Exploring Joy

Hello there!

I was wondering if you would like to tell me about what joy means to you?
I've done a bit of exploring and pondering myself over the last week or two and I have come to the conclusion that joy is really rather elusive. I have to say, I really do, that lots of descriptions & explanations are just plain odd and rather intangible.
But, I get the feeling that joy should be something wonderful, an energy, an emotion that draws us in with warm welcoming, open arms...

and says to our hearts "What a pure, simple delight it is to be alive".

  I find happiness to be a gentle friend..

and peace, a kind of restful feeling,

but joy..it sparkles and sings.

I think that joy maybe a soul-mate to wonder.

Nina and I decided that these pohutukawa "needles" may, in fact be, fairy matches.
What do you think?

I don't have much call for the complex & the grand, these days...

stress & struggle don't really serve any of us well.

Pretty & whimsical bring me a soul-nourishing happiness,

and my garden flowers, both pleasure

 & joy..

This Waterfall begonia revels in sunlight.

Joy can sometimes arrive by surprise.
Like on Christmas morning when I was startled to realise that there was a park bench sitting in my garden! Dear man had re-made it's seat (to fit the salvaged ends) & carefully hidden the bits from me as he went along..quite a feat!

To me a garden is a miracle of creation,

holding within it's fertile, loamy womb a self-perpetuating and everlasting gift of a myriad miracles; some evident to the open eye, some disguised in obscurity;

all enfolded in the gifts that are called seasons...

The colours, shapes, textures

and sheer abundance astonish me.

Our summer is now full-blown, with roasting hot days & just-a-sheet-covering, very warm nights.

So a few days ago, knowing Rob would be melting at work, I gathered some picnic things together

& a picnic tea

& off we went to the river, as soon as he got home.

Our favourite spot at Sacred Hill...

 So cool & tranquil & green.

Dear, sweet katie daisy.

I don't think that joy is found so much in the rushing, the busy whirl of a stress-filled life. 

But sometimes, it does pop in with happy serendipity, like the three delightful Lower Hutt visitors, that came back to find plums at the gate & ended up sampling elderberry tonic & kombucha, just half an hour ago. What a lovely joyful encounter!

So please do tell me more about joy, dear friends.

Thank you for your lovely visit.

Much love Catherine x0x0x

Joy, Peace, Hallelujah & Gooseberries...

Thank you so much lovely friends for all your kind & encouraging comments on my last post. I have shared them all with Rob...we are both so grateful.

Whether you're just glancing by or perhaps you have time to pop in for a quick visit...thank you!! Thank you for your friendship & company....all of you: those that are local & lovely & perhaps a little shy (but treasured), all who have popped in from time to time & all my dear readers that have faithfully visited & perhaps commented over this past year...bless you all. 

I hope that your Christmas-time is full of sparkle & joy. Sparkling conversations & joyful connections, wherever you may be in the world!  

Sparkle is all in the seeing,

catching the light just right..

observing, being fully present in the moment.

 The hollyhocks are glorious "volunteers" & the chandelier a precious passed on gift.

There are fairies that live in this tree & they like the hollyhocks too.

More & more I find that I love our Kiwiana flavoured Christmases...

there are gooseberries to top & tail.

Cherries by the mile.
I found these on the road side. I bought a large box & sold them at the gate & gave lots away. They were very cheap as they had splits from the rain. They are so luscious & called "sweetheart".

I have just discovered that blueberries baked in a little honey & apple pie spice become extraordinary after about 20 minutes.

Poor Lucy is undergoing some repair work just now..

but there are still spaces for little Lucy Christmas arrangements.

I've been listening to old music.

This is my favourite record just now.

It sounds like long, happy summer days at the beach with the caravan (oh yes, that would be Lucy!)

Actually, I'm not sure that Rhonda is wearing much...perhaps she's ready for the beach! 

I have sweet peas growing by the gate. The scent wafts over us as we walk past each day.

I pick them often as it keeps them flowering.

This little green & red alstroemeria is aptly called Christmas.

Feijoa flowers tinged with gold..

Always the best way to come to Christmas...with a heart shaped bikkie & wings.

(picture from an old calendar)

Mary & Jesus by Margaret Tarrant

If you have time have a wee listen to this lovely version of Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah...it's so precious.

Well here's a grand wish for Christmas, thanks to the talented Kelly Rae Roberts.

Wishing you much joy & peace dear friends.

See you soon.

Much love Catherine x0x0x

Marvellous, Charlie and Oh dear!

A deep, penetrating cold has settled over us this week. Freezing days call for corduroy pants, scarves, boots & layers....& a thermos or two

of this wonderful gingery winter brew that sits in a jar in the fridge. Grated whole lemons, fresh ginger, tumeric & lots of honey. 

