Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate

I've just realised how long it is since I last blogged.  The whole of May has whizzed past in a frenzy of work it seems.  I have had  time to start to learn to crochet however, wanting to find a craft I could do to keep my hands busy as well as something a little more portable than painting or patchwork.

We've both put a lot of effort and energy into our garden lately when the weather has allowed.  On a pleasant sunny day, it is my sanctuary.  One of the things I loved about the garden when we bought the house was the fact that it wasn't just one long space, the people who lived here before us had put effort into adding fences and large shrubs and of course, the gate in the middle of the garden.  There is always a sense of a journey, of a secret garden beyond a gate....

 Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.

J. R. R. Tolkien

I wait for you at the garden gate

Yes I will patiently wait

Among the wild flowers that bloom

So fragrant and so free

They will wait with me

With lots of room

As I watch the path

Time will pass

That leads to my garden gate

My heart knows to wait

This path that meanders on by

Sometimes it seems to touch the sky

I am not all alone you see

My garden keeps me company

As I patiently wait for you

The sky turns azure blue

It reminds me of your true eyes

Holds no secrets, holds no lies

So my anxious heart yearns

Lingering memories that burn

For my true love to come along

He'll bring me flowers and a song

He'll wander thru my garden gate

My heart knows he was worth the wait

The gate is the focus of our garden all the year round, even in the depths of winter when the snow is deep and even.

 

'Show me your garden, and I shall tell you who you are'
Alfred Austin

Time for tea

Sometimes there is nothing else for it but to have a proper pot of tea and a slice of homemade fruit cake of an afternoon.

We bought our Wood's Beryl ware tea service on our honeymoon and it usually sits on our dresser.  Sometimes however a mug of tea isn't right and you need to get out a teapot and  cups and saucers.

Using the teapot is also an excuse for using a tea cosy.  I love this tea cosy, I didn't make it sadly, its a Cath Kidston design from a few years ago.

'Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on.'

Billy Connolly

I also bought some flowers at a market, which looked so beautiful on our dining room table.  I do love cottage garden flowers like delphiniums and stocks.  As I struggle with growing such flowers due to our massive slug and snail population, I try to buy them often during summer.

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the ceremony known as afternoon tea”
  Henry James

If you've read this blog often, you will know that I'm a great fan of Jerome K Jerome and his wise and witty writings.  He has this to say about tea;

'“After a cup of tea (two spoonsful for each cup, and don't let it stand more than three minutes,) it says to the brain, "Now, rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!”
  Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat