A Fanciful Twist

Tea Set, Tea Party, Giveaway!

Extra fun things are happening in my tea room.

My friend Jennifer Hayslip and I decided to put together a wonderful giveaway including an entire 11 piece tea set, your choice of blue or aqua. A Laduree tea book, Nina's Paris tea, sugar cube prongs and the sugar cubes too!

Pop in to my Instagram account to join in.

Click here to enter.

Her and I both have this tea set and love it, so we decided what better gift than to give one away?

Add a little fun to an everyday.

The tea set is actually 15 pieces including the tea cup saucers.

The Laduree book is incredible and the tea smells unreal!

A fun little pick me up, right?

What could be more fun that having a tea party delivered right to your door?

I have the set in aqua and Jennifer has it in blue so we decided to let the winner pick their choice of color.

Tea time is such a wonderful daily joy.

Or coffee time if you prefer, as it can be used for either really.

Plop!

Plunk!

Splash!

Now that's how you make a perfect cup of tea.

I think the splashing makes it even better.

I hope you pop on over and enter.

We'd love to have you <3

Happy tea times to you!

And I'll leave you with one question.

What is your favorite tea flavor?

If you were to curl up with a book and a cup of tea right now...

Which ones would they be?

 

Make sure to pop on over to IG if you want to join in.

Enter here.

 

I'll see you all very soon with tales to tell.

 

Love, Vanessa

 

 

 

 

 

Tales of Everyday Magic...

Could it be that a day like laundry day could set off twinkling stars of inspiration?

A basket of delights, tattered frocks for the line....

Zinnias along the way, and a tiny circus suitcase filled with all manner trinketry.

Antique china dolls that have voyaged on ships through time, fast forward to today's citrus grove.

Loved times and years before by a girl, and now again by another girl.

A few tattered roses in the summer's heat and some clothespins do juxtapose.

And so we follow the stone garden stairs...

Guided by stars...

Fueled merely by one thing, and one thing alone...

Can you guess what that might be?

Through the secret garden gate...

Come with me and I shall tell you what could fuel such an adventure.

What could turn an extra ordinary day into and extraordinary day?

And where might one find such kind of magic?

I shall tell you if you have not guessed it yet.

It is the certain kind of magic that can only come from one place...

And that is from within.

Within you, within me.

The magic is inside you.

It can not be given from anyone to you.

It can not be purchased or manufactured.

You can search for it under this or inside of that.

But it's already there, right in your heart and mind.

In your imagination.

The magic is within you.

There is no simpler way to put it.

I have gone on many journeys, I have searched all over for such answers.

And time and time again, it is proven to me that the magic is always and forever, within you.

Perhaps sometimes it takes a little nap.

It gets shoved in the wardrobe for a later date.

Or perhaps, it's at the bottom of the laundry basket.

Just sitting there.

Waiting for you.

Ever so patiently.

It is there, burning bright.

It might seem from time to time that certain events or happenings, maybe even people, ignite it for you.

They might add a spark, but you are the only one who can ignite it.

That powerful inner flame.

And so, because of that no one can ever take it away from you.

It's there, waiting for you any time.

Even on laundry day.

Under the citrus trees...

Through the dappled sunlight...

In the smile of your dog.

In the breeze of the pinkest petals.

It may be everywhere...

But it always emanates from within.

It's only the kind of magic you can conjure so purely.

It is unique and wonderful...

Just like you.

My dear pumpkin loving, garden dreaming, star wishing, curious collector of wishes and hopes.

Forever young in your soul.

Hopeful for today and tomorrow.

Cloud gazer.

Pie baker.

Flower lover.

Sensitive, introspective.

Wonderful.

You.

Keeper of all manner of magic.

Your magic.

Forever and ever.

 

Let's not ever forget it.

Pinky promise?

 

xoxoxo

 

Love, V

 

PS:

I have been listening to one of my favorites, The Secret Life of Daydreams by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, whilst writing this.

 

 

 

Summer Tea Party...

A girl and her dog woke up in need of an adventure...

