Innocence and Angels

Hello, Sunshine!

 Did you ever love Betsy Clark's darling little children?
I found two tiny wee books a long time ago & I cherish them still.
So it was with great joy that I spotted "Hello Sunshine..charming & delightful proverbs to warm the heart" on Trade Me just recently.
Every page is adorable!!

I have been visited by Betsy-like innocent angels through the month of January..

Nina's almost three & she is my niece. 

She & her mummy came for afternoon tea one sunny afternoon.

 I was sure that she would love the little kitchen play things I had collected for her from op shops & galas & the markets... & she did.
I found the stove on TM down on the Kapiti Coast, Matthew kindly went & picked it up for me & after a while it made it's way to my back porch.
 "Back in the day" fathers & grandads made such things for children, often secretly as a special gift. I am so glad that this one lives on for yet another generation to love.

 Funny thing was, a few days later....  there was a little knock on the door & hello, here was Talan, come to play.
She lives next door & she will be 5 in about 60 sleeps.
She's taken to popping in a lot..
"Where's the boy?, "she often asks, "you & the boy, you are really nice".
She practices writing her name on the blackboard, scoffs 10 plums at a time

  & cooks carrots for dinner.

 while looking after Lucy.

 Then....
 Last monday, there was another surprise, my dear friend Cheryl came for a rare visit in honour of my birthday..

 so we had a happy afternoon tea in our still sunshiney garden.

 Fortunately, it was on one of Rob's days off.

 Cheryl brought with her, a son & two grandies.

 I knew that they had been out for lunch so we piled the cake stand high with delicious summer fruit.

 And added some fairy mushrooms.

 Bella adored the strawberries.

 We put a bowl on the other table for washing sticky hands.

 And wandered around the garden.
 Bella noticed all the monarch butterflies....so many!
She really wanted to be able to hold one but they aren't all that easy to catch.

 So in light of all that, how perfect was this to arrive in my letterbox, a birthday gift from my mother!?

 Cheryl wrote in her card..."There will always be an Angel in your garden".
Gaye wrote "Lets's make every day a masterpiece"
Yes, let's!

  I found a "grannyism" just for you.

 Would you like a piece of cloud cake? It's delicious!
Truly!
 I'll share the very clever recipe next time.

There's another little poppet called Claudine...I love her mother's story of how she came to name her daughter. If you fancy joining in the Op Shop Show Off link up you can find it over here at Black bird has spoken.

Thanks so much for coming.

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥

Blazingly Summer

I suspect that this cake stand may well be used for many more tea parties yet.

I am so glad that I came across it recently.

I'm not quite sure how old it is...the paint is quite chippy.

The plates are all matching & definitely vintage.

It's lovely on a dressing table in between recitals, although I think I might paint the leaves a better green, what do you think? They seem a bit dull & gray to me, presently.

I am trying really hard to enjoy every moment I can of our summer...it's a real one. A long, hot & sunny summer that makes you sweat...a lot, dries out all the land, ripens all the crops magnificently & makes you sleep with just a sheet on. It would be quite easy to complain that it was too hot, but then I stop & think of all the delightful moments that I am loving, like sharing these delicious drinking coconuts straight out of the fridge with Rob. We've never had them before in New Zealand..the water tastes so delicious & the flesh is so queer...kind of like lightly toasted coconut jelly (jello) & we love them!!

Pomegranates whisper of far off hot & steamy lands & somehow a few of these amazing fruits have made their way to us for the summer. They utterly fascinate me..look at all those facets to every little seed. I have also been making the juice (bought separately) into jellies...little pretty bowls full, eaten with thick, creamy Greek yoghurt & so simple to make. 

All the vibrant colours are calling to me in the heat.

 I adore this little double calibrachoa... like a kind of miniature petunia.

It looks so lovely in a terracotta pot.

As it turns out, my passionfruit experiment was entirely successful.

Whole passionfruit thrown into the freezer, emerge months later, just fine & tasting like mini sorbets.

Sweetcorn is in full swing & ever so useful for summer meals.

It's most delicious just like it is really...don't you think?

These little peppers from the market are so colourful & very sweet.

Roasted with various coloured beetroots in a good dollop of coconut oil the flavours concentrate down & it all keeps so well in the fridge. I added corn cut off the cob, crumbled feta & basil & it was heavenly!

I just had to make some more the following week so that I could use some of the peppers to make these Book Shop Savoury Muffins. It was one of those recipes that was floating around the kitchen for months on a squitty bit of paper cut out of a newspaper. I am amazed it didn't get itself lost & so that it doesn't, I have posted the recipe here, so that it can be readily found again because they are so good.

