A Fanciful Twist

Of Petals and Golden Hour...

Why hello there my lovely friends!

I bet you thought I really fell through a vortex somewhere?

Never in 12 years have I ever stayed away for so long.

Alas, I just found myself beyond busy - deciding what to take to the villa and what to leave at the country house.

I'll be living both places as intended from beginning, which is why they are close to each other.

Then there was painting and furnishing and moving things around and going on endless antiquing excursions.

(with a million other house things, planting roses and transplanting plants and pool stuff and well, a lot to do)

And so I wasn't in the space of calm, where you sit and edit pics all day and then write up your tale on the bloglette.

So I decided to focus on what I could, and now finally the dust is settling a bit.

And what a perfect time, right in the thick of spring with summer looming.

The country house is all a flutter, with wisteria and endless climbing roses truly gobbling up my little buildings in the garden.

I chase golden hour around daily, I can't wait for that magic glow to turn up.

So dreamy!

It's such a magical time, when plants start to fill out and get so green.

I lose myself in this time of the year.

It's busy being a garden keeper, and now with two gardens.

But I could never complain, I just love growing things.

It fuels my soul and being.

My little guy Matty (aka Matisse) has been doing the funniest thing.

He now stands around head tilted up, eyes in nap mode.

It's a sort of bliss I think, because he does it in the car too.

Just tilts his head to the sun, closes his eyes and relaxes.

It's really so cute.

He's tiptoeing through the petals as you can see.

And boy are there ever endless petals.

The climbing roses where simply astounding this year.

A building covered in roses is more than my heart can bear, really.

Sigh.

And then the blue skies, and wisteria interweaving itself with roses.

How much can I handle really???!

It's just too good.

Thank you thank you mother nature.

I just roam around enjoying every single little morsel.

Eating the sweetest oranges and talking to the bees.

Oh beautiful days, I love you so.

I'm sure all of you out there are having a lovely spring too.

Isn't it just such a treat?

I'm sorry I worried so many, I got emails wondering where the heck I was.

I know Instagram is not like blogging but it's all I can do sometimes to stay afloat.

I can't wait to tell you tales about the villa here.

This big ole unusual place, with so many nooks and crannies to fill.

Somehow I am not certain if all of this is happening.

It's like, so much to ingest that it feels surreal.

But it's sooooo much fun.

You all know how much I adore treasure hunting.

But it's also kind of strange because I've had these dreams throughout my life about this curious big ole place with tall ceilings and dark floors. And I've been collecting treasures for over 20 years for the place in my mind. And then one day it was just there, isn't that odd? This often happens in my life, this puzzle of my journey snaps together and makes sense.  It's just all very strange (in the best way), that throughout my life I dream of places or happenings and then it turns out to be some wonderfully bizarre sort of reality.

I even dream of people and they appear in my life.

What's that about?  Has that happened to you too?

I can't wait to share so much more, and I'm sorry it's been crickets here but wow, the amount of things and change and craziness and busyness I've been up to would make your head spin. It's all wonderful and good and I'm gathering stories to share with you regularly.

And if you miss me you can always come to Instagram, it's better than nothing right? :-)

Do people really still read blogs?  I am not sure, but if you're up for stopping in I'll plunge back into typing my nonsense.

Is that a deal?

Well, I must go water after a very hot day in the country.

 

Lots of love!

 

xoxo

 

See ya soon, 

 

Vanessa

 

 

 

 

Christmas Magic ♥

Hello my lovely friends!

It's been all a flutter around these parts, oh me oh my!

And here we are, in the depths of Christmas Magic.

Baking and gift collecting a plenty.

The weather shifted a bit to cool and clouds.

The sky was unreal this evening.

It was pink and golden and lavender with pink clouds.

Like a fairytale dream.

We've had rain and I've even worn my fluffy faux fur, too fun!

We had still been in summer up to about 2 weeks ago.

Crazy place.

But now...

The moody weather sent me off with my bits and bobs into my country house gardens...

In search of some kind of enchantment.

I did find a slice of it and came in to share and wish you the most loveliest of holiday seasons.

Perfect time for carols on tattered piano keys.

Tiny piano treasure, I'm so in love.

Found it buried in an antique store a month ago, it's just so special.

It has tales it wants to whisper to me.

I beckon it, come on, please tell.

Time for red ribbons and wreath making in the garden.

As many of you know (from IG) I've been missing because of an Italian villa that found its way into my life.

It happens to be just handful of minutes down the road from the country house.

I will enjoy both places and swirl with the flutter of life happenings that have ventured my way.

For now I am swimming in what feels like a full ball gown, in a sea of Christmas tidings.

How bout yourself?

Sooooo much going on.

But I am reminding myself to not get into a dizzying tornado of holiday madness, and to just enjoy the season.

My dear friend of many years came over and did my hair.

Then we made baklava, my yearly thing.

I made her a huge tray to take home.

We ate sushi and salads and talked about life.

There were laughs and tears and memories and hopes and dreams.

Friends are so good.

We should always keep looking forward to goodness.

Hoping for wonderful things.

Believing that something wonderful is just about to happen.

And, it will.

Just wait and see.

Maybe it's happening now?

 

So many beyond warm Christmas wishes to you and yours!!

