Rainbows

The other evening there was the most amazing rainbow...it just appeared out of nowhere...

the definition of a rainbow in an old Blackie's Standard Shilling Dictionary !! ( with coloured plates...that are gorgeous picked up at the local Restore for 50c ..I love it!) is

RAINBOW (noun) An arc of a circle, consisting of all the prismatic
colours appearing in the heavens opposite the sun.

..love those words!

 

A 1935 Thorndike Junior Dictionary definition....

RAINBOW 1. a bow or arch of seven colours seen sometimes in the sky, or in mist or spray, when the sun shines on it from behind one.  The colours of the rainbow are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. 2.having many colours like a rainbow. noun. adjective.

 

The Good Spelling Dictionary circa 1964 definition...

RAINBOW noun.  arc in sky containing colours of the spectrum, formed by reflection of sunbeams from falling rain.

   Just when you thought it couldn't be more beautiful these little clouds drifted through!!  

When you think about it there are very few ordinary days when nature has such daily delights.

 

The mornings and evenings are starting to have an autumnal feel about them...we had a 6 deg frost on Friday morning...the lawn was white and crisp..too early for this...luckily nothing was too frost bitten.  The butterbeans are ready and the rosehips ripening, the white berried rowan tree shared some of her berries with me for the house.

The man of the house was away for the week at a conference in the North Island, a darling friend came to stay and gave me a Willow pattern, prettily faded cloth that is just perfect under my Asiatic Pheasants faded looking china ashette...

 

...some other friends popped by with this rosy posy..

 

..it looks most at home on the table with Tasha Tudor and she would have loved it.

Finally got my lavender picked ready for drying.

 

My tiny Hydrangea Paniculata  yielded a  couple of it's first flowers....my large heavenly previous paniculata sadly is no more after a case of mistaken identity !!! by the man of the house wielding a chainsaw!!!!   was very sad at the time....NEVER trust a man with a chainsaw in your garden unsupervised!!!!

 

Tonight it has got dark quite early and there is a lovely moon..time to be tucked up in bed.

 

The moon was but a chin of gold

a night or two ago,

And now she turns her perfect face

Upon the world below.

Her forehead is of amplest blond;

Her cheek like beryl stone;

Her eye unto the summer dew

The likest I have known.

Her lips of amber never part;

But what must be the smile

Upon her friend she could bestow

Were such her silver will!

And what a privilege to be

But the remotest star!

For certainly her way might pass

Beside your twinkling door.

Her bonnet is the firmament,

The universe her shoe,

The stars the trinkets at her belt,

Her dimities of blue.

(Emily Dickinson)

 

 

 

the last couple of weeks....

...mainly in pictures...we went for a drive up past Dunedin on the coast filling in time between scans and appointments....saw some lovely serene bays ...Deborah Bay and Careys Bay were very pretty.

...imagine being lulled to sleep by the sound of the sea in this wee cottage....

...local sea life taking time out....

 

...lots of boats...

 

 

..with wild flowers up to the waters edge....

 

....not everyone was having a lazy day.....

 

...I love boathouses and there were lots ....

 

And after a chemo session the following day I came home to an amazing gift in the post, an exquisitely hand stitched quilt to wrap myself in....it is beautiful thank you.xx

 

Have a happy week filled with smiles and warmth...sunshine and friends.

xx

...river glimpses

...a lazy Sunday afternoon at the river...2 weeks ago we packed a picnic and set off with friends to Piano Flat...time for the man of the house to try out his new Christmas  fishing rod....

..it was so peaceful sitting on the bank while the others fished...nearby was a little Hobbit house....

 

....some wild flowers and a window tree....

 

....a gorgeously intertwined tree trunk....

 

 

.....wonder who lives in there.... a clock to tell the time by with just a gentle puff...

 

...a mossy glade where a fairy ball could take place...

 

... I think it would be a mystical place in the moonlight.....

 

...the river flowed by...rippling over stones and sweeping over rocks.....

and apart from the fisherfolk I had some Welcome Swallows to keep me company.....they were beautiful to watch so graceful swooping and dancing over the water...and sometimes alighting on a gnarly old branch to watch me knitting!

 

A beautiful place and a day to remember!

 

Sweet Lavender

The Lavender bushes are in full flower...the scent is heavenly!
We have had some very hot days and it's wonderful brushing past the lavender bushes in the garden.

 

this is one of the english lavenders ...I'm not sure which variety,  the bush is very old and woody..I still love it ...

 

tomorrow if it's still hot and sunny I will cut it , tie it in bunches and hang it up in the garage to dry.

I love making lavender bags, last year I had a very old faded worn doily that I sewed up the sides, filled with dried lavender and some lemon verbena ..it hangs on the bedroom door and it's sweet fragrance is subtle and delightful...

...as I have rather a large stack of hoarded up doilies I think I will make a lot more of these soon...very quick and easy.

The English lavender has quite a short flowering season so I also grow the French lavender or Lavender Stoechas, this has flowers virtually all year round and seems pretty hardy even in our cold winters.

 

Had a wee peek in my lovely The Secret Language of Flowers by Samantha Gray, and this is what it had to say.....

 

 

Every night I have a bath scented with lavender oil...life's simple pleasures.....

Lavender Grey -  Lavender Blue

Perfume wrapt in the sky's own hue  

(anon)

The other day this dear wee fellow was making his way across the lawn...he allowed me to get very close and didn't seem to mind having his picture taken....I think he/she may well have been related to Mrs Tiggy Winkle as it was very busy and  bustled about ....

A friend gave me some very pretty roses...

 

There were some beautiful evenings  where the light gilded the trees...

 I had some hours in the garden which were very pleasant, a little bit of stitching, some reading and so the week has passed very pleasantly and peacefully.

Have a happy week.

xx