Fairy Garden OR Deluxe Apartment?

Wow! This is what I came home to during the week:

Take a closer look...

You can see inside...

I think the little lady has ended up with a deluxe apartment. I'm sure she never expected such grandeur, and neither did I !!!

A few months ago I showed Mister S what a fairy garden was and what I was hoping to achieve with all of the bric-a-brac I was accumulating. This was one of the images I showed him. (Scroll down to see the inspiration for this project). I was careful not to dwell on it too much, as I know fairy gardens are not everyone's idea of a good way to pass time. He was lucky if he got more than a few seconds to look at the photo.

Then last week I caught Mister S working on a small creation out in the shed. He was whittling away, using the branches cut from one of the trees in our garden. I knew it would be lovely but I hadn't realised that he had also been gathering together pieces that had been lying around in the garden. You can see in the photo he has artfully arranged the pieces around the little lady, making her very comfortable indeed.

As if the little lady and I weren't blessed enough, this morning we went to Flemington Craft Market and Mister S comes home with new accessories for the little lady's deluxe apartment. I might be feeling spoilt but this little lady sure is spoilt!

Through the window I watched him proudly arrange the furniture in the new apartment. With considered thought, he rearranged each of the "ornaments" which had been shifted with the addition of the beautiful chairs.

I must say  I was filled with admiration. It's certainly a privilege to watch someone treat their work as a craft and to see what beauty can come of it. I never expected my goal of having a fairy garden to turn out like this. I never expected to see such a masterpiece in my own garden.

What do you think?   A lovely fairy garden  or a deluxe apartment?

5 Things I'm Grateful For

I'm always pleasantly surprised to realise that even when things are busy or stressful or hardgoing, there are still opportunities to grow and learn.

This week I have much to be grateful for:

1. ROSEMARY
Our school garden has a big rosemary bush so I take a few sprigs when I need some for cooking.


2.THE GARDEN
It's so satisfying to see all that the garden provides, along with the promise (?) of more to come. Sometimes it seems to me that gardening is a game of chance and I'm very happy and very grateful when something I've planted grows. Properly.

3. SAFE ON THE ROADS
Yet again, I drove home down the highway after work, in peak-hour traffic, past 4 cars which had all been involved in the one accident. The drivers and passengers stood by their vehicles, looking dishevelled and dismayed as they waited for the police. I'm thankful that I've managed to travel each day to and from work, in one piece, my car and me.


4. TIME OUT and SAYING NO (sort of)
This last month has been one of too much to do. Now I have the largest number of school reports I've had to do in eight years. I've been stressing quite a bit lately. "Time out" helps me regain some balance.
Today I'm grateful for time in the day where I can relax and catch some TV. I've also bought myself some extra time by deciding to go to a friend's party but only for a couple of hours. As dear as these friends are, I'm an introvert and it gets uncomfortable after a couple of hours. So, I will go, but only for a while. Then they can all party on without me!!

5. A HELPING HAND IN THE GARDEN
This week I've had a helping hand in the garden. From now on it's a matter of our garden, not simply my garden.
He's come to stay and we get to make our own life together. He's finding it hard hunting for a job and I do hope that this talented man will be recognised for his strong ethics, skills and workmanship. He hails from a faraway land and spent many years taking care of the family's land. With such limited resources he's learned to manage with very little. In between tending the garden, he's been busy in the shed fashioning something from wooden branches he's stripped down with a knife. I think I'm not supposed to see what it is ... so no photo of what I saw when I peeked inside!!

I'm grateful for the wonderful changes that are happening in my life.

Happy SAD Thoughts: Stress at work can be a good thing!!

Last week I felt buried in the busyness of life. I must say that finally there has been some reprieve. I'm still waiting for the time when I can waste a whole day on the computer and life will still go on merrily, but for now I'm glad the pressure is easing and I can breathe a little more easily.
 tinybuddha.org is a website I have turned to many times in the past and found a myriad of advice from people who have experienced all sorts of difficulties. Last week, right when I was busy, I noticed an article from this website, entitled 4 things to keep you going when you're stressed at work by Raphaela Browne. 
"Not likely to have anything useful...," I thought, but I decided to take a look and perhaps get some self-satisfying confirmation of how stressful life can be.To my surprise I discovered a very helpful reflection providing a rather unexpected perspective on being stressed at work.
One of the reasons I dislike being so busy in my life is that I feel I cannot be generous nor as caring as I would like. It's hard to find the time to be available to others and it's hard to find the space where I can pursue my passions. This article actually helped me to see that times of stress and busyness can still be opportunities for character-building and for growing as a person. As for the time to pursue my interests, well, I guess I just have to be mature and recognise that there are times for work and there are times for leisure.
Anyway, I thought I'd share the article with those of you who might also feel maligned by being too busy. Have a look and see what you think.