Apple picking.....

Apple picking is one of those special once a year events,
which give me some sense of my space in time with my
small brood. To think I had a baby strapped to my to my back
the first Autumn we came???? How can this be!!
It seems such a wonderful way to mark the
season and celebrate the magic of autumn fruits.

I love the smell of apples, as you first step into the orchard,
and how the trees laden with fruit have such an artistic
beauty to them, like something from a Victorian painting.

I love watching my children scrambling up trees, crunching
on juicy fresh apples and picking little flowers along the way.

And more than anything I hope that these memories will last......

Introducing........

I love it how things come into my life, out of the
blue....sometimes before I even know I need them. Little
moments of serendipity really.

Like how I found a lovely rabbit hutch at a
second hand shop, two weeks before Easter.... and how
for some mysterious reason, I felt compelled to to buy it.
Of course one thing led to another..... and so on Easter
Saturday I found myself purchasing a lovely gentle little
rabbit from the pet shop, to surprise my little fellows.
(Because really, if you were ever going to buy a rabbit,
wouldn't Easter just be the perfect time???!)

So here she is...........

:: Miss Beatrix ::






Peeping out from one of her name sake's books, which her
delighted new owners rushed to show her.....because if you are
a little rabbit, surely tales of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
must be of great interest.....







Sometimes Beatrix comes inside, and we have grand plans
to toilet train her....but time will tell (!!) What fun to have
Beatrix go "lippety, lippety.." around the playroom, to nibble
on celery, crunch an almond or two and be generally nosy.
To watch while she pushes the odd block around with her
furry nose, moves boxes about and gets to know her new little
owners. There has even been talk of a rabbit leash (....... like
Beatrix had for Benjamin of course.) And as you can well
imagine, there has been lots of trying very hard to be gentle!
Welcome little Beatrix Easter Bunny !

Becoming a favourite....

Oh how I love making these.....there is something rather
addictive about the magic of transforming a flat piece of
paper into something beautiful.



And how fine they look in a little cluster....

Once again I used this lovely tutorial, but this time I chose to

use blotting paper. It worked well, was easy to paint,

stiff enough to hold its shape, but thin enough for

the candlelight to shine through -without painting with oil.

As the nights pull in, I feel myself developing such a fondness

for paper lanterns and the gentle magic of candlelight.

::Nests::

A few small words on nests.......

Each year my children make beautiful nests in the
garden, on Easter Saturday. Carefully they arrange
straw and decorate their nest with flowers and treasures
from the garden. Anything to tempt the Easter Chookie
and the Easter Hare to leave them something.

And I must say over the years they have had considerable
success........on Easter morning they have found all sorts of

things in those nests.......

Beautifully decorated eggs, Ostheimer chickens, decorations

for the Easter tree, feathers, felted chickens, little gardening

tools, spring bulbs to plant (...always ) and of course a

bit of chocolate along the way.......

Sunset :: Sunrise :: April

For me Easter is such a wonderful time of
renewal. In a lot of ways it feels like the
dawning of a new spiritual year. I emerge
from the heat of summer, take a deep
inward breath and feel rejuvenated,
focused and ready to begin afresh.

We go to see the sunset on Good Friday.
Standing in the fresh evening air on the
mountain summit, there is such a feeling of
cleansing and letting go.

Then on Easter Sunday we climb a local mountain

in the dark, just before dawn to see the sunrise.

There is such an exquisite airy stillness to it, watching

the beautiful morning sun emerge. It feels so cleansing

fresh and new. Very much like the dawning of a new

year.......

Have a beautiful Easter.......

(I must say that waking and dressing two small

children in the dark, to dash off in the car and

scramble up a hill is a bit of an undertaking......for

which we are amply rewarded- its such soul food for

us all.......)

Candles.....

Today was an egg candle making day.
Some would say that it is a bit of a process,
and well...they could be right.

I started out with a dozen eggs from our
chooks and inspiration from this wonderful
book.

First I cracked open all the eggs, made a small
hole in the bottom and threaded the wick through.




Then I filled each with beeswax, securing the wick
with matchsticks.

