"How does one become a butterfly?"...

she asked. "You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."~Anonymous

Imagine spending your days flying around, alighting on flowers & drifting on gentle air currents (yes - I am studiously ignoring any negatives here!!). Butterflies transfix me, sighting one will cause me to be still, almost holding my breath without realising I am doing so, & just watch. And I could watch for hours, gentle, silent, beautiful creatures that could teach us humans a lesson or two .....& have if we stop to think about it.

If nothing ever changed there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.  ~Rabindranath Tagore

When I grow up - I want to be a butterfly. Besides being able to fly, be free & for the most part beautiful,  they get to hang around a whole heap of orange from what I observed today ;) Rarely do we get to see admirals & monarchs at the same time so they must be attracted to this plant.

And with that Deb quietly toddles off to bed making a mental note to plant some Tithonia rotundifolia in her next garden.....

Subterfuge

As I walked down to the cafe today, I noticed something new.

Autumn it might officially be but it is still wonderfully warm, if a bit overcast. The cicada's are still making their wonderful noise in the tree's over at the park , but as I turned towards the sound I realised with a start that the edges of the leaves on some of the trees are showing the slightest hint of turning yellow around the edges. How did that happen?

I am sure they weren't like that last week. Sneaksy, tricksy autumn is worming it's way in, stealthily & surreptitiously arriving when it thinks I am not noticing.

Well I am noticing & guess what Autumn - I'm smiling at you!
Another imprint to take with me in a little over two weeks time.

Bemoaning the weather & the end of Daylight Savings Time....or not!

Daylight savings ended in the wee small hours of the morning, giving me an extra hour's sleep today. Well it seemed that way anyway!
It was another Nor'west day - but not of the usual kind. There was still that wonderful quality of sound & it was warm, but the sky was brooding, overcast & grey.
From out on the street, if I stood on tip toes & looked to the north between the tree's of the park I could see a distant arc of blue to the north.

Sitting here in the study earlier as the sun was sinking in the sky, I glanced up from what I was working on & looked skyward. I am so pleased I did - the way the last rays of sun were hitting some tree's that show just above the roof line of the neighbours (far to close) garage was a sight to behold.



Of course I had to take a quick trip down the drive to see what the park had to offer.

The Lack of Obliging Weather

meant no trip to the beach this weekend in which to test drive the zoom capabilities of The Ram. Of course I should have observed the warning signs that Autumn was well & truly on it's way when I visited the local Nursery on a mission a few weeks ago....just pulling up into the car park was a good indication!



An observant person would have also noticed the distinct lack of flowering plants.....



But the NZ Natives seemed to be in fine form!



There was even a splash of fresh & bright looking colour in the shade house to fool me.



Of course the ferns always look big & healthy. As you can see from the mailleman's arm, size matters!



Mary Poppins...oopsy I mean Gabriela, with a spring in her step was enough to fool any unsuspecting Mum that summer was going to last forever.

Change is in the air

Seasonal change that is! Nights & mornings get cooler & I somehow feel cheated that summer hasn't been long enough. This week seems to have skipped Autumn & tried to get right into winter. The skies have been overcast & it has rained quite heavily some nights. I don't mind rain but I miss the bright blue skies. I loathe how this affects me, my subconscious seems to do a subtle shift & I am not as even tempered & positive as I'd like to be. It's almost as if my body wants to go into hibernation.

Fortunately there is a huge upside to this! I have a very vivid imagination & can easily conjure up images of tropical islands & warmer locations - & I frequently do. It's at this time of year that my daydreams go into full swing.... Bali & Indonesia or the Seychelles, Morocco, Egypt & Malta - or pretty much anywhere around the Mediterranean Sea.
I shall happily put the responsibility for encouraging these dreams on the head of my maternal grandfather....or 'Papa' as we called him! Born in Malta, our childhoods were filled with his tales of growing up there. Quite simply it was magical!

So with thoughts of warmer climes in my head I set to torch trying to capture, in my own naive way, the essence of some of the countries I dream of visiting.
My mind first went to Malta & the thoughts of sun warmed, age weathered limestone building, surrounded by the sea.



It didn't turn out quite as I expected - but it has a nice feel none the less.

Next my thoughts turned to the luxuriously appointed interior of a Moroccan Tent.



Once again I didn't quite capture the feel I was going for! It did remind me of something though....

My old bedroom (here stripped of all the fun accessories - because the house was going on the market). That room was my sanctuary, I put almost everything I loved into creating it ....I never failed to appreciate the sense of calm that I felt every time I entered that room.

Maybe I should call the Beads above 'essentially Deb' ;o)