Delightful Urban Charm

It's funny how you can prepare for a journey but you never really know just how an adventure is going to unfold. Ours was a spring adventure to Palmerston North & back, only for a day or two & only two hours away yet so much was to happen in that short time. Rob had to attend an NZO aged care training day so I tagged along for the ride. Just driving out of your own town is a tonic after the confining winter months. The newly emergent willow green waved at us from passing fields.

farms & barns & houses ethereally floated by through the fog & the rain

 pussy willow: bedraggled coats glistening with raindrops 

 planted by an inspired soul..a ballet of snowdrops

and a little further on the Mabins' "Taniwha" a wonderland of daffodils. Open to the public every day through September. The 15 acres of sunshine & smiles is home to 1700 different kinds of narcissi! 

 In Dannevirke we stopped at the Regent Cafe

they do really good coffee
& very yummy scones







I loved these in the window!
they can be made to order

a couple of doors down is
the Sallies. I was so
amazed to find a Victoria
magazine sitting on a shelf
for 20c! Rob then
 discovered 6 more!

they've been round a little
 while but somehow Victoria
 of all magazines retain a
 timeless quality.
 look

"The Gorge" was closed due to very heavy rain & slipage so we traversed the saddle road to Ashurst which was fun...passed by all the wind turbines on the hills...unusual things they are.

On Wednesday I was free to explore all the secondhand & op shops I could find. In George Street what should I discover but a marvelous secondhand shop called "Urban Charm". A perfect title for a such a delightful wee shop

belonging to Heather & her sister Linda the business is flourishing, unsurprising really as they have such great stock at very reasonable prices. I just adored this old angel print entitled " On The Resurrection Morning"

 Happily, Palmerston North has an Arthur Toy... I just adored this fabric luckily it was on sale ; )

 goes quite nicely really with this yummy teacosy that I found at a huge secondhand shop

on the outskirts of town.

I had a wee bit of a disaster with my second batch of violet syrup..mmm sort of taffy, so rather than waste it completely I made some very yummy apple bran muffins for the trip. I loved taking them with us in this pretty Greengate tin. No, you can't see the muffins..we ate them all!

  

the first evening was nice and mild..phew, what a pleasant change after the endless cold.. so we went for a wander around the newly revamped "Square" 

the library is truly magnificent

up through here and we are back to George Street & 

our lovely "Urban Charm"

I can't wait to make some pants out of these old curtains that I found in Seekers

a huge!!... secondhand clothing...well, warehouse really

and these doilies from the Hospice shop might work in with my doilie bunting that's coming along quite nicely

I think I shall have to leave you with my new favourite quote from Dr Seuss

most especially for Sharon.. a truly zany & delightful soul that I had the immense pleasure to meet in "Urban Charm" 

 "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." 

however, I'll have to save the story about the Iranians & the vanilla air freshener for another day : 0

MUCH

Magnificent Magnolias

 Vintage inspired calendar picture for September from House on the Hill

September means miracles. Magnolian miracles.

  Captivating blooms emerge from stark, bare wood 

fragrantly heralding Spring in all her magnificence. 

In the language of flowers magnolias signify nobility &

 perserverence. Pretty apt don't you think.

All this emergent splendour just happened to coincide 

with a visit from our Matthew. Each of us compulsively
 "snapping" magnolia blooms all along the way over
several lovely days...

A trip to our park together for some more pictures

 This is my favourite tree of all

  

then a quick dash down the road because the light
was just right 

these gorgeous trees surround a commercial premises

an excellent choice to complement the Art deco style
of the building

I love the feel of this picture.. you could almost imagine 

that you where actually somewhere else in the world

...reminds me of this image that I found on
"we heart it"..I just adore the colours

Matthew made us some more fabulous sour dough bread

and bought with him a jar of his freshly made, delicious

marmalade

Rob was so thrilled he 

just had to take a photo

of his toast!

