Friday, July 2, 2010

There's no place like home


I was inspired after several comments from my Monday blog to show off some of our yard. Hoping I can upload all my pics this time.
I love our home and parts of the garden..as rustic as it is. I am most definately a simple girl. I would never want to live in one of those new brick estate houses where every house on the street looks the same or a large over the top ellaborate mansion. I could live in an old church or castle though. I'd live like a medieval maiden or princess then having high tea parties with my baby girl and the fairies in the garden and performing wiccan rituals under the full moon ......but then I already do that where I am ;)
I love our own acre of land to live on and our simple little cottage in the bush home. It still needs lots of renovations, mostly just cosmetic a little structual.
Our garden is a huge job. Before we moved in the house had been vacant for a couple of years and previously owned by an old man who didn't work much in the garden anymore. So when we bought our home it was over run with mice, (ugh) spiders, (double ugh) and coated in years of dust and the garden was...and in parts still is..a tangled maze of overgrown plants and roses.
My most favourite place in the whole yard is under my tree. My $80,000 tree! When we pulled up the driveway to take a look at the house for the first time, I wanted it before I even stepped in the door. I just wanted to live where the tree was. The pics your looking at is the tree. Kev says it's the dearest tree in history as he reckons I paid $80,000 for a tree, the house just came with the tree.
A friend recently told me she thinks its a pepper tree. I had no idea what it was. I just love the feel of it.
There is most definately a spirit attached to the tree. I can feel it whenever I sit on it's huge trunk. I need to spend some alone time meditating under the tree to find out who it is. Is it a fairy spirit, or an angel who oversees the trees growth. Do human souls reincarnate as trees? Whoever is there it is most friendly and comforting.
I spent about 20 minutes sitting on my friend (that does NOT sound good now I typed it lol) and drinking a cuppa...taking photos of the branches whilst looking up through the canopy. It is such a magickal tree. It hangs like a willow. In spring and summer tiny little blossoms continually fall from it looking like snow raining from its branches and it hums with the buzz of bees collecting the pollen.

When I die I want my ashes scattered under that tree. I couldn't think of anywhere nicer for my ashes to spend eternity.


I'm not the only one who loves the tree. My kitty Willow is quite often found in the branches and came over to have a sticky nose and see what mum was up to. She hung around for some patting before she took off again to whatever scent caught her attention in the yard.

And speaking of sticky noses Miss Lucy had to check out what mum was up to as well
but pretended she wasn't interested by nibbling on some grass...she casually followed me around the yard pretending to blend in. She is a pain in the butt but I love her. She comes over for a pat and just as you go to pat her she nips or turns that big rear end around. I see Lucy's butt more than any other part of her body. I did manage to get a good pat from her before she realised and took off again. She is a snobby little horse!


There are many large trees on our property, although none of them speak to me like my favourite tree, that surround the borders of our land. The pines smell glorious in the spring and summer. They probably do in the winter too but I hate going out when it's cold and with my stuffed up head and nose at the moment I cant smell a thing!
Kinda sick of being sick this year. I usually dont get sick, it's the rest of the family that does. If anyone wants a cold I'm giving mine away. Free of charge!

I wandered around the garden some more taking photos of the few plants that still have some flowers on them. I was surprised to find any really.



During my wanderings I disturbed some finches that were playing in the garden. They are so tiny you cant even see them on the lawn until you disturb them and they take flight.
The bushes were alive with their singing and the tree, minus it's foliage, was full of tiny little birds flittering in the bare branches.

I couldn't get any clear pics of the little blighters as they are so fast but got the one where I could see a tiny feathery body. There's one near the top of the tree and one down a little further on the left.



And Lucy was still trying to look unimpressed although she was never far away the whole time I was in the yard.
When I looked back through the shots I'd taken I realised right behind Lucy there was a ring on the ground.
On closer investigation I found to my delight a fairy ring!!!



A fairy ring is a circle of stimulated grass or toadstools that can appear in lawns most often during Spring and Summer. It's related to abnormalities in the turf. It was said fairies sat on the toadstools and danced and sang inside the ring. There are a few different types of ring...some with and some without the toadstools. None in the one I found. I asked my husband if he had sat a drum or tyre or ANYTHING at all where it was but no he hadn't. I can just imagine the fairies were there a few nights back celebrating the full moon and lunar eclipse in the wee hours of the morning :)
I'll be making sure I rug up to face the elements next full moon and hopefully catch a glimpse of them. Maybe they can join in my ritual celebrations :)








Willow was following me too...these animals are just like the kids wanting to know what I'm up to and she pretended she wasn't eyeing me off just like her horsey sister. The only one who really was unimpressed by it all was Pugsly who kept out of sight with the dogs. They were too busy watching what dad was doing.

I spent an hour wandering around my garden although it didn't feel that long. I came back inside rejuvinated from spending some time with nature and appreciating the little things I love. Our home might still need a lot of TLC but it is ours and it is home. There really is no place on earth like it.

3 comments:

Robynartdesigns said...

Hi Shelley, thanks for sharing with us where you live. Looks a beautiful place, plenty of space around and peaceful. We're dreaming of living in a place like that, one day!! At present we have to be satisfied with suburbia. Have a lovely week-end and hope your cold is better soon!!

Anonymous said...

Oh it looks and sounds wonderful. Your love of your home really does come through in this post. What a delight to read. :o)

Your special tree looks a bit like the Peppercorns that we have in this area. Planted by early settlers around here. They are the most interesting, beautiful trees, loved by everyone and yes, I do think they have a special spirit. I don't have any tree like that in my own yard sadly.

Your cat looks just like mine. His name is Figaro. My 9 yo named him when she was in kinda.

Love that fairy image. Took me back a little. I used to always be imagining fairy's in my garden. So nice. One day I'd love to build a fairy themed area in my garden. :o)

Chookyblue...... said...

I love your tree.........