Cake

Yesterday afternoon I made a cake.... 

A cinnamon swirly-yummy thing of a coffee cake...

Dusted in confectioners’ sugar yumminess...

I hadn't make a cake in a long, long while.  Simply, because many moons ago one day I decided I was going to remove sugar from my diet, and not to eat any sugary thing, except for some fruits.  And I had been faithful ever since.  But yesterday afternoon was one of those out of the ordinary, special occasions of the soul, when you feel daring inside you, and your little soul fills with whatever courageous feelings you didn't know you had, and you let your heart take over your brain, and as result... well, one thing lead to another, and all of a sudden I saw myself climbing up that lion's den where my soul had been trapped for some time now, and I saw my feet taking some unexpected path ahead through that jungle where the lion's den is, or was, and I run and run and run away from it all until I felt exuberant, and free again.  I never turned my head to look back once... not even once.  Until I was finally well and safe and free again in my little white cottage hidden in the woods. Hidden, yes because our tiny home is now completely camouflaged by summer's bounties, and only recognizable to elves and the random visiting gnomes.  And this is where my heart dwells.

When I finally looked around me, everything was again the way it should had been, and it hadn't been.  I mean, the sky was up again in the sky where it's supposed to be, and not on the floor as it has been for me... because yes, wherever I went, or walked, the sky was always down on the floor, and I had to step on it, and I couldn't find the sun, or see the moon, or stars, and I didn't like that a tiny bit. 

So, don't you just agree with me that this was a well deserving occasion for some cake!  I think so!  So cake it will be until it's all gone!  Thank you, Lord Jesus!

  

Thank you for all your words of encouragement, my friends.  "Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones" (Proverbs 16:24)

Roses and hydrangeas

The Paradise roses are in bloom again.  So I have been collecting the few roses those bushes have been gifting me with, and making bouquets with them... 

For some strange reasons, roses do not bloom here as profusely as they did at the house in the roses... It must be because inside of me I'm harvesting some very gloomy feelings lately... and Nature has a way of reading our heart.  The universe is our silent partner, and it does exactly what we ask, even if we don't know it... and maybe... maybe I have stopped asking?  Or is it perhaps that roses know that I'm displeased with the way things evolve here, and I'm not coming out to see them as often as I should, or that I'm not pruning, or fertilizing or watering them as often as they need, and my heart is a little nest of worries these days... I'm keeping there feelings that are draining my joy, and I should say to those awful feelings "Out!... I don't want you in my little heart-house!"

The hydrangeas I picked the other day have dried, and I'm keeping their blooms, along with some old roses...

I love hydrangeas, and I'm so fortunate that they grow so well here.  Life is a give and take, doesn't it?  We couldn't grow hydrangeas in my northern garden, but I had beautiful lilacs then.  Now, I have the hydrangeas I always dreamt of, but I miss my beautiful cold weather scented lilacs...  

If you like hydrangeas and want to dry them, this is what you'd do:  Clip the flowers that have been on the bush for a while...  I've found out that if you pick young or freshly bloomed rosettes, they won't dried as well as if you leave them be on the bush for a while... leave them, and you'll have more time to enjoy them both ways.  When they're ready to be clipped, remove the leaves from the stems and put them in water.  That’s it.  If you try to dry a hydrangea without leaving the stems in water, it won't look that plump, and the colors won't be as deep.  However, if you simply put the stems in water and let the stems slowly suck up the water, it will look like this when it’s done drying.

I'm learning to follow this amazing, powerful rule, and keeping it alive in my heart...

See you soon my friends!

Summer unfolds...

The relentless days of summer are upon us in all their forces... we're wishing for rain and thunder and all the rumbled sounds of nature, when it rains, and the woods turn black and deep, and the sky low and big, like some mysterious, expectant creature of sorts...

And my days unfold slow and fast, and I live them dreaming of better days and wonderful things that are not, but will be...

Why... if you keep putting God first, His blessings will chase you down... His favor will come looking for you.  And I truly believe this!

The garden is looking so pretty in its summer garments.  Vines are growing stronger and fuller, and soon the Hyacinth Bean vine will be full in flower.  Elephant Ears are growing larger than ever, and although I haven't seen any butterfly of lately, the garden is brimming with mosquitoes and creatures of the blood-sucking sorts... ugh! I detest them.  I wish I could wiggle my nose, and make them disappear... tiru tiru tiru (wiggling music)... Just like that!

I have lost a little bit of my natural zest, and my iridescent wings have been scorched by the idiosyncrasy of the South and southerners. I confess that sometimes I choose to focus on the negatives, instead of focusing on what I've been called to focus on...  I shall work on my attitudes and the way I chose to see life.  

Hope you're all doing splendid!

My place to be...

What an amazing, joyful moment of the day is, when I get to go out to the front porch and sit under the sizzling hours of mid afternoon, to just be... to only listen to the familiar sounds of summer, the songs of birds, and the high-pitch hum of cicadas.

