Over and over, this summer, we have gone to the land- Papatuanuku- the earth mother and over and over again she has welcomed, blessed and healed us. Her gifts are so many and generous- every day we learn new things about these offerings.
Just last Monday we headed back in to our beloved Esk valley to visit with the hawthorns we had seen. On the journey we discovered a whole forest of them- all lining a steep bank.
We both experience a peculiar sensation of home-coming when amongst the hawthorns.
This darling little fantail visited with us while we picked a basket of ripe berries- beautiful heart nourishing medicine.
We had been entrusted with the knowledge of a sacred & secret river spot that we discovered to be truly magical & a perfect place for tea.
The yarrow, apple and spear mints were still in bloom. The butterflies and bees didn't seem to mind where the flowers were- even in a jar on our little table.
Such a glorious hot day for early autumn and of course we had to bring this adorable tepee to put up in the meadow.
The Esk river in summer is clear, clean and ever so serene.
In the arms of Papatuanuku there is rest.
In the heat of the afternoon sun we swam in the cool waters.
We have gone out again and again to gather and to walk and to play. We have witnessed full moon rising
and breathtaking rainbows across the sea.
It is also through this time that we have come to understand, best expressed in the words of Ljeoma Umebinyuo, the Nigerian poet in her book Questions for Ada- "Bless the daughters who sat carrying the traumas of mothers. Who sat asking for more love and not getting any, carried themselves to light. Bless the daughters who raised themselves".
And so it is that we have come to realise that we have sat our whole lives carrying the traumas of mothers and barely living our own sacred lives. No longer will we tolerate the desecration of our precious lives by those whose hearts are filled with poison and whose mouths are filled with lies, whose unhealed wounds fester through to life's end. I cannot describe to you in words the full extent of the darkness and the evil that has been woven through our lives by those who should have loved us, but a day of reckoning for the their acts of desecration will surely come. I wish it weren't so, but it is true.
And so, we have set about creating our own Mainland Island Reserve, like this one we visited a while back at Boundary Stream near Tutira.
We discovered when we arrived that a Mainland Island Reserve is a sanctuary with a special predator proof fence that protects the native species within and therefore provides a safe haven for them to thrive.
Like this darling little North Island robin.
And this precious man called Rob.
It was about this time that I came across another beautiful Maori concept- that of Whanaungatanga which means: well, familiness, really.
1. (Noun) Relationship, kinship, a sense of family connection, a relationship through shared experiences which provides people with a sense of belonging. It develops as a result of kinship rights and obligations which also serve to strengthen each member of the kin group. It also extends to others that one develops a close familial friendship or reciprocal relationship."
And that's when we realised that we were "the ones asking for more love and not getting any so carried ourselves to light." And it was as we came to Papatuanuku that we experienced a deep sense of Whanaungatanga- familiness, belonging.
Suddenly we knew how precious we really were and that our lives are truly sacred and have been all along.
So when we came across this beautiful video that embodies Whanaungatanga so perfectly, we both cried and cried knowing too, that our marriage was meant for such sacred blessing.
And so it is.
People keep looking at me funny when I tell them with great enthusiasm that seeds really are tiny miracles-but it's true! When I send a half a teaspoon full of little seeds in an envelope down the road or hundreds of miles away, I know without doubt, that I am sending a seed-bomb of extraordinary miracle power. Given a little care, luck, time & some earth & a little moisture, invariably that minuscule capsule holding the true pattern & identity of a pansy, forget-me-not, mignonette, love-in-the-mist or a zillion other possibilities will activate it's little life force & soon unfurl & replicate identically to it's parents; no matter how far from home it roams. Well, of course there are always, rogues, renegades & exceptions, but miracles all, non-the-less!
Through this year I have sent seeds all around the country- to gardeners in big cities, small towns, on farms; to those who are just beginner gardeners & those with fine gardens-all with a little dream or intention of growing beauty & fabulousness. Last week I was startled to find that I was to send three lots of seeds to this delightful Admiral Gardens in the Chatham Islands.
I recently bought some vintage Sanderson oilcloth from a lovely lady called Barbara. I was thrilled to find this card tucked in at the top of parcel & when I turned it over I realised that Barbara Anderson was the artist. Isn't it delightful.
Spring Garden Tour
Chelsea- Sanderson oil cloth
That same week I found two parcels in the letter box on the Monday.
One was from my dear friend Betty (Wood Fairy) England!
I restrained myself & rushed inside to carefully open & savour the envelope...filled with kind messages & bluebell seeds from Glover's Wood.
It is such a remarkable thing that we could then google & instantly see, precisely, where Glover's Wood, Charlwood is. And as it turns out-it is but a stone's throw from East Grinstead & the house where Rob's father grew up. In our search we noticed this picture of a charming stile in Grover's Wood.
We had been talking about making a stile so we could more easily & less precariously hop through to our nice neighbour's next door.
It would go just here.
It's a nice little spot around here in the winter time when the plum tree has lost it's leaves.
