April faves

And just like that, April is over and I almost did not make the deadline for this month’s faves. But here it is.

April usually heralds the start of a long, hot and dusty summer around these parts. It is also the month when every type of plant bursts into bloom, indicating that the rainy season is over for the next 5 months or so. In our little garden, all the bulbs have flowered and the season is over for them. I am now waiting for the roses, hibiscus and hydrangeas to bloom. And the bougainvillea. But that will be a while, as it is the only plant that will happily flower during our scorching summer.

Wild poppies are a source of joy for me during April. This year I have not encountered as many patches of them as usual in our countryside, which could be because of natural causes or it could be due to the massive amount of construction going on all over the place. Poppies are an expendable resource and not too many people seem to be bothered by their loss since they cannot be exchanged for money.

I am sure that, in future, April 2019 will be remembered most for the fire that engulfed Notre Dame’s centuries-old roof and spire. If you haven’t read it yet, I shared my impressions on first seeing Notre Dame a decade ago here. It was heart-wrenching, watching that magnificent cathedral burn. However, the fire will not define it; rather, it will transform it and give it new life as it has to many other medieval structures as Jenny Alexander explained in this article: Notre Dame: A history of medieval cathedrals and fire.

On a lighter note, the much-loved TV show The Durrells has returned for the fourth and final season and it is always a joy to follow the adventures of this rather eccentric English family. I will surely miss it once it’s over.

On a more personal and frivolous level, I have found a gorgeous new fragrance that really works well with my body chemistry and seems to linger forever about  my person. It is My Burberry (by Burberry, of course). I always find it hard to describe a scent but, according to Fragrantica (an online perfume encyclopaedia), My Burberry is ‘inspired by the cult trench coat of the Burberry brand and a London garden after the rain’. I don’t own a Burberry trench coat (and probably never will) but I think that the description about a  London garden (or any English garden) after the rain is spot-on. It also made me realise that our noses tend to pick up certain scents and hoard them in our memory cache as favourites because they might invoke a memory or a place or a person, which is probably what happened with My Burberry. It just seemed to remind me of that clean, fresh smell mingled with flower blossoms that pervades the air after the rain – which is not what you think the perfume will smell like when you first get a whiff of it. Incidentally, when we were in Scotland I picked up another lovely scent called After the Rain by Arran Aromatics, which instantly transports me to that wild, beautiful country whenever I use it.

I have finally joined Postcrossing (a site that allows you to send and receive postcards from people around the world) and have mailed my first two postcards. I hope it will turn out to be as enjoyable as it sounds. If any of you would like a postcard from me, just let me know. I am always open to exchanging postcards.

And now on to this month’s faves:

1. Enjoy the vibrant colours of Burano in Sara White’s article: Bold and stark: The colours of Burano. It really made me want to go back and see Burano when only the locals are there.
2. I really enjoyed reading Catherine Summers’ (of Not Dressed As Lamb Fame) opinion about the ‘influencer (a word I utterly detest)look’ in this article in which she questions what happened to individuality in blogging.
3. Do you  need a smile file? Sarah von Bargen of the blog  Yes and Yes seems to think so and she has me convinced as I am sure that we all need to find things to smile about when we’re feeling a bit low.
4. If you’re in need of a little inspiration or just need convincing to start that new hobby or throw your fears to the wind, you will enjoy reading Brenda Coffee’s article about Sandra Sallin. Sandra tells us that it’s never too late to start and I think it’s something we should all never forget. Incidentally, Sandra has her own blog, Apart From My Art which is worth a read.
5. It was a great pleasure to see our favourite Vintage Contessa (aka Elizabeth Kirkpatrick) on the front cover of the Orinda Living Magazine. Elizabeth’s lovely smile and zest for life are well known to all her readers and these come across very well in this article.

And my favourite Instagram photo of the month has to be Christian Macias’s (@chrisma1105) shot of a field of poppies in  Umbria,  Italy.

Between Easter, gardening, trying to get back into shape and keeping up with a teenager’s social calendar, April has just flown by. I’ve given up hoping that time will slow down.