They packed a basket and headed out to the east.

(east side of our property these days, but we've got to pretend right?)

They actually had been planning this picnic amongst the beautiful purple blossoms gracing the area for days.

As the blossoms dropped they knew it was time to get out there soon.

And so today was the day.

A teacup and some treats, some plates and napkins...

And off they went.

On a mini adventure, to dream.

Now, we must add that creating beauty isn't always easy, but it's well worth it.

It takes a little work and perseverance, but the reward is wonderful.

And we would not have wanted to miss the blooming Texas ranger for anything.

A perfectly delightful day, hot but nice too -

Under the huge canopy of the Chilean mesquite tree.

A good reason to pack up some pretties...

Enjoy the season...

Hob knob with the hobnail...

Take tea with the Dresdens...

Be with my beau...

And a couple bees for good measure.

Down our twisty little path, outside the secret garden gate.

With bird song to delight us.

A lovely little day.

A tea party for no reason at all.

Which I must admit, we left up to go out and enjoy in the evening as well.

Last night we had a power outage for a few hours, it was fun to light candles and read poems under the flickering light.

I put batteries in my transistor radio and listened to songs whilst laying on the cool floor with my fur boys.

August always zooms by doesn't it?

And it feels like holidays fill the air starting in September.

So, it's time to really hug summer - even though it often lasts here until November.

And so, we live each day in the moment the best that we can, finding fun things to do and enjoy.

I have some garden things to put together this evening and I may collect some tomatoes as well.

Actually, I'll wait until early morning for that, best time to collect edibles and flowers is early.

How are you in your neck of the woods?

It is hot hot hot here.

The rain teases but does not come.

A second year of very little monsoon rain.

I think it has only rained twice all summer.

And yet, the desert greens up with just a tinge of water, like magic.

What a place, to need so little to transform.

I have some parcels I am eager to open.

I extra love parcels these days, don't you?

The boys are eager to go outside so I best be off.

But I'd love to hear how you are.

 

Love, 

Vanessa

 

ps:

 

Today I listened to lots of songs whilst working on this post -

But I'll leave you with one of them...

Edward Scissorhands main theme by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

 

 

 

Of Zinnia Summer & Queen Red Lime

I'm not certain that summer would feel like summer without zinnias.

Resilient in the sun, layers of sturdy petals...

Gifting endless blossoms as long as you prune.

Same for basil and other annuals.

They believe their only purpose is to produce seeds.

So, as long as you keep pruning and not letting them go to seed they will keep gifting.

But if you do not prune they will go to seed and the plant's life purpose will be complete.

So, prune prune prune.

The remarkable thing is that all my zinnias self seeded this year.

In late autumn I leave a few zinnias there to just dry and drop onto the garden floor.

And I was lucky enough that the birds did not gobble the seeds.

And so last year's Queen Red Lime zinnias have returned.

Along with other giant volunteer zinnias here and there, including in the pumpkin patch.

I'm certain that zinnia seeds were in the little tree's planter that I transplanted out back -

Because when I planted pumpkin seeds and watered these giant raspberry zinnias grew with huge curly leaves.

Absolutely remarkable.

When I am tending garden I notice little garden findings that I know I simply must have.

Like twisted roots and stems.

To me summer is zinnias and basil.

The epitome of the season.

The bees and hummingbirds looooove zinnias.

Unfortunately, the yellow belly finches do as well, and so they eat leaves and rip off petals all day.

Ah well, it's okay for the cute little birds.

In the basket below you see oodles of Queen limes and beneath that are the giant cherry zinnia volunteers I just spoke about from my pumpkin patch.

You can see how huge they are comparatively.

I just love Queen Red Limes.

They are peachy and pinky with neon green centers.

Sometimes the lower petals turn lime green too, hence the name.

Since they self seeded they turned up extra early and now are towering, chock full of flowers.

Every gardeners dream I'm sure...

To have gobs of self seeded flowers.

I don't think I have been without zinnias in the garden for over a decade.

