Sharon's Little Sunbeam Award - Week 3

When I first started my blog I initially felt as though I was functioning in a vacuum. I would put together my little posts, set them free, then watch as they floated out gently and silently into cyberspace.  It was rather like self-consciously talking to myself!

Then Gayle popped up as my first follower.  (For quite some time she was my only follower.)  I started following her blog as well.  I would add my small comments to the many others she received on her lovely posts.  And despite the fact that she has hundreds of followers and many other blogs she could choose to look at, Gayle came to visit my blog each week, leaving a friendly message and comment in return.

As a big thank you to Gayle for her early kindness and encouragement, Sharon's Little Sunbeam Week 3 will shine on:

Garden of Daisies

Besides my personal reason's for recommending Gayle's beautiful and creative blog it is well worth visiting in its own right and I hope anyone who sees this post will pop in and say hello.

Past recipients of Sharon's Little Sunbeam Award:

March House Books

Always Crave Cute

Sharon's Little Sunbeam is my own personal 'no strings attached' award.  It is my way of thanking some of the wonderful people who enrich my blogging experience.  The recipient is introduced in a post like this one and a link to their blog remains on my sidebar for a week.  There are no conditions attached to the award.  The recipient does not need to answer any questions, pass the award on or even acknowledge that they have received it.  All they need to do is bask in my little sunbeam and enjoy it!

A big thank you also for all the lovely comments and wishes left on my Birthday Thoughts post.  I'm glad the other 'April girls' enjoyed the poem and could copy it for themselves.

All pictures shown here are the work of Ron Embleton (1930-1988) and were previously included in a post called Here be Dragons

Here Comes the Sun

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to be given a Sunshine Award by two of my favourite bloggers - first by Darlene at Darlene Foster's Blog and then by Donna at Believe in Yourself .  I have been very slow in responding (apologies for that) but at last I want to say a big THANK YOU to both of you very special ladies.  I hope anyone who is not familiar with Darlene and Donna's blogs will drop by soon and pay them a visit.



My answers to the questions:


1. Favourite colour? Changes all the time - at the moment duck egg blue
2. Animal? Cat - my first pet was a very intelligent Siamese
3. Number? 4 and 6
4. Non-alcoholic drink? Good old fashioned builder's tea (this past weekend with toasted hot cross buns) 
5. Facebook or Twitter? Neither - for some reason I have a total aversion to both
6. My passion: Art, literature, my family, the beauty of nature (not necessarily in that order)
7. Getting or giving presents: Both - I love wrapping and decorating a present 
8. Pattern: Regency Stripe
9. Day of the week: Saturday - I know I still have Sunday to look forward to as well
10. Flower: All of them - but roses, bearded iris, frangipani and agapanthus are probably my special favourites


After last weeks' snow (which melted away after a couple of days) the first flowers are slowly making their appearance in my garden.  They seem to awaken a lot later up here in the mountains than they did in town or where I used to live before.  But now that they are finally here they are a very welcome sight!

I love these little wild-flowers that tumble down like a waterfall.

I was a little premature in taking these next pictures as the bush is now covered in pink flowers but at least I snapped the early arrivals.  They are so familiar but I have forgotten what they are called.  Please let me know if you recognise them.

I'm also fascinated by these beautiful little yellow blossoms.  Again I don't know what they are but I have seen them somewhere before.  They remind me of a wild flower garden or an Alpine scene.  

The apple blossom is very slow in arriving.  These blossoms all seem to be white - I am more used to seeing pretty pink hues as well.

But the cherry blossom is extremely pretty. . .

I also like this bush.  At first glance these appear to be flowers (perhaps they are classed as such) but if you look more closely they are actually red-tipped leaves.

Birthday Thoughts

From 'Look Mummy!' - E.M. Dawson

Many thanks to everyone who left birthday wishes for me earlier this week.  As my blog is a celebration of childhood memories I decided I would take a childlike (and hopefully not childish!) delight in the occasion and end the week with a birthday post.

First of all though - Colleen's comment that 'maybe we are young at heart because we are April girls', made me think of something I wrote inside the cover of a photograph album way back in 1976. 

The album must have been a birthday present as I have written my name, the date (5 April 1976) and the following inscription - copied from somewhere but unfortunately I never recorded the source.  It holds as true for me now as it did then :- 

An April mother will teach her youngsters 

to believe in leprechauns

She'll take them for walks in the park,

And point out the sparkling necklaces left on the lawn

By the fairies when they danced under the moon

Where others might only see early morning dew on the grass.

April mothers create a magic world of fantasy for their children - its where they live themselves

 (These beautiful little fairy illustrations come from a book called 'My First Book of Fairy Stories' published in 1959.  I have featured it in my blog before and mentioned that the artist of this exquisite work was not acknowledged.)

While I was unpacking books that have been in storage for such a long time, I found two I have had for exactly 50 years this week. Both were given to me as birthday presents in 1962.  The first is called 'Look Mummy!' and has the most delightful illustrations by an artist called E.M. Dawson.  What I really like is that the picture at the beginning of this post is celebrating a 3rd birthday - the age I was at the time.

The book does not have a date of publication so I was thrilled that it has this inscription on the inside cover, allowing me to confirm exactly how long I have had it.

