Spring, Poppies and a Country Life

Can you believe the weekend has rolled around again! Life is flying by...

Last summer I read Gretchen Rubin's book "The Happiness Project" and her quote "the days are long but the years are short" resonated with me, especially when your kids are young and full time at home. But these days, now my kiddos are at school and the afternoons with them are filled with activities and home work and I always have such a long to-do list, I feel that the days are short and the years are even shorter. How is it September already??  

The good news is that it means Spring has officially started but actually these last few weeks in Sydney it has felt that like Spring has well and truly sprung.

I am enjoying this little corner of my home with the poppies we bought a week ago from the local farmers market. The poppies have almost all popped open with the glorious sunshiny weather we have been having. When I bought them they were all buds and I was a bit hesitant as to whether I should buy them as they didn't look much at all) but now a week later that are going strong and are delightful. 

A week's worth of happiness for less than $10. That does it for me!

While I love so many different sorts of flowers, poppies really fascinate me. They are so well packaged in their hairy little buds and I love how they pop open and unravel themselves to such papery thinness and beauty.  

And the delicate little stamens - how do they not get damaged and bent with all those petals wrapped up so tightly?

The mixture of colours are so beautiful and delicate. So good for watercolour painting. Years ago I painted a few watercolour versions of Georgia O'Keeffe's Poppy painting. I think I will have to try again from a real flower and make it much more delicate.

I think I managed to capture the colours okay but there is so much more detail on the petals that I missed.  How much more pretty is the real thing?

Mother Nature is pretty remarkable, isn't she?

Spring really is a wonderful time to remember that. Actually it's not even that you have to remember it, there is so much life springing forth everywhere that it fair hits you in the face. Even the morning air is warmer. (especially when I'm up early hanging my laundry on the line!) 

I love this postcard my younger sister sent us the other day. What a perfect match to my blog tag line - "A little slice of country life in the inner city suburbs". Thanks Rach! 

Have a great weekend. I've got more gardening to do and we're off to neighbours (who are all amazing cooks) tomorrow for fathers' day brunch . I hope you are all spoiling the dads in your life also.

Fiona xx