A Birthday, A Soap-Dish & ............ "A Speckledy Tree"

 Greetings lovely friends & readers

On the very last day of June I celebrated another birthday 💗

64 years around the sun (!!) Goodness me ... where did those years go to I wonder ??

We had a simple family lunch to celebrate because our nights close in early now & many family members had work early the next day.  I made nibbles, we ordered in pizzas & my eldest daughter-in-law made me a birthday cake ... well two in fact!

Sarah made me a carrot cake first but was unhappy with how it didn't rise much, so she then baked an orange cake which rose about double the size.  I can indeed testify that both cakes were delicious & at 64 years old I have decided I rather enjoy cake (!!)  

The orange cake was decorated with rosemary flowers,  she put 6 candles on it & I got to blow them out.

I was very spoilt & received some wonderful gifts from family & friends including a beautiful pair of handknitted socks in Tilda colours. 

Alec & his family presented me with a large gift wrapped box - it's fragile he told me!   I carefully opened it & inside was the most stunning set of Crown Lynn china-ware in a gorgeous muted red.  Alec's Mum frequents the Retro markets & had seen this previously. I'd mentioned at one time how I struggled to find red transferware & she remembered seeing this set so went back the next month & purchased it - from a dear older couple who had it still in its original box.  

Some of the pieces are faded slightly but it is in immaculate condition with no chips or cracks - I was just speechless.

This then led me to spend the next 3 days (I work slower now) bringing in a shelf that I used to use for display in my craft cottage & setting it all up in my Lounge so I could display the china-ware but still get to use it also.

      This was a simple pine shelf that I had previously white-washed with watered down left-over white house paint.

All the pretties ............  💗💕

I used the old lace curtains from my cottage to line the shelves.  I just adore all my pink china tucked in amongst the faded reds.  

My former sister in law called in last week - we hadn't seen each other for a long time but we keep in touch & have remained great friends.  She gave me a card with money in & instructions to "buy something pretty"  ... so I purchased a beautiful soy candle (on sale) & this enamel teapot in my favorite sage green colourway.  The candles fragrance is Palo Santo & it is just so lovely ... the description says "a smooth woody blend of tobacco leaf, smokey cedarwood & leather" 

I found this thrifted silver dish in my craft room cupboard. It was the perfect size for a soap dish which I was needing for my kitchen.  I decided to paint it with the Resene Paddock colour that I'd used on some other kitchen items.  In order to get the paint to stick to the shiny surface I gave it an initial coat of cream chalk paint. This worked well ... otherwise the acrylic paint would've had nothing to adhere to, would've gone on streaky & not dried well.

It came out very green so I went over it with white wax which toned it down nicely & bought out the flower details.

It's just the ideal size to hold my kitchen soap & doesn't take up valuable bench space that I don't really have.

When we laid Mum's ashes to rest back in February I remembered her always telling us "don't forget I want to go with your Father under the Speckledy tree".  There is a large variegated shrub where Dad's ashes were & she always called this The Speckledy Tree.  I hadn't realised that my daughter-in-law had taken a couple of cuttings from the shrub when we were there & has managed to get them to take root in a pot. I was delighted when she presented me with one & it even has another leaf beginning to form at the tip.  I will let it get a lot bigger in the pot before I plant it in the garden.

We have had cold frosty mornings this past week, a couple of -1 degrees, but sunny days with blue skies.  Here we have a-meeting-of-the-unemployed all lined up on the deck keeping their respective distances & solving the worlds problems (!!!) 😉

Thank you all so much for visiting here today dear friends,

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,