Keys

"Mary looked at it, not really knowing why the hole
 was there, and as she looked she saw something almost
buried in the newly turned soil. It was something like a
ring of rusty iron or brass, and when the robin flew up into
a tree near by she put out her hand and picked the ring up.
It was more than a ring, however; it was an old key which
looked as if it had been buried a long time."
                       ~'The Secret Garden'
                          by Frances Hodgson Burnett

   The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books when I was a little girl. I loved the idea that the little girl in the story found a key to a garden that no one had been in in years and made it her secret place. I went to see the movie with a friend of my Mum's and when I came home I wanted to find a key just like the one I had seen in the film! It wasn't the first time I had thought about keys - they had always seemed a little magical to me. They opened doors to castles, magical worlds, dungeons, towers, and secret places. I loved them and luckily I had a Mum who loved antiquing so we came across many beautiful old keys that my sister and I have kept over the years. When the antique store I work at started to get little bins full of old keys I found that childhood excitement awakening again. I couldn't help going through them and finding the prettiest ones or the ones that looked so old and big they could have opened a door to a palace. I bought a couple because I couldn't resist and they sit with my small childhood collection. Here are a few pictures of my keys and my sister's. The large round one on the pink ribbon is over three hundred years old! I hope you like them and that, maybe, they awaken those feelings of magic that they always do in me. 

For a special surprise I am listing a small original drawing on my etsy store today! It is called  'Lavender Lace'. Stay tuned for new prints being added in the next week or so!

I am joining this blog party today:
Show Off Your Cottage Monday

LAVENDER LACE

Drawing by Jennelise