The Tale of The Flowers.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Muna’s  Flower Garden

Muna’s vision of her grandmother’s lessons of Natures magic faded as she found herself once again within the field of her dreams.

Muna found she was now walking towards a huge tree which outlined the horizon which was in the haze of the bright light which seemed to penetrate all and everything around her.

She looked down at the flowers they too seemed to shine their brilliance; she felt such love pouring out from all the beautiful varieties she saw.  It was as if the flowers were all speaking to her as she could feel each one as she walked through them as they showed her that love was within every living thing.

She bent down to touch  one of the many  small daisy like flowers that lined this beautiful meadow she found herself walking in, still bare foot she could feel the grasses beneath her feet and the warmth of the earth, as the love from this place oozed through the soles of her feet.

 As she touched the flower she noticed too how her hands glistened with the same luminescence which the flowers and grasses exuded, like millions of glistening dewdrops upon her skin. The moment Muna touched the flower it was as if she instantly knew the thoughts of every flower as if they had somehow become one and Muna could read the flowers thoughts..

“ Please pick me, you won’t harm me, Please pick me” she looked at its perfect bloom and looked deep into its centre as she studied the stamens and saw how delicate and intricate was its construction with each petal perfectly formed. She turned to look at the flower next to it and she reached to touch its petals which were a delicate shade of pink and again she was aware again of the flowers thoughts wanting to be picked.

Memories of Aponi her Grandmother came back to Muna, as she heard within her mind her beloved Grandmother’s voice saying, “ Take nothing your do not need girl, nature gives us everything, we only take that which we need” she could see her Grandmother as she had been on that day as they had so often gone into the woods together collecting for her store cupboard. Bending over the fungi, and picking the mushrooms and blackberries, digging deep in the soil for the root herbs.  “ Never waste a Life, For remember Muna, all things are living, even the rocks, so only take that which you need”..

Looking at the Flower now, Muna touched it gently and held it to her cheek and she smiled at the memory… Thanking it silently within her mind for giving its beauty for her to share..

It was then as she saw as if by magic, all the flowers bow in unison within the field as if in acknowledgement to her thought.. She smelt the heady fragrance of the flowers as they gave off their beautiful perfume… She closed her eyes to the brightness of the place and she sat for a moment within the blooms as their perfume made her dizzy. She held the flower close to her face it was as if it whispered in her ear…

And so the Tale of the Flowers tumbled into her mind as the flowers spoke to her..

 So as she closed her eyes Muna was told the Story of the Flowers..

She was told why the flowers came to Earth… She was told that Earth was such a drab place before the plant life came, but they were created to bring colour and Joy…

“Our purpose” said the flower “is to heal and give love, and to open your hearts to the beauty and splendour of all life and to give it colour and fragrance. We give our lives up freely for our purpose is to bloom and die, giving love to those who pick us. For upon the Earth the moment we are plucked we return to the source of all light, this field we now reside in”.

Muna looked up at all the wonderful flowers and saw the many colours and varieties that surrounded her, she sat and listened intently.

“We are with you all your lives, you turn to us for many reasons and many occasions, we come at your birth and celebrate your arrival upon the Earth Mother. We come with your first love within the petals of your first red rose. We celebrate in your birthdays and anniversaries, and we come when you just need a smile to cheer your day. We just love to populate your gardens and parks and when it’s time for your last journey we come to brighten up your sad hearts as we bring you to our field of remembrance. We come to you with every thought your love ones bring.”

“We flower in your Summer, But our joy is in your Spring

 We are ever present, for our love we always bring

And even in your winter we bloom amid the snow

For flowers are part of every living thing you know”

Muna smiled as she let go of the flower, gently touching its delicate form, she said thank you for all the times she was given their gifts as they sacrificed their end of their Earth life as they were plucked and so died. And she remembered the many times she had plucked a flower or received one.

She stood up from her place within the flowers and continued to walk the Summerland in her very own field of dreams, for as she looked around at the flowers, these were the very same she had picked or had been given throughout all her life.

