window.
      Catch up some more.
      Much love Catherine x0x0x

      Delete
  4. Hello Catherine ... yes it is feeling alot like spring & your post & pictures just captures that perfectly. I think the bunting looks wonderful in Lucy ... she is so adorable, everything about her. I can imagine if you were feeling ever so slightly grumpy, just to go out & sit in her would certainly cheer you up I am sure :-)
    Love all your flower pictures, what a lovely comment you shared with your friend Audrey. I have just popped around the road to drop something to a friend & came home with a bunch of her daffs from her driveway - such happy cheery flowers. Hoping you have a wonderful week Catherine, much love, Julie x0x (always enjoy stopping by your blog)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Julie dear, yes the bunting is just perfect in Lucy. Lucky she had a short name eh ; ) I must just ask you ..how exactly, do you get your blanket stitch so neat & even??? I have just finished my crocheted cushion (for Lucy) & backed it with vintage blanketing, blanket stitched the closing edge and WONKY. I don't know, some people!
      Thank you for liking Lucy too. Some interesting person left a comment on a picture of her on Pinterest this morning saying "NOT THIS"...RUDE!
      And yes, precious, happy, grumpy worried..any time at all Lucy is always the perfect retreat. Except if you're cross..it's the rules no angry or cross people allowed!
      Yes daffodils are very happy cheery flowers. My friend Wendy had just done the Hospice Shop window today when I popped in..they are entering in the city wide competition "Paint The Town Yellow". Her window was fantastic...I hope they win.
      Thank you so much for your chatty faithful visits.
      Much love Catherine x0x0x

      Delete
  5. Hello dear Catherine
    it's so lovely to pop in and read your 'early Spring' post - oh yes I clicked on each picture - I'm sure I could smell the daffs and Christmas Cheer!!! It's always good knowing the name too, I'll look it up on line but I suspect it likes the colder climate.

    Lucy is looking amazing - Julie is such a kind soul - what a perfect gift.

    Yes I feel Cinderella would have changed her name too (she would never be called Cinders again) I'm sure you've got a sweet fairy name tucked away you can use!

    ((hugs))
    Shane x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Shane, it's taken me a while but here I am at last. Lovely to catch up with you. Hope the new laptop is performing well.
      Yes, I thought that you might rather like Christmas Cheer. It is quite small growing & reminds me of the colour of Souvenir. I feel as if I have a Taranaki garden this year...for the very first time. We have had little frost & a LOT of rain & so many things have thrived on the conditions including CC not getting all "browned off" 7 likewise all the early magnolias. The violets have gone quite nutty with the extra water too.
      I know I am so grateful to Julie & Lucy loves her bunting.
      Funny, I had forgotten that she was actually Cinders...now that's definitely a nasty name! I guess I did already find my new name "Katie" it's what my grandsons call me & it 's always sweet when they use it : )
      Hugs & much love to you x0x0x

      Delete
  6. Catherine, bless you for your contentment, your posts are always inspiring and show glimpses of a creative home maker, glad your not a lonely cinderella anymore and that carriage finally arrived! Personally I would quite like a pumpkin version! and would decorate it with all things fairified and woodland - but your Lucy is indeed a golden carriage. I'm a bit of a shut inside type, lots of people around me but I keep them at a distance, isn't it surprising that we open our souls in blogland but not so much in real world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Betty, yes I can just see you with a pumpkin carriage & of course there would be a stray dog or two.
      Isn't it funny how we are all so different. I still suffer from such aloneness much of the time because it never improved with my family & things keep happening to this day that still make me feel like Cinders. I don't have a lot of people around me but at least I feel connected through blogland for who I really am & I am grateful for the kindness & friendship & inspiration that i find here.
      Thank you for visiting : )
      Much love Catherine x0x0x

      Delete
  7. Hello Catherine,

    A beautiful post. Lucy has the perfect addition thanks to Julie. Looking at your photo's of Lucy's cupboards reminded me of my childhood, we had exactly the same ones we had in our caravan.

    Enjoy your Spring blooms.

    Happy days.
    Bev.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Bev, lovely to see you.
      Yes wasn't Julie so sweet. I must say that she has a real knack with the blanket stitch..I've done some on a cushion this week & for the life of me I couldn't get it neat & even like hers!
      I love the shape of Lucy's cupboards. They are very nostalgic...I think they remind me of the cupboards at the old Dental Clinic where I trained many years ago in Wellington. I think it's been demolished now.
      Do you have happy memories of caravaning?
      There was probably a pattern about back in the day for the inside fittings of caravans...lots of blokes made their own, didn't they. We discovered some pretty yukky paint colours under the layers when we did that work the other day. There was a very Karitane yellow right at the bottom...mmm.
      Thanks so much for visiting.
      Much love Catherine x0x0x

      Delete
  8. I totally agree real mail and real friends are just the best but email and blogging friends are good too!
    I love the Lucy bunting what a gorgeous idea, in fact, Lucy is gorgeous through and through – just like you.
    I’m quite sure Cinderella did change her name if only to Princess Cinderella or maybe Queen Cinderella!
    I love all the spring flowers. Autumn is just around the corner for me so it’s lovely to be reminded that spring is not too far away.

    ReplyDelete

So lovely of you to leave a comment. Thank you!! So sorry if you've tried to leave one & it hasn't worked. You are welcome to email me at catherine@sunshinevintage.nz instead, if you'd like to, much love Catherine♥

Related Posts with Thumbnails