Do you ever read those pamphlets about how to avoid colds & 'flu? There's advice available all over the show...you know use tissues, wash your hands...a lot!, avoid people with colds & 'flu (right!) & all that jazz. Well, personally, I've never found any of it helped in the slightest & every winter I likely ended up with a sore throat, then a cold, kindly followed by an irritating persistent, annoying cough, that goes on for months & months & keeps me up many miserable nights. This winter I decided that some other tips that I had read about were certainly worth a try. No. 1 fermented cod liver oil...yip! & secondly, a daily dose of the elderberry tonic..

that I made back in autumn. 

Now we are dead (well not actually dead) in the middle of winter & everyone around me seems to have had a "dreaded lurgy" of one kind or another; they've fallen like flies at Rob's work, yet Rob most especially, has been robustly, marvellously well. As for me, I was doing really well until last week when I developed a sore throat so...it was time for the third thing in the winter support chest: liposomal vitamin C. I made a brew of this & 24 hours later the throat was better, no cold, no cough. Then came the bitter cold & I wasn't feeling quite right again so more chicken stock was made & another lot of vitamin C. 

Now what's so good about liposomal vitamin C...well you may ask? Apparently you can buy it quite readily at a great price, I read about how to make it for myself & ended up with a very simple version that works. All it takes is some lecithin (that I get from the organics shop) 

In a cup add 1 tbsp lecithin granules & 1/3 cup of cold water, stir well & sit for an hour. You'll find it becomes very thick & gloopy. Now, add a teaspoon of complete vitamin C powder. Stir well. Take a teaspoon of this mixture as often as you think of it through out the day. Take it in a jar if you're going somewhere. Take more & more & more until you forget to take it because by now you're feeling a whole lot better!! The lecithin is a kind of fat that gives a different delivery of the vitamin C so that is is way more available for the body to use (something like 80% instead of 20% for the regular stuff). There are lots of fancy recipes out there but this simple version really works too. Yes, the mixture has an odd taste & texture but what medicine tastes yummy? The fat in the lecithin helped hugely to soothe my throat through the night & resolve the irritation quickly. The first thing I've ever found that could truly turn a sore throat around.

So I am delighted with our experiment & will never face another winter again without my new winter medicine chest. The cost of the cod-liver oil, lecithin & vitamin C is nothing to the expense of time off work, throat lozenges, cough syrup, more cough medicine, tissues, paracetamol & general misery!

The cod-liver oil also provides deep nourishment to help strengthen teeth & bones & vitamin D which has a whole host of other benefits.

Great article here.

The little winter table garden is flourishing.     

We may have empty trees & icy winds but we also have sun-showers &

 rainbows.

And flowers. 
I was so pleased to find this flower picking basket at the market a while back. It's a genuine old willow job, just like the old washing baskets.

I was inspired by a lovely lady who is a lover of birds, to create my own bird feeding table. There is a sugar syrup mixture in the blue cup, just in case the tuis might like to pop in for a drink. there are seeds in the little jug & water in the rose cup & I find that all the different birds adore ripe pears!

I have had a wonderful winter shifting plants & redesigning bits of the garden. While I was working away down the back one day my eye was caught by a little mouse running along the fence. I saw him half a dozen times that day. I was so relieved to feel quite calm about our encounters & mutual observation. In the past I have felt all jittery & weird about mice, perhaps due to the vivid memory that I have as a preschooler of my mother standing on a stool in the passage screaming her head off because she'd seen a mouse in the house. I don't recall being offered a screaming stool of my own, however!

He was actually so sweet but too quick for me to photograph, but looked just like this. I named him Marvellous.

Picture found here.

Next day, it became apparent that Charlie (borrowed cat) had got wind of Marvellous too.

Charlie was quite certain he'd caught the distinctive whiff of mouse....perhaps he went this way.

"Well I can't see him anywhere I think I'll just sit & ponder a bit until he turns up."

The story didn't quite end there. 
Meantime, my Trade Me Sanderson lily-of-the-valley bag arrived in the mail.

Such a sweet find.

As were these two little cloths that I came across in Decorum in Napier.

Truly vintage adorable fabric.
I think it may be my most favourite vintage fabric ever.

At the Napier market, the nice man with all the tools, had this little vase tucked in the amidst of the practicalities.

My lovely Eve print arrived from Susan Brown some months ago now. At first I wasn't quite sure how to frame her, but then Rob remembered the vintage glass picture frame up in the roof, that was just the perfect size. I like her in this corner.

My new mirror.

Rob quite often says that our house is a Brambly Hedge house.

I think he may be right. Especially since Marvellous decided that he'd really rather come & live inside! We heard him playing with the stray marbles under the fridge. He is evading all efforts of capture & release, just presently. Oh, oh....CHARLIE where are you!

Charlie!!!! Come quick!

Happy, healthy week to you my dear friends & readers.

Thank you so much for popping in.

Much love, Catherine x0x0x