spring blooming

From blossoms comes

this brown paper bag of peaches

we bought from the boy

at the bend in the road where we turned toward   

signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,

from sweet fellowship in the bins,

comes nectar at the roadside, succulent

peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,

comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,

to carry within us an orchard, to eat

not only the skin, but the shade,

not only the sugar, but the days, to hold

the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into   

the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live

as if death were nowhere

in the background; from joy

to joy to joy, from wing to wing,

from blossom to blossom to

impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

                          - "From Blossoms" by Li-Young Lee

The peach blossoms seem to be bigger and more showy this year. I wonder if it's true, or if my mind is just so wonderfully excited to be seeing them again. These are the prettiest thing in our garden. The trees make me happy all year around, but when the bare Winter branches break into bud and then bloom. Oh oh. So beautiful. 

These have been flowering bit by bit slowly over the whole of Winter, due to our funny weather at the moment. One tree in the garden - in a different section - hasn't yet bloomed and is still a week or two away. Which is lovely, having the blooms staggered. Oh yes. Loving this more than I can say. 

And the white plum blossoms will bloom soon - on they are magical indeed. 

I'm loving Winter, but Spring really is on the way... or some days it feels like it's already here.

and then i went for a walk.... no-one will bloom on your behalf

This afternoon I started to feel a bit low. A bit of a slump. I looked around at all the things I should have been doing (already done) like the washing up or vacuuming the floor, or planning what we would have for dinner....

And overthinking how I felt about how things I put out there were responded to. 

Overthinking....

Yep, that's not a good one is it. Sometimes overthinking can be good, but often I think it just leads to a bit feeling blurgh. 

But it does make me feel heart sad when I put things 'out there' and don't get the reaction, response or results that I'd hoped or expected. I try hard to chin up and stay positive, but this grey cloud sky day wasn't helping. 

So... I went for a walk. It has given me some fresh air and a lighter step.

This peach tree that was washed out of root structure earlier in the year, and we had to cut it off the path way. Look at it - it's still producing flowers. Wow. This thing has been literally washed out of the ground and had a saw at it and it's still doing it's best to do what it needs to do. That's inspiring isn't it. 

This orange tree is growing in quite a compromised spot, with low sunlight and lots of moss covering it's branches. Still it's producing fruits that soon we'll be able to eat and enjoy. 

This beautiful dahlia plant was growing gloriously on the edge of a house site. The whole house burnt down a few months ago, and the whole garden has been removed / bulldozed, except this plant blooming on and on... 

So, I came to the thought that :

Despite obstacles, one must keep trying,

Because no-one else will bloom 

or flourish on your behalf.

That's it. That's all for today. Just my little feeling a bit blurgh and low and wishing things sometimes weren't as hard as they are. And that sometimes when I put something out there it goes bang bang, and boom boom. And all the hard work and effort and energy pays off. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. That's life I guess... isn't it. 

Happy Monday friends xxx

{ps - you can book a spot in our upcoming workshop gather :: create and find your own way of blooming. Booking details are here.}

Flower cake for a 7 year old

My baby girl turned 7 in February. She counted the days eagerly, waiting waiting.

This is her birthday party, shared with friends at the local community centre. She didn't request any silly cake decorations, and let me plan exactly how I wanted it. She did ask for a coconut cake and a chocolate cake, which of course I happily obliged her - two cakes for my beautiful girl. 

I picked these zinnias from the school garden, and I cannot tell you how simply happy they make me feel looking at them now. And watching her little face as we carried the cake out - eyes squeezed shut so she couldn't see the decorations. And loving it totally. It really couldn't have been more simple, yet more striking and eye catching and happy-inducing. I think all the school friends felt happy just looking at it - they couldn't help but keep dipping their little fingers into it. 

Mishi and I made these washi tape hearts on peach tree twigs the morning of her party. I took her hand and we went walking to gather the little twigs and then sat and stuck washi tape onto cardboard hearts. What a simply fun, enjoyable and lovely moment it was. Being ready for the party in time, and have spare time to wander and gather and craft together. 

Oh 7 Seven 7. I simply cannot quite believe you are at this milestone yet. In Steiner philosophy, seven is a new cycle - skin shedding and moving into a new rhythm. I think somehow you're leaving baby-hood more and more behind, and growing up into a young woman already. Wonderful, yet sad and scary for this mama. 

