Secrets of a Butterfly

For my mam

Happy mother's day
I love you!

Afternoon tea on my birthday

I had a lovely birthday. I felt better than i had over Christmas.
And we had a little tea party with some homemade bakes.
These Tete a tete brought a touch of spring.
And i received some lovely cards & things from friends.
Thank you to everyone who sent me mail & messages, it was so kind. xxx

I have more baking to share another time... a biscuit recipe :)
love & sunlight

the banner and cake stand, and the cake toppers
are all from Talking Tables, they do such beautiful ranges for celebrations

Gingerbread bunnies

These are gingerbread rabbits, they are the cutest biscuits arent they! I made them the other evening when my Mam was busy in the kitchen (she helped me bake them). I used the little bunny cutter that Jeska sent me (smile) They are a perfect little bite size biscuit.

To bake is very theraputic i think, i hope with time and more strength i could learn to do more.

Love

Little moments that made my 2011

 

I have enjoyed seeing the round ups of 2011 by other bloggers, Jeska and Paula's in particular, so i thought i would do one of my own.

 It was nice to look back through the year and select some of my favourite moments. Obviously i havent photos of the hard times, feeling ill, so it does give rather a one sided view of what 2011 was for me. But at the same time i realised in making them how much i had come through and how much i put into making the best of the better days and enjoying the happier moments. Sometimes i think i don't like looking back, because i can get sad at all i have missed through a year. Being so much in the moment i maybe don't take time to give myself credit for everything i have coped with. Its only when we look back especially at photos that the memories are there. We never seem to realise how strong we are do we? While we are living through it we always seem to be thinking that somehow we should have or could have done better.

In doing this post, i really took the time to pause and reflect on a year, that though it wasnt easy, i have made it out the other side of, and have achieved alot, mainly its not obvious to the outside, but i know what it means to me inside. I just hope that for 2012, i get to be up and about more and that i then have more good times to share.

The photos are - top - my birthday in January and these were cupcakes Tash made me.
February and that's me in the reflection, taking pics in the front garden.
March - and the returning of much loved flowers
Below - upliftment from daffodils in the back garden
My cousin visits from Peterborough, with her two young boys Kian and Caileb, who love meeting Whisper!
April - cards up in my room, including an origami butterfly from Keri-anne

May -Spent some afternoons in the summer house which my dad built,at the top of the garden 
and come June i watched wimbeldon on the tv

July - This is me in standing in the back garden of the property next door to my parents, which we bought last year and are busy doing up for me to live in - "our house" is behind me on the right, thats actually my bedroom window you can see, and "my house", is as you can see, next door, to the left on this photo.

Its a way, that when the time is right, i can live in a place of my own, but still have support of my parents very nearby.
Its really the culmination of a long cherished dream and one i wouldnt have been able to bring about, if not for the help of my parents and my late grandparents.
I am very close to my family and to have my dad to do the renovating and redecorating has been such a wonderful thing, its a project we are sharing together. And that, after so many years not able to really take part in life as a family, well it means such a lot. It is a light, a sunshine in my days, and though a large project that's taking time, its a happy thing, and something that has been keeping me going through the tougher times.

July - enjoying so much ALL the sweetpeas from the garden and allotment, and the butterflies visiting the budlia bush outside the living room window
September - having more exhaustion and weakness i couldnt get out in the car, but i took the opportunity to sit in the sunshine whenever i could. It was a very wet summer, but September actually brought some warmer days, a much need boost before the winter

October - and a surprise package from Jeska full of prettiness. I treasured all the post through out the year from my friends. And dear Whisper enjoying dandelions
And appreciating the last of the pink roses from our garden

Lastly, November and recieving lovely letters from a new friend in America, and December, with the christmas tree and a new Cath kidston mug, with a gingerbread biscuit my Mam has been making.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the moments that held meaning for me from 2011.

I am finding i can't get on to blog quite so easily at the moment ( i wish there was an easy way to blog from the ipad with a typepad blog, but i cannot find one yet). I used to find keeping posting and sharing inspirational finds or images by others, was a way i kept myself going. At the moment though, i find i am not able to make those type of posts as often.
I guess what i want to see is, if i can use posting more like keeping a journal, and a way of tracking my path.  I think as the house renovations come along i can share some more of that too

We shall see, anyway, that's how things are feeling for now. 

 love

xxx

 

 

Everyday moments around my home

 

Today my post is full of my photos from Instagram, i have enjoyed taking these with my iphone and then putting various frames and filters on them, its amazing the different retro effects that can be achieved, its my newest hobby.

