fairytales

I was barely six, when, on a cold winter's night in Christchurch, my mother woke me to watch Lady Diana marry Prince Charles...it was close to midnight.  My father had made us all his leek and potato soup for supper...the fire was going and it was cosy inside.  And it was magical...

Last night I made that very same soup, the autumn air had quite the nip about it...my father joined me and it was cosy inside.  I felt my mother's spirit around as she watched with us. 

Once more, some thirty years on, I watched the pomp and ceremony...the magic of another Royal Wedding...and wasn't it breath-taking?  William looked ever so dashing and Kate was beautifully elegant...and they looked so very happy.  I wish them a fairytale happy ever after...

buzzy bee

Did you guess?  I think nearly every child in New Zealand has a buzzy bee...or at least, my generation certainly did.  They become a little battered and scratched with age and love and yet that makes them all the more appealing.  I wonder where the one my brother and I shared got to...perhaps I should hunt in Dad's garage!  I hope this little guy brings smiles to Zoraya's little face as she starts to toddle around in the months to come - he's certainly very cheery!

sweet treats...

Little Miss Z is still just a wee bit too tiny for chocolate yet...but I couldn't let this first Easter pass without one small treat.  A quintessential Kiwi toy...can you guess what that might be?

And for her Mummy and Daddy...a lindt bunny each!

charming classics

I'm completely smitten with these books...aren't they delightful?  I couldn't choose just one...they look so much prettier together.  Such wonderful childhood stories captured so beautifully in between these covers.  There's The Secret Garden, Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Huckleberry Finn...and of course my favourite, Anne of Green Gables.  I do adore this story...the wonderfully honest Anne (spelt with an 'e') Shirley and the charmingly handsome Gilbert Blythe.  I think I may have fallen, ever so slightly, in love with Gil...

This lovely rainbow of books is published by Penguin.

lingering...

over summer.

Pineapple picked fresh from Dad's garden.  The scent, the taste...so juicy and sweet.  Perhaps the most delicious pineapples I've ever eaten were in Brunei...we had them so often.  They were almost an everyday staple...and they were divine beyond words.  It's like a mango...you've got to chase the juice down your arms - it's the best way to enjoy these tropical fruits.  Dad, this was a good as those Brunei ones!  

bright & blue

a blue sky and marigolds