Friday, September 28, 2012

Through the magical window...

Have you ever felt on an autumnal day, when the world is mellow under tumbling leaves and crimson skies, that magic is possible? I mean, really possible? Imagine looking out of your window to see your favorite city in the world; imagine your window is a magical window from where you can see any panorama you wish to see, or perhaps even another world, or worlds?

 
Time is suspended in jewels of magical shades; it’s to do with the arrival of autumn, and if I close my eyes right now, I can see myself looking out this magical window I was just talking about...
 
 
And what do I see? I'm in the forest, of course. And since I can be whomever or whatever I want to be in this world of “make-believe”, I am the Lily in the movie “Legend”, and I'm right there, in that lovely cottage deep in the woods. Have you seen that movie, “Legend”? It really isn't as magical as you might think.  In fact, the only part I love, aside from the enchanted forest and the unicorn, is the part when Lily finds the little cottage in the woods... Someone is baking, and there is a table filled with all sorts of goods and sweets, and there are creamy milk chocolate cakes and gooey caramel pastries and flaky croissants...


Soft light is streaming down the open windows and delicious peace hovers all around the little cottage. Delightful imageries; isn't it! Well, can I share a secret? I can certainly dream, and I can imagine all I want, but really, all I need in 'real life' for my contentment are but a few things... inner peace, self-acceptance and a clean conscience.
 
If your soul meets these few requirements, then you go make yourself the best cup of coffee you can, or tea if you prefer, and sit in the porch facing the garden…
 
 
 
  
...and you’ll have yourself a little bit of bliss. Actually a whole lot of bliss! Real life bliss!

Have a lovely weekend my friend!


 
PS: We're going to the mountains again tomorrow... joyfully, we don't have to use our old tent any more... yes, we bought a brand new tent trailer just today and I can hardly wait to try it! I'm so excited. Hopefully, it'll be cozy and warm inside.... oh, cross your fingers! Pictures coming up! ;)





Tuesday, September 25, 2012

September days...

A low mist hung above our morning today... the first fog of the season, and then the sun came up and bathed the earth in sunshine.... hope, and possibilities were born. And how delightful these  September days are...



Spending every leisure hour in the garden... pruning, collecting, cleaning, moving things around, re-planting, painting, painting... and sometimes, enjoying the view too... but just for a very short time. You see, I can't be still for too long. It's odd, I know, but I tend to enjoy things while I work at them... Like when I'm in the garden.


I go and go. I can’t ever sit still when the list piles up. Are you like that too?  There is always something to do. ALWAYS.  I know... I need to work harder on being able to rest... does that makes sense?  Just stop and rest...  being able to sit and relax it just doesn't come naturally in me.


Collecting organic tomatoes from our veggie beds, and grapes... oh so many grapes from all of our lovely grapevines...  


Red grapes, white grapes, green grapes...


My favorites are the seedless type from the vine covering our back porch...


So lovely, to just bring your arms up and be able to grab some sweet juicy goodness at any time of day...


Autumn days are an invitation to fantasy. Enchantment always finds its way to my heart on days like these—sunshine and crisp skies, birds and calmness, a season’s end and a beginning of another.
 


I can feel it in my bones—autumn, during my walks in the early morning. Cool and crisp with sunshine over the easterly horizon. It is as if the skies decided to announce the beginning of colors, and different shaped leaves tumbling down the maple trees. And then there's God everywhere, and goodness and forgiveness...  do you feel it?  Oh I do hope so.
 

So lets do this... let forgiveness bring feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion and let it lessen its grip on our soul and help us focus on positive things...  How about that!  ;)  Good night everyone.  And thanks for stopping by.




Friday, September 21, 2012

A garden filled with frogs and tomatoes

Some critters are worth welcoming into your garden. They will do a lot of good work for you. And thus, you'll find quite an army of 'special' little critters around here.  Like Mr. Verde, here. Isn't he adorable!
 

