Those darling buds of May

At the end of April I picked the first peonies from our garden. Beautiful, blowsy blooms greeting every passerby as they walked past our front garden. Heralding in, what I hope will be, a lovely May. Here they sit on a table in my living room enjoying the sun from the bay window.



And then on Friday along came May, perhaps one of my favourite months of the year. A month that is full of excitement, you can almost smell the hint of summer on the horizon, the garden bursts into life. In many ways this photos shows exactly what I love about May, the beautifully soft pink of the apple blossom against the green stems of the angelica and the wonderful angelica heads, perfect in their symmetry yet sitting somewhat higgledy piggledy in the corner of a blossoming flower bed and petal strewn lawn.



There is a sense that things are returning to their natural place,



Little Sister regains her favourite reading spot in the apple tree



and here by the sea the Brighton Festival begins.



Saturday morning bright and early we walked to an almost deserted seafront before the children's parade begins. A chance to savour the very short stillness of the place. Just a few moments later, the city is heaving with visitors, families, schools, samba bands as the children take centre stage and parade through the city to open the Festival.
For us it is always a chance to catch up with old friends. We've had a weekend of fresh air, walking and coming home with friends to eat and chat with them.



With very rosy (sunburnt) faces we drove over to here on Sunday. We met some friends and walked over the Downs, saw plenty of these



More of these than I've seen in a very long time




Walked tentatively through fields of these...



And spotted the reddest, handsomest fox going for a Sunday constitutional, we hope not in search of his lunch.



Picnicked on the cliff tops, took deep breaths and admired the view.



A lazy day at home yesterday, feeling tired but good. I looked over at the somewhat bleached peonies and



oh how they reminded me of those crepe paper decorations we used to have at Christmas when I was little, the ones we would put up in our classroom and watch them fade over the weeks - the rolls of crepe paper that you would still find in the local sweet shop months after the event, sitting tiredly in the corner sunbleached, colour fading and yet still tantalisingly attractive.



I want to thank you, yet again, for all the lovely, kind and supportive comments I've been getting recently, it has made a real difference. I am going to make a determined effort to get back into some kind of normal blogging routine and am so looking forward to visiting you all again. In the meantime, please pick one of my peonies to put beside your computer. the roses aren't yet blooming so I can't pass you a ragged rose to share, just yet...

A million reasons to smile ...

There must be at least a million here - beautifully blue and enchanting



A walk in the aptly named bluebell woods of "Heaven Farm.



"Can you smell Bluebells?"
"I can smell heaven."
(I Capture the Castle, the film



The sound of the bluebell railway in the distance as we walk through the woods



The enchantment of a magical place



Sitting in a dandelion covered field eating our picnic



Playing frisbee in the sun



Making Spring yellow floral garlands and holding them against the bluest of blue skies



Seeing my daughter, happy and worry free...



That's worth more than a million of anything.

Enchanted April - Part 2

I seem to have taken an unconscious blogging break. It could be the Easter Holidays or the mountain of sewing that might serve as an excuse. Deep down I know it is because the happy words have been hard to find these past few weeks. There are many things I could be writing about and would not wish to spoil them by a lack of enthusiasm or tinge of sadness so I shall say that hopefully in a few days normal service will be resumed...



I've just been sitting out in the garden with my cup of tea (where would we be without our cups of tea) and thinking just what a wonderful month April is. Sitting outside you really get a sense of just how enchanted it can be. A month of feverish growth, overnight surprises:



Morning greetings from the first poppies



My lovely wild celandines have forget-me-nots as new friends



The wild garlic sits happily behind the geranium nodding its head



And up in the apple tree a bluetit plays amongst the blossom, completely unaware of its beauty against the Spring blue sky.



On Saturday a parcel arrived for me. A complete surprise, one that had me guessing. A box full of sunshine and kindness from somebody who reads my blog. She does not have a blog of her own (although I keep trying to persuade her) and has read mine since I started. She has bought many things from my Etsy shop and we have shared many enjoyable emails and much news together. She is a very busy lady in the middle of a house move and yet, after emailing me last week, she sensed that things were not all rosy and sent me this. Yes of course I cried when I opened it!!!!!!! Thank you Jackie.

Thank you too to everyone that leaves a comment, sends an email and writes a post, for all the happy (and sad) words we share.



