Yankee Wax Tarts-One of My Favourite Things

This is a post dedicated to one of my absolute favourite things: the Yankee Candle Wax Tart.

Anybody who knows me well will probably already know how much I love these things, and indeed may well have been presented with one at Christmas or some other gift-giving occasion. My aim is to spread these as far and as wide as I can!

I remember smelling some of Yankee candles in a garden centre and thought Midnight Jasmine was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever smellt. They were quite pricey though so I noted instead for my Christmas list. Fast forward a few months and I'm in Broadstairs. I go into a shop where they sold the wax tarts. I thought they were mini candles at first, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who's done this, looked for a wick and thought I'd got a damaged candle. Further investigation and I realise I have a wax tart in my hand!

To use you place the tart in a dedicated wax tart burner, or I just use an old oil burner which can be cheaply obtained, then light an unscented tealight below.

I've experimented with oils, incense sticks and countless scented candles...but Yankee tarts are by far the best way I've found to scent a room. The frangrances are so lovely and the fragrance is strong enough to scent a room. When I had Midnight Jasmine in my burner, I might briefly leave the room and return and it was literally like walking into a summer's garden. They'd be excellent to add atmosphere to parties, weddings, dinner parties...

Their scents are updated seasonally so there are also new ones to try. I love browsing the list and reading the description of the scent, even though it makes me want to buy them ALL!! My favourites at the moment are Nature's Paintbrish (which was my Christmas fragrance) and Clean Cotton. They only cost 99p-£1.25 (depending on where you get them from) so are definitely easy to treat yourself to one...or ten.

http://www.yankee.co.uk/list/674/0/list.aspx

Ode to the Begonia

Last summer I had a crush on a plant.

My Dad planted the most beautiful begonia in a blue terracotta pot and it sat proudly on the doorstep all summer.

It was rich, yellow, full and I adored it. When I was in the garden I could never stop staring at it. There are always many flowers in our garden but my eyes were always drawn back to the begonia.

I loved that plant so much that when it did finally start to wilt I was moved out of sadness to write a poem. It was the first poem I had written since my early teens.

Pale yellow and voluptuous in the clean morning light,
Petals bursting from your silken coral dressing gown,
Heads bowed humbly, oblivious to your own beauty,
Always waiting with a warm smile.

You. Yellow, silky, laughing and dancing
For the rest of the garden flowers,
For the reluctant sun,
For the frisky wind,
For a besotted me.

Is is your image I have framed and hung,
Pride of place in my mind,
For the coming of the black and white winter.

I don't even know where the poem came from after so many dormant years. It just bubbled up out of nowhere and was hurridly transferred to a scrap of paper.

Later when I reread the poem I couldn't relate to the 'me' who had written it- I don't write poetry anymore. I am poetic but I'm not a poet.

When my car broke a similar situation occured. During the tears on my last drive home, words began to form alliances, sentences were built. I had a poem in a raw form. When I got home, I got caught up in other things and the poem was gone. I couldn't even recall one line of the poem which had so perfectly captured my feelings at losing my first car.

Perhaps there is a poet in me...but where does he hide? And why does he come so infrequently?

Some more photos of the begonia:

Wild Flowers Hunting Expedition

One of the very worst things about living in one of the most densely populated areas of the world is the lack of access to wild flowers and fields. Instead you have to go to the supermarket and pay to have fresh flowers in your home. I don't have much money at this minute so after work I explored my local neighbourhood to search for wild flowers, not expecting to find much outside of people's summer gardens. I was pleasantly surprised however.

Perhaps I crammed too many in the vase but I still think they look beautiful

Found by a rubbish collection area for residents, in a brick wall, on a grass verge and in a car park.

Ethereal at dusk

A few in a bowl with candles

Very pleased with the fruits of my hunt. They smell lovely too..

Welcome to Our Garden (A Tribute For My Dad)

My summer would be woefully  incomplete without the sounds of our resident gardener-my Dad. The rustles in the garden under my window, the hollow echo of the watering can being filled, snipping and snapping...
These montages are a tribute to my Dad, who always makes sure our garden looks beautiful, and indeed to all the gardeners out there who look after the plants and flowers for me, and others like me, who prefer reading to weeding...

(click on the photos to enlarge!)

In the summer the flowers come alive. Clockwise form top left-a voluptuous hydrangea, scented honeysuckle climbing the trellis by the bench, a rose bush planted in memory of my Mum's parents, a lovely fuschia...

It's not all pretty flowers. A Gothic Romanticism lurks in the darker corners of the garden-angels hide under bushes, a bench with a beautiful metalwork back sits under the honeysuckle, berries grow and a beaded candle holder from Turkey has found a new home in an English garden.












Surprises and humour abound too. Stone creatures, who may or may not come alive at night, sit contentedly in the flower beds and other corners. Gnomes smile cheerily all year round, come rain or shine. The ubiquitous green sets off the beautiful red leaves. A stone wishing well guarded by the tree and a clear blue sky in June.

Corsages From Scraps

While sorting through my Miscellaneous Box (namely old and broken things) I found, amongst many other things, some leftover pieces of green wool, paper flowers and a ring face which had broken off the ring (I had planned to glue it back together but never got around to it). I realised I could probably make some wool corsages as I have quite a lot of wool at the moment so rummaged around for my little loom to make the corsages bodies with.

The green wool has been with me for so long I can't even remember its origins. The ring face has a few pieces missing if you happen to look closely but I think it matches the wool nicely. I added some 'fancy yarn' to break up the green.

The purple wool and sparkly yarn I received from a friend to practice crochet with. I can't remember why I bought the purple flowers. I may not have had a plan in mind, them being purple flowers may have been quite enough to part with my money for.

Brooch backs are stitched into the back of the corsages.

You can never have enough accessories to decorate clothes with...