News from Nowhere

Hello. It's been a while!

Spring is here in the Yellow Wood and my attention strays as always to the very tiniest of beings.

A beautifully striped moth in the bathroom.

A delightfully furry caterpillar on the front windowsill.

A daddy-long-legs exploring on the porch.

I hope the world is treating you well wherever you are.

Feronia xx

Bits and Bobs

I came across the thrifter's holy grail recently...I found a vintage quilt in an op-shop! I could hardly believe my eyes...and it was only eight dollars. I have since given it a good wash and an air-out and it is now gracing our previously very dull beige couch (the little orange dragon is also a recent op-shop win - she's made of felt and her name is Doris). The couch looks especially lovely under the window in the Spring sunshine!

In other news, I have been...

• Falling in love with A.S. Byatt's books - first up Ragnarok
• Making chocolate fudge 
• Loving the re-runs of Doctor Who on ABC-2

What's news with you?

Gentle Spring

Pussy Willow, picked on a Sunday drive to Warrandyte

Spring is starting to show itself. The front garden is beginning to bloom with all of its lovely self-sown flowers (they are the children of plants my grandmother planted many moons ago) and the air is warm and sweet. As it gets noticeably warmer, I have to remind myself not to fear the hot summer days that will follow Spring, but to enjoy what is here right now.

A trip to the op-shop this morning yielded treasure in the form of three Beatrix Potter books - The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes and (of course) The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I bought them to sell online, but now I'm not sure if I can part with them. That's how our house has ended up full of books!

This is such a pretty song. I thought you might like it. 

Life is beautiful

We have had some beautifully sunny days of late - Spring is definitely here! The garden is bursting with life - some of its own accord, some cultivated. On the weekend, my husband planted tomatoes, zucchini, artichoke and a blackcurrant bush so there's lots of treats in store.

Something in the air

There is a change in the air today. Although we have lapsed back into some cold weather lately, today the wind is strong and bustling with life, carrying the stirring scent of jasmine with it. Spring is around us. These beautiful azaleas from my Mum's garden seem to prove this point! Hope the weather is good to you wherever you might be today.

Happy Dance

A poppy in our front yard.

Spring is here! Welcome Spring.
And it feels good!

This image was sourced from Google. Obviously, I don't own it (I'd be very wealthy if I did!). If you object to my using it, please let me know.

I want candy

Absolutely beautiful Spring weather yesterday (though we have a few more days of winter to go). I went out into the backyard and was completely dazzled by the blossom on our fruit trees which seem to have really come out in force over the past couple of days. For some reason the delicate, sweetly pretty and light-as-air petals of the blossom put me in mind of the frivolous, pastel-coloured decadence of the 'shoes and candy' scene from the film Marie Antoinette. One of those films you either liked or loathed I think, I enjoyed the spectacle of it while suspending disbelief and without weighing myself down too much with concerns about historical accuracy! I saw it in the cinema one New Years Eve and then again on TV while we were in Oslo. Lots of fun (until the Revolution, of course).

Good Things

Spring is here! Or at least, very, very close. A beautiful day today - bright blue skies, beaming sunshine and a warm rub on the back whenever you go outside. My dear mum picked the bouquet above from her garden and gave it to me to celebrate spring. In one of my grandma's vases, I think it sums the current cheerful mood up very nicely!

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Fabulous op-shopping today and quite unexpectedly so. I needed to go to the bank and the chemist and so I popped into two regular and but always terribly fruitful thrifting haunts, only to emerge with a quite considerable bag full of goodies. Not least of which was three of the quite collectible and deliciously vintage Shirley Flight and Sally Baxter books. I am looking forward to reading these, though Sally's expression on the cover of The Holiday Family worries me slightly. She looks a little too pleased about that caravan careening down the cliff.

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My cardigan has changed from being in a muted grey after the cheap wool debacle to a rich variety of hues (it's advertised as being faux fairisle). It's slow going because I have had a flare-up of tendonitis in my wrist but I am enjoying just knit, knit, knitting in garter stitch.

It's a Bug's Life 2

{This clip doesn't seem to want to load, so check out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAzO5qUY35g}

It is this sort of organisation that makes me realise two things - (1) I am very wise to be scared of ants and (2) It is pointless to be scared of ants, because they are obviously smarter and more organised than me anyway :)

Summer at last seems to be on its way - 26 degrees today, 29 tomorrow and 32 on Friday. We turned the overhead fan on in the living room for the first time this year last night. I always have mixed emotions about this time of year - for every delightful 25 degree day, there is a 45 degree one waiting for me in February. But for now, it's November and it's pleasantly warm.

It's a Bug's Life

A Daddy Long Legs as pictured at www.findaspider.org.au

I have to admit that I have a long and bloody history stretching behind me of killing bugs. I have always HATED creepy-crawlies. But lately I have tried to be a little more mellow, a little more philosophical if you will about the whole bug situation. They are living beings too, and who am I to rain down death and destruction upon them? This time of year tests my newly tolerant approach, however, with everything it seems hatching from its egg and making a b-line for our house.

I am feeling especially kindly disposed towards Daddy Long Legs. There are a number of them who have taken up residence inside and I've found that I actually quite enjoy watching them tread carefully along, meditatively testing out their next step with one leg, deciding it is too wet/dry/dusty to fully stand on and so reversing their steps and trying out another spot. And then, when it gets too difficult to put the best of one of their eight legs forward, spindling down to their desired location on a delicate strand of web.

My benevolence still stops short of ants and really nasty looking spiders though. There is a medium sized deep black variety of spider which regularly makes its way into the house in the warmer months. I killed one last night just as it was hovering over my shoulder while I read on the couch and then I found another poised on the doorstep! And ants....well. It's the sheer numbers that get to me there. Neither makes my skin creep quite like being walked on by ants!

Spring

Inspired by my good friend Bodecea's beautiful autumn posy (http://bodecea.blogspot.com/), I bring you my spring posy.

Springy Sunday Sunshine!

Apparently Sunday was the first day we have had over 20 degrees celsius for something like 100 days!

Spring!

Yahoo!

Coming up like a flower

Summer is on its way...our first truly warm day today and the signs of summer are starting to appear. I must admit I brace myself a little. An Australian summer can be a challenging thing! But I am also trying to remind myself that there is still more of spring to come, and that summer has its own rewards...nature's buzz of expectation and activity on a summer's morning...long, cool nights eating dinner in the backyard...

Rainy days

We have had a very wet weekend. But I for one am not complaining. As I think I have mentioned to you before, we live in a very dry part of the world and once summer comes, raindrops will be something of a fond and distant memory. So I am quite happy to hear the continual pitter-patter of rain on the roof and windows and to be basically limited to indoor pursuits for a couple of days.

To pass the time as I watched the rain fall, I stitched together Billy the Dog who's a little wonky and probably wouldn't pass the inspection of a halfway decent stitcher but I think he has rather a sweet disposition (for the pattern, see Miyako Kanamori's Sock and Glove); I baked a very nice chocolate cake which disappeared not long after this photo was taken (http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/readersrecipes/77220/easy-chocolate-cake); I pottered about the house practicing with the settings on my digital camera (orchids courtesy of my Fellow Traveller) and I watched some very busy earthworms make their way through the rain...