A Garden of Earthly Delights

With the summer solstice upon us I find myself becoming increasingly drawn into mother nature. It's true that I am an autumn girl through and through but there are few things better in this world than relaxing under a canopy of leaves on a warm summer's day or going for a stroll in the woods while nature is in full bloom. 

This past weekend my other half and I visited the beautiful Stewart Park, a 120 acre area consisting mostly of mature woodland, an arboretum, open parkland, two lakes, and plenty of wildlife, it was the perfect place to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon. (and of course, I had to match my makeup to my environment!)

My favourite part of the day was without a doubt feeding apples to the female fallow deer, I felt honoured to be so close to such enchanting and majestic creatures, and I laughed every time one of them gobbled a slice of apple from my hand. ♥

Oh, how I love those doe eyed beauties!

~ ♥ ~

The End of Absence

Just as the tides are governed by the moon, my moods have always been greatly dominated by that big ball of fire in the sky, when it's shining I feel happy and newly energised (which is kind of funny as I hate the heat!) but when it's hidden by cloud I feel as if I don't want to face the day, so I am only too eager to welcome the beautiful weather we've been experiencing here over the past month or so! I realise that I have been somewhat absent of late and I have no real reason for that other than I guess I just felt the need for a break from this little corner of my life, but now I am back with a fresh mind and a new propensity for blogging!

I thought I would start by sharing some instagram images from the past couple of months, even though I've not been blogging as much, you'll always find I'm active on this form of social media, I just love the quick and easy simplicity of it!

♥ After many many years of wishing for an iPhone I finally have one along with the Ouija case that I've always dreamed of!

♥ Another long time want of mine in the form of a second-hand (haha!) palmistry hand!

♥ A beautiful butterfly-in-a-bell jar to add to my collection, it's the smallest but most treasured one I've come across so far.

♥ After a successful eBay purge of some unwanted/unused possessions I decided to treat myself to two new perfume oils from The Lab! ♥

♥ Reading one of my favourite ghost stories, Borley Rectory, for the hundredth time!

♥ A few new books for our home library, 3 for £5 from The Works!

♥ Dante's Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy. I've been meaning to read this for a while and now I can from the pages of this lovely edition!

♥ The Table-Rappers deals with all aspects of the Victorian occult and the human desire to believe in the unknown, covering seances, spirit photography, mediums, con-artists, spirit writing, witchcraft, demonology and many other subjects! This is definitely my favourite book find in a while!

♥ Second-hand treasure hunting has proved to be quite fruitful over these past couple of months and my weakness for ornate frames has been in full bloom! The three smaller ones cost just 90p whilst the larger one was.. free!

♥ Some beautiful details on a mirror that I scored from an antique shop last weekend!

♥ This thing of beauty was an unbelievable eBay bargain.

♥ ..and of course this little wonder from Nona Limmen!

♥ Of course there is one little creature that brightens my day no matter what the weather has in store!

Another thing that I have been greatly enjoying is Game of Thrones! I can't believe the latest season has already come to an end, it doesn't seem very long ago that I was excitedly tuning in to watch the premiere! How many of you watched the season finale last night? What did you think about the last few episodes? Even though I have read the first five books it still didn't prepare me enough for the Red Wedding! Walder Frey wasn't kidding when he said 'The wine will flow red..'

~ ♥ ~

Nona Limmen: Swamp Spells

I stumbled across the wonderful art of Nona Limmen, an Amsterdam based photographer and artist, whilst immersing myself in one of my regular evening Etsy explorations. I was instantly drawn in by the images of skeletal trees among ethereal landscapes and spectral maidens hauntingly draped in lace and other delicate fabrics, the whole aesthetic of her work speaks of an otherworldly realm, one in which dreams and surreal nightmares collide to create a vision that Nona Limmen captures so well. I 'hearted' her shop and many of her items without hesitation!

A week or so later whilst browsing IG another one of those unexpected coincidences happened when Nona's work once again fell across my path. I immediately followed her and to my sheer delight she was hosting a giveaway, which naturally I entered, and five days later I was over the moon to find that I'd won!

The lovely piece above, called 'Swamp Spells', reminds me of a divination pool, as if I am peering into the ripples of water and the image of a woman wading into a swamp slowly appears. The subtle splashes of colour on the predominantly black and white image is quite lovely! Another thing which I have to praise Nona for is the beautiful frames in which they are set, she gathers them from flea markets and other second hand treasuries herself and pays special attention to which frame suits which piece of art.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that she had also included three small prints of her other works which I am very excited to frame and display, especially the middle one called 'Anaïs.'

 You can find more of her wonderful work in her Etsy shop here and if you're interested you can even check out Nona's blog found here

~ ♥ ~

Wandering

A handful of photographs from this past weekend when my other half and I explored a beautiful village not far from our home. This little corner of the world feels like something from the pages of a classic novel, a perfect little village buzzing with nature and a certain quaint tranquility. Consisting of not much more than woodland, a church and graveyard, a mansion house turned museum built in 1709 and a 17th century Georgian hospital which is now used as apartments, it could hardly be classed as a village at all for we found little sign of life apart from a silent black familiar watching us from the undergrowth in a clearing at the edge of the woods. ♥

~ ♥ ~