Imagine . . .

 

Up and down the garden path

the coloured steeples rise,

all astir with guesting bees

and wings of butterflies.

Stately stems, thickset with blooms

that soar above the hedge.

Towers of flowers,

a blaze of glory down the border edge.

Rosy red and butter yellow,

pink and snowy white.

Hollyhocks, just holly hocks,

an ordinary sight.

But surely there's a question here

for those with eyes to read.

How did all this beauty spring

from one small pinch of seed.

~Patience Strong

 
I don't believe there is a flower which epitomizes the English Cottage more than does the humble hollyhock.  With their flared blooms, resembling trumpets, they are such a cheery sight.  I love them.

 

 

There was a time when every little girl knew how to make a hollyhock doll. I remember making them and holding hollyhock doll dancing parties in my backyard. I especially love the turbans they wear. To make one you will need one hollyhock blossom about half-way bloomed, one bud with some color just peeking out, some tiny fern-y leaves if you want your dolly to have arms, and a toothpick.   You push the toothpick into the bud at the bottom and then push that into the bloom to hold it in place and then the arms get pushed into the sides, and voila!  A doll is born.

 

 

I had a wild imagination which I used a lot when I was a child.   We didn't have a lot of toys like other children had because my parents didn't believe in going into debt for anything except houses and cars.  They saved for everything and we only got what they could afford to buy us.   I know there were sometimes when I was a child that I longed to have things that other girls had, but in retrospect, I was probably much better of using my imagination and creating toys and games of my own.  I think I was inspired by that activity and it helped to feed my creative soul!

We had a blackboard when I was a child that was used for everything but a blackboard most of the time.   It was a slide from time to time, the roof of a play fort at others . . . other times we sat on it lke a magic carpet as it carried us in our minds to far off lands and places.

 

 

I can remember thinking I would die if I did not get a Chatty Cathy doll . . . can you imagine, a doll that actually spoke to you!  I wanted one with all of my doll loving little girl heart.  I  did not get one of course.  I think they were very expensive.  I did get a Little Miss Eaton doll, which was quite similar in looks to Chatty Cathy, but she did not talk, and she didn't have teeth or freckles.

Nevermind . . . I tied a string around her neck and I made her talk myself.  In a way that was a lot better because my Chatty Cathy had an unlimited vocabulary and book of phrases, unlike those other ones who only really said but a few things, and repeated herself a lot.

 

 

I also really, really wanted a Clue Game.  My best friend had one and I loved to go over to her house to play it with her.   One time she let me borrow it and I completely copied it and made myself one out of cardboard and paper.  It took me hours and hours and hours, but it worked the same and cost me nothing but my time.   I got a lot of pleasure out of creating it too.  She also had a Mouse Trap game which I loved to play . . . a bit harder to copy though.  ☺

I remember someone giving me a pair of roller skates once.  They were the old fashioned kind that you had to clamp onto the bottom of your shoes and tighten with a key. 

 There were no helmets, knee pads, or elbow pads and they were as dangerous as heck, but I loved them.  When I had those on it was just like I could fly!  In reality I didn't go very fast on them and I was not very good with them,  but that didn't really matter to me.

In retrospect, I think I had a very charmed childhood actually.  Not having everything I wanted did me no harm.  It inspired me to use my imagination, and I learned early on that anything which was worth having was also worth working for.    I think you value that which you have worked for much more than that which is simply given to you, but I could be wrong! I sometimes am!

A thought to carry with you  . . .


° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.˛.Remember that where you are 
is where God intended you to be. 
Learn to be happy 
with what you have. 
~ Mary Steiger   •。★★ 。* 。 

 

In The English Kitchen today . . .  Polka Dot Two Handers! Crisp edged and buttery.

Have a fabulous Sunday!  Don't forget!

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And I do too!