© Sue Dreamwalker 2010- 2015 All rights reserved.

I wrote this tale as part of a story some years ago.. I resurrected it as I read an enchanting story on Meg’s Blog Megdekorne entitled One Hundred Kisses . It made me realise I wanted to post something fanciful .

But as its Spring I wanted to bring a tribute to the Flowers and say thank you for all of their very special Gifts.  As I thank each and every one of you for bringing your Gifts of love to my pages.

Love and Blessings for a Beautiful Happy Week

~Sue~

 

Growing Time.

“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”
~ Rick Warren~ 

Many thanks for your wonderful responses to my Listening to the Universe series. I appreciate every single one of your wonderful replies. 

I also want to thank the many new subscribers who have joined Dreamwalker’s over the last couple of weeks.. I hope you are enjoying exploring and please make yourselves known and I will return your greetings..

 This is what I have been up to over the last couple of days..

I have been pricking out all of the seedlings I now have 16 trays of flowers. Not to mention all the veggies that are growing. 

Below you will see the many butterflies we saw on a walk. there must have been 6 Peacock Butterflies on this willow having a drink  but most flew off when I approached .

Pricking our seedlings

Flowers to the left Chard to the right

Flowers, Asters, Stocks, Snap Dragons,

Walking and taking in the beauty of these Peacock Butterflies

Natures Gifts comes in twos

Peacock Butterflies

Our Granddaughter who is now 4 is also growing so fast. She is so very in tune with nature. 

Growing up so fast, my granddaughter age 4

Even the Gold Fish in our small pond are thriving. The year before last our goldfish had a baby, I am sure they had more than one, but only one survived. We didn’t see it until it had grown as it was totally black. last year it began to get its colour and over winter it is now the same colour as its Mum 🙂  We also have lots of frogs which help keep the slugs down in our home garden. But they were camera shy!

Gold fish in our pond we have 4 Here are 3

Mother and Baby side by side

It seems  from many of your replies to my last post so many more are delving to shed their load as we continue to grow together upon our Earth Journey. 

Here are some Hugs for you, I hope you share more along the way with others you meet.

~HUGS~

Love Sue

When the Universe speaks, I Listen! Part One

Sometimes the best laid plans are not made by you, but are the direct guidance of the Universe. Have you ever had that feeling where you just know you have to surrender to the flow and see where it takes you?

Well that’s what last week felt like. I had promised my WP friends I would be back to visit them last weekend .However the Universe had other plans.

 

My own plans were simple ones.. I needed a few days Computer Free to catch up with some unfinished projects.. The first one being a little jacket I made for my Daughter’s Step Daughter’s new baby girl. So technically that makes me a Step Great Gran!  My other knitting project I also finished. 

This was a cardigan for myself.

Knitted Cardigan

 

The other projects centred around the allotments and we had already planted seeds in seed trays which were sprouting. But the allotments needed digging which Hubby did, and I set too and helped plant the onion and shallots.

Onions and Shallots planted

 

 

 

 

Remember this photo from last year where the old rubbish heap and nettle patch was going to be dug up? Below!

 

 

At the Back of the shed the old rubbish heap is going to be levelled. This is where we intend to grow our Butternut squash

Well this is what it looks like now on the photo below.

Dug over Rubbish heap

Another job which needed to be done was to paint the sheds with wood preserve. You can see Hubby busy doing this  one and I did the other. This shed brings a whole new meaning to Lean-too shed lol, It only houses sticks, wire and cloches and nets etc.  

Lean too shed 🙂

 

Main shed

The next thing was to clear out the old Strawberry Bed of old plants.. We planted new shoots in the autumn .And made a start to clear out the old Strawberry bed. This will then be the new home for some of my flowers for cut flowers.  

Old Strawberry bed.

