Rusty Knobs & The Big Book of Little

Hello dear friends!

Living in the Land of the Garden Fairy as I do, I am rather firmly of the mind that the Little Ones should not suffer, be thoroughly & robustly loved & that Little can indeed triumph over Big, so, when I came across The Big Book of Little with a Margaret Tarrant picture on the front cover I was quite sure that I would like this book...and I do, very much! 

"The garden of beloved children's stories is full of small characters: the Little Mermaid, Tom Thumb, Little Red Riding Hood, the Little Engine That Could. That's not only because children themselves are small. Audiences old and young, for generation upon generation, have cheered the triumph of the little over the big. Here, then, is a collection of tales that delights in everything small...these classic stories will enchant & entertain, & remind us that sometimes it is the little that make all the difference"

So much lightness & joy!

 I also came across one of my other favourite things..vintage Sanderson fabric, this pattern came in the form of a bedspread via Trade Me & from the care of a lovely lady called Andrea. Thank you Andrea!

 This gentle spring Saturday morning we managed to get ourselves out of bed & off to an early morning small Church fair & at lunchtime a school Gala just down the road. There was little of the usual jostle & pushing, I think most people stayed home, glued to the Americas Cup yachting race.
I found some lovely things: this hand painted Art Silk tablecloth has clearly never been used & is so pretty.

 At St Mary's, trestle legs were being dragged out by the armful & instantly snapped up. They are exactly what I have had in mind to use with this old scavenged, lounging-in-someone's-garden door.

Out came the door, which was repaired just a little,

 various cloths draped & fiddled with,

 including the Spring Lilacs Sanderson. (Do pull down your skirt dear!)

 I found a vintage basket at each venue. They are so useful...& charming.

 The good old door is particularly large & doesn't fit as a replacement for the garage doorway.
I love it's chippy paint effect..

 the patina of age & history

 & the lovely rusty doorknob & key hole.

It was most handy indeed that I spied an old forlorn wheelbarrow at the school. At first I was sure that someone else had already parked it over in the corner, but as I admired it this way & that no one came rushing to claim it so...I just wheeled it away!

 I think that I might plant geraniums in it...in the pots, for bright summer colour.

 The garden is rising in to spring..

I do love my faithful friend Herbert Stevens pink, grown from a cutting from my first garden mentor.

The simplicity of quince blossom is arresting.

 I've come to rather like these poppy's.

 But I am so utterly thrilled to have an abundance of bluebells in my garden for the first time.

 They are so English & sweetly scented & perfect happy day, sky blue.

Lucy loves them too.

 After all these years I have just discovered that this is called Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’, commonly known as honeywort (I did know about the honeywort bit). It is a relative of borage & it very much likes to grow in my garden. It is gently self seeding & is nicely contrasting to other foliage, with it's grey & indigo hues.

 But the best moment of my week (absolutely!!) was discovering that this pot of lily of the valley had survived through the year, & even better than that, it was flourishing...look at all those flower buds!!
I have come to the conclusion that if you cannot grow them in the garden that they like to be squished up together & planted in very deep pots.

 Nina came to meet Jane & tiny Violet

Someone has to be the runner around the circle while others fix the brick edgings.

I'm always alert to sweet innocence, rainbows, loveliness

(Look at the baby pixies being pushed up on to the mushroom & the little mite to the left sniffing the babies dummy!)

and I am continually drawn to opportunities to show & celebrate kindness.

I first "read" this story in one of my Chicken Soup books. It is one of the very, very best!

I bought these lovely roses on Etsy from Tattered Vintage recently, only they came with "friends", all on the one page. I persevered on Pixlr & finally learnt to "cut" out pictures (this time round anyway) What a triumph!

Much love to you all & thank you so much for popping in.

May you find much loveliness & kindness in your coming week.

♥♥♥♥♥