There are so many birds in the garden through the summer & they all seem to adore fruit.

 Plums are a particular favourite...best I don't leave any sitting on the back porch or peck, peck, peck!

The plums are closely rivaled by cat biscuits.

I came across this truly remarkable video this week.

It's very short & absolutely worth the watch.

A large group of starlings are called a "murmuration"....

These summer berries from the Famers' Market are so magnificent I wanted just to look at them for as long as possible...red currants & boysenberries,

worcester berries, black raspberries, blueberries & gooseberries.

These are black raspberries...quite a blackberry flavour to them & very yummy.

It's quite handy having an orchardy sort of person popping in from time to time.

This week he brought us some coconut ice white peaches.

 They're a bit different to regular peaches as you eat them while still crisp.

By the end of the week we had some glowingly beautiful yellow nectarines too.

The vintage basket I found at a market recently & I just love it to bits.

These dwarf zinnias have been fabulous in a large pot beside the pathway in the front garden.

And I am so enchanted by this most unusual hydrangea.
I think I'll have to pot up all the prunings later in the year & grow as many more as I can find spaces for.

I do hope that if you're from the chilly hemisphere you have been reinvigorated for a few moments while you visit.

 I am so glad that you came to see me, all of you!!

Thank you so much for your chats, emails & kindness..you are truly wonderful!

 Have a lovely week!!

MUCH 

 ♥♥♥♥♥

Miss Murtagh & the Tea Party

Back in the winter, when the nice lady Kay came & spent some time with us & the "fruit lady"story was published in our local paper, way across town in Taradale, Pat read the article & something about it seemed just a little familiar. "Was that the old house in Nelson Street?" & off to the phone book she went, sure enough... it was! "Well that's the end of that idea," she sighed to her family.."they said that they would be staying in the house until they were old, so I guess there's no chance of an Open Home & a little look around then."
In early November, a thoughtful niece came knocking on our door wondering if she could take some photos of the house as a gift to Pat for her 80th birthday. Of course that was fine by us & before Diane had left we had come up with a perfect little plan
...a tea party in the garden.
So..
last Tuesday, the girls arranged to take Miss Murtagh out for afternoon tea as a nice little birthday treat.
"Oh look there's my grandparents old place," she cried as they nearly drove passed. And indeed they pulled to a stop, all hopped out & proceeded to come up the driveway!

And here we were waiting.
Pat's grandparents owned "our" house for over 40 years & after losing her mum at quite a young age, Pat spent a year living here with them & would return often to visit through the years beyond.

It was a perfect day in the garden, neither swelteringly hot nor raining (as it did the following day).

It was quite a peculiar thing to have a whole group of women wander around our home who'd been here before & who wanted to examine every nook & cranny. 

I found this cake stand very recently..it was just perfect!

Rob holding court with all the girls while I made the tea!

Weren't these just the prettiest cupcakes? I found them in the supermarket..imagine that!

Diane got up early Tuesday morning inspired to make "Grandma Murtagh's apple pasty".
The apple tree holds legendary status in the family memory bank..sadly now long gone from the garden.

Cucumber sandwiches are always the bees knees don't you reckon?

These two and...

this lovely lady have been friends forever & all went to school together.

It was she who spied the basket inside.."Oh look! she cried, "You've even got all the old books to go with the house, Wind in the Willows".

There was a bit of tittering & wiggling inside the basket as the three Willows realised they'd been spotted in their hiding place..watching all the comings & goings & visitors.

They were delighted to meet the lady in blue because she was so kind & interested in their journey.

Here's the old girl.
Not sure when this was taken...need to ask.
Apparently the boys used to sleep on the porch in the summer.
You could see right across to Cornwall Park & there were paddocks all around, horses & other stock grazing there.

Old Mr Murtagh set out two great strips of vegetable garden round the back & the fruit trees were planted beyond that right at the end of the section.
I don't think there was much call for flowers in those days.

These are the same windows in our bedroom, just as Pat remembers.

She even asked Rob if we'd bought the wardrobe with the house because she was quite sure it as the same as her grandmothers.

I am so pleased that we collected this Old English Rose china especially to have for tea parties..everyone had memories of it being used by the older family members, although some were quite sure the roses were bigger. Funny how memories go isn't it.

It's the simple things that remain in the end: rose china, apple shortcake & old wardrobes in the corner of a bedroom that can weave a family together, binding hearts & generations.

What a lovely visit!

What old family memories do you have? I'd love to know.

Much love dear ones.

Thank you for checking in on me.

 ♥♥♥♥♥