Written in March

 

 

The cock is crowing,

The stream is flowing,

The small birds twitter,

The lake doth glitter

The green field sleeps in the sun;

The oldest and youngest

Are at work with the strongest;

The cattle are grazing,

Their heads never raising;

There are forty feeding like one!

Like an army defeated

The snow hath retreated,

And now doth fare ill

On the top of the bare hill;

The plowboy is whooping- anon-anon:

There's joy in the mountains;

There's life in the fountains;

Small clouds are sailing,

Blue sky prevailing;

The rain is over and gone! 

 

William Wordsworth

Spring cleaning

We are having some glorious weather in Holland, with temperatures rising up to 20 degrees Celsius. Isn't it amazing for the time of year?!

I started the spring cleaning of my garden house earlier than I normally do. Although the house is locked off for winter, insects and dust seem to take over. They inhabit every nook and corner. Even my china in the cupboard is not spared. I find spiders in my teacups and woodlice in my bowls. The windowsills are covered with dead flies. Luckily no mouse droppings this year!

Normally I don't enjoy the washing up very much, but when in the garden......it's a joy! To work in an outdoor kitchen, with the sun on your head and birdsong to accompany you, is simply perfect. I love to let the cups and plates go through my hands and enjoy the beauty of it all.

Wish you all a happy weekend & enjoy the outdoors!

LOVE,

Madelief x

Spring posy

Just a quick post to show you some photographs of the first spring flowers in my garden. It makes me happy to see some colour again after those dark winter months!

Unfortunately I won't be able to leave many comments this week. A work course and my family take up most of time. I will be back in the weekend.

Hope you all enjoy the fine spring weather we are having! For the ones who still have snow and temperatures below zero.....I hope spring will arrive soon!

LOVE,

Madelief x

Forget-me-nots & violets

Today I took the day off from work, to spend extra time in the garden. I still had to clean up part of the flower beds and take out several plants that did not survive the frost. Every time I visit, new flowers appear: the field pansy, first forget-me-nots and lungwort. Everywhere in the garden are daffodils, waiting for a bit more sun to show their yellow trumpets. I put the violets I bought at the garden centre in an old terrine.

I had my first lunch in the garden too. It felt really good to eat outside once more.  I laid the table with my new thrift store finds; a beautiful floral cup by Royal Doulton and several Bavaria plates.

I also checked the Dahlia bulbs, I left in the ground over winter.  I was really happy to see that they survived the cold. Some time ago I won a beautiful giveaway by Miranda, from The Black Barn. She kindly sent me a Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine and a gift voucher for a garden centre. I used the token to buy some more Dahlias bulbs (Blue boy, Inspirations mixed & Pompon mixed), which I planted today. Miranda thank you once more! I really appreciated your kind gesture of switching the film voucher for a voucher from the garden centre.

I hope the weather will hold this weekend, so that we can spend more time outside. Hope you will all have a good time!

LOVE,

Madelief x

Romantic bouquets

One of the blogs I enjoy visiting, is the wedding blog Style me Pretty.  Not only for the beautiful brides and grooms and stylish venues, but especially because of the amazing photographs and romantic floral arrangements.

It is a source of inspiration to me. I love to see which flowers they use and what combinations they make. The next step for me is to see if I can grow some of the flowers myself. Meanwhile I just dream on....

Have a lovely evening!

Madelief x

All photo's Style me Pretty