Storing summer...

A few weeks ago, after I had played around in the garden with figs and birthday flowers, I brought the fruit and flowers back inside, letting them spread their colourful magic around the house...

The eagle-eyed among you will see that my "planted" red onions (in my moss pots on the lower shelf) have sprouted, but I just think this adds positive growth energy to the room...

Fresh figs are just irresistible to a snap-happy blogger... Oh, I do wish I could paint!

Not much new in this room, but for those of you who may be new readers, this is our open plan kitchen-diner (the cooking area is just to the right, L-shaped behind the pillar - you can see it better here and here), and this is where we soak up the light. Despite facing north-west, the six sky lights and the glass doors allow this room to always be flooded with light.

Here is where we invite nature...

... to join the light...

... and help us store summer in our senses for as long as we possibly can!

I hope your senses are filled with whatever makes them sing!

Helena

Pea love...

Yes, the same thing happened this year as last...

A handful of peas, rejected by the man in the house as being overgrown and too "square"...

...just happened to end up in my craft-eager hands...

... now sending the message of love to the world...!

So, pea LOVE to you all!

Helena

Olive tree overdose...

Well, one thing is for sure...

It would be downright cruel...

...so I have decided not to say anything...

...because I don't think my little olive tree at home... 

...could cope with my telling it about the ones we saw in Crete, without... 

Above and below: Our boys enjoying a Mediterranean sunset.

... developing a serious inferiority complex!

We have just returned from a week of sandy sun-cream and splashy adventures, glorious feta salads and water melons the size of warthogs, generous and welcoming Greeks and tomatoes that need a chapter of their own... Now, how do I find the button that switches "holiday mode" OFF and work mode ON again? Anyone?

I would like to thank you so much for your kind and supportive comments on my last blog post, where I aired some blog existential ponderings. Thank you so much and I shall try to let go a little of the guilt...

Wishing you all a lovely last week of August and hope that 

you have many sweet summer memories to savour when autumn 

stretches its first tentative tentacles towards us all.

Helena

Unshakeable purple...

Dear readers, 

Given how long it has been since my last blog entry...,

... you would think I would have had a chance to...

... if not abandon it completely, then at least...

...take a detour into a different part of the colour palette, but...

...no, I am still here, stuck in what seems like an addictive, or at least...

...irresistibly seductive world of  PURPLE!

Admittedly, my trip to Sweden  - and the half of half price purple tea light holders and lanterns (at Indiska), did contribute somewhat... (Tea light holders on the table for just over £1 each!)

Just as my passion for purple seems here to stay, my love for rust is also still going strong... These lovely - and incredibly heavy - rusty balls were carried back in my suitcase from Sweden, after a moment of instant infatuation at one of lovely Susanne's (Me and Alice) flea markets at her house. Thank you Susanne, I love my rusty new friends!

Thank you for all your kind words on my last blog post. 

With children bouncing around the house in true school holiday spirit, work dead lines tapping my shoulder and summer excursions filling whatever little time there might be left of the day, I continue to be a rather silent blog friend. However, having contemplated giving up blogging altogether (feeling I do not have the time to visit all your lovely blogs and leave comments as I would like, and feeling "rude" and rather stressed about it), I am trying to accept that I cannot do everything I want, and I am trying to let go of the guilt and do what I can, when I can. (Any top tips on how to do that are welcome!)

I wish you lovely and lazy late summer days. 

Soak it all up and store it for the darker, colder months! 

Helena 

Flowers picked on the side of the road, favourite Indian shawl from Tie Rack many years ago, IKEA table spray-painted first in green and then in a rusty brown to look old, cushion with belt inspired also by Susanne (Me and Alice), home-made wreath, rusty "thing" underneath bench is one of two - I think - old sink or wash basin stands, bought at a vintage steam fair flea market last year (still awaiting being made into a "proper" table...).