Beltane

The beginning of Summer!!



Beltane was an important festival in the Celtic calendar. The name originates from the Celtic god, Bel - the 'bright one', and the Gaelic word 'teine' meaning fire, giving the name 'bealttainn', meaning 'bright fire'.


This is the beginning of the 'lighted half' of the year when the Sun begins to set later in the evening and the hawthorn blossoms. To our ancestors Beltane was the coming of summer and fertility. Nature is in bloom and the earth is full of fecundity and life.Beltane is a time of partnerships and fertility. New couples proclaim their love for each other on this day. It is also the perfect time to begin new projects.




The maypole - a phallic pole planted deep in the earth representing the potency and fecundity of the God, its unwinding ribbons symbolized the unwinding of the spiral of life and the union of male and female - the Goddess and God. It is usually topped by a ring of flowers to represent the fertile Goddess.


Beltane cakes or bannocks - oatcakes coated with a baked on custard made of cream, eggs and butter - were cooked over open fires and anyone who chose a misshapen piece or a piece with a black spot was likely to suffer bad luck in the coming months. They were also offered to the spirits who protect the livestock, by facing the Beltane fire and casting them over their shoulders



This is a lovely time of the year, and will always remind me of my wedding day, anniversary on the 14th,the promise of summer.....

Don't think I will be dancing around a maypole though, sure I can think of something else ;)

Fun in the sun ☼ Apple tree's and Roses

I have been really busy the last few weeks, not even caught up on reading my fave blogs.

My children have have a busy time too, my little girl  attends ballet classes, and performed in a show for 3 nights on the trot and did amazingly well, considering she's still 3, never got stage fright at all, she was in her element, she dressed up as bumble bee, and sung and danced to the ugly bug ball {Disney} and Chu Chi Face, I was SO SO proud if her!!

Elder son went away to Dorset for his rugby tour, all lads and dads together, :O They had good weather and a great time,  and they won the tournament, so he was a happy bunny! Then both  of my sons went on to Oxford for more camping with there dad, no pool on site though, don't think they were too impressed with swimming in the lake....and youngest son cannot get by without Laptop, PS3, Ipod etc, don't think they are keen on charades for entertainment!

We have had the most amazing weather here in the south East, it has been like mid July,  we already have our gazebo up on our decking{can't sit in full sun!} looks very pretty at night with all the fairy lights.

We made many trips to the garden centre over the weekend, and bought tomatoes, strawberries, chillies and a variety of herbs. I'm not growing them outside this year, as fed up with the slugs eaten them, so am keeping them in my conservatory, wish we had room for more in here though.

Homegrown tiers

We also bought some roses, I love them, and can't be bothered with planting annuals as the slugs munch through them too,  waste of money. I  bought 3 different colours which are stunning can't wait to see them bloom, one is a a silvery lilac colour, another a peachy pink, and a burgundy, all will look gorgeous together. A good investment as they will come up every year. I also have climbing pink rose which has gone mad this year, will post some pics when in bloom.



Beautiful roses


Our most special purchase was our very own apple tree, its 'Lord Derby' variety, it is a cooking apple, and is four years old and has loads of blossoms which means lots of fruit this year!! It is said to be very hardy and disease resistant, and will  produce crops up to November -December, I can't tell you how excited we are about watching her grow, B has always wanted an apple tree since he was a child, and it was him that went on and on, we saw this one and thought that is the one!! Here she is.. I'm going to have to paint that ugly wall being it though, very grotty looking, and next doors fence has seen better days, hoping he will replace this year.

Miss Derby

She doesn't look like much at the moment, but will flourish in 2-3 years:) We don't have a very large garden but we had a perfect space to plant it, and will control the size.

 I have been most jealous of Mrs Quince Tree {one of my fave bloggers} she has masses of fruits from her Quince tree and gets to make all kinds of delicious things, so I think I will post on progress once in a while too :)

We had a lovely Easter weekend spent with family and friends, had 2 BBQ's, drinks, all in all very enjoyable. The very early egg hunt {6. 30 am!!}took  daughter nearly 3 hours! Little one then  preceded to spend most of the weekend in her cossie in the paddling pool, and  running through the sprinkler!!

Fun in the sun!



Happy with her stash :)

Here are lots of pics of my beautiful tulips : most impressive this year, I especially like the black ones, lovely colour combos,and other parts of my garden, the Tamarix looks like candyfloss!

A blaze of gold at the local park







Candyfloss pink

Easter flowers

I love my garden and feel very lucky to have one :)

Here's to another sunny weekend!

Restorative weekend

We have spent our weekend restoring this lovely dresser picked up from a  local charity shop for a bargain price, I did manage to haggle them down :) The sanding down was a pain, and the paint was a one coat satin which took forever to dry, but I'm so pleased with the result, I LOVE it so much, makes my kitchen feel very cosy and welcoming, more of a farmhouse feel, and has given me loads of much needed storage space.

These dressers are really expensive to buy this way, done up, NO WAY was I paying what they are charging in out local trendy Shabby Chic Emporium type shops, just a bit of graft and a tin of paint, VOILA!

Before






After...TA DAH!!

    I have been scouring bootsales for the past few weeks to find some old vintage plates and jugs to dress it, and have been lucky every week that I have gone,  got most bits and bobs for 20p ,50p.

I have some lovely pieces left to me by my two departed grandmothers, which i've been waiting to display for ages, like this gorgeous 1930's coffee set which belonged to my great grandmother, I have the whole set, but just put a few pieces of it out.

Royal doulton 1930's coffee set

My  younger son bought me this plate from a boot sale yesterday, which I love, and this little table, which got attacked with the paint aswell yesterday.

Mothers day plate

Bootsale find

I had a 'funny' mother's card from eldest son, and a lovely card from my little one, and a handmade heart, don't  these handmade cards just make you melt...

It's cherry blossom, Love it!! With her little message inside.:) We all had a lovely lunch out.




 

Bless...

All in all a productive and  most enjoyble weekend! Hope you had a good one too. xx