Monday-morning butterflies, opium poppies and wisteria...

Monday-morning butterflies in the stomach and not so colourful outside! Lingering ash-laden clouds perhaps. So, as an antidote to all of that, to brush away the dust and keep the grey at bay here are my treasure talismans....
The Wisteria blooms are coming to an end but their scent is still here, a vague vanilla pefume that even enters the house in the evening. A welcome guest. However, for night-scents, Stock and Nicotina remain the most powerful, despite their relatively 'humble' flowers that belie that precise force. We used to grow them specifically for that night-time presence and then keep the windows open. The Wisteria is a pale lilac colour, and reminds me that the (pharmaceutical) fields of Opium poppies will soon be in flower here. Darker in colour are the purple irises that will last longer than their yellow cousins, the Yellow Flag, so called because after just a few days they wilt and 'flag'. Later in the month the Clematis will be out, great violet flowers like stars in the bushes.

Far from the beach, but surrounded by treasures; found, made, gleaned and swiped!

Rather than casting out a message-bearing bottle into the sea, I'm going to send this blog out on its way, hoping to encounter other Magpie-minded people who like similar things.
Here are some things that I have come across, or made myself - always drawn to any shiny, sparkling object; bright colours; rich material; sunlight on glass; shells; vibrant feathers; beads; and insects & butterflies....