1000 Fields of Roses

There’s always time for tea!

Here we are – coming up to the end of the first week of 2024.
If the week between Christmas and New Year feels like all the engines are off, the first week of January can feel like the gears are just cranking up, broadcasting complaints, and getting ready to launch creakily into the unknown.
Not quite nothing happening.
Just not quite sure what’s happening!

I’ve taken down the Christmas decorations, and started a bit of a plan around drawing and writing throughout the year. Nothing spectacular, but probably more sustainable than a big New Year resolution 🙂 .
I wasn’t too well at the beginning of the week, but getting better now. It helped me see how easy it is to be recuperating in this house – comfortable, able to stay cool fairly easily, and all the essential living areas are on one level and easy to get to.
I’ve still managed to do washing and dishes. You don’t realise how lovely it is to be able to get things clean until you have random times in your life when you can’t manage cleaning…
The roses are still taking their place inside, joined now by geraniums.

With a bonus dragonfly!

The space left after packing away Christmas decorations seemed just right to hold my collection of teapots, cups and plates. They’ll probably need a wash before I use them – not sure what will happen with the dust. Nice teasets need to be seen, though 🙂 .

Who knows what’s ahead as we swing into 2024?
At least we can remember to stop sometimes for a cup of tea.
❤

It’s hard to believe that it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow.
It’s just as hard to believe that Christmas Day was less than a week ago!

We’ve had the lights on a few times this week.

Reindeer flying around the world!

This Christmas we decided to hold back on the cakes and bikkies. I still had some chocolates, but I think my favourite indulgence was a bag of cherries. Some meals this week have just consisted of a bowl of cherries, with a bit of cream. Yum!
It was cheaper to get the chocolates than the cherries, though…

I’ve been out and about for a couple of weeks – getting to church a few weeks running, going to the Rocklea Markets, even visiting friends or having friends over 🙂

The view from the car window on the way home from our friends’ place.
It’s not often these days that I see the sunset from outside the house!
Unfortunately, this gadding about has come with a bit of a crash…I’ve had a cough thingy the last few days, so haven’t been up to much. Caught up on the washing, though, on the first hot sunny day this week. Otherwise – books and YouTube 😀

There have been storms here, although we haven’t had the damage that other places have had. Some spectacular lightning out the back…

…which is pretty hard to capture on the phone.

My roses are still blooming, although the storms have beaten them about a bit. I’ve left them on the bushes up until now, but decided to enjoy them more inside and save them from the weather.

I’ve even got some yellow roses growing.

I have to keep culling them, as they get older and petals start falling off.
Today I have a good mixture of the old and the new.

A bit like the years, really.

Yes, it’s another rose centred post!
😆

Hello! 😀

I’ve been leaving the roses on the bush, and just letting the petals drift away when they want to.
Today we were cleaning for an inspection tomorrow, so I decided to pick some and brighten up our lounge room.

I’m so glad we have roses that are beautiful and smell sweet.
The sunshine has been pouring through the windows, sweeping dinginess before it. We’ve even been able to open the windows without fear of rain, so the perfumes of the various flowers in our garden can mingle with the scent of grass being mown by neighbours.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here just over three months now. It seems longer than that!
We’ll get through the inspection tomorrow, then – onward to Christmas…the tree will go up and I’ll see how the decorations look in our home.
❤

I had high hopes for a cooling storm at the end of last week. The forecast had been for rain, with a bit of a temperature drop.
Unfortunately, that forecast kept changing every time I looked, even though the sky was trying to tell a different story!

This was the sky last Friday, at 2.30 in the afternoon.
Yes – that is the sun trying to break through.

The weather kept holding out the promise of change, only to snatch back the hope at the last minute…
It was cool enough for me to sit for a bit in my sunroom, browsing through my art/creating books.

We’ve all been getting over a virus, so I still needed the fan on. And some music, of course.

So – here we are in the new week. The longed-for rain and cool weather has arrived 😀
I have, quite literally, been chilling today.
It’s been too wet to go outside much, but I did go to check out my roses. From a straggly, thorny, too large bush without leaves, it’s suddenly become a showcase of pink loveliness.

Still thorny, though.
There are roses in various stages of life. I was happy with the two or three I’ve had so far, but there seems to have been an explosion of buds just in the last few days.

Should I leave them to grace the garden, or cut them to bring inside?
While I get around to deciding, I can enjoy my cold(ish) toes, and my new French Earl Grey tea. It’s a combination of vanilla, rose, lavender, and the bergamot of ordinary Earl Grey.
A bit like sipping an indoor garden!
❤