We are now on Instagram

Cinderella Clock made for a display

I am always late for everything in life preferring to hold back and wait and see before testing the waters myself.

Some years ago when the husband and I were buying a property we registered with an  estate agent who simply could not believe that we did not possess a mobile phone between us. She thought we were lying to her.

Since those days which do seem rather a long time ago now we have been dragged (sometimes screaming) into the modern age by younger friends and family members who despair of our dusty hermit like habits. Time moves on and though Blogger was once a favourite place for us all to meet many have found a new café in Instagram which is quicker to use, and you can take it with you! I resisted for ages, but in the end was completely won over by the vast amount of absolutely beautiful images that people share.

Vienna cafe

 I can take an around the world trip in just a few minutes while having a cup of tea and then return to the real world instead of spending hours over posting a piece on Blogger.

Am I leaving Blogger? No, but I cannot pretend that I have as much time as I would like to post and to visit fellow bloggers who I so admire, and so, if you want to follow me more closely I would be honoured if any of you pop over to Instagram and become friends there. Link at the bottom of the post, and in the sidebar. You can still enjoy the galleries on instagram without posting.

While I have been away from Blogger I've not been idle. We have now been at the wonderful old building, The Emporium in Hungerford, for seven years! The shop is doing well and keeping me very busy buying, renovating, inventing and selling. And our poor old rickety cottage continues to vex us trying to keep it upright.

The Emporium in Hungerford, Berkshire

 I've travelled a bit

From a painting at Watts Gallery

renewing my love of the magical places in This Sceptred Isle which first caught my imagination,

Tinsmiths, Ledbury, their magical alley

Step back in time
18 Folgate Street, Spitalfields, London

Thatched cottages in local villages

and fallen in love with another European city, Oh Vienna. I shall return.

Baroque Heaven, look up in Vienna

Art Nouveau everywhere too
The exquisite Secession House

More amazing roof, St Stephens Cathedral

 It was lovely to travel, and so good to come home. 

The tall dark and handsome man I'd given my heart to awhile back has done amazing things and become a superstar. In my time I have been bewitched by many special thoroughbreds and could not have hoped that another creature so enchanting would gallop into my life ~ and yet, there he is.Thistlecrack.

Thistlecrack trained in Somerset by Colin Tizzard,
and ridden byTom Scudamore,
out on their own

I've read a LOT of wonderful books. I hope to post a few soon so that if you have not read them and find them interesting you can look out for them too.

Puff has her own ideas about what we read!

The Last Days of Leda Grey by Essie Fox
fascinating look at the world of silent films

Wonderful Edna! 

Sadly we had to say farewell to our beloved lodger, little raggedy man Munchkin whose bravery in his illness touched all who knew him.

Our Lionheart
Munchkin LeStrange

We had a wonderful Christmas in Devon with the family together for a change, and hope that you enjoyed the holiday season whatever that you believe, and where ever that you may be in the world.

These times are very trying for so many people. Yet with January here and Spring not far behind I do feel positive for the first time in a long while. We can endure.

Find us on instagram Here: discardedtreasures

SEASONAL ~ Through a Glass Darkly

Winter Reflections




 



The last of the amber and copper coloured leaves are falling fast. The Owl does not call on clear moon lit nights. Autumn has gone.

The bare trees reach out, leaning against one another and making spooky sculptures. Creaking in the night wind.












Winter comes with long thin icy fingers, the trees reflected in the windows.
Fog hangs in the air, and frost is upon the grass. When the rain stops.

This is a time for pretty things, bright baubles, and candles. 





Mirror with fairy lights

I like gathering old books to read over the holidays, mainly Fairy Tales and Ghost Stories. There is an old traditional in England of reading ghost stories aloud on Christmas Eve. Some of the oldest ones are the scariest. I've been reading The Violet Car by Evelyn Nesbit, (best known for her children’s books). The author of 'The Railway Children', was a great beauty in her day who was also known to turn her pretty hand to a ghostly tale. 

Evelyn Nesbit on a bear rug in her studio, 1901

The story begins with a paragraph that hooks straight away, beautifully written - and already haunting. When a nurse goes down to a remote farmhouse on the Downs to look after an elderly couple she discovers that their madness has a terrifying edge to it. And why is the old man haunted by hallucinations of a violet car?

'Do you know the downs-the wide, windy spaces, the rounded shoulders of hills leaned against the sky, the hollows where farms and homesteads nestle sheltered, with trees round them pressed close and tight as a carnation in a button hole?'

Do you have a favourite ghost story?

America has Thanksgiving between Halloween and Christmas. It is a holiday that has changed substantially over the years, but gratitude is a blessing.  After Bonfire Night November is a quiet month for me, taking time out to reflect upon the year that has passed and beginning to 'draw in' for the Winter. It is nice to nest and to be glad of home.

Further reading:

1. Corinthians 13:12 contains the phrase βλεπομεν γαρ αρτι δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι (blepomen gar arti di esoptrou en ainigmati), which is "For now we see through a glass, darkly." This passage has inspired the titles of many works.

2. Hutchinson - 50 Years of Ghost Stories

3. Virago - Book of Ghost Stories