New Strawberry Bed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the view from the main shed. in the foreground the Raspberry, Blueberries, Red and Black currents, Gooseberries, Blackeberries.  We still have  in the background, Brussels, Purple flowering broccoli and a few Leeks left. And of course a freezer full of goodness.. 

Long View from shed

In the mean time I wrote a poem in collaboration  with Aquileana about Helen of Troy. and emailed her it just before my laptop was set for a scheduled Health Check.. That’s when the Universe thought to have other ideas about my plans..

I mentioned one of my keys was sticking to the computer guy, so the kind man said as it was insured he would send it away.. And So that’s why I have been absent longer than I intended.. But you see the Universe had a plan all along.. And as to that I will reveal in my second part to this post..

Stay tuned!  

And its good to be back..

 

Creative Captures.. Happy Halloween Everyone

You would think that Retirement would lend itself to giving you more time . Yet as my Hubby said when upon retiring several years ago he wondered how he had found time to go to work?.

Life in the Dreamwalker household has been busy busy to say the least since I took the plunge and retired.. I still have lots of catching up  to do with your beautiful blogs . And for all those who have taken the time to visit my posts I am in the process of returning your kindness..  But for now I will leave you with a flavour of what I have been up to mostly  in picture format.

So along with alterations around our home, we have been putting the home garden to bed for winter and sorting out the allotments. Hubby moved a row of raspberry shrubs as we learn by our mistakes as they grew I got nicely tangled in their tendrils.. So more  space has been created between them and a support made for the Logan Berries..

Before 

Fruit Bushes, Black and Red currant and Raspberries, this is the view from the sheds looking back up the garden.

  After.

Fruit Bushes tied up and moved to create more space for picking.

Click onto Photo’s for slide show or hover  arrow over picture to read writing. 

After a hard mornings Dig with bucket and spade. On the way home for lunch from allotments, Our Granddaughter

Fruit Trees now planted. One Cooking apple, One Pear and one eating apple tree.

Transplanted New shoots from Strawberry Plants

My finished Milk Churn.

All finished as my Umbrella stand

I have also been busy in the evenings as those darker nights draw in. I am in the process of Knitting a Baby shawl which I was requested to knit. I have about another 15cms to go then it will measure  a metre in length.. I then have to knit a boarder which will then be sewn all the way around it.. So still a ways to finish.

A shawl I am knitting.

Close up of pattern stitches

 And Lastly.. wishing you ALL a HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Below is my Granddaughter who over her last few visits has been busy with me Baking and tasting 

Yum.. Yes Chocolate is my favourite Grandma.

 

Pumpkin my granddaughter helped create

Have Fun!

Autumn Up date of Allotments ~ Grow your Own.

The weather here in the UK has taken a turn for the worse as Autumn is making her presence known. Last week we were basking in glorious Sun of temperatures in the 20’C  and this week its plummeted to average of around 14’C  going even colder at night.. So the jumpers are back on and the stew pot of veggies have been on the menu.   The weather really turned for the worse for those living just a few miles down the road from us.. As a Mini Twister tore roofs off homes in the Derbyshire town of Alfreton.  To see pictures of the damage caused the link is here....     These types of ‘Twisters’ are unusual in the UK..  We have been busy getting the allotments sorted and storing and freezing.. So lots have kept us busy. Below is a picture update.. 

The Allotments in October 2014 in Picture Format . 

Long view, Hubby walking towards the Sheds

 

Fruit Bushes, Black and Red currant and Raspberries, this is the view from the sheds looking back up the garden.

Leeks and Red onions. Freshly weeded and raked. by Muwwwww.

Butternut Squash, we have now gathered in.. And stored, Frozen some in cubes… Comes in handy for cooking that way

Parsnips and Purple sprouting Broccoli. These will be our over winter greens and veggies…

Brassica’s Curly Kale, Swiss Chard.. Enjoy your Greens.. They are good for you

Didn’t We weed Well! 

This is a new piece dug over next to the strawberry bed.. We are intending to plant some apple and pear trees along here.

