warm, eager, restless

Warmth very kindly bought me a Kindle, for my slightly sleepless nights, now and probably when the baby arrives. I'd thought that a Kindle with it's light would be a way for me to be able to find time to read. So far I'm downloading the free ones that I've already read, I'm sure I shall be tired so a re read maybe just right. Next one is Emma.

'That evening for the first time in his life, as he pressed through the swing door and descended the three broad steps to the pavement, old Mr. Neave felt he was too old for the spring. Spring - warm, eager, restless - was there, waiting for him in the golden light, ready in front of everybody to run up, to blow on his white beard, to drag sweetly on his arm. And he couldn't meet her, no; he couldn't square up once more and stride off, jaunty as a young man.' Katherine Mansfield An Ideal Family in The Garden Party.

spring

gold-fluttering trees

I'm going to miss pottering in the garden with no sense of time now I'm back to school. But the sweet peas are still hanging in and autumn is just around the corner.

'The window looked out on to flower beds, a tangle of Michaelmas daisies, late dahlias, hanging heavy, and shaggy little asters. Then there came a lawn strewn with yellow leaves with a broad path beyond and a row of gold-fluttering trees.' Katherine Mansfield Widowed in Something childish but very natural

dahlia

How is your garden today?

Absolute Bliss

Even though we are no longer in our thirties I hope to still have moments like these...

"Although Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at - nothing - at nothing, simply.
What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly, by a feeling of bliss - absolute bliss! - as though you'd suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and burned it in your bosom, sending out a little shower of sparks into every particle, into every finger and toe?..." Katherine Mansfield Bliss in Something childish but very natural

unknown

In fact I hope they continue forever...

One can imagine

We recently visited the Royal Academy. I'd saved this quote for such a time.

'It's so important,' the new Isabel had explained, 'that they should like the right things from the very beginning. It saves so much time later on. Really, if the poor pets have to spend their infant years staring at these horrors, one can imagine them growing up and asking to be taken to the Royal Academy.' Katherine Mansfield Marriage a la Mode in Something childish but very natural

wall

I'm intrigued as to what they saw in their infant years to want to visit the Royal Academy and 

why Isabel dislikes it so much.

Lean upon the dusk

Back to work this week. No more morning pottering in the garden.


'The windows of the drawing-room opened on to a balcony overlooking the garden. At the far end, against the wall, there was a tall, slender pear tree in fullest, richest bloom; it stood perfect, as though becalmed against the jade-green sky... Down below in the garden beds, the red and yellow tulips, heavy with flowers, seemed to lean upon the dusk." Katherine Mansfield Bliss in Something childish and very natural

overlooking

Hoping for glorious spring evenings enjoying dusk in our garden.

Warm delicious beauty

This weekend has just been glorious so this seems a perfect Monday post.

"The most thrilling day of the year, the first real day of Spring had enclosed its warm delicious beauty even to London eyes. It had put a spangle in every colour and a new tone in every voice, and city folks walked as though they carried real bodies under their clothes with real live hearts pumping the still blood through." Katherine Mansfield Something childish but very natural

spring 

How was your weekend?

Late Summer Rain

I really enjoy reading short stories on holiday. Not normally a 'more than one book on the go at a time' woman short stories give a break from the main book, a change when able to read for extended leisurely periods of time. I remember reading Katherine Mansfield at school and have wanted to read more of her. A beautiful birthday gift meant here was my opportunity.

There were some days like this..
'It had been raining all the morning, later summer rain, warm, heavy, quick, and now the sky was clear, except for a long tail of little clouds, like ducklings, sailing over the forest.' Mr & Mrs Dove (in Something childish but very natural by Katherine Mansfield

summerrain