Pure and simple soap making.

.

Mild sunny days spell good weather for soap making.

This, my second batch so far this season.

I so enjoy crafting handmade soaps, but, as always, immediate attention

is the order of the day. Not one of my batches has failed yet in the course 

of my ten year practice, nor do I intend to make any unsuccessful batches

as it is an expensive hobby.

 This recipe, is based on a basic moisturising soap recipe, containing the ingredients

coconut oil, olive oil, distilled water and lye. *Palm Oil, of which I used to use, is

no more on my list of ingredients, as the habitats 

of orangutans are being wiped out due to

the extensive plantations of palm oil trees. 

To this mixture at trace

I add supplements such as oats, essential oils , decorative flowers and further beneficial

ingredients that may complement the therapeutic values of the soap.

I prefer basic , handcut blocks - nothing superfluous or fancy-

just honest and simple.

 A bit of a reflection on my outlook on life as a whole.

A

Daily snapshots from around the home.

.........images from around the home...

detail of old 40's window handle,

newly poured kelp, bergamot and oatmeal soap,

vintage Charles Dickens books on coffee table, 

(my art in the background)

and still life of heavenly scented lilacs in a glass vase on the dining table.

Moments in time captured during the pleasant , warm days of October .

sakura - cherry blossom

                   sakura petal

                                                 floats in the breeze

                                                                                         as evening clouds gently drift -

 

                                     we sip tea

                                                                  in afternoon silence

                                                                                    distant bird call-

 

                                                           pristine blossoms white

                                                                                in rows on rugged twine

                                                                                                  beauty and the beast -

 

                                                    sakura path beckons

                                                                     tired and weary soul

                                                                                                 rejuvenate in morning sun -

                                                             moist clouds of pink
                                                                                    white scented petals drift
                                                                                                            under heavy rain coming -

Some photos from my backyard
and my haiku poetry.

A

A garden study in purples

 

Well, today is starting to look a bit more like the start of Spring.

I was beginning to wonder if would ever arrive as the weather has

been so chilly and wet of late.

This morning, the sun was beckoning me to venture outdoors.

The flowers around the garden look so vibrant and fresh,

many of the purple and violet variety. 

As seen above, grape hyacinth merrily dancing along 

our garden beds. 

Magic.

And although I'm not sure what the botanical name for these sunny faced

daisies are, they deserved a mention in this post today.

 

Violets are popping their little droopy heads up everywhere.

They seem a little shy to have their photo taken

as their faces drop towards the ground below......

 /

But Lavender, I would have to say , is one of my favorites.

Their scent is refreshing, not overly sweet, and the plant has a myriad of domestic

uses. I add the florets to my hand made soap, fill little bags to use as drawer sachets

 and I also like to bring it inside to display. One way is to make 

lavender wands where you simply take up to ten flexible young stems,

tie just below the florets with string, and then pull the stems back over

the florets, spacing them evenly. Then, with some ribbon, tie a decorative

bow just below the florets, and neatly trim the stems to the same length.

 

 

 

I think they look really charming;

their soft purple hues set off against my blue and white china.

 

Herb crafts are another really good excuse to wander around

the garden , and play with mother natures offerings....

to slow down, contemplate, and revel in her beauty.

 This is the elixir of life. 

It arrived in the postman's van.......

  I was nursing my little Camille who had been home for 

a few days with a respiratory virus of some 'breed' -

fortunately nothing too nasty.

All the while expecting a special something to be delivered

to my front door. I must have missed the post man

somehow, as when my hubby arrived home, 

there was the parcel in his hands. He said he had found it sitting on

the front doorstep.

 

There is something very agreeable about receiving a 

carefully wrapped bundle , from some distant

location. Though my conscience tells me, it is not

all that environmentally sound to have goods transported

in this way, atleast my orders are always shipped within our state.

 The long awaited book has arrived-

'The Pickwick Club' by Charles Dickens 1837.

This edition dated 1961.

With black and white illustrations by  Robert Seymour and

'Phiz'.

 I love the skillfully crafted illustrations from this era.

 They are so fascinating just to get lost in,

picking up all the details, that seem so far removed

from today's society, we can get a sense of how people lived in

this era.

 

 On reading the text, it is easy to see some similarities with Wodehouse's

' Jeeves and Wooster', who would have been inspired

by the light -hearted and humorous tales of the Pickwick Papers.

This  exchange between Mr. Tupman

and the new stranger to the Pickwick Club proves my point....

'I should be very happy to lend you a change of apparel for the purpose,' said

Mr . Tupman.' but you are rather slim, and I am-'

'Rather fat-grown up Bacchus-cut the leaves-dismounted from the tub,

and adopted kersey, eh?-not double distilled, but double milled-

ha ha, pass the wine.'

Whether Mr. Tupman was somewhat indignant at the peremptory tone in which he 

was desired to pass the wine which the stranger passed so quickly away;

or whether he felt very properly scandalised , at an influential member

of the Pickwick Club being ignominiously compared to a dismounted

Bacchus is a fact not yet completely ascertained.

He passed the wine , coughed twice, and looked at the stranger

for several seconds with a stern intensity; as that individual, however, appeared 

perfectly collected, and quite calm under his searching glance, he gradually

relaxed, and reverted to the subject of the ball.'

 

 

Very funny stuff, artfully written.

I hope the 'book' never goes out of date.

There is something reassuring about casually leafing through

the pages of a book, as opposed to reading a static, lit - up computer screen.

I'm off to read......

Andrea