At the Back of the shed the old rubbish heap is going to be levelled. This is where we intend to grow our Butternut squash next year. As the allotment next to us just put his squash on old soil and left them.. They were 3 sizes bigger than ours.. So here they will have room to spread out to their hearts content 🙂

 

Here is just some of the Garlic we harvested .

And for anyone wanting a Wonderful Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe.. Then you can find one I baked and demolished earlier

Here..

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Harvesting the Sun.

Sunflowers from our Garden

“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun”

Pablo Picasso

I promised I would share a little of what I have been up to over last month.. I have enjoyed painting, cooking, gardening, preserving, and reading, several books  in the lazy warmth of Summer’s Sun as it winds down to the cooler days of Autumn..

 I just want to add how you all also bring your warmth and glow of Sunshine to my day.. Some I have yet still to catch up.. others I have already said hello to.. And I wish to welcome all the new subscribers who have clicked the follow button.. I hope you enjoy browsing among my posts..

  So below in picture format is what I have been up to.

I hope to add the recipes I used to my Home cooking pages soon..

All that hard work is safely gathered In. 

Onions and Shallots hung in the shed

Potatoes Gathered in

I have been gathering in the harvest and making Elderberry Syrup, And lots of  Blackberry Jam.. I thought I had better take a photo while I still had some Jam left.. I made 12 pots in total. I have already given lots away. 

 

Soaking Elderberries. You only use the black berries not the red. I have no idea what the reflection is in the water!

Elderberries picked sorted and washed

Blackberry Jam, There were 12 jars but gave some away.. Also a bottle of Elderberry syrup I made.

Blackberries laid out ready to freeze.

Next I have enjoyed getting back into painting, and creating another Herb tub for our garden.  Apologies the picture came out blurred. 

Painted large tub with Dahlia flowers now planted with herbs

 For those who knew I was painting an owl on a Milk churn.. Here he is.. 

Close up of owl painting on churn

He is a Little Owl I hope my Acupuncturist likes him.. She requested a painted churn with an owl on it..  

Owl Churn I painted

Back of Owl churn with poppies

Large Milk churn in Canal art style, still half finished.. I need to put centre piece on it yet. This is twice the size of the owl churn..

I hope you enjoyed seeing what has been keeping me busy.. And I look forward to catching up with the rest of your posts soon.. 

Have a wonderful rest of the week..

Be Good to each other

Blessings

Sue

Relaxing Days

“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.”

Buddha

Hello again and many have been awaiting updates of my artwork and allotments, so today I will show you how I spent time painting. Below is a metal water jug which I painted.

 

Another small milk churn I painted for outdoor use as a planter is here.. This was painted Green the I used acrylics which  when dried have then had two top coats treated with Clear varnish to weather proof the tins. 

Back View

Others I did previously are these..

 I am on the countdown now for the end of the month and it will seem very strange not working as I added up my work years to be 40.. So its time to enjoy and relax and pursue the hobbies I love which is painting and gardening.

You win some and you lose some.

Speaking of which  I will give you a picture update here now of the allotments and how things are coming along.. We have had some very heavy storms with flash flooding with heavy rains yesterday, and we have been told by the UK Met Office to brace ourselves for more storms and heavy down pours as the tail end of Hurricane Bertha will hit Sunday, today.

Due to the fluctuating weather of dry the wet, many of the allotment holders have suffered Potato Blight We spotted it as soon as it started to appear on the foliage so we cut the tops off to stop it spreading to the potatoes.The potatoes are fine underneath thank goodness.

   

The cabbages got hit too with root fly so you can see the missed spaces here under the netting.. The Cabbage White butterfly didn’t get to them but the Cabbage root fly did..  You win some and you lose some. That’s how it is when you grow your own.. We do not spray anything.. But next time we will remember to put a circle of card around the new plants as the fly lays its eggs at the base of the cabbage, the maggots then can’t  go down and eat the root as the eggs will often dry off and die.

