Happy December

Hello everyone and happy December.

I know I am a little late, as already it is the 5th but life seems to be busy all of a sudden and this is the first time have been able to sit down at the computer.
All good and just been working away tidying up in the garden and doing things around the house.
Yesterday we had the biggest storm, the loudest thunder and bright lightening and was very scary hearing claps and booms of thunder and some seemed to be right overhead and made the house shake.
In the afternoon the sun came out so I ventured out in the garden, and the kitchen and lounge doors were wide open and got the surprise of my life to walk into the kitchen to find about 10 angry bees buzzing about and managed to coax them to fly back outside. Don't know if a bee hive had got washed out or how they came to be in the house.

As the countdown to Christmas begins, hope it will be relaxing and a stress free time.

Are you decorating and putting your tree up, or baking perhaps?
I am planning to make a start at the weekend.
Hope you are enjoying the week and I look forward to coming to visit you.
hugs
Carolyn

Floral Friday - a flower quote

Spring really does seem to be just around the corner here ... the birds are singing more loudly and the blossom and leaves are appearing on the trees.

This is my favourite time of the year when the garden seems to wake up after winter. Growing along the side of the roads where I go walking, are some pretty pale yellow freesias. I always pick a little posy to bring home and the scent throughout the house is lovely

How does a pansy for example select the ingredients from the soil to get the right colours for the flower?
Now there's a great miracle. I think there's a supreme power behind all of this. I see it in nature.
~ Clyde Tombaugh

As I have said before, pansies are one of my favourite sweet little flowers... love the smiling faces and the soft velvety petals and all the pretty hues they come in.

Can't believe how fast the week has gone - it is Friday already!
I hope your weekend is all you wish and more
hugs
Carolyn

Calico Blue plates and pansies

With all the rain we have been having it has been good for the pansies, which are flowering and looking very pretty.

Today I would like to share with you my Blue Calico plates and bits and pieces.
Burleigh's famous deep cobalt blue pattern has been made continuously in the factory for over 40 years. 
Love the look on the Antique Hutch dresser.

Here's a note from the English Novelist and Playwright- J B  Priestley about the collection.

~ Out of the original Victorian buildings, the clay is moulded, shaped and decorated to produce works of art, cups and saucers, plates and teapots, rush like magic out of clay.
 
May the ovens never grow cold, may Stoke on Trent, the pottery town still continue to be the heart of British craftsmanship.

I am thankful for all my readers, I appreciate each of you that visit and read my blog - Merci!

Hope that you are having a wonderful weekend - it still continues to rain here but we managed a trip across to the City and out for lunch with our Son.
hugs
Carolyn

Thinking beautiful thoughts

These pretty Pansies I have growing in the window-boxes.
They are such sweet flowers and love how they come in so many gorgeous hues.

Did you know... the name Pansy is derived from the French word pensée (thought)

Vagrant Pansies

They are all in the lily-bed
cuddled close together
Purple, yellow cap and the little baby blue.
How they ever got there you must ask the April weather.
The morning and the evening winds
the sunshine and the dew

~ by Nellie M Hutchinson

Next time I will tell you about the fabulous ink, I recently bought.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend, my dear friends
Carolyn

Ways to be happy

Do more of what makes you happy!

Plant some pretty flowers

Watch a sunset at the end of the day, the spectacular and vibrant colour palette, painted across Mother natures canvas.

Beauty at the end of the day, while on holiday at Bora Bora

Sit down in a comfy chair and read a good book

by Alberto Pisa

Find some perfect thing to make your day happy
Celebrate just being you!

I am finally feeling like myself again, having a sore throat was no fun. Thank you for your kind emails ... you made me feel better.
Also kind of you to send  birthday wishes, to my husband.
I appreciate your friendship and reading my blog.

Have a week that is beautiful 
hugs
Carolyn 

Giving thanks

So much to be thankful for today ~

I always wake up grateful and give thanks for the new day

My loving family which mean the world to me

My friends, both new and old,  who inspire, encourage me and bring so much joy into my life.
Who would have thought before we started blogging, that we would have made such wonderful friends from all around the world.

It's Spring and I love to open the window and let the fresh air in and listen to the birds in the trees, and this brings a smile to my face.

Flowers I get excited when I see them growing well in the garden

The tomato plants are looking good and can't wait until we can make salads and sandwiches with them. After last years crop which was abysmal. Fresh asparagus are in the shops and so good for the evening meal.

Each day comes bearings it's own gifts ~ untie the ribbons.

Wishing a happy Thanksgiving, to my Amercian friends and a wonderful weekend to all
Also want to say thank you for going to visit my daughter to say hello.

hugs
Carolyn

Out in my garden

Today we have  rain  and I do love how everything looks so green and fresh after the shower.
The pansies are such a cheerful sight when the day is grey and overcast and they seemed to be waving hello in the wind.

Can't believe another week has gone by!

My white camellia still continues to bloom

Last night we went out to a friends birthday dinner, there were  16 of us seated around the table.
Happy birthday Lisa!  we had a really fun night with lots of laughs and was great to catch up with our friends again.

I want to thank you for reading my blog and now I look forward to coming over to visit you all.
I hope you have a fun weekend
hugs
Carolyn

Happy new week

~John Keates

       

Hello dear friends,

I hope you have had a good weekend

I'm sorry I have been absent lately, things have been busy here, with working on the new look for our lounge.