Right now you are:
Loving circus class - back bends are your absolute favourite
Wearing funky colour / print clash clothing combinations
Reading stories to yourself every day - chapter books. You lie on your bed with your legs kicking about while you read and read.
Doing cute little styles in your hair. It's still short, but you can do two sweet little piggy tails on the side.
Constantly making and creating something or other.
Continuing drawing your Foxy stories. Wow - your drawings are getting so so amazing!
Climbing into bed in the morning and playing games with daddy, giggling and tickling. 

primivera // a Spring jasmine crown and a forest fairy

Happy Spring! 

We found the jasmine flowering behind the water tank. She said, can we make a crown. Of course of course. A Spring crown for my little forest fairy. Welcoming Spring. With her smile. 

I couldn't choose just one favourite from the 200-odd photos that I took. We were chasing the last of the afternoon light, but the garden looks glowing and glorious in the last days of Winter when we shot these. 

Jasmine makes me think of our wedding day. Last week we celebrated our nine year wedding anniversary. Our flower girl, so young back then, wore jasmine in her hair and twirled around her flower basket. We cut the flowers from the house up the road from where we were living at the time. I'm so glad there's jasmine here now, on this land. That my mum planted it, despite it being a bad weed that will want to creep over everything, it hasn't been too bad in the years since it was planted. It's good to have that perfume of jasmine mingling with citrus blossoms filling the air. 

If you are welcoming Autumn, I hope it's lovely watching the leaves change colour and fall and scatter on the ground. The blossoms aren't last long here, it seems Spring will be fleeting and Summer will be upon us before we know it. Right now, I am soaking up every single moment of early Spring flowers as I can. Check out my IG feed, there seems to be a flower every second photo!

all blossomy

We've been having some glorious days lately, as well as some rain and cloudy days. But I'm taking notice of the Winter sunshine warming my body and soul, and also tricking a lot of flowers into early bloom. Our peach blossoms are already in full flourish, and their leaves have some on too. Generally the leaves don't come back - with their iridescent green showyness - until some time closer to Spring.

The mulberry tree down the road already has tiny little fruits starting to grow. It was full Summer last year when we were enjoying their deliciousness - it was dyeing our hands, feet, mouths brightest purple. And while I can't wait to start dyeing fabric and yarn with those little bubbles of colour, I also don't want to rush the Summer heat too soon.

Living where we do, we always have some flowers in bloom over Winter. Our garden is bare and barren, or snow covered like other Winter's across the globe. Nope, the sub-tropics are pretty decent places for Winter. Yet still, to see this early-Spring happening at barely the middle of Winter, means that Summer will be here before we know it. I have a horrible feeling that Spring will pass us by all too quickly and be swallowed up by Summer. And based on the past two years - it'll be wet and hot and steamy. Oh fun.

So right now, I'm enjoying these Winter (ish) days, and the feeling of Spring in the air. The days are still short, which means we chase the sun across our yard and I aim for my afternoon cup of tea to coincide with the golden hour before setting sun. (It tricked me today, as the shift in earth meant a different tall tree shaded the final sunbeams and I lost the light earlier than anticipated. Ah those tall trees that block my final cup of tea in the sunshine!!!). 

I hope you had a lovely weekend. In the sunshine reading The Minpins eating with avo on toast, or hanging washing on the line, or maybe you were giggling in some snow, like Kate's family was.

changes {Spring in Autumn}

I've been slowly updating and making just a few changes to my blog. Nothing big, but a cleaner and crisper feel. I haven't messed with the template or html as that's too big for me at the moment. Making pretty labels and sidebars is where I'm at! 

Prettiness all around!

If you normally read this in some sort of reader thing (do you? What do you read it in? I'm really curious.... I never read blogs in anything other than at the blog home - I like visiting that way), do come and check out the new-ness.

I found this image from last Spring, in my files. Oh isn't it beautiful. The blossoms. It's Autumn here now, and while I'm loving all the foliage turning yellows and reds and oranges, I'm also loving seeing all the blossoms on Instagram. And imagining our blossom trees that grow near to where we're building our home. I'll be able to see them from my bedroom, and from my kitchen table. And for that reason, I can't wait for Spring!

Is there new-ness happening around you?

Or are you making it happen?

Are you snuggling in ready for Winter?

