You Are My Sunshine

Hello sweetpeas! It is so lovely to see you! It's true..you are my sunshine... you make me happy when skies are gray"

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Oh dear, I've been thinking again...sometimes for hours in the middle of the night. I have been thinking about happiness & goodness & kindness & friendship. And I am thinking that just perhaps, happiness isn't something always just a little bit out of reach; something that we maybe, one day might have, but instead, it just could be... something that we can collect!! Yes that's right, just like a honey bee, we can go about & collect it.

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Truth is, lots & lots of the colour of our lives has been woven in by the everyday tiny choices that we all make, day in & day out. I am choosing today to bring you a basket of kind thoughts & goodness.

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I want to tell you about Norapearl & the "beautiful bouquet of human flowers". Have you ever heard of anything so adorable?

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Oh there you are sweetpeas!
 Norapearl is a tiny elderly woman who lives all alone & spends her days tending to her flowers. She was once asked to leave her church because she confessed to believing in miracles...can you imagine that! Just last summer, Norapearl befriended Rachael & her two lovely girls, waving & calling out to them as they went by "what a beautiful bouquet of human flowers". I would love you to pop in & visit Rachael here & read the rest of the story of Norapearl & her dogs Lady Alice & Cordelia. This gorgeous little tale is told over at little flower on the hill.
So often we are waiting for the day to come when life will be ok but really, truly we can start right this minute by being kind to others.

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We can follow a blog that has just been born. We can comment on a post just to encourage another. We can send a card to someone to say that we care or that they are in our thoughts today.
We can feed a kitten...because it must be hungry & it's nice to share.

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Come on hop up here with me & dream awhile, it's such a lovely day..

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Now smell the lavender, isn't it delightful.

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Just for you, sunshine..

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As Rachael said after meeting Norapearl "I walked the rest of the way home with sunbeams shooting out of me every which way- a perfectly natural reaction to having somebody else's soul-glitter stuck to you"

 ♥♥♥♥♥

Marigold and Daisy

Like two forlorn but very sweet orphans, Marigold and her sister Daisy, have been washed & fluffed, aired & coaxed, until at last they have settled in & found a home at our house. Some determined care & attention one fine shiny day this last week, did indeed do the trick. I came out one morning to find the Master Fluffer already on the mission of redemption for the day.

Our front porch gets wonderful winter sun..on a sunshiny day.

"I have a plan", declared the master Fluffer,"The girls..what are their names again?" "Daisy & Marigold", I said, "Since they are really quite pretty but they smell a little odd & besides both flowers are in the bouquets on the fabric itself." "Yes, well I have decided that I am going to madly shake Daisy & Marigold on the hour, every hour throughout this sunny day & see if that makes a difference to their demeanor"

Eventually, I wandered off to pick up the milk, return library books & other such important things. Right outside the library I found these sweet prunus blossoms. They routinely flower about now..I think they are "hope flowers"..pretty spring like blossoms that are sent to remind us that no winter really lasts that long after all.

When I got home I found one wee petal in my hair...

During an op shop "exchange" I found this little picture. I really rather bought it for the frame part. I love the heavy glass & scalloped edges & thought that I might pop a pretty rosey picture in to it, but, when I looked again I thought, oh no that actually is very sweet just as it is. A boy & his dog.

Clang, clang, clang there goes the bell again...

Master Fluffer is still on the job!

I found these two big old heart buttons recently..they will be just perfect for something.

I am amazed at how many fruits are orange at this time of the year. They must contain carotene, or some such thing, that we need to boost immunity right about now. We have lots & lots of delicious sweet persimmons. They are yummy & crisp & taste a bit like rock melon. One of their best qualities is that they don't oxidize like most fruit when cut, which means that they don't go brown. So they are great for a cheese board, fruit salad or in the lunch box (well, if I had one, a lunch box that is)

Master Fluffer works mostly afternoon shifts just now..which means he comes home just after 11.30 pm. I made him a pretty snack the other night..not too heavy to go to bed on..

The apples that I get from down St Andrew's road are a help yourself arrangement, with an honesty box & are truly tree ripened & juicy. My Sallies abacus is so helpful for counting bags (when needed) without losing track or having to pick up a pen.

I just love the embroidery on this lovely little afternoon tea cloth that I came across the other day. Best of all the same embroidery is in all four corners.

This kind of scarf could be worn winter or summer..great inspiration. I just love it, made all in lace like this. I am quite impressed that by using the embed button via Pinterest the picture retains all it's links, the source, my Pinterest homepage & Pinterest itself...very clever!

