Boring Blog Business . . .

I've been away. Mentally and Physically. Jaunts down south (to a farm stay) and the beach house as well as jaunts to nurseries to plant the garden for spring. Mentally my mind continually vacates to the images and ideas flirting floating around cyber space.

Pinterest be gone! (just kidding . . . come back, sorry! I love you!)

So here's a blurry, visual and sloppy catch up - images and quick captions. Better something than nothing right? (the procrastinator in me keeps arguing for better photos and more time to write poetically and thoughtfully. The realist in me says "who you kidding?" and the optimist says "share the little that you have - it's all life and it's all good enough"

A jaunt to Bridgetown - historical, crafty, thrifty, tasty and pretty much 

everything else we love in a small community

Young  man had his first coffee - well a Mocha to be precise - with a very weak shot of espresso. 

I keep telling him he's got the rest of his life to discover the perils of caffeine 

but he was curious and his friends have tried it.. blah blah… teenagers!)

The locals told me that in winter they call it Fridgetown because it gets so blooming cold.

I loved it and I'm definitely heading back

The coffee saga continued and after much arguing I agreed to let Young Prince have an

Iced Coffee (decaf - shhh don't tell him that) and thank the heavens he didn't like it!

Mum scores and we go back to having quality hot chocolates and milkshakes.

The beach house was a haven (as it always is) for reading, board games, period dramas, foot spas, 

long walks along the beach, killer pasta dishes and family chatter

Treasures were found and dragged home...

… galleries were visited - this piece Humanature by Kim Perrier

of course there was thrifting...

… and sorting ...

.. and planting - we've decided to concentrate on tomatoes this year.

Herbs too - but we thought instead of harvesting a little of everything with a lot of 

trial and error (not to mention slugs and snails) thrown in for good measure - why not see how

we fare planting many varieties of just one veg - or in this case fruit. Fingers crossed!

Having said that I did recently discover these guys and so I ordered THIS and THIS

Hoping to cultivate a few hot seedlings as Christmas gifts.

On the lazier Sunday mornings we trample (pyjama clad) up the back of the 

garden to sit with with the chooks. Our oldest gal Roz has gone broody (AGAIN) but we aren't

going to put chicks underneath her this time - maybe next year though. She's such a wonderful 

mother hen it would be a shame to not let her raise a few more feathered friends.

I'm still working at my Floral Design course - with an eye on improving my bouquet techniques.

I luuuuurve flowers  - have you noticed? This bunch of Stock, Verbena, Irish Bells and Delphiniums

lasted 9 days before showing signs of giving up the ghost. Just goes to show that regular water changes and stem trimming really do make a difference with cut flowers.

We've had blissful days of misty drizzle too and Young Prince has been rising early in order to

"get the most out of his vacation"

This lasted for the first three days of holidays … then we were straight back to sleeping in

(teenagers)

I've been striking succulents (another Christmas gift idea I have brewing)

and purchasing preserve jars and mason jars for other homemade loveliness

(we also sorted out our pantry - a three hour job that delivered more satisfaction

than I would ever have imagined possible for such a menial task - I would've taken before and 

after photos had I thought this a blog worthy moment but it was not until we'd completed 

the job, stood back, surveyed the VAST improvement and realised what a mahoosive 

difference an organised pantry space makes  - I smile every time I reach for 

a clearly labelled jar of just about anything now . . . small things - big change)

Speaking of small things - Hubby fixed the running loo.

It ran for quite sometime. It drove us nuts. We kept closing 

it off at the wall to save water wastage. We also procrastinated at calling

the plumber - hoping that something else would go wrong so that it seemed

worthy of a visit from a man charging tiny fortunes to replace washers.

Then came You Tube, Bunnings and steely determination.

(He's so chuffed with himself I swear he'd like 

to wear his underpants on the outside - even for just a day)

However . . .

His success has cast a shadow over my failure.

Kefir - cannot - will not - has not - shall not.

So here's where You Tube and steely determination DID NOT succeed.

(I mean come on . . . I wrapped it up and gave it a heat pad - how much 

more love can you show a strain of bacteria?)

. . . and finally, visits with nieces and nephew

Which are always enough to make my heart sing

****

So that's my world and all that's been buzzing around it lately.

Big plans, changes and dreams are on their way though.

New look for here, new ideas for work and adventures for 2015

Stay tuned!

In the meantime please tell me what's been happening in your

corner of the universe - spare no details.

I like details.

In finishing off I thought I'd link to a video that has me simply mesmerised

(the song's not bad either!)

Talk soon

xx 

School Holidays and Sloth-like Tendencies...

So this will be a lazy post  - so lazy in fact that I cannot even be bothered editing & ordering the images or apologising for the close-up of my toes or the medium close-up of me straight out of a bath and into THE onesie*... the one that was bloomin pricey but had the ever essential "bottom flap" (which I consider nothing short of ESSENTIAL given that the whole point of a onesie is to remain cocooned and how then do you achieve this when it's time to take a twinkle???) 

It's mid-winter school holidays (or break or vacation whichever you prefer) here peoples. That means we stay in bed late when we can - and we conduct ourselves as sloth like as is allowed before life truly gets in the way. We have the bush radio on most of the day whilst crafting, we venture out to feed the chickens and walk the dog, drink lots of tea which we accompany with sugary treats and allow the pooch to act as lap warmer whenever possible. 

School/study is going very well. My lovely tutor allows me a day of work experience in her shop as well (which I looooooove) and the practice is making all the difference. We have exams coming up so I have to squeeze study in to the sloth timetable ... as well as a few "Mother-Son Milkshake & Soy-Chai-Latte Dates"

Yes... life is looking pretty horizontal here in the hills peoples. It's all about squeezing out every drop of hedonism the day has to offer and making zero excuses for it. After all what else is a vacation for?

Now if you'll excuse me I need to make some hot chocolate and fish out some knitting... and possibly emerge from the onesie so that it can be washed. 

* I have desired, dreamed and wished for a Onesie for most of my life. I first spotted one on Little House on the Prairie - when I asked my mum why they didn't make pee-jays like that anymore she laughed... whereas I was being serious. It seemed like the most logical outfit for any cold winter climate and I adored the fact that someone had the genius to incorporate a "loo-flap" - after all who wants to strip halfway in the middle of the night? It's bad enough that the toilet seat is like an ice-block! Are these thoughts just mine or do I share a camaraderie with other "onesie wearers" out there?

♥♥♥♥

PS - I mastered the paper crane... sans a swear word. Not sloth-like but noteworthy.