A Vintage Romance

It's actually quite easy to fall in love...almost anyone can do it... but to stay fallen in love, now that's another matter entirely. Not a lot of people manage that very well. Yet, a great romance might indeed last a life time...

MANY people said that it wouldn't last,

 that it would all end in tears.

... they declared our relationship doomed to failure

but they just did not understand the gift

... how could they, it didn't belong to them

so many letters were written....hearts longing just to be together

journeys undertaken by train

the Silver Fern...went from Auckland to Wellington
 & back.. one way took 14 hours!
... & sometimes by plane, on standby

the cemetery was the prettiest place we could find 

& there were wild flowers there! 

....and then, finally we were married & could be together...always

 Our love of vintage was with us even then, right from the beginning...hunting for old bottles in wild gardens, exploring the abandoned flat next door in Tinakori road in Wellington & finding this sweet, sweet picture in a cupboard
under the stairs.

fossicking through Victoria St market
& antique shops

... everywhere we went 

looking for loveliness & anchoring ourselves to the 

imagined halcyon days & romantic notions of times gone by.

Quite soon, we found our own little house in Hawera

 then came two small children

& later another,

and all the while our love affair continued...

little did we know what lay ahead of us,

all that we would have to endure & work through 

& what that would cost us both.

We grew up together, however & eventually found 

a place in the world to be ourselves

 & to make a difference.

A great relationship takes courage, commitment & passion

& a plan of tender care & adventure.

When our 3 children were still quite small we began to be 

very brave & saved up some money & some courage &

 booked a night away in the historic County Hotel Napier 

(only 20 mins away saves on petrol!)

now when we look back over the last 32 years we cannot 

seem to harness the time & all the memories very well
 but we do recall vividly, all the sweet times like this when
we chose to honour "the gift" of our love in these
special romantic interludes together.

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to Napier once again.

 Having carefully packed & planned

we took an alternative
route to get there

over a one way bridge.

(There's no turning back

it's the rules!)

our bags packed with lovely things & a spare vintage blanket

 or two, just in case it got chilly & a delightful selection

 of magazines

pretty tablecloths, & flowers from home

...bubbly wine & bubbly 

water, homemade museli 

& guavas

& Greek yoghurt 

for breakfast

candles that I made in old pressed glass jugs

epsom salts & essential oils for the spa bath

we felt so blessed when we came across the most
exquisite green vintage velvet eiderdown in the
Antique Centre & "the girls" decided to make it
half price because of a water mark : )

The green is actually much richer but velvet is
notoriously camera shy. 

These vintage clip ons that I found in Decorum are
so much fun. I just love wearing them.

Linda kindly allowed me to photograph these gorgeous 

vintage velvet flowers that were for sale

..so glad that I could show you

aren't the pansies just divine!

sweet dreams are the

 heart beat of romance

(a sign in Emerson St)

we all need to dream a little...

who knows what adventures are stilling waiting for us....

MUCH 

 SWEET DREAMS XX

several of the pictures in this post came via we heart it

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