The illustrations take me right back to my childhood. The little girl in these picture even looks a bit like me so it is like peering into a mirror of my past.

The second book was given to me by my grandparents for the same birthday.  Besides a note from them inside, the cover in this instance handily pinpoints the year!

This book also has lovely illustrations, so evocative of the period. I think the scene of children playing in the park is just wonderful.

I also just love this little bedtime prayer at the end of the book - goodnight to every little star, good night big moon so wise, good night to all those little flowers before they close their eyes!

This card was given to me when I turned 5 and I still think it is the most special birthday card that I have ever received. I always loved these girls in their pretty rose trimmed dresses and longed to have a flouncy gown just like them.

Our birthday parties were full of games played outside in the garden.  One of the most popular and my all time favourite was 'Oranges and Lemons'.  This picture is from one of my own birthday parties - I'm the left hand part of the arch in the pale cardi  (my mom was forever keeping me 'warm'!).  One of my aunts is keeping us organised.

"Oranges and lemons" say the bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings" say the bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich" say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know" say the great bells of Bow

"Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head
Chip chop chip chop - the last man's dead."

Two thoughts struck men when I looked at this again. One was how old the rhymes and games were that we played.  (The origins of this one go back to the 1600's.)  The second was that we sang them without any notion of what they were really about which in many cases (including this one) was quite gruesome!

Today's children have somehow lost these rhymes and games - I'm guilty myself as my son does not know them.  They fell out of favour - replaced by bouncy castles and activity centres.  It is strange that hundreds of years of tradition suddenly disappeared between my generation and his.
   

Sharon's Little Sunbeam Award - Week 2

Last week I introduced Sharon's Little Sunbeam Award

I was thrilled at the response and comments I received and that Diane from Always Crave Cute enjoyed being the first recipient.

Some of the comments mentioned copying the idea.  If anyone else wants to introduce something similar I'd take it as a compliment.  And after all (as I said in response) I 'borrowed' the original concept myself - and that is what I think blogging is all about - sharing great ideas!

A few of the replies I received to the question of whether I should notify the recipient thought it was a good idea so I will adopt that practice (although I don't want to labour the process).

I also thought it would be nice to include a short post every week introducing each blog and explaining why I chose it.  My initial dilemma is how to pick the first few recipients as there are a number of people I hold in equal esteem and I'm finding it impossible to place them in any order! 

However, a choice had to be made, and so Sharon's Little Sunbeam - Week 2 will shine on: 

March House Books

When I first discovered Barbara's wonderful blog I felt like a child who had been let loose in sweet shop.  Barbara sells vintage children's books so for someone with my interests her blog is made in heaven.  The design and layout is beautiful and if you stop by you can't but be drawn in.

I think blogging is as much about the person behind the blog as the content or design.  I enjoy the responses Barbara makes to the comments left on her posts (I'm afraid I'm woefully erratic in that regard) and the wonderfully warm remarks and observances that she leaves without fail on mine. 

So for the next week my little sunbeam will shine on March House Books - I hope anyone who sees it will stop by to visit!

All the pictures in this post are details taken from an earlier post Fabulous Fairies (22 July 2011)

      

Snow! In April!!

 I'm on holiday this week (hence the extra blogging activity!)  As my birthday (tomorrow) falls so close to Easter this year I thought it would be nice to have a few more days off and enjoy a proper break.

Last week we had a heatwave - well any temperature in the high teens (Celsius) in Ireland is a heatwave.  I was at work instead of enjoying the sunshine.  This week we have freezing temperatures - and now snow! In April!!! In South Africa I always thought of my birthday as the start of 'winter' after the desperate heat and humidity of summer.  Here I think of April as the beginning of summer and pack all my winter coats away.

Instead of balmy warm weather, today our garden looks like Narnia.  It is very pretty so I shouldn't complain.  Its just not what I was expecting.  My husband went outside and took some photos of the snowy scene this morning. I'm getting over a bad bout of 'flu and am not venturing outdoors so I can thank him for these lovely pictures.

Roundwood is apparently the highest village in Ireland so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised - if any snow is in the offing we are virtually guaranteed to get it here.

When he was finished my sweet husband brought me some tea in bed, opened the curtains and this is what I saw.  It was snowing last night before we went to sleep but I still didn't expect it to have fallen so heavily.

I took some photos through the window ...

Then I decided to wander around the house and take more photos, first through windows and then inside.

Its falling into place quite nicely.  (I often think the best time to take pictures is soon after you move in and everything still looks organised!)

My husband calls this the Hogwarts bookcase!  I have so many books they are packed in everywhere.

My study is my little haven (its where I'm sitting now.)  This next picture was a pure accident as the light was just perfect and gave me this lovely atmospheric shot.

This is my girly room and I've indulged myself with all my bits and bobs and put everything out where I can enjoy it.

 

Even old Mr Teddy has come out of hibernation. He growls if you turn him over but he is a bit croaky at the moment!

The picture behind him is a copy I made many years ago of a Kay Nielsen painting - I just changed it slightly by putting a figure of my own in the foreground.

Even my Disney princesses have a place to dance now.

I still can't believe that I am such a magical place.  I keep expecting to wake up and find that I have been dreaming!