When it had cooled I cracked open the eggs......

And set to work to decorate them.



I used thin candle decorating wax and tiny cake decorating

cutters. And the results......well I was rather pleased.

And of course we had to light one on the table at dinner

time, just to make sure that they worked.

Before they are parcelled off to the school

fundraiser, for which they were intended.

I do hope they will be enjoyed in their

new homes!

Easter-ish inspiration....

We lit the fire for the first time tonight,
it seems like such a cosy celebration of
drawing in.
It's been a cloudy/overcast day, at
home with my little ones, made brighter
by the decision to decorate the Easter tree.
We have been anticipating it for days, with the
box of goodies sitting ready.

How nice to unpack a growning stash of

little treasures, and to lose oneself in

the happy task of arranging them.

What a lovely reward, for a few minutes

of branch trimming and careful decorating.....

a pretty little scene, to brighten our

living space.

An Indian summer.....

Could it be that I am enjoying these last little

lingerings of summer? The sunny warm days

that somehow seem all the more beautiful

because I know they wont last......

Happy summer-ish Autumn to you.........

A bit of a challenge......

Sometimes, parts of my life fall to the
wayside........ and my days seems awash
with busyness.

Sometimes, when I am busy and fraught
it is hard to put energy into the things that
truly nurture me. Its hard to find the creativity,
energy and enthusiasm to redress the balance.

To unclutter corners of my life on various levels,
to let fresh air and light flow in.

This has been very much the case with my
sewing room. It has been somewhat scrambled,
for some time......and I feel the time is approaching
when I need to make a start.......


In a way its a glorious mess, full of possibilities
(If I could ever find anything....) and as I scramble
over bags of clay and wicker and paper making
supplies, I marvel at how organised it could be,
if I was to devote the time to it.

It really is a bit of a mess.....





And although this little wooden lady smiles
demurely, I know that she is secretly less than
happy with the condition of her room....some would say
even a little disappointed.








But amidst the mess there really is such potential for a
lovely, sunny little spot. In which to do lots of crafty things.





And so I present to you, my dear patient reader,
a bit of a challenge........
Perhaps at some stage in the near future you will find
a sewing room post,with pictures of something of a
transformation. Of treasures discovered and things
in their rightful place.

Wish me luck!

Still life in Autumn

I wonder if there is any finer sight than a beautiful
bowl of pears, on an early autumn day. Such a wonderful
feeling of abundance and gathering in.



And a heart felt hope that I will feel a bit of the stillness
of life this autumn.

Loving this boy just now......

How I am enjoying this boy just now. I love his passionate
enthusiasm for natural history, for nature and for all things
wild and untamed.

I love the little collections of things that find their way into
our house, which seem terribly boy-ish to me, in the nicest
possible way.



I love his strong connection with the natural world.

And the prospect of all that we have to share,

as the seasons change.

It is as it should be for a small boy, finding

his place in the world.

Turning.....

Could it be that Autumn has come......

Fetch the golden harvest......there has already been talk in

our house of going apple picking, of toasting marshmallows,

of horse chestnuts and Easter......

March...

How I love March Lillies, that something so
beautiful can appear as if by magic out of the
dryness..... surely a cause for a little celebration.



There was such a lovely stillness in the air
today, almost like a pause in nature, a
moment between seasons. It is the first
day of Autumn after all.

A happy March to you!

Autumn anticipation.......

Along one side of our garden, there is a rather overgrown,
entanglement of roses, errant grape vines and blackberries,
which I secretly love. It feels like a bit of hedgerow to me....
I like to watch tiny birds dart in and out......





And gaze at the blackberries as they magically unfold.....







I love Blackberries, they have the comforting feel of
Autumn about them, in all their ripe glossiness.



I feel hope that the outstretch of summer is almost at a close
and that it is time to gather in.

And so we made some Bramble Jelly to celebrate......

How lucky that we picked just enough for the recipe...

And that I had two small helpers at hand, to fervently

scrape out the last morsels in the pan.

What a joy that our first attempt at jam making resulted in

two delicious jars of beautifully set jam!

Could this mean that Autumn is just around the corner.........