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Well, after all that ringing of bells & fiddling & fluffing the girls have been made "good". I haven't actually taken a long deep sniff but when I have been folding them & handling them there is no whiff at all!

 
Now they really are...

for all kinds of purposes. Come & take a pew...

I just love this thought! I guess that is precisely what the Master Fluffer managed to do. Such a simple thing, no expectation or pressure, just just go forth & make something good.

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One of the other bonuses, I am finding with Pinterest, is that of discovering new blogs & tutorials via the pinned pictures, that I may never have otherwise come across. At Stone Gable I found a lovely range of homely tutorials like this one for making a vintage linen hand towel in to a pretty pillow.

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And this one about the care & washing of vintage linen.

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I came to this blog via this gorgeous picture of pansy shortbread. If you follow the link you will find the recipe & instructions for the pansy bit. Aren't they just divine?!!

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With lots of sunshiny hugs & persimmony kisses 0X0X0X0X0
MUCH

♥♥♥♥♥

Winter Sweetly

Dear Sophie of Fading Grace, in her recent post,  Paisley and Roses spoke of acquired taste...where does it come from & how do we get it? "What is it that makes us love the things we do?" I have long been interested to observe, that as a little girl fully separated from my own mother, from around the age of 6, strong tastes & inclinations have instinctively surfaced in my personality, despite near drowning (no one should ever be made to grow up in the 70's quite apart from anything else!)... I would definitely have to tilt heavily on the side of gene pull. I suspect that I have been on the journey "home" in one way or another ever since. I decided to make use of my salvaged eiderdown fabric to line my lovely basket, to at least make good something of the experience. I came across a large tablecloth recently with heart filet crocheted edge, which was just the right depth for a pretty edging. Not too sure about the rickrack but it was a useful spare bit at the time.  

 I feel much better about it all now & am thinking that I might use this basket for all my bits & pieces for work. You know, hanky, wee bag with bandaids, lipstick & stuff & other useful Garden Fairy paraphenalia.

You would honestly think that all that recent feathery trauma would have taught me a lesson, a very big one, but no apparently not!! Here I am..right back again (I'll blame the genes) having bought two very vintage barkcloth quilts from Trade me this week. The seller wasn't too sure what they were filled with so I am pleading ignorance too! They had been rescued from a great aunts batch on Rangitoto Island & it is very true they did deserve a fresh chance at life.

 I do adore the fabric but, they are feather eiderdowns & they were utterly grubby (or aged). The fabric is robust, fortunately. I have soaked them in napisan twice & they have definitely shown signs of improvement, however, the smell!! Well what can I say?? Rob has waded in with patience & full commitment & they have had an all day spell on the washing line today in mild temperatures & glorious winter sunlight. (Don't have a tumble dryer anymore) I shall give them a chance & wait & see....

 A friend from down the road came to buy feijoas yesterday & I was delighted that she had brought me some sprigs of winter sweet...a truly divine scent in trying times.

I love these vintage handles..they were no longer comfy in their designated pot so they are having a little rest up here for now.

We have been having big tidy-ups & a clean out & even managed to gather up some old pictures & oak frames to take to auction in Napier. It was another lovely day.

We pulled the fruit in early & got all the bits & pieces delivered in time. On our way home along Marine Parade we were entranced by the fleeting evening colours along the waterfront.

 Sky meeting sea.

 My darling arrived home around midnight the other night bearing roses from work. (He's allowed to pick them..or so he says ; )

 We have had the lovely opportunity to head out to a local orchard & pick some of the kiwifruit that remain on the vine after the harvest. I've never picked kiwifruit before. Mandarins are on full stream & we have the last of the feijoas. A full little larder indeed!

A lot of fruit still left on the vines..

 quite furry these ones. Like the originals. Not sure that you'd want to pick them full time though as at this height, looking up, the furry bits get in your eyes after a while.

 There's always the odd one or two!!

A day later my roses had spilled all over the place.

 This small growing hydrangea called "You & Me Together" has the really useful kind of flowers that just hold for months & still have colour right in to winter like this. I think I shall have to take some cuttings & create some more.

 This old rose Duchess de Brabrant can always be relied upon to have another good go at flowering in June which is quite remarkable, I feel.

 Winter light in just the right place.

 I have a small raised garden down the back that gets sun again in winter..my few veges seem to be happy enough with the arrangement.

 Snowdrops already flowering even as they have barely pushed through the soil right on cue for the advent of winter beginnings here.

 The sol d'or have happily staggered their flowering..as the front lot expire this new crowd is now taking the stage.

With much 

 ♥♥♥♥♥
wishing you sunshine & hugs this week. Thanks so much for dropping in.
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