 
Oh yes, I know... they don't do much; at least not the critters in my garden they won't. You see, they won't devour those nasty aphids like some critters in your garden do, and they won't eat grubs or pollinate my crops. Actually, the only thing they know how to do is make me happy... 'cause well, they just do! ;)
 
 

Quackers loves our little pond.  Quackers went swimming one day at the lake; over the hill and far away. Mother duck said "Quack, quack, quack"... but Quackers didn't go back to her... she's been here ever since. Our pond it really is just a little dew pond, but Quackers is a happy ducky here and I'm so glad she decided to come live here...  Quackers and Mr. Verde have become such great friends too ;)



Do you collect 'critters', or have any in your garden? My garden wouldn't be the same without my little 'critter' friends, that's for sure...

Don't tell anyone, but I have some very special feelings for frogs... I love them—I do! Truth is, I had to kiss a lot of frogs when I was a little girl. Oh no I wasn't looking for my Prince, in fact, I was just trying to keep my mom from going cucu loco.

You see, my mom has a bad case of frog phobia; really bad, and living in a country where significant rainfall was the norm didn't help much, as you can imagine... so being the eldest, it was my job to keep the frogs from coming into the house; which was an almost impossible job I tell you. There were so very many frogs; small frogs and big and wrinkly frogs and very ugly amphibians that were more than a little girl could handled.

They would jump on me and croak on my ears, and even talk to me... I was terrified, but of course, I wouldn't say a word... so I had to pretend and become the hero nobody wanted to be. And thus, you know how it goes: If life gives you lemons.... mail them to God and ask for apples? Well, no, that's not how it goes, does it? But you get the idea. So I learnt to love frogs. And about the common myth that says that touching frogs may give one warts? Never in my life have I got a wart, thanks goodness. Oh here's another froggy, given to me by Mr. Peter-Pan some years ago.  
 
 


Have you been collecting your crop yet? We're finally collecting of crop of tomatoes. 
 

 
We have so many endless tomatoes and still collecting more.... I have to confess I've nothing to do with this lovely crop here as I only take care of the flower garden. The man Peter-Pan in his green pants is the one in charge of the veggies and herb gardens. Ain't that sweet of him! So, that's the balance here.
 

And that's it for now.... I haven't been here a lot lately, but I'd like to let you know that I been busy writing and documenting my life in my "Dear Diary" blog, which you can access by clicking on the link in the top right side of my blog.  I have also been busy updating my book HOLLOW WOODS and adding lots of new stories.  I have a Book I and a Book II now, and I know you're going to love it... I'll let you know as soon as I download it, so you can either download a new copy, if you have already buy it, or take a look and decide.  Thank you for coming by, and you be blessed.

 

Monday, September 17, 2012

This and that...

My new inspiration board... I'm in love! ;)

Perfect roses, wilting roses, spent roses, they're all so beautiful to me...

And then, in the garden... all of my senses are aroused. The feel in the air, the subtle scent of autumn so magnificent, the splendor of twilight and magic lingering in the atmosphere...

I wish I could capture some of the magic in the palms of my hands and blow it towards wherever you are…

The sound of the wind and the taste of homemade apple tart and hot chocolate in the porch...

The roses are about to put out one last show, and they're brimming with buds and healthy green leaves. Here's a lovely crown for this mischievous cherub, made of roses from the Dawn Creeper Shrub Rose...

So pretty...

This evening, after I got home I pruned the last of the summer flowers—the Black-eyed Susan and the last of the Shasta daisies, to give way to the autumn glories and all the mums that brought so much joy last year and were suffocated by the tall grasses and exuberance of the summer flowers.

Flowers hold so much beauty... even wilting and already in the trash they still look so lovely to me....

Thank you for comming by. I hope you enjoyed seeing my photographs. Oh and I almost forgot to mention it... The other evening in the garden something marvelous happened. I swear I saw a lovely gypsy girl in her blue shoes, who stopped in for a visit. Was she secretly you? ;)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Decorating for fall, etc...

