A Bunch of Garden Flowers

A delight all my life has been to pick and enjoy a bunch of garden flowers, initially from my mother's and later my own. Flowers lift my spirits like nothing else, well, I suppose that music and chocolate are both way up there too!
The colours and shapes and perfumes of a hand picked bunch of flowers is something to behold, and I delight in giving them to friends at every opportunity.

Many years ago I knew a New Zealand lady who had spent sometime in Switzerland and while there had learned about the healing properties of herbs. She was a midwife and during the time I knew her I witnessed her pick several bunches from her garden with maybe only one or two flowers amongst the herbs, to present to her newly delivered mums. Her garden appeared to be a jumble of camellia bushes, fennel, lavender and an assortment of other overgrown herbs. One might think not much to look at, but the herbs picked together in a bunch with one or two blooms, was just beautiful. I learned from her that a bunch of assorted greenery can have its own beauty and have endeavoured to ensure that "pickable" foliage is planted in our gardens. I am encouraged to follow her example when there is little in bloom in my garden to pick and give away.
I picked a bunch this morning and put it in a crystal vase that I picked up from a one of my 'treasure" shops - lovely,

It is proving a real lift to me as the sunshine has been replaced with clouds and squally showers.

My Fantasy World

My Fantasy World

I sit in my room at the top of the stairs,

Surrounded by clutter, cloth dolls and old bears.

My fantasy world holds attraction for me

As the real world is not how I'd like it to be.

My treasure and trinkets all cause me to smile

Each time that I come up here and sit for a while.

Old memories return of good times that I've had,

 Some make me feel hapy. some make me feel sad.

I'm reminded of childhood, by old buttons and bears,

A time when I wasn't weighed down with great cares,

But free to enjoy all that life had to bring,

New friendships and stories and new songs to sing.

The future was far off; each day was a game,

With so much to enjoy, no two days were the same.

Secure in a family, who loved me I know.

So few of them left now, as older I grow.

So I use all my treasures to enhance my days,

To bring smiles to others in all sorts of ways,

Turning trash into treasure, seeking beauty to share,

Whether dolly or doily or button or bear.

While the real world is troubled and so full of cares -

I escape to my room at the top of the stairs.

Copyright

Storm Clouds

Here are a couple of shots of the sky this afternoon. The palm trees are fast becoming the most photographed specimens on the Gold Coast! Can you see the lovely patterns made by the individual 'leaves', outlined against the sky and also the lovely graceful curves of the fronds - I love it!

I walked around to the front of the house and spied these Lorikeets indulging in an early dinner on a date palm. Amazing to me that such brightly coloured birds are so hard to spot amongst foliage!

Keep your eyes open for 'wonders'!
Simply Susan

Boris's Story

Boris was the first of the orphaned bears to come into my life and the inspiration to write stories in rhyme about my adopted family members.  I hope you enjoy it's message.

Love
Simply Susan

BORIS' STORY

Here I sit with a posh satin bow

And only last week I had no place to go.

I'd been stuck in a bin with all sorts of soft toys,

Discarded, rejected by young girls and boys.

My ears were all ragged, I'd been tossed in the pile

My future was bleak, I had no cause to smile.

Then, light shone in my darkness, as drawn from below,

A face smiled toward me and a voice said "Hello,

You need some attention, come here, have a cuddle".

So surprising was this, I was alll of a muddle.

I was plonked on the counter and given away,

I can tell you, my luck really changed on that day.

Taken home in a bag with another great 'find',

Words cannot express what went through my mind.

My ears were removed and refashined for me,

Then I sat in the sunshine and was sprayed with cold tea.

Had stiches to both of my paws and my feet -

My new owner thought this all made me look quite neat.

Now I sit on a shelf watching family pass by,

And I think to myself, Boy, how lucky am I!

I still have a sad face, but now I can see

That my sad face brings lots more nice cuddles to me!

There's a moral to this, and I'll share it with you,

When your life's looking down and your friends are untrue,

When your ears have been chewed off and you can't smile or sing -

Look up! You don't know what a new day will bring!

