2 go off to the caravan....

oh how I loved that book of Enid Blytons.. Five go off in a caravan.. I loved the Famous Five books... Joe & I are on on our own little adventure.. down to the sea to the Gypsy caravan for a few days. I am so looking forward to sitting by the sea, dipping my toes in rock pools & going to the movies.. popcorn and choc tops too! I can't wait to arrive late tonight, putting out my lantern at the front door & hanging my peace flags along the quaint little verandah, then tucking us both up under warm blankets while we go to sleep listening to the sea..... Joe is also going to buy me an old pushbike from Inasmuch the local op-shop... so if you see me riding along, hair flaying out the back.. give me a wave!
June is almost here & I hope to be able to open the Land of Fae when I get home.. watch for a link...

hello from me..

I thought I had better come and update... I haven't been blogging because truthfully at the moment, I don't have alot to say... something is happening to me spiritually and I have to sit with it.. I have been meditating alot the past few weeks and lots has been revealed.. I have been instructed to create a stone circle in Sacred space under my pine tree where the faeries dwell....
I had a tattoo done two weeks ago.. a little Cornish piskie atop a toadstool.. and behind him is the Cornish flag... since then, I think my energy has changed and I have become more open, more aware... but still I struggle with doubts.. I am rediscovering my crystal friends and still uncovering bones of my wild woman..actually just last week, we had our gathering of the wise woman group and we each made ourselves a ritual broom..

I have been on facebook.. that is simple for me.. if you would like to be my facebook friend, email me and I will tell you details... on facebook, you will discover my 'odd' sense of humour & a short daily update...

also the past week, I have been in contact with Sr.Katherine Knoll.. via Second Life & Skype... she introduced me to Second life so that she could help me along my spiritual path. She is in the process of setting up an virtual area for women where we can go and share stories & lore in real time.... if you are interested in this please email her via her blog: HearthTalks

when I settle down energetically, I am sure I will be back with Tales of Inglewood.. hopefully sooner rather than later... so hang in there if you can... I will eventually be in touch!

a sincere thank YOU

thankyou for all the emails and comments over the past weeks. We feel like we have been wrapped in a cocoon of love & support... I have sent Joe on a bike ride today.. so we both can have some 'me' time... I will spend this afternoon in the garden and then hope to cook some chicken & vegetable soup... to warm the cockles of our heart...

I will be back to blogging next week & will make sure I visit each of you who have been so supportive... please take the above photo as my thanks ~ the bookmark was given to each person who attended Paul's funeral.. xoxo

Paul and Inglewood ~ a eulogy

Paul was a housepainter... not just an ordinary housepainter.. I looked upon him as a Master housepainter... being of dutch ancestry, he was truly among some of the master painters....
when we moved into Inglewood 9 years ago.. we renovated and knew that we could trust Paul with the painting... you see, he could colour match like no-one else.. and as we uncovered years of vintage paint, we wanted something different for our home.. and so the painting began..

the bathroom was the first room we renovated. I wasn't sure what colour I wanted here so Paul painstakingly mixed up a colour that I thought I would like.. a kind of light cafe au lait.. but to me it was too similar to bare gyprock so I gave up and asked him to paint it cream.. and lived with it for a few years until oneday he was telling me about a new paint called Tuscan affect.. so I chose a colour for the bathroom.. wanting a kind of stone look...it was done within a day and I was hooked... so I scoured the colour charts..

I seriously thought my little sitting room was in need of a revamp.. I had just purchased my snuggly pink chair and some vintage curtains from England and I wanted something really outrageous so I chose 'Raspberry Wine'.. Paul thought I was insane but he painted it anyway.. and he actually liked it when he had finished..hmm what next?

he painted my loungeroom 3 times.. first of all I chose a really dark sea green which he advised me against. of course I didn't listen and he was right.. so we sat and talked it over and decided on a yellow.. tuscan yellow walls with a yellow ceiling rose.. he carefully painted the original 1930's rose with a tiny paintbrush...then we moved onto the bedroom.. which in the beginning was aubergine - way too dark..

I chose a tuscan effect blue this time and decided to stencil a pattern on it myself.. Paul wasn't too keen on this and I don't think he ever did come to like it...

the bedroom ceiling rose was painted a yellow.. this is where his colour mixing knowledge came in.. I knew the exact shade of yellow that I wanted and he would go out to the van, do some tinting, bring it back in, show me.. yes or no? ..back out to the van and so it went on until he got the colour perfect..

during those times that he painted our home, we sat and talked. Paul would arrive around 7am, always dressed in his uniform of white shirt and shorts & paint splattered glasses, he would sit and have a coffee with dutch husband, tell jokes for awhile, then start painting, turning his radio onto talkback and I often heard him commenting out loud to whatever was being discussed by the callers. I didn’t need a clock during the times he was there as he had a routine. 9am and there would be a tap on the window.. time for morning tea.. he would go get his sandwich and come inside for a cup of coffee and a long chat… then painted solidly til lunchtime where we would sit together and have lunch and another chat, sometimes he bought his own lunch, other times I ducked up the shop and bought pies. …. We talked about everything and I dreaded the painting coming to an end because I loved his company… but I needn’t have worried because he called in sometimes for coffee on his way past to a job.

I sure am going to miss him!

the words above are what I am reading at Paul's funeral today... it has been a weird past few months.. going from shock at his first diagnosis, to elation after his operation and then to acceptance of losing him... now we move on..... I have come to a place where acceptance of death is part of my journey.. however hard it is.

and over the past weeks life has been going on as usual at Inglewood... my tamarillos are ripe, the oranges are turning a pale shade from green towards orange, trees have been pruned, garlic planted and turnips are up, my strawbwerry garden is dug, apple trees ordered and I am planning my potato patch ... Fri May 8th was the anniversary of my Dad's death and May 4th the anniversary of my Nans passing...we found out that my next grandchild due in Sept is another little boy.. a brother for Harry and his name is Charlie.... the circle of life......

rest in peace

Paul died peacefully tonight at 7pm.

gorgeous support from a truly wonderful community, thankyou. you all seem to have the same juggling issue with internet life... so I am going to take the time away like I said.. my home really needs some love & attention, I want to get my strawberry patch built, plant apple trees and spend time in my garden but most importantly, I need to be there for my gorgeous dutch husband while he goes through the pain of losing his brother and then I will be back... not as much & without obligations on myself....same place, right here but a different name........
(oh how could i have missed this??? :- we are coming up to Samhain here, seems I am more connected to Earth than I thought - the time of rest for Mother Earth. This is a time to slow down and reflect on the year past)