Did you know that cicadas start to emerge only after a 17-year wait to mate?  And where was I 17 years ago when, here, on these same woods and trees this brood of cicadas was already waiting for 'today'?  Nature certainly never ceases to amaze me.

The Annabelle hydrangeas have grown more, and expanded beyond themselves even more this year.   Unlike the blue and pink hydrangeas, Annabelle blooms every year even after a severe pruning and intensely cold winters. The huge, white drumstick blooms appear in profusion without fail every summer.

Had I known how reliable these flowers are and how much I'd loved them, I would had planted them as a hedge in front of the holly bushes by our front porch, where instead I chose to plant that row of Iceberg roses, which have never done well, and have always adopted that spindly, leggy appearance since the very beginning.

This afternoon I went outside and collected bunches of hydrangeas to make bouquets... 

It was hot, but under the canopies of trees that protrude from the woods it felt comfortable and tepid and I found myself mystified by the sounds of summer, and the dark emerald shades of the woods, quiet and timing with life as they are.  

This is what I love about summer, the strength and vigor of it.  The being wild and slow, old and yet growing young buds of dreams. For me, it is a magic that must be written in the old pages of my soul. We are all wanderers on this earth, and my heart is full of wonder, and my soul deep with dreams...

I wake up every morning and go to work, and miss those magical hours of my days... at 8:00, and 9:00 and then again mid morning around 10:00 in the little white cottage.  I miss my home, being able to enjoy my freedom... miss my feathery friends; the fishes in the pond, the squirrels and their shenanigans around the garden and the mystifying sounds of the woods... even at the office, my heart is silently the one with the messy hair, the dirty feet and that wild sparkle in its eyes... 

Even with the huge amount of mosquitoes and insects that come with this wild, hot humid life of the south, I'm still so much in love with my garden. Love our little white cottage and its quiet surroundings, love the peace I find here, always welcoming and comforting...

The minute I enter this door, I am at peace with my soul again... 

“I felt a pang -- a strange and inexplicable pang that I had never felt before.  It was homesickness.  Now, even more than I had earlier when I'd first glimpsed it, I longed to be transported into that quiet little landscape, to walk up the path, to take a key from my pocket and open the cottage door, to sit down by the fireplace, to wrap my arms around myself, and to stay there forever and ever.” ― Alan Bradley, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag

My style... what's yours?

If you have been reading me, or coming here for awhile now, most probably you already know how I adore the eclectic gypsy look, or boho chic style... 

If you are not familiar with such style, it simply means flowy skirts and dresses, vintage accessories, junk jewelry, crocheted, lace dresses, tops, hats, and bags, beads, fringe, lots of shawls and natural-crazy looking hair.  

Except during our hot summer days, I wear a lot of boots during spring, fall and winter....

Layers layers layers...

I love handkerchief hem skirts and dresses

paired with boots...

Breezy, lightweight, flowing skirts for summer 

Paired with floral bell-sleeve blouses

Be sure to wear flowers in your hair too!

When we visited Spain last year, street gypsies gathered around me trying to sell me their lovely shawls...  I bought one... or two!

This is my winter look.

Lots of layered skirts paired with my 70's thrift store
Stevie Nick's style boots...

I love this long fringed-sweater so much!

  

A key ingredient in boho chic style is comfort — you’ll see a lot of soft, loose-fitting, flowy clothes, often worn in layers. Maxi dresses (full-length, usually loose-fitting dresses) are a great example of the flowy comfort common to this style...

This flowy floral thrift store skirt is one of my favorites ever. On going through my stash of photographs the other day I found out that this skirt had travelled with me to more than one country round the world...

 In Israel this year

...and in Spain last year

(Did you noticed the guy reading beside me... an American for sure! haha)

Nobody ever wears shorts in Europe, except for tourists!

Even if it is in the midst of summer, please do not wear your shorts in Europe... 

Just saying ;)

This long fringed crocheted shawl on the photograph above is one of my favorite ever

I use it almost every day during our mild winter days

and lucky for me, it was a thrift store find!

I also love jewelry... at a flea market I always head for the junk jewelry table first.

Love it!

"Jewelry and pins have been worn throughout history as symbols of power, sending messages. Interestingly enough, it was mostly men who wore the jewelry in various times, and obviously crowns were part of signals that were being sent throughout history by people of rank" (Madeleine Albright)

I like jewelry. Big rings, weird necklaces. 

Old books, long flowy skirts, clean wild hair and open skies... 

I like the smell of rain, I like mornings and sunshiny days.  

My heart is a bohemian wandering the earth.  

"Whether I'm making a recipe or a piece of jewelry or a white-rose-and-jasmine tea or the perfume, I like to think of myself as a happy little sorceress, and if I could just have a little general store with all that stuff and give people a sense of my taste, that would be lovely". Padma Lakshmi

Do you have an specific style you love, or certain clothes you like to wear, or see yourself going back to again and again?  I'd love to hear about it! 

Until the next time...