It could be just the right place to use these old window frames (there's another one somewhere!) that we saw at a garage sale just down the road last weekend. The safest way to get them home was to rush back with the two trolleys & ( also precariously) wheel one each home again.
They're a bit rumpty & pretty fragile but they'll have another life with us yet. This old green glass is very special. & very old.
I have found that life & gardens can both be sown by seed.
We get to choose every single day just what we will sow, pay attention to & water & what we will not.
Fostering community is a good-to-sow-thing - a few weeks ago I spotted an add in our "Neighbourly" group for a trailer load of wood chip mulch that some "neighbours" wanted to give away instead of taking it to the dump. I happened to be the first to phone & with in half an hour the mulch had been delivered & I had sent Ben on his way with many thanks & mandarins for his children.
My newly acquired "old" wheelbarrow that I found at the Restore Shop (they build houses for people who can't afford one through Habitat for Humanity) happy to help distribute the mulch all around the garden.
A great time to get areas like this tidied up for the winter.
The other parcel that arrived that Monday came from a lovely Trade Me customer who I had sent two Country Homes magazines to and in return I received a hand written letter, cool stamps, Cath Kidston & a gardening magazine- how delightful was that! And since then, some lovely book recommendations too, as Sandi is an avid reader.
The morning sun was still low when I sat at the writing desk here & paused to think of all the things I was grateful for, when I looked down to see the rainbows scattered around in front of me...
shining richly on the fairies dancing in a spring meadow.
Aren't they adorable.
I love this time of year when bulbs & plants have to push their way through soil
to reach forth & flower
& share their heavenly scent at front doors & the such-like.
Life is about sowing & dreaming & stitching, but also cutting out.
Nina (6) & I had the loveliest time cutting these out together last weekend.
It feels so good to know that I have them all prepared ahead now.
The handmade life is a worthy life, a life of richness & lasting satisfaction. I wouldn't want to live it any other way. I read a poetic article the other day & as I did, I thought- yes, yes that's it! This extract came from a short article entitled The Handmade Life.
...we are taught to respect the slow, attentive piecing together of the life we yearn for.
Stitch by stitch we apprentice the craft.
We work in tandem with mystery, feeling it’s rhythms awaken in our bone-memory.
And we realise the patience it takes to make a life materialise.
There are no shortcuts, & it can’t be done cheaply, or en masse. The work is small, the work is slow & all we can do is stay with it.
As Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, “The shortcut, the easy way, always falls apart. Then one returns to the handmade life.
One has to pick it up painfully, & piece it back together. Holding the overall pattern in one’s mind, but working patiently, piece by piece."
May your hands be blessed. May they know the magic they make. May everything they touch, touch them in return.
May your exquisite efforts soon show their shape. And that is indeed my wish for you dear friends & readers. Thank you for popping in to see me. We hold more in our own hands & hearts than we understand. Planting seeds- a song to live by.
In honour of such a grand event, we set off on a little celebratory road trip north, via right, just out of Napier. We had saved up from fruit selling & planned a good balance of: places we knew we'd like to go & others we'd never even set eyes on before.
There is a valley on the way to Gisborne, a place called Morere- meadows, a river, hot springs, a camping ground & cabins, all enveloped in a lowland rainforest reserve.
People have lived here a long time but never very many. It's a precious place, you can just feel it. This was once the little school for the areas children, now re-homed & restored.
The hot water is remarkable, sometimes called fossilised sea water as it has traveled thousands of years before bubbling it's way out of the ground beneath the rainforest.
Not far after that to Gisborne (the first to see the sun)-so many lovely beaches, a river, op-shops
and walks.
It was fun to explore together.
Yet, it was constantly ever-so-slightly challenging being away from our everyday lives & home.
"Goodness, what's wrong with you dear? It was only for a few days!"
And that's just it..a few days away from the familiarity, provisions, accessibility & rhythms of our everyday lives refreshed our perspective & heightened our senses.
We talked a lot. We always chat away, we're best of friends.
We process our lives, grow, renew our thinking & know one another better with every conversation.
We're still wading through the detritus of the past, like swimming in the ocean & feeling the seaweed entangle your legs; unseen but disturbing- more times than we'd care to recall. But we're still getting in the water, squealing & splashing & swimming.
This poem of Hollie Holden's captured it so well for me this week.
When you walk slowly enough
And with your eyes Always alive to beauty You cannot help but notice The Bright Unstoppability Of flowers Cracking their way Through concrete On walls and pavements And in between bricks. I asked one this morning: How did you grow? She answered me Quietly: 'Hardness and lack of welcome are no match For the power of the soft, sure determination Of one who knows Exactly who she is' Hollie Holden May 2016
That's exactly what we discovered on our journey-that we know exactly who we are.
We joined a theatre full of locals at the movies & went to see Hunt For The The Wilder People.
If the trailer makes you laugh, you'll love the movie. If you don't get it, then it may be a tad too Kiwi for you.
Ricky Baker isn't too thrilled with the hand that life has dealt him & he's got himself in to a bit of strife. At one point he tells "Uncle" very indignantly "I didn't chose this scux life, this scux life chose me!!!"
