Friday 3 May 2013

Bring forth May flowers

Illustration of a fairy dressed in lilac and a lilac blossom, for a children's book

I was looking for flowery postcards for this Postcard Friendship Friday entry and discovered quite a number of them and the majority, like this one, from the Netherlands.  I don't list flowers among my preferences but in this case at least it probably comes under the art banner.

It's once of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies, the Lilac Fairy.  It was a good choice by the sender because I've always loved lilac.  I had a constant battle with my father during May because he believed having lilac indoors would bring bad luck but as soon as I had my own garden with a lilac tree I could have that wonderful scent around my home as much as I liked. He was not alone in that belief though some people restrict the ban to white lilac.

If you'd like to see more Flower Fairies, do visit Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.  She completed the A-Z Challenge last month using all Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies, though her letter L was lily of the valley.

I'll leave you with a couple of verses of Albert Noyes' poem "The Barrel Organ".  There are a good many more verses but I remember these from having to learn them at school when I was very young.  I don't know which came into my life first, the poem or the lilac tree.
Go down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer's wonderland;
Go down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn't far from London!)

The cherry-trees are seas of bloom and soft perfume and sweet perfume,
The cherry-trees are seas of bloom (and oh, so near to London!)
And there they say, when dawn is high and all the world's a blaze of sky
The cuckoo, though he's very shy, will sing a song for London.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

6 comments:

  1. It is a good thing I never knew about the bad luck lilac....
    If I had a house with a garden, a lilac would planted immediately (if there wasn't one there already, and maybe even if there was) :)

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  2. I love these flower fairies. I have a postcard swap friend from the USA who sent me several of them. I'm definitely looking in that blog who completed the A-Z challenge with this postcard series.

    But...I never knew lilac is associated with bad luck. I guess I'll find out with Mr. Google for the reason why.

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  3. I love flower fairy postcards. This one is especially lovely. I adore lilacs--they are so beautiful and fragrant--one of the heralds of Spring.

    Thank you for posting this one! Happy Postcard Friendship Friday!

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  4. What a sweet postcard. I had never heard the superstition about lilacs and bad luck. My friends, who have grown them, always had masses of the flowers in their homes, with the wonderful scent everywhere.

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  5. Aww, how very cute. :)

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