Martin has given the ceiling two coats of paint and the final one will go on next weekend.

I have removed the brass door knobs and  have given them a polish, my job was to paint the undercoat on the doors, skirting boards and the windowsills. The preparation seems to take a long time, but worth it to do a good job.

I'm so happy that the room is all starting to come together and we have decided on a wallpaper, we will use .

I have said this before,... how much the pansies growing in  my garden make me happy

I wish you a happy new week.

Hugs

Carolyn

Happy special Mother's day

A special time of celebration to all Mother's and the influence they have on their children to make them who they are.
It is probably one of the hardest jobs, but so rewarding.

I am so thankful to my dear Mother, for all the love, kindness, patience, strength, always caring  and all she has taught me.

When my kids were growing up, I loved to get their sweet little cards, handmade gifts and the precious drawings. Breakfast in  bed was so sweet with a tray set and felt like such a lucky Mother.

I am so proud of the beautiful adults my two have become and feel so blessed.

I will be leaving for a short break away, my DH is taking me to Surfers Paradise in Australia to celebrate a birthday. So I will be taking a little blog break.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend

Hugs

Carolyn

Pansies, olives and a walk along the beach

We have had a lovely, busy weekend and this is a little of what I got up to.

It is olive season here again and they were ripe and ready to be picked so that was one of the jobs in the weekend, on the to do list.  I have noticed the birds had been making a feast of them over the past few weeks. While there was not as big a crop as last year, it is always exciting picking the olives and having them pressed and turned into bottles of our own delicious olive oil.

I feel so lucky living near the ocean and every possible opportunity it is lovely to take a walk along the beach. Even better now that most of the tourists have gone away until next summer and there are only a few people out enjoying the sunshine and walking their dogs.

Looking out the window on Saturday afternoon, I saw this old sailing ship and had to run and get my camera. Wouldn't you enjoy going for a sail on this old beauty, I know I would with only the sound of the wind,  making her move over the ocean.

Busy, but happy and I look forward to coming to visit you.

Blessings to all of you,  have a great week

Hugs

Carolyn

Merci beaucoup!

Merci beaucoup Anita, for hosting the fabulous Simply Irresistible Party in Paris.
It was so much fun going to visit all that were on the guest list and to see what everyone had to share.
A lovely way to visit old friends and to meet some new ones too.

Also many thanks for the birthday wishes you sent for my daughter, that was very kind of you and appreciate your friendship.
If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.
~ Claudia Ghandi

I have been having trouble with blogger, so I am still trying to get around to visit you all.
Wishing you a happy week
Hugs
Carolyn

Happy weekend

Making me happy today ~
Pansies growing in my window boxes

I got out in the garden and the weather was beautiful and sunny.

I picked up a copy of Victoria magazine which I look forward to sitting down and reading.

I had a facial and it is always such a treat and you walk away feeling like a new woman.
I was not so happy though, as I had to visit the Doctor this morning. A splinter had lodged down underneath my fingernail. With a course of antibiotics I hope that the throbbing pain will go away.
As the clock changes back this weekend, we welcome Autumn days here and I am loving the cooler weather.
Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for your visits and to new followers.
I am looking forward to catching up with you and all the wonderful blogs I visit.

Hugs
Carolyn

Award, pansies, window boxes, olives

I spent Saturday replanting the window boxes at the front of the house, with white pansies. They give me much pleasure when I look through the windows.

We have been picking olives again this weekend and took them to the place where they will be pressed, so hopefully we will have some lovely bottles of our own olive oil, in a few weeks. I have been amazed at how much the birds have been making a feast of the olives, they must not mind the bitter taste of the olives, straight from the trees.


I have been awarded the Sunshine Award from Pat
kittilover.blogspot.com
Many thanks Pat ~ I would like to Award this to everyone, because we all need sunshine in our life. As so many of my blog friends, are blog free and already have this award, please feel free to add it to your blogs, if you would like it.

We really could do with some rain, here on Waiheke Island, where I live ~ we have had 4 months of glorious weather and still no rain. I wonder if we are going to have a wet winter ahead?

I hope that you are having a lovely weekend, filled with joy and happiness and the sun shines for you.

Hugs
Carolyn

White Roses and hydrangeas

The garden was very pretty today, some little iceberg roses have made an appearance, a white hydrangea and one last camellia for the season. I always like to be able to bring flowers from the garden and put them in a vase.
Country Living

Pansies for a splash of colour.
via {This is Glamorous.}


I have found the sweetest bliss
In simple little things like this:
A glossy blackbird on the gate
singing blithely to his mate,
Bumble bees all plump and bold
Drifting through my marigolds,
Lilac bushes bent to earth
Boasting blooms of lavish girth,
An early rain upon the lawn
Glinting in the blush of dawn.
To my hushed expectant soul,
Beauty speaks and makes me whole.

~ Rachel Wallace-Oberle

We are enjoying our Monday ....a holiday! day off! sleep in!
One could get very used to these three day weekends. Labour day, has been a good way to get some things done around the house.
I have a big standard bay tree, that has not been doing well in the huge terracotta pot.
Seems to be a little root bound so we are going to go and plant it out in the garden and maybe it will be happier there. Must away and do some more chores.

Thanks for dropping by my blog today ~
Happy week to all.

Hugs
Carolyn