  The onions and shallots have dried out beautifully and were left on top to finish off drying.. Unfortunately we missed not going down to the allotments for just one day, but someone obviously needed some extra onions that day and helped themselves to the biggest Onions across the rows…. ( I do not like to think of another allotmenteer  could do this, but we also had lots of garlic taken earlier this year. Some one likes their onions!  

A success story though is our dwarf beans and runner beans.. loads have been frozen, and are now stored in the freezers. ( and yes we have a back up generator just in case of emergencies ) As we have had one or two unexpected power outages recently due to storms.. 

       

The Sweet corn has gone to seed earlier than expected and many cobs are not fully mature, but having said that we have got quite a few large ones off already.. It seems everything in the allotment this year is around a month early for harvesting. The Courgettes too have been abundant.

and we are just getting the Butternut squash forming.. This is a success too as we hadn’t tried growing this before..

We also have had lots of Raspberries too off the bushes and lots still to come on later flowering crops. So these have been made into delicious sweet deserts some  of these recipes I will add to my recipe pages later..  The Blackberries too have been yielding Pounds of fruit and I am keeping my eye out for the elderberries which are just about ready for turning on the trees.. I want to try my hand this year of making Elderberry Syrup which is good for keeping those colds and coughs at bay..

Above  are the Gladioli’s which I have grown to have as cut flowers  to display  indoors..

Well I hope you enjoyed my Relaxing Days, I started with the New Moon and my altering my Intentions and the Full Super Moon is going to be a super one too, so Enjoy! Click the links to find our more..

And Thank you for reading..

~Sue ~

Busy in the Kitchen..

They a woman’s work is never done.. But neither is that of man.. As we have both been busy this week in the kitchen and the garden harvesting the ripened produce and putting in the Freezer..  We have shelled around 10lbs of peas weight after shelling, and I have frozen strawberries, Broccoli with stalks made for soups, recipe here   courgettes have been coming our of ears as we have eaten most days with salads both cooked and raw ( lovely if sliced in ribbons raw with dressing ) Beetroots we have had daily in both salads and smoothies…  Potatoes have been on the menu with salads too as  well as lettuce and spring onions..  Not to mention the Curly Kale, Cabbage, and Beans.. oh and few raspberries… and the harvested Garlic.

Below is what was picked just this morning alone..

Below is a recipe I found in a magazine..  Being as I had all the ingredients I gave it a go and wow… you should really give this one a try… Delicious!

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

Serves 6:

Ingredients

500g ( 180z) slim rhubarb ( trimmed weight)

225g (80z) golden caster sugar

300g (11oz) strawberries

150g ( 5oz) plain flour

150g ( 50z) Ground Almonds

150g (50z) unsalted Butter chilled and diced

Clotted or extra thick cream to serve..

Have ready an ovenproof dish about 2 litre ( 3 1/2 pt ) capacity, for example a 30cms (12inch) gratin dish.

Preheat oven to 200C /180CFan Oven/Gas 6

Method

Cut rhubarb into 3cm (1  1/4in) lengths  Toss the pieces in a large bowl with 75g ( 30z ) of sugar. Hull and halve the strawberries, combine with rhubarb and arrange fruit evenly in oven proof dish.

Whiz the flour, ground almonds, butter and remaining Sugar in a food processor. If using a processor stop whizzing before before it turns into dough you want crumb texture.. or if like me rub in the butter and flour until resembling fine breadcrumbs and add the almonds and sugar  and mix in last.

 

Scatter the crumb mixture over the fruit and bake for 30 to 35 mins until the top is crisp and golden and the juices are bubbling..

Leave to cool for 20 to 30 mins, its also very good eaten cold, especially with thick cream.. or even vanilla ice cream..

I just loved this with our home grown rhubarb and strawberries.

 Now back to the Kitchen to sort the Peas into bags to freeze..

Enjoy your weekend…

and Be Good to each other ..

~Love Sue~