  

then Kaitiaki arrived to play

.. didn't take him long to discover

my new vintage find

 "Here's your toys Uncle Matt", he cried
Noddy & Big Ears were very pleased to have an outing
oops! a small accident..

now proceed to sniff & poke newly baked bread

with a little assistance from a sniffy friend

 then single handedly reset the possum trap

lo & behold the following morning

 after months of no luck!

 What's the time?..ask Kaitiaki he knows how to set
this old alarm clock 

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrng

"Now we just have to be very gentle with this clock Kai

'cos it's very old.. it's as old as... Katie!.... most perplexed,

looked at me quizzically & then said are you old Katie?

..your not old ! as if I was trying to trick him... brrrrrrrrrng!

The blackbirds & thrushes are busy feeding their
young with the cat food off the back porch once again

...not at all fussy, just what ever's going

 a regal line of arrum lilies edge the wee creek
 in the park

and in my garden brighten a dark corner

 the sun sets out the front window just over here

each day right now

you could almost call all this "an endless abundance"
Matt does..pop in & visit sometime he'd love to have
you come by
MUCH

XX

All the Pretty Colours: Violets

Just the other morning, as I went to open the curtains in the "parlour"

 I noticed something a little unusual over in the corner where Kaitiaki's duplo lives & it

wasn't one of his fancy creations..

Oh my goodness look at that would you...an alstromeria looking for a warm place to grow!!

Fortunately,  Rob kindly volunteered to crawl under the house for the removal..phew!

I find myself perennially enchanted by sweet violets. I am not so sure that I should have planted the everyday purple variety but oh the fragrance.

In the language of flowers blue violets symbolize "faithfulness".. "I'll always be true".

 Maybe that's because once you have them they will never ever leave you, ever!

This little double parma violet is my favourite.

It is much more compact than all the others & not nearly as bossy, has smaller leaves & the flowers somehow sit above the foliage so that you can see them better. It is highly scented, gorgeously double & easy to pick.

My dear friend Gaye once had a job picking violets

...funny how you never see in the paper wanted

"violet picker" so I wonder how she got such a job?

violets actually come in more colours than you might imagine.

& of course they will happily make themselves at home

 in shady spots & under trees

 since they have spread around quite a bit it wasn't too

 much of a hardship to pick a few 

.... finding a wee late feijoa along the way...

but it was a little harder to bring myself to cook them!

 I have come across a very old recipe for syrup of violets

in a book published by Victoria magazine entitled 

"Dear Grandmother: Recollections of Love"

Basically, you pick as many violets as you like, 

add water or rose water, simmer them, 

strain them, add sugar & simmer them some more

 until you have a thick syrup.

At first my violet water was green oops..so I added a 

little lemon juice & the purple began to magically 

develop until it turned the most glorious colour of

...violets, of course!

Rob says it reminds him of Condy's Crystals : )

who knows what I will use it for..perhaps drizzled

 over strawberries??

I also adore little blue grape hyacinths. I guess they remind

 me of blue bells..it must be an amazing sight to see a 

bluebell wood..probably why I seem to have so many 

old pictures of them. 

This one is an old mirror version.

No wonder that I love the vintage Sanderson fabrics

..they are so timeless, romantic & floral!!

I was just thrilled with this fabric that I bought on Trade me

 this week. It came in the form of two single bedspreads

..wonderful lot of fabric & in beautiful condition!! 

Back outside & down the garden path, over near my 

worm farm I have made a small, slightly raised vege garden.

 It's a good little spot to catch the winter sun

& perfect for growing all the early spring salady things

I was really taken by this idea of a "shelf bunting" 

that I found on we heart it this week

so I had a fiddle with some vintage sheets & scraps of 

Sanderson & was rather pleased with this

Spotlight has some really cute bias binding at the moment

the pink spot was also available in a vintage green 

& turquoise blue.

Just tied this here to try it out : )

 I hope you've all had a good week.

MUCH