There comes a point when Uncle & Ricky are standing looking down across a valley from high up on a bush clad mountain. "Majestical!" exclaims Uncle.
"That's not even a word", Ricky corrects him.
Scux to Majestical sounds like a great life journey to me.
That's what I've signed up for.
Moving on from Gisborne, traveling through country-side we've never seen before, we came across a place called Gray's Bush. It is truly the most majestically sacred place I have ever encountered.
The bush is rare & precious & filled with puriri trees (most unusual in our native bush) & the birdsong-a mesmerising heavenly chorus. The flowers of the Puriri tree are vibrant & inviting.
The berries are beautiful too, no wonder the Wood Pigeons love them so.
From Gisborne we headed through the Waioeka Gorge & on to Whakatane.
They have a marvellous Hospice Shop in Whakatane!
I just caught this window dressing before it was removed.
This cute vintage basket was just right there in the window waiting for me.
Beautifully laid out & so many treasures to be found.
A little knitting graffiti was fun to find.
And how interesting to meet Pohutukawa covered sentinel, Pohaturoa Rock-just plonked right here in the centre of town.
Pohaturoa Rock is the local tribe’s (Ngati Awa) spiritual and
physical ancestral connection to the area. The Ngati Awa have always performed
ceremonies of birth, death, war and other important matters here.
I loved this poem written by Clive Kingsley-Smith in 1983.
Challenging sentinal, solitary, steadfast
There at the crossroads he stands!
Silently waiting, eternally watching,
Timelessness held in his hands.
Grey, grey with the plumes of eternity,
Grey with the records of time,
Grey in his ancient, revered paternity,
Recorded in Maoriland rhyme!
Rugged by nature from time immemorial,
Unmoved by aeons of grace!
Red Pohutakawa, and creepers arboreal,
Screening the scars on his face!
Grey, grey with the seal of the centuries,
Grey with the score of their years,
Grey with the records of blatant humanity,
Their laughter, their groans and their tears. Now a walk through-once a cave.
Homeward-bound we stopped in Rotorua to walk amongst the Redwoods.
Only this time it was up in the actually trees, looking down through to the forest floor.
When you know just who you are, all kinds of things begin to flow better & to make sense.
I have continued to learn about the Five Elements. They just make so much sense to me.
So all encompassing. And very useful to help in understanding your constitutional leanings, emotional make up, relationship dynamics, health challenges, healing issues & occupational propensities.
I have huge respect for Jason Elias who writes:
"The Chinese believe that the Five Elements- Wood, Fire, Metal, Earth & Water govern the physical, emotional & spiritual existence of human beings, just as they regulate the cycles of growth & change in the external world.
Each of the Five Elements has a unique nature & spirit, and every human being has a constitutional affinity to one or more of them.
For instance: the aggressive, forceful energy of Wood is most obvious in the season of spring, when the buds swell to bursting & the seeds sprout in to tender shoots that, against all odds, push their way through the earth in to vigorous life.
If Wood is your predominant energy, you are like the green stem of spring, you are driven by the need to stay in motion & to reach new heights, you are firmly grounded by a sense of self & home- the place where you fit & belong. Your roots are driven deep; your potential is unlimited"
Rob & I re-did the Five Element quiz from over here last week & I was fascinated to find that we are both predominately Woods..with some Water. A few years ago I got quite a different result which shows me just how far I have come in reclaiming my true self.
The Wood constitution very much fits the re-discovered "me"; the one who prefers to work alone & just-get-on-with-it & who loves to be fully occupied with all kinds of projects & doings. And yes, I am most certainly deeply grounded by a sense of self & home-the place where I fit & belong.
Of course there is even more commonsense to the whole Five Element thing in the teaching of balance in all things. When one element or season swings out of kilter or becomes unbalanced, then everything can get a bit messed up. Pay attention, balance things out & you restore or achieve harmony & regain your health & equilibrium.
It's easy for me to stay in touch with this approach since I am constantly in tune with the seasons & the land & so quite naturally these things have become a part of my daily life conversation & observations.
Harmony is a really useful state...even along the road-side there's a happy, unseen interaction going on that keeps everything in harmonious balance.
With-in the flow of the seasons there is a time for all things, every state of being.
Autumn is the time for rot & return! A time to let go-of all that no longer serves us & to have a jolly good clean up, just as the natural world does the same.
Eventually the hard work of healing & growing & shedding the past moves the mountains of legacy, until at last, pausing to look across the valley, I can say with surety..."ah, isn't that a majestical sight!"
Much love, Catherine xxx
and a silence in which another voice may speak” Mary Oliver, Thirst
"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."
Margaret Tarrant
Fairies I have met!
wouldn't it be wonderful to find this book
Katie daisy
The glories of spring
Remember you can click on any of my photos to see them better. Click on any words that are highlighted & that will link you to a new site to give you further information.
vintage Sanderson
"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life." William Morris
"The past is not dead. It is living in us & will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make." William Morris
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