1000 Fields of Roses

Easy, Rainy, Day

It’s been lovely and grey today.
Cool, comfortable, and dreamy.
The rain didn’t seem to be sure of what it was supposed to do – bucket down, or just drizzle…
still, a day to wander down the years, and dream into the future.

Have a bit of a sit down, and rest 🙂

Here’s another one.

I’ll be honest – this probably won’t make my playlist.
I just felt like I’d tumbled back a few decades while listening to it…
for those of us getting on a bit – maybe like a bit of a shrug and a smirk to the 70s.
Which is when I think I first heard Suzi Quatro 😀

Don’t know if I’d look good on the dance floor.
Would be fun, though.

Published in:

on February 27, 2026 at 10:25 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Suzi Quatro, We The Kingdom

Taking In The Terpenes

…in other words – the vast array of compounds found in plants and flowers, some of which are the primary constituents of essential oils.

I have been reading about the effect of nature on our health, mood and longevity.
That also relates to the colour and form of plants, as well as natural landscapes.
We all live in some sort of environment. Maybe if we take a “sense walk” we might be able to work out how to add some nature to our urbanisation 🙂

I don’t have much of a garden.
Just stepping outside seems to be a start, though.

Here’s a tiny little spider who might agree.

I don’t think it’s there for the aromatherapy.

I planted out the sage – it’s taken ages to put out one root, so I’ll see how it likes a potted existence.

It’s surrounded by three of the rosemary sprigs I planted around Christmas. Those ones have grown to about three times the size they were. There was another one that suddenly dried up and died. I have no idea why – it got the same water as the others, and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the roots when I pulled them up to check.
Oh well.
Three out of four ain’t bad!

I also picked up a leaf the other day.
Pretty sure it wouldn’t be part of the nature/turpene etc. study, as it was dead.
Still beautiful.

I don’t know why some things call to me, and others don’t.
There were other leaves on the ground, but this was the right one for me.

Here’s the other side.

You can also see most of the ingredients of our washing powder…

I’ve started looking at perfume oils, and have found some I like.
Roses are good!
And my peppermint tea shows promise.
Time to get back to (more) nature!
❤

Published in:

on February 24, 2026 at 10:52 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Good Nature - Kathy Willis

Colour Matching And Global Musing

Sometimes I find that I have matched my food to my clothing.

Although, looking at it again – it’s not an exact match.
More like picking out the “brights” in my oatmeal…

I have had a bit of a cough lately.
This is partly annoying me because I am making an effort to eat better (hence the oats and berries 🙂 )
Coincidentally, I have also been reading this book.

😆

It’s an interesting and confronting read.
Far from being a long-ago illness of fainting poets and drooping Victorian ladies, tuberculosis is still taking many lives – over 1.2 million last year alone.
John Green discusses the “beautiful disease” trope, as well as the historic and geopolitical effects on tuberculosis incidence globally. He weaves the story of a young man he met through the book, illustrating the personal challenges and tragedies of contracting tuberculosis. That man (Henry Reider) was able to access treatment, and now uses his YouTube channel to help his community with health and other issues.
We spent a (very) short amount of time, 30 years ago, in a community that was (and is) rife with tuberculosis.
It’s not pretty.
I appreciated being reminded that the world is bigger than my four walls, and that I am called to look at it and see what my role is there…
Have a read. I found this copy at my local library – always worth a visit 🙂

…and here is a song for the weekend ❤

Published in:

on February 21, 2026 at 11:43 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Franni Cash, Henry Reider, John Green

A Muted Week

It’s been pretty quiet here, with flashes of “doing” – appointments, housework…
We did manage to go out for coffee, and share some cheesecake.

White chocolate mocha?
It was nice 🙂

I bought a car.

😀
That’s about the size and price I can handle…
It had a conversation with my clock snail, and now lives in the art room.

The week is nearly over (again).
Some things I have done well.
Others, maybe not so much.
Hoping for a good sleep tonight.

And – remember!

❤

Published in:

on February 19, 2026 at 11:31 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: rafter and rose

Thundering Through The Raindrops

I am thoroughly enjoying the drop in temperature.
Almost wintry!
Yesterday I took the bus into town, wandered about, and came home again on the bus.
It’s the first time I’ve done the whole trip since we’ve been here, although I’ve caught the bus home a few times. Not enough rain to get drenched while I was at the (ingoing) bus stop, but needed the umbrella.
I was reflecting, while gazing through the rain on the bus window, on what someone recently said to me – that I had a “child-like excitement”. On that occasion, it was referencing my enthusiasm over our street library odyssey last week (books! who wouldn’t be excited?) but I felt it yesterday as well.
It’s all new, and wonderful, if you look at things that way.
I was sifting through past selves, as well as enjoying the moment.
I used to ride the bus to high school, although I don’t have major memories of that. Mostly, my internal movie screen was taking me back to my first journeys in England, when I didn’t quite know where the bus was taking me, but anything was possible. There were bus trips across European cities too, but not as much rain…

So I sat, and smiled, and remembered.
Drifted through the city centre.