Leaves are dropping really early this year. Have you seen it happening in your area too? I think part of that is due to weather stress. It's been such a hot summer around here this year.. Not that I'm complaining. I rather be extremely hot than extremely cold any time... how about you?

One thing I love about the changing of season is changing the decor in my house... a new seasons means a new beginning, new colors, a renewed mood. When the cold weather arrives, I bring out my collection of cozy, fluffy throws to place on furniture for snuggling. But it isn't exactly winter around here yet. Are you adding touches of fall harvest around your home already? I know, I should be too, but...

I can't explain exactly why I'm craving pink this time of year when in fact I should be loving all the vibrant colors of fall—oranges, and deep reds, and maroons and burgundies... but I am. I'm craving pink and I really wanted to change the decor in our "white" room to pink. Oh I'm not painting the furniture here, but I've been sprinkling the room with some pink love... linen, curtains, and a little pink in the flowers... love the pinkish glow bestow by light coming in through wispy pink curtains...

Oh and I can hardly wait to get some new fall tights to go with my boots... these here are my favorite from last year. OK no... too short too big too weird. Never wore them! ;)

Like these ones thought! ;)

I saw the pretties of tights at Penney's the other day—skin color tights with lovely roses tattooed on it... It's like pretending you've gotten inked legs. Instant tattoo! How cool is that! I'll take pictures to share with you as soon as I get them... ;)

Hope you have lovely Sunday... sending you a ray of magic for the coming week!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

A movie and a garden…

Have you watched "Snow white and the Huntsman" yet? I watched it last night and was absolutely enchanted by it... the effects are simply stunning, and there’s this ENCHANTED FOREST that is just so enthralling, and the effects so breathtakingly beautiful. There’s a place in the Enchanted Forest called The Sanctuary—home of the fairies, that is absolutely delightful. It’s a moss covered paradise where flowers erupt into butterflies and sparkling fairies emerge from the breasts of birds, and the mushrooms have eyes and turtles are covered in moss, and there’s this breathtakingly beautiful scene where Snow encounters a stag, white and majestic with towering antlers, in a woodland clearing... exactly what I depict HOLLOW WOODS to be—my fantastical realm, not always governed by logic, and yet so lovely to me. A must see for sure!

And then there is a real garden somewhere where I live…

It is a lovely morning here, and I’m standing in the brim of that garden contemplating my domain in all its early glory. Wild hair, body and mind loving the extra sunshine soaking into my bones; between my hands a warm cup of coffee—warming me, because mornings are already turning precariously chilly around here. But the garden loves the change, and it is bright and cheery following the cooler temperatures.

The perfume of the night garden is different, and so is the garden in itself. There is a feeling of repose and quietness to it in the opaque evenings, and as the brightness of August recedes, I see it shifting from the rather dusty and dry late summer garden, back to the lush and graceful garden of June. Brilliant green leaves have covered rose bushes that only in July were doing so poorly, and they're overflowing with new buds ready to open for a last final feat.

Every wee voice of the garden I hear; every tiny creature I see... and as I stand here saluting the new day, I’m thinking how fortunate I am to have been born in this old world of ours.

Green green, vivid green. Green must be my favorite color these days... I want my world surrounded by green. I want to walk out of my house and sit in it. My happiness is absolute when I’m here—in my enchanted garden...

And why enchanted? The occurrences ensued; the wonders, the feelings, the dreams and reveries of the mind and heart and soul. And then, the ‘intuitions’—a necessity for those visions to bear real.

And how much I love the mixture of many layers of shiny emerald and silver green leaves with splashes of roses and lilies and snapdragons...

I like to think that all the roots are joyfully mingling together underground, like siblings in a large family, and that down there, underground, where no one could see is warm and cozy and it feels like a dear house you cannot be away from it for too long.

We build enclosures that help us escape a hectic world and quietly focus on creation, but for me a chair on the garden can double as a church pew when one is fully immersed in what you see there, and hear and feel...

“The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party; but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

May you find beauty and peace wherever you are...