So, yes, now is the time to go and find those happy words .... I'll be back soon.

Roses In Wonderland ...

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. We had a lovely time despite the weather. From the minute Mr Roses stopped worked on Wednesday evening until yesterday afternoon, the sun disappeared and went to shine elsewhere and we almost gave up hope of spending any time outdoors at all. However, we crammed in as much as possible in between all the chocolate eating and, well, I was going to show you what we got up to in chronological order and save the best till last, but hey ho, how could I hide these spring-filled photos from you for any longer. We'll come back to grey skies on another day.



So yesterday we decided to go out whatever the weather. In search of blue skies, open spaces and flowers...



Having driven all the way over to Batemans (more on that another post) it felt silly not to take advantage of being only half an hour away from here:



One of my favourite places to visit. The last time we visited Sissinghurst was a few years ago at the end of summer. The garden was beautiful and the place worked its magic ....



This time I must admit to worrying that I would be disappointed at seeing the place again so early in Spring. Having watched the TV series, read the book, worn the T shirt etc I kept my fingers crossed.



Well I was not disappointed. I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, discovering a true Spring wonderland that left me grinning like the cheshire cat for the rest of the day.



Once again we climbed the Tower, taking in Vita's study (what a wonderful, wonderful room) and gazed across the gardens and surrounding land in amazement.



Seen from above,



the gardens were just unbelievably tempting.



Each with its own individual character.



Close up,



in detail they were stunning.



The beauty of the brickwork allowed to shine alongside the climbing plants.



Carpets of flowers



Blankets



of bulbs



Beauty on a large scale



The famous white garden beginning to bloom



Lovely to read and see that new projects are moving ahead at Sissinghurst too



and we're so looking forward to returning in a couple of months to see the developments.



How could you fail not to be moved and optimistic after seeing all this?



My garden seemed unnaturally small when we came home and the 100 bulbs I planted the other week seemed very few in number but I didn't feel dejected.



The joy that Vita Sackville West and Harold Nicolson shared in their garden is hugely infectious and whilst I know I will never achieve a lot of what I saw, my head is brimming full of colour schemes and planting ideas - just need a white rabbit to take me back there a bit more often.

Happy Easter

Just hopped over to wish you all a really Happy Easter weekend. Keep an eye out for that bunny, I'm sure he's on his way ...
x

The day the world went technicolour

Last week our computer died. Is there a technical term for it I wonder? This just about sums up my technical knowledge, in fact a certain custard cream eating friend and I have shared many a similar conversation when our computers have been having tantrums ... and many a biscuit has been passed through the ether via our computers (this might account for our computer's sudden demise, a blockage of biscuit crumb resulting in complete malfunction I wonder?).




And, no of course not, not all of my files were backed up and yes, of course, it happened when we were least expecting it to, halfway through a major transplant operation - Mr Roses was transferring information from the old computer to the new one that has been given to us...



The result? Well as usual a complete panic from me. How did we exist before computers ... isn't it just so silly/frustrating/annoying to become so dependent on a machine? One positive side effect was that the house hasn't looked so clean in ages. Unable to retrieve images for my work from the computer, I switched off the sewing machine, switched on the hoover and got to work.



An enforced spring cleaning with lovely results. The bathroom gleamed. I did find myself at one point precariously balanced on one foot on these steps whilst trying to retrieve some old glass bottles on the tall shelf that were in dire need of some TLC. The floorboards were scrubbed, the paintwork washed and a cupboard repainted. The sun shone and I was pleased with myself, not as pleased as I would have been if I could then go downstairs to have a quick catch up on the computer...



Three days later, with our home visibly shaken by my cleaning assault, our new computer came home. At midnight on Thursday Mr Roses was finally able to reconnect me with the outside world and wow was it bright out there!!! Up until now our old computer screen had been the equivalent of sitting on a beach reading a favourite book, the sun behind the clouds so it was decidedly overcast and with a smear of suntan lotion on your reading glass lenses - not the best view in the world. Photos were dull, dull, dull. Then suddenly with one flick of a switch, our new computer transforms us to very sunny climes, a much brighter place without a trace of greasy suntan lotion in sight. I can't tell you how bright and colourful everything now seems and I'm not just talking about my bathroom shelves ...