The flowers were also reveling in the rain.

Tried out a pink latte, in honour of Valentines Day.

Something to do with white chocolate and strawberry?

Contentment!

Contemplated an interesting question.

And treated myself to a small etching and aquatint snail.

I looked up the artist – she’s based in the U.K. Looks like her work generally goes for a bit more than the $2 I paid!

I got home not long after lunch, hurtling through the rain-swept streets until we reached the bus stop down from my place.

Tired. Hungry. And very happy.
❤

Published in:

on February 14, 2026 at 9:13 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Little Free Libraries, rafter and rose

Firing Up The Year

Yes, I know it’s already February.
I just feel like I’m starting up, in some ways…
I was on the first of the monthly Zoom calls tonight for an online school I’ve been a part of for a few years.
The glass-fronted cabinet is sorted and catalogued (more or less), something I’ve been putting off for a while.
A lot of things feel like they’re crystallising into reality. As opposed to a good thought/just in my head.

Well – I’m off to a good start!
Just have to keep going…

I’m not sure I have a coherent thread for this post to progress into, really, so here’s a Taylor Swift video I just saw.

I think it’s a love song.

Sifting through a variety of boxes and bags from the cabinet has reminded me just how many rocks (and shells) I’ve picked up over the years.
No cactuses, though 🙂

I do have a happy rainbow mushroom (and friends).

A mouse and an axolotl.

And Eeyore looks after my books.

February is over a third of the way through.
I’ve got stuff to be getting on with!

But it’s been a good start.
🙂

Published in:

on February 10, 2026 at 11:51 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Taylor Swift

Books, Birthdays, And Country Drives

I went on a bit of a road trip today, checking out the Little Free Libraries in our local area.
I turned 57 today – an age I can’t quite believe I can apply to myself, but an age I am thankful to have reached.

It’s been a lovely day.
We started at the far end of the route I had decided on, and found ourselves in a kind of fairyland…

The idea of the street libraries is to “take a book – leave a book – share a book”. It’s quite OK to just take a book, but I somehow ended up with a stack of books that I already had, so I left one wherever I took one.
Some places had other things as well.

(this is where fairyland comes in 🙂 )
The trees aren’t free (there’s instructions on payment, by donation, I think) but it is free to talk to them.
They like it.

There are a few places around the area with honey.

Some with eggs, or herbs and other things to pick.

There was a good selection of adult books at most places, and also a good lot of kids’ books.

A cool, sunny day

but I was about ready for a nice, cold drink…

Caramel (LF) milkshake.
Yum!

So, we wended our weary way home, stopping here and there, until we got back and I could rest and relax.
Our household has various dietary differences at the moment, so it didn’t make sense to get a whole cake that I would end up eating, mostly by myself.

My birthday doughnut!
(lemon pavlova flavour)

Happy Birthday to Me!
😀

Published in:

Travel

on February 4, 2026 at 5:30 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: birthday, Little Free Libraries

Breaking Through

There’s a weed by our front door that’s been growing for a little while.

We should probably do something about that before the house inspection next week.

The ground, this world over, has been hard and dry lately.
Most of it is out of my hands, although I can do what I can do, especially on my little patch of earth.
One thing that I feel is important is to keep track of what’s happening around the world. And to pay attention to what is true, rather than be distracted by the racket.
Another thing, for me this year, is to get a bit of order into my surroundings, which is what I’ve been doing today.
Yay!
That way, I’m not menaced by a sea of miscellany, and can use what I have effectively.
Double yay!
😀

It’s been a good day in my world.
The hard, dry soil is still at the door.
But it’s good to know that life still breaks through!

(and just wanted to add another random YouTube suggestion 🙂 )

Published in:

on January 24, 2026 at 10:45 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: NEEDTOBREATHE

Rainy Day In Sunshine

I just finished watching “Amélie“.
I can’t remember the last time I saw it, but it popped into my head, so I thought I’d revisit it.
Lovely!
It feels like a very French film… (it is rated R – there are a few little “adult” scenes).
Dreamlike. Like a puzzle to unwrap.
Lots of subtitles to read – worth it, though.

I thought I was remembering seeing it for the first time in a little cinema in New Farm, in the early 90s. The film was made much later, so that couldn’t have happened. It does feel like one of those films you see in a small darkened cinema, with only a few people dotted about, in the middle of your day off…

Here’s a trailer. The little “CC” button in the bottom right will provide subtitles 🙂

Here’s some music to set the mood.

I could probably stand to listen to more French (film?) music 🙂

I’m glad I took the opportunity to step back in time for a couple of hours.
Felt like I’d been strolling through a gentle, sparkling rain, with a bit of sun peeking through.
Refreshing.
Playful.

I need to remember to take those moments that step into whimsy.
There’s always time to dream!
❤

Published in:

on January 22, 2026 at 8:21 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Amelie, Yann Tiersen