 

 

If you have an iphone/ipad/itouch, get the app Instagram and follow me @secretsofabutterfly, mention you read my blog and i'll follow you back.(smiles)

Its fun sharing everyday snapshots of life, and seeing others from around the world. These are a few of my photos from Sept/October. The last was a homemade birthday cake for my Mam, which dad made and i decorated with little flowers and hearts. Yum!
Favourite filter apps - Magic Hour, Lens light, Instaplus, Pictureshow, Lo-Mob

xxxxx

Whisper

Whisper, you are such a sweetheart.
I love you.

And i love making tiny "fairy" parcels to post to friends.

Here are a few ready for birthday's and thankyou's
The ones with cath kidston ribbon have cath kidston goodies inside (smile)

love

A little update

Hi lovelies,
You may remember I shared some time ago about my mam having really bad pain in her leg, preventing her walking. Eventually after first investigating her knee, they discovered she badly needed a new hip, and after quite some further wait, she had the operation last week.
They're really pleased with how it went & how she's managing, especially considering her other physical limitations. After a tough week, she is home now and in the recovery stages, which can be quite pro-longed, but the pain is less than it was, and she can put the weight on both her legs again, something she hasn't been able to do since last Christmas. We are so proud of her and everything she has handled with such bravery and strength of spirit.

I had intended to still come online, but found my energy was needed elsewhere. I did miss my blog though and also reading them, so its nice to return and reconnect with you all.

These are roses from our garden, the heat we had last week brought some more into bloom,(smiles) the yellow are my mam's favourite and the pink mine,
love

For my dad

It's father's day....thank you for being such a brilliant Dad every day of the year - i love you xoxoxoxo

One of the best things about my dad, is his love of growing and gardening.
we share a common bond in this love for nature, and these roses are from our back garden
love

Our garden cabin

Yesterday was my dad's birthday (happy birthday dad xox) and i thought it would be nice to show you the shed that he built in our back garden over the autumn. I say shed but really it needs a better name, since it is more a small room in the garden than just a shed where things are stored. It's a cabin that he built for us from wood. So i called this post the garden cabin, though i expect we shall always know it affectionately as "the shed"!

He had been wanting to build one for a few years but come retirement from work last year, he then had the time to dedicate to it. These are a few photos i took as he began putting up the framework. He designed the plans and ordered the wood he would need to fit the space. The windows on the side and the doors on the front are recycled.

It was a lot of work and took quite a few months, especially when progress halted for all the snow over the winter. But i am so proud of what he has achieved and so enjoy using it. We have some comfy seating inside, and two tables which you can see here.

And this is a pic of me just outside the entrance. I like to walk a few yards in the garden when i can. Maybe a couple of times a week, depending on my strength and other things that affect me within the chronic fatigue condition, i am getting better from. So recovery wise, its good to have this area to go to, as though our garden is small, its still quite a walk for me and i need to sit down. I hope to use it more even over the colder months, as long as the sun is out it gets pretty warm inside (20 degrees average) as the walls have some insulation.

If i'm feeling well enough i like to take whisper up there and sit and have a hug with her. I've done it a couple of times and hope to more over the summer. She likes exploring in there and it's good company for me.

Love from us both

Angel watching over me

I thought today, i would share the cards i have on my bedroom wall. Do you like to display things you recieve in the mail and from friends? Its something i have always liked to do in my home. I have tried various ways - a wire heart, a fabric covered board with ribbons to slot images behind, and a magnetic board. I like those, but i also like the string of cards idea here. Where i use heart pegs, to clip things to a cotton tape/ribbon. I got the peg set a while ago it was from the wonderful range East of India.

I keep the cards there to inspire or uplift me, and i havent changed them for quite awhile. As you can see they include some of my favourite things...birds, butterflies, angels, roses, and in all the colours that i love too. The ivory butterflies are made of felt and have fairy lights within, they were from Laura ashley some seasons ago.

there is an angel watching over me

The origami butterfly was beautifully made by Keri-anne, she has a new blog that you can find here: Sweet Days with Elle and Mia. Her recent post on her Bluebell fairy is a delight.
The bird cards are by the talented designer Elena Deshmukh. Elena has a lovely blog too and i really liked her post on beautiful bluebells lately as well,

love and blessings