They last forever out in the heat, it's just amazing really.

So many colors and shape.

There are California giants, lilliputs, cactus style - just to name a few.

But I have to say that these Queen Red Limes really remind me of why I thought that the bottoms of pine cones looked exactly like zinnias.

Do you recall that tutorial here?

I've never have hundreds of thousands of people love something I did as much as the pine cone zinnias.

I can't believe how popular that was.

Every time I go onto Pinterest I see my pinecone zinnias over and over.

Once I was in an antique shop and a whole booth was dedicated to pinecone zinnias, and they had a little print out on the wall that showed my blog post.

I was floored!

I guess we all love a zinnia that will never perish.

But for now we have the zinnias of summer bobbing in the hot breeze.

I adore collecting all manner of specimens.

I love the rose hip.

Just the texture and colors of things you can find is magical.

Pruning zinnias all day long, to allow for the fresh ones to have space and keep blooming,

I'm not quite certain how it is August 1st already.

Really truly the time is just flying by.

Pumpkins, zinnias, basil.

The Queen Limes are extra vintagey, aren't they?

I sit under the citrus trees and marvel at all the growing things.

The moon is big and bright tonight.

I eat basil and tomatoes right in the garden.

I pick my zinnias in my little basket and run inside when it gets too hot.

I will collect my seeds for next year from the older zinnias that have developed some seeds.

The life of a gardener, always plotting and planning with hope for the next season.

I prune my roses a little in late August for the spring like wave of flowers that turn up in all their glory in October and November.

I have a bunch of fall vegetable seeds planted.

I got stung by a fire ant the other day, which I never had been.

I get little ant bites every day, but never a fire ant.

It was worse than my 3 or 4 scorpion stings by far.

It hurt for about 9 - 10 hours relentlessly, then let up.

I was screaming and jumping around - the pain was absolutely shocking.

And I have a pretty good tolerance for pain and discomfort.

Luckily I had no allergic reaction and it was just another gardening experience for the books.

It got me twice on a toe :-)

But all is well now, and I'm still wearing open toe shoes in the garden.

I know, bravery for sure.

The moon has a golden haze all around it through my window, so beautiful.

I look forward to the monsoon rains that turn up in August.

It is so very green out in the gardens, all manner of little tree volunteers I've been nurturing are now taller than me.

Amazing what summer brings.

For some reason several roses nearly died in the little corridor going to my studio, so I dug them up, added rooting hormone and put them in pots for now and they all had new leaves and shoots this morning after about a month and a half.

I think there must have been bugs or something there, or perhaps not enough sunlight due to the expanded canopy of the Chilean mesquite tree.

They were doing great and from one day to the next started to shrivel, which really makes me think it was a bug.

I had never seen rose bushes do that but I am delighted that they are coming back.

The chattering of a mad gardener, I tell ya.

I hope you are doing well in your neck of the woods.

We are just fine here, staying busy.

There are baby doves in the garden and I love watching mom and dad take such good care of them.

It has been outrageously hot, the dogs just run out and come right back in.

I fear they've had such a lux summer sleeping on cold floors that they've become a bit heat snobby.

But, that's okay.

Dogs are to be spoiled, that's my motto anyways.

Well, I best be off.

Early gardening ahead of me <3

 

Are you a zinnia lover?

I wonder if anyone has ever been named Zinnia, wouldn't that be just wonderful?

 

Love, Vanessa

 

 

ps:  I used to share music with you that I listen to whilst writing each blog post, so I shall attempt to remember to do that in the ps section.

I tried to get here days ago, but blog writing can take a while with the photo editing and then my programs kept crashing, so happy to have finally made it here <3

 

I listened to ones of my favorite songs by Janapriyan Levine (Suspended) while writing this post.

I love taking baths, meditating, stretching, writing and relaxing to this song all the time.

 

 

pps:

Up in the left hand sidebar (third item down) is a new section called "Spotlight Posts."

Every so often the posts will change, but it's a section with other posts that you might enjoy in between my regular postings <3

Just a fun little addition.