finch

it's been a long while since i've updated my blog. real life has been continuing on meanwhile & these flowers have been growing my garden. this poor char finch flew into mum's lounge window & thoroughly knocked himself out into sweet oblivion, louis found him on the carpet in perfect condition, it was fascinating for us all to be able to hold the bird & study his texture & form. in the end we buried him under our raspberry bushes, i have a feeling louis won't forget him for quite some time.

isobel dalhousie

our first strawberries. celeste & i made these biccys & the chocolate caramel fingers yesterday for school lunches. i've just finished another alexander maccall book 'the lost art of gratitude', i really enjoy reading this series, it's so entertaining & i like to ponder the main character isobel's philosophical thoughts.
'something to do with beauty. yes, she thought, that was one way of expressing it. moral beauty existed as clearly as any other form of beauty and perhaps that was were we would find the god who was so vividly, and sometimes bizarrely, described in our noisey religious explanations. it was an intriguing thought, as it meant that a concert could be a spiritual experience, a secular painting a religious icon, a beguiling face a passing angel.'

sweet peas

these sweet peas are the most divine soft purple with the most divine scent imaginable, i put them in our bedroom & they perfumed the whole room. i've been dreaming about french patisseries lately as i have a library book at home at the moment called 'french feasts - 299 traditional recipes for family meals & gatherings' by stephane reynaud. i wish someone would open a french bakery here in nelson, then i could go there & drink strong coffee & eat pastries for breakfast.

lily of the valley

we have lily of the valley growing in the garden, who doesn't love the name of this plant? it has such old fashioned connotations & i'm looking forward to it taking over a larger part of the garden. i bought a bunch of iris bulbs from a second hand shop a while back & i was pleasantly surprised to find them to be such a bright vivid purple.

still life

i was attempting to try to recreate a dutch masters painting here, an ambitious undertaking indeed. anyway i enjoyed the process, well apart from not having any paintings to reference as our computer is broken & all my saved images were inside it & apart from trying to make a studio in our kitchen with an upturned table as my backdrop & 3 curious children all around & all over me.

bird eggs

i found all these flowers growing down the matai valley, mmm great pleasure in that for me. nana's neighbour blew out these thrush eggs for the kids after the mother abandoned the nest, the colour of the eggs is so lovely & i can see why it is often replicated in house paints etc.

white lillies

these flowers were for my mumsy from my sister, i don't think i normally like lillies in bunches unless they are on their own but the colour combination of lime green & white is so fresh. i found this watercress growing in a pool by the side of the river, there was something very rewarding about then making this tasty pesto out of it.