When did you realize you could reach the stars?

Helllooo my dears!

I hope you have all been having days 

filled with sunshine and laughter,

because that's how mine have been!

I recently just found this little wonder hiding in my bookshelf,

and had to share it incase any of you hadn't been previously introduced.

The Catwings series by Ursula K. LeGuin

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My first birthday party was on Sunday!

These are some of the photographs from the weekend,

and some treasures that were given to me.

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And lasttt but not least, the sweetest darling from Heart in a cage presented me with an award!

The Rules:

1. Accept the award (image above), post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted you this award, and his/her blog link.

2. Pass the award to at least 5 other blogs/bloggers that you think are beautiful (for whatever reason),list the reason why & remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award!

The blogs I would like to pass this award along to would be Coccinelle, Daydream Lily, Fifikoussout, The Great Book of Fairy Tales,  and The Tea Drinking English Rose! I hope you all know how special your blogs mean to me!

Where will you hide when the night is over, and the sun beats down low.

On either side of the of the path there was a wilderness

 of nettles and blackberry thorns and long brown grass.

An enormous oak tree stood overshadowing the cottage.

Its massive spreading branches seemed to be enfolding 

and embracing the tiny building, 

and perhaps hiding it as well from the rest of the world.

Miss Honey, with one hand on the gate which she had not yet opened, 

turned to Matilda and said, "A poet called Dylan Thomas once wrote some lines 

that I think of every time I walk up this path."

Matilda waited, and Miss Honey, 

in a rather wonderful slow voice, began reciting the poem:

"Never and never, my girl riding far and near

In the land of the hearthstone tales, and spelled 

asleep,

Fear or believe that the wolf in the sheepwhite 

hood

Loping and bleating roughly and blithely shall

leap, my dear, my dear,

Out of a lair in the flocked leaves in the dew

dipped year

To eat you heart in the house in the rosy

wood."

There was a moment of silence, and Matilda,

 who had never before heard great romantic poetry spoken aloud, 

was profoundly moved.

 "It's like music," she whispered.

"It is music," Miss Honey said.

 And then, as though embarrassed at having revealed such a secret part of herself,

 she quickly pushed open the gate and walked up the path.

Matilda hung back. She was a bit frightened of this place now.

It seemed so unreal and remote and fantastic and so totally away from this earth. 

It was like and illustration in Grimm or Hans Andersen.

It was the house where the poor woodcutter lived with Hansel and Gretel

and where Red Riding Hood's grandmother lived 

and it was also the house of The Seven Dwarfs

and The Three Bears and all the rest of them.

It was straight out of a fairy-tale.

"Come along, my dear," Miss Honey called back,

and Matilda followed her up the path.

excerpt from "Matilda" by Roald Dahl

all photos by none other than Tim Walker

Sunday is birthday party day.

I'll be with so much family and friends

that I shall surely spend the day

laughing and twirling myself into exhaustion.

I can't wait!

Sweet lovers love. ..the spring.

Hold your breath

Make a wish

Count to three

Come with me

And you'll be

In a world of

Pure imagination

Take a look

And you'll see 

Into your imagination

We'll begin

With a spin

Traveling in

The world of my creation

What we'll see

Will defy

Explanation

If you want to view paradise

Simply look around and view it

Anything you want to, do it

Wanta change the world?

There's nothing

To it

There is no 

Life I know

To compare with 

Pure imagination

Living there

You'll be free

If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise

Simply look around and view it

Anything you want to, do it

Wanta change the world?

There's nothing

To it

There is no

Life I know

To compare with

Pure imagination

Living there

You'll be free

If you truly

Wish to be

"Pure Imagination" from the movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"

All photos by May Heek

Also, I mentioned before how the darling Charlotte, 

from The Tea Drinking English Rose presented me with the most precious award.

I'm going to pass it along to two of my favorite blogs, 

The Unicorn Diaries and Heart in a Cage.

la la la

Keep dancing, darlings.

welcome to the jungle

Hello my darlings!

Things have been sort of insane lately

because I've been planning for my birthday party.

I've also just started working on a new photo series

based on Alice in Wonderland, of course. 

So here is some nonsensical inspiration for everyone, 

because sometimes, that's all that life requires.

The table was a large one, 

but the three were all crowded together at one corner. 

"No room! No room!" they cried out when they saw Alice coming.

"There's plenty of room!" said Alice indignantly, 

and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.

"Have some wine," the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. 

Alice looked round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. 

"I don't see any wine," she remarked.

"There isn't any," said the March Hare.

 "Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it," said Alice angrily.

"It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited," said the March Hare. 

"I didn't know it was your table," said Alice: "it's laid for a great many more than three."

"Your hair wants cutting," said the Hatter. 

He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, 

and this was his first speech.

 "You should learn not to make personal remarks,"

 Alice said with some severity: "It's very rude."

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this;

 but all he said was, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

"Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice.

 "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles- I believe I can guess that," she added aloud. 

"Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said the march Hare.

 "Exactly so," said Alice.

"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on. 

"I do," Alice hastily replied;

 "at least- at least I mean what I say- that's the same thing, you know."

"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter.

 "Why, you might just as well say that 

'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"

"You might just as well say," added the March Hare,

 "that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!"

"You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, 

which seemed to be talking in its sleep, "that 'I breathe when I sleep'

 is the same thing as 'I sleep when I breathe'!"

"It is the same thing with you," said the Hatter, 

and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, 

while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, 

which wasn't much.

The Hatter was the first to break the silence.

 "What day of the month is it?" he said, turning to Alice: 

he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, 

shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.

 Alice considered a little, and then said, "the fourth."

"Two days wrong!" sighed the Hatter.

 "I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!" he added,

 looking angrily at the March Hare.

 "It was the best butter," the March Hare meekly replied.

"Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,"

 the Hatter grumbled: "you shouldn't have put it in the bread-knife."

The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: 

then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again:

but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, 

"It was the best butter, you know."

excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

All photos by the amazing Anna Gaskell

and also, the lovely and ever enchanting Charlotte from The Tea Drinking English Rose 

has given me an award, so I shall post that next! It means so much to me, dear!

Hope you're all having happy dreams.