 

Lots of love, 

Vanessa

 

 

 

 

 

I'm reading Little Women again, a little every night.

Oh how I love those girls.

I will hold onto the March girl in me forever more.

No matter what.

How about you?

xoxo

 

 

 

ps:  For some reason my photos are downgraded when I upload them into my Typepad account. If you click on them you can see the original clear image.  Not sure what that's about <3

Hello October♥

It's here!

The magical month of auburn light and cooler nights.

Herbs and petals come back to life.

And so I happily gather.

The beautiful scent of English lavender, basil and rosemary swirled together is just too good.

The Hatter left us some warty pumpkins, just perfect for today.

A celebration of seasons and colors explodes.

Oh how I love you October.

Perfect time to make another huge batch of pesto.

I make a sweet lemon pesto, without cheese or garlic.

It's divine.

I'll have to share my recipe some time.

But for now it's just a quick hello.

To say yippeee and hoooooray!

Our favorite month is here.

Wait, is it your favorite month as well?

It's one of mine for certain.

You might have already guessed that.

Thank you garden for all the beautiful flowers.

I just looove these days.

They seem to flow so quickly, so I want to immerse in every second of the day.

The zinnias and cosmos are ever so tall.

Swaying happily in the early autumn breeze.

Warm days and cool nights.

Sleeping with windows open and needing a thicker quilt at 3 a.m.

Bliss I tell ya, bliss.

To turn the sound of the air conditioner off makes me so overjoyed.

Happy October my friends.

I think we will have a Halloween party this year.

It would be our 10th annual.

I will let you know very soon.

Enjoy these beautiful days!

 

Love, V

 

 

 

ps:  I joined in #Mabsdrawlloweenclub on Instagram, so hopefully I'll be sharing silly little drawings every day this month over there.

Instagram.com/afancifultwist

  

Welcome Autumn

It's official, we are all blooming again here in the desert.

Our wilted little souls bursting forth again with vigor.

The seasons are changing and the incredible heat that kept us locked inside for months is leaving us.

I slept with my window open last night, heaven.

Yipeeeeee!

It's been a week of great weather and just like that, the insects are coming out and the flowers are blooming again.

This morning I ran through my garden path and I had this overwhelming wonderful feeling of being alive again. This summer was just brutal and the shift in weather almost makes you want to drop to your knees and kiss the ground, I tell ya.

I know it's impossible to comprehend for people who live in cold places.

I get it, the cold makes you long for heat.

But heat so hot you can not go outside during the day is just crazy.

And so, that's probably why so many of you say you love me the best in autumn.

Because I burst forth with so much excitement.

Freeeedom!

The basil is covered in bees so I've let it flower.

No more pruning.

I think to myself, their honey must be amazing.

I'm going through the most interesting shift right now.

About 4 years ago I started this journey, this adventure.

People were coming back into my life.

My life was begging me for some attention.

Go out and play, leave your hidden nook!

Even the hatter said, get out of the nest, gooooo!

Certain people saying, please Vanessa, come out of the hills.

Let's have tea.

Let's chat.

I've given my personal life almost 3 years of gobs and gobs and gobs of attention.

Instead of being my little hermit self.

It's been amazing.

Huge and crazy things have happened, even I can't believe it.

And now, with the changing seasons, I feel another change in me.

Puzzle pieces clicking together.

Like, everything is making sense.

Why things happen as they do.

I've noticed that a lot throughout my life.

Challenges turn into lessons.

Doors open, interesting things happen.

The last 2.5 years have had soooo many unexpected happenings.

I can hardly believe it myself, curious little life.

All good stuff, mixed with so much learning - some tough, some easy.

Some magical.

But now, just like spring flowers swirling with autumn air in unison...

My two worlds are swirling.

Like paint in a can, making new colors.

I never ever ever planned for my journey to unfold in the ways it has.

But I guess life happens when you are not looking or planning.

Just minding your business and bam.

And just like that, things make sense.

Why you had this challenge or that.

And, the lessons and gifts are there for the taking, if you are open.

I for one am open to anything

How about you?

Country girl and city girl have never gotten along so well in my world.

I'm settling back into a new normal.

I needed a big break from everything.

I had not had a vacation in almost a decade.

Just hunkered down, doing my work, planting gardens for years.

Hey look at that, he's after a tiny spider.

Eeek!

It's kind of like the basil honey the bees are making.

You never thought about it, and somehow it's amazing.

It all makes sense and works perfectly together.

And when bad things happen, they make the good that much better.

And when good things happen, you are so grateful.

You even appreciate the country more when you change the scenery every now and then.

I guess it's all about finding a balance.

I think about this on my autumnal garden path this morning.

Furs running around.

All of us overjoyed and happy with the cool fresh air.

It clears the mind I suppose.

If you do too much of one thing, at some point you will need something else.

You can't eat peach cobbler every day.

Eventually you'll want cherry or blueberry.

And then one day you'll wake up and be like, I need an everything bagel now!!

Our needs can be so extreme.

So maybe, don't have the same thing every day :-)

Today, try something different.

Who knows, you might like it.

There will always be cobbler, it ain't going anywhere.

 

Happy Autumn!!!

 

Let the magic unfold!!

 

Love, Vanessa