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Interaction

People fascinate me. I love observing how people react to one another in different circumstances. For instance, a group of individuals who would normally stay quiet left to their own devices, suddenly interact when circumstances change. For example train passengers may sit isolated staring out of the carriage window, reading a book or newspaper; working on a laptop; chatting on their mobile phone or listening to their I Pod; suddenly the train stops for a significant period of time and slowly they start interacting with questions, What's going on? why are we waiting, etc etc. Passengers may identify with an unusual accent and start a conversation about travel.
Customers queuing at a supermarket checkout may start to interact when things don't go the way they planned, for example the person at the head of the queue can't find their money or credit card; or an item needs a price check; and everyone is kept waiting, the comments start and the individuals are united in frustration.
We unite in common interest it seems, most of us anyway.

On Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I hosted a craft afternoon tea. We were blessed by the attendance of fourteen guests. Several of them knew no one bar the hostess and some only knew one or two other guests. We united with a common purpose to learn how to make fabric flowers and to enjoy a my daughters baking with a cup of tea.
Initially there was the usual discomfort of being amongst a group of strangers, but a tricky icebreaker soon had us all chatting, laughing and encouraging each other in our endeavour of getting to learn and remember one another's names. The camaraderie continued as each person put their personal interpretation into their flowers,and indulged in afternoon tea.
It was a great success, a beautiful afternoon, I was interested to see how many of our guests arrived arrived as a stranger and left having identified with and enjoyed being a part of a new common interest group, with a posy of flowers to remember it by.
Who will you interact with today?
TTFN
Simply Susan

A New Love

Having lived in England and New Zealand for a significant part of my life, I have a deep love and appreciation of deciduous trees. Trees that display the changing seasons, the beautiful lime green of spring growth; the shady canopies provided in the summer followed by glorious autumn colours and finally the skeleton outlines of the branches visible only during winter.
I missed them when we came to live in Queensland. But in the last couple of years I have become aware of a new love in my life and that is palm trees. Our house is surrounded by many different varieties and I am enjoying them enormously. We have a predominance of Golden Canes along our back fence with Bangalow palms dispersed among them.

The leaves begin as long pointed spikes, they point up straight like unsheathed swords and gradually open to reveal the new fronds. They arch beautifully and sway gracefully; they shine in the sunlight and make a slapping sound when blown by the wind. I love the angles that the individual sections of the frond form with the central stem and when viewed straight on the deep "V" shape formed by the central fold. Such acute angles from such a curvy frond. The shadows they cast in the garden are a delight to me to watch when a breeze sets them dancing

And there's more...the Bangalow palms produce long seed pods that hug the trunk and become visible only when a dead frond breaks away. These pods open to reveal a tangled white root like growth that becomes covered with hundreds of tiny cream flowers, a real treat for local bees. Then come the seeds, clusters of small, hard orangey red berries, that remind me of Jaffas, and Oh boy, do the birds love them! I love watching them scramble to peck them and hold them in their beaks before tossing them down their throat. They balance on the back fence and nearby branches eagerly awaiting their opportunity like shoppers at a Myers Boxing Day Sale.

The more I look at palm trees the more I love them, they have truly found their way into my affections. I have included some snaps so you can get the idea. Have a good look next time you see one.
Enjoy
Simply Susan

Count Your Blessings

The psalmist says in Psalm 19 verse 1, "The heavens declare the glory of God".
What does that conjure up in your mind?
I have always imagined the night sky when I've read those words,the moon and the stars - God's amazing "extreme bling". This week has seen me pondering a lot about the daytime as well. Some of the cloud formations on display these last few days have been absolutely beautiful.
Who needs an art gallery when all we have to do is look up?
I bounced out of bed this morning and peeped out from the curtains and what I saw caused me to dash for my camera and rush outside. (I did momentarily wonder what the neighbours would make of my pink floral jammies, should they see me in the garden). I post here for your enjoyment snatches of what I saw. As the minutes passed the sky changed from silvery blue to a deeper shade and the clouds became more blousy. Just gorgeous!
On arrival at work a this morning a colleague told me about an inclusion in the weekend Courier Mail. It told of someone who was facing depression and was encouraged to find and document one thing each day for a year to be grateful for, apparently the story became "viral" ,as my colleague described it, and many people are now doing similarly. My colleague was deeply affected by some of the examples of gratitude that she read. This reminds me of the story of Pollyanna who played the 'glad game' when and wherever she could, and in so doing turned around may of the peoples lives that she encountered. To put it another way Count Your Blessings!
I thought of the beautiful sky that I had enjoyed an hour before and I smiled.

Let me encourage you to start counting your blessings and see how many you can list and how that then changes your outlook.

Happy counting!
Love
Simply Susan