Or is are you watching the last of the snow and dreaming of those little green buds?

Wherever you are, on this rainy Autumn evening, happy mid-week to you. 

My friends xxxxx

feeling floral

Summer is over! Yep. Done. And it rained most of the time. 

My garden, what there was of it, is a big overgrown heap of weeds and grass and green. It's surely looking lush. And moss and lichen really are super pretty. But what I'm craving most right now are some blooms. Oh yes oh yes. 

I keep seeing Spring happening all over Instagram (another of the wonderful things about the web is being able to experience other climates and destinations without leaving home). It's so wonderful seeing flowers opening and new fresh beginnings. 

Here the leaves have slowly started turning. The peach trees and the persimmon trees are the first. Almost as soon as Autumn arrived, the baby persimmon tree started to change it's hair. And I love that. 

But this here is really what I want. To brighten these grey gloomy days that have been dragging on for oh a teeny bit too long for most of us around here.

*All images can be found on my Floral pinterest board, with links to sources. {my internet doesn't like these rainy conditions and is being too temperamental for individual linking}.

////

The magnolia is blooming.
I can smell the perfume when I walk outside.
And inside as well, one bloom in a simple vase. Oh - the things that can make one smile and a tear well in my eye too.

A little bee was taking nectar. Full yellow pollen on it's back legs. Oh little bee.

Friday is my mama's birthday. I am thinking I will perhaps bake a cake for her. To think of her. And talk about her with my little ones. Maybe we'll light a candle and smile and cry a little too.

My mama planted this magnolia tree many moons ago. A lifetime ago, in fact. And now here it is, keeping me company in my here and now lifetime.

What things keep you in the past. In a good way. A simple jig to remind me.
What is it that brings a tear and a smile?

connected / connections

I am loving and soaking up everything that's happening for my path right now. Letting things evolve and happen and trying really hard to not put emotional energy into bad things, or invest too much into the outcome. It's about the journey. 

And about the daily connections. 

Yesterday really brought it home for me. I spent the morning taking photos with my Hey Maker girls, and chatting about mothering, daughters, child changes. Laughing and sharing mothering help, advice, comfort, and cups of tea and simple avocado on rice thins. 

Then I went for a coffee and yummy lunch wrap in town. All on my own, with my new book (more about that later - so delicious). I barely got to open my book. Moments after my coffee arrived, my neighbour / friend walked in the door. She sat and had her lunch and coffee with me - normally we chat at the bus stop, or school gate, and run off again. 

Then a short time later another up-the-road neighbour (who also happens to be the kids' modern dance teacher, and lives in a converted church) and her friend walked in for coffee. During that chat I discovered that her friend is actually the mum of one of Ari's school friends. The friend he's been asking to visit for the past year; and I've been saying I don't know his parents. 

And then, you wouldn't guess it, but my friend Jo walked in to buy some ground coffee. And while I'd only seen Jo at our Hey Maker meeting hours before, we still had lots to talk about. 

I know I live in a small town, but it's not that small. I guess when you hang out at the best coffee shop in town, where the hostess knows everyone's name (except that group of people who had just climbed Mount Warning, but we know their names now).

How good to have that nice warm coffee shop connection. I walked away afterwards with tears pricking at my eyes - for the good, solid, warm feeling of the connections that have been made since moving back 'home'. It made me think of my mum; and how we couldn't walk down the street without her stopping to endlessly chat to another person who she knew, who she connected with.

*I heard an interesting program on the radio on Sunday, about the i-Disorder: the psychology of technology. And I wonder if it's true, perhaps to some extent; but I think I feel good and real connections with people who I've "met" online as well.

*I love that these flowers, which were on the table at Modern Grocer coffee shop/deli yesterday, were brought in by a customer. Just another reason why living in a small, local, lovey town is a wonderful thing!

about to bloom

i'm on the brink of some wonderfulness

these flowers bursting open in our garden are pure beautifulness
i planted them last year, and thought that was it - but they've grown up again, from the ground into full bushes. and now they have buds all over them.
on saturday morning when i walked outside there were three buds sitting there, ready to burst. with rain droplets scattered across the leaves, and sitting stuck to the full budlet shape.

and now there are all opening wide. stretching back their petals to soak up the warm sunshine we had today.

how a simple thing like flowers blooming in my garden can make me so happy and see the joy. oh yes.