An angel in the garden

Saturday, 17 January 2015

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

Friday, 9 January 2015

The Language of Love & a Wedding of Authenticity

Hello sweet friends.
I hope that you have had a happy, smooth & relaxing transition in to our new year of 2015.
I personally really like that we get to "complete" a year & then begin all over again with the next, yet in truth, time just flows on all by itself; seamlessly.
In this past year I chose a word of intention, a word that I felt would characterise that period of my life. That word was bloom. As time went by through last year I began to feel, rather sorely, that I had made a serious mistake & that perhaps bloom just wasn't going to be mine at all. But there is an interesting phenomena that I have learnt from my garden & it is this: plants like people can only truly bloom if they are planted in the right place & have all reasonable conditions to thrive & bloom. If the petunia doesn't get enough sun it will quite presently look a very sorry specimen & sooner or later it will become covered with powdery mildew & you'll not notice it's poor showing of flowers so much as the unsightly blight that covers the plant & stunts it's growth...there is no remedy for this condition save to pull the whole plant out & discard it. When flowers are planted in the right position, either by serendipity or gardener's choice & if it is the right season & they are happy, they will soon flourish & bloom & bring joy to the garden & those who have eyes to see their beauty. A grannybonnet does not wish that it was a violet, nor a chrysanthemum long to be a marigold, they all happily join in the symphony of beauty just being themselves; authenticity! So....as it turned out I am a Katie Garden Fairy planted in just the right place, however, I discovered that many of the conditions of my position in the garden of life were hostile to me & had to be changed if there was to be any chance at all of a blooming. I made changes this year; it was my only chance & it was hard work. I detoxified the soil & cut back the overhanging trees so that the sunlight could reach me. Eventually...I began to see new buds & growth. I began, at last, to bloom.

In the flow of life & at just the right time I was asked to bring the bouquets for a wedding.
A wedding set just inside the door of the new year.

It was high summer & public holiday time here & all the florists were either closed or out of stock...so a garden gathering it was to be. As I opened my eyes to every possibility I was able to wander my neighbourhood & pick long wafts of honeysuckle from the Steiner school fence, summer jasmine, ivy tendrils from the roadside & old soft pink roses from a vacant house & garden down on the corner, right by the traffic lights & all the cars going by!

I tested to see what would hold well (we don't want drooping flowers at a wedding now do we!) And then stored my gatherings in the old Kelvinator out the back.

Most of all, I considered "The Language of Flowers" in my bouquets, In Victorian times messages of the heart & intention were sent by written note & by flower. It was a very effective & enchanting means of communication.

My bouquets are a letter to the couple.

They speak of everlasting love, constancy & intertwined hearts.

Whoever would have thought that flowers for a bride could be far more than just pretty & decorative but could also speak an everlasting blessing over a marriage.

Hydrangeas speak of gratitude & heart-felt emotion, dahlias: dignity & good taste.
Agapanthus are the flower of love. I was rather biased & selective when i searched for the meanings & in some cases I chose the modern meanings over the old..,much better!

I managed to find my nail polish & even put it on straight.

Then on Saturday morning we loaded the precious bouquets & ourselves in to the car, to journey an hour & a half south, to a homestead called "Uniquity",

To a small gathering of locals & travellers,

family

and friends.

The beautiful, glowing bride was Sarah...

here to marry her Matthew....singing his own song "My beautiful lady",

a perfect serenade.

Fynn is our grandson & Matthew's son. He was a happy & charming best man.

Matthew & Sarah put the whole wedding together themselves...

cooking all the food in the days before; amazing sourdough breads & salads. A lamb & a little pig were gifted to them & cooked to utter perfection.... for the wedding feast.

They are care-taking this wonderful old place as the owner has recently passed away without family to leave it all to. Life suspended, a marriage enriched & blessed.