Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Old and the New

 Its been a mild day today in the hills so we took off for a long drive and I found a couple of sweet finds. A Victorian book  by the same author of a book I picked up on my birthday weekend in October...the gilt is beautiful
 
 




 
Another old bottle to add to my collection
 
 
 


 
A trip to the city Friday to hunt down bargains at the  Freedom sale....new aquamarine cushions
 
 

And my favourite buy there (I saw these 6 months ago at full price) there was 1 left..YAY a glazed and crackled large  apothecary jar ( perfect for my pink roses)



I was totally spoiled this Christmas by my darling husband...what a brave man buying a handbag...a gorgeous watermelon pink tote and tucked inside a bottle of Coco Mademoiselle


 
 A Victorian picture locket with a paste amethyst stone  from about 1900 made by a company Wightman and Hough in Rhode Is, from my Mum
 
 
 
It has my initials engraved under it !!!!
 
 
 
This is an advert I found on the web
 
 
In the garden this week...netting the fruit trees from the parrots, planting vegetable seedlings and my girls are losing there baby feathers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Linking up with :

The Dedicated House
A Living Space
Knick of Time
French Country Cottage
Ivy and Elephants
Common Ground
The Colorado Lady
Shabby Art Boutique
The Thrifty Groove
Chic on a Shoestring
Country Farm Home
My Romantic Home
Sir thrift-a-lot
Rose Vignettes
Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co
 The North End Loft
Finding Fabulous
Lavender Garden Cottage
 

Sunday, December 22, 2013

A Quiet Country Christmas

This Christmas feels a bit out of kilter ....a new house in a country town instead of our freshly decorated city home, losing Dad, and awful heatwave ...it reached 111 degrees and all my lovely flowers fried, but Christmas rolls on!
 
 
I finally finished my Rich Irish Christmas Cake. It has about 4 Kilos of fruit which is soaked in whisky and stirred every day for 3 weeks. Baking takes about 4 hours and more whisky poured over while it is still warm. Boy is it heavy!!
 
 
The unbearable heat has turned the hills to gold all around the house
 
 
Early evening from the front porch.
 
 I was a little tense as the temperature soared to 44 (111)
hoping the bushfire sirens wouldn't go off!


A couple of survivors were the Nepetas (catmint)

 



I sprayed our 12 week old girls with water every couple of hours



 
A light thrifting week but I did find this very old soda siphon bottle for a song
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 



Merry Christmas from my Family to yours



Linking up with :

The Dedicated House
A Living Space
Knick of Time
French Country Cottage
Ivy and Elephants
Common Ground
The Colorado Lady
Shabby Art Boutique
The Thrifty Groove
Chic on a Shoestring
Country Farm Home
My Romantic Home
Sir thrift-a-lot
Rose Vignettes
Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co
 The North End Loft
Finding Fabulous
Lavender Garden Cottage
 

 


 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Summertime in the Hills

I must admit to feeling a little flat this Christmas after losing Dad a couple of weeks ago so this year will be a little quieter in our new house
Love this little find.....very old mercury Christmas balls, marked made in Occupied Japan...and I love the patina
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I found this  1960's fan in a country town shop on Friday...love the colour
 
 
 
 
Lots of lights went up in the garden... thank heaven for solar battery packs
 
 
 
 

 
 
Our fruit orchard is loaded with ripening fruit and we have had to net the trees from the flocks of cockatoos
 
 
 
Apples
 
 
Nashi Pears
 
 
Tomatoes
 
 
 
Lettuces and Beans
 

We were given 15 pots of pink and blue Salvias which we dotted around the garden...all free at $15 a pot !!
 
 
 
Outside the back door ....smelling very perfumed...the first of the Gardenias in flower
 
 
.....and a loaded down Star Jasmine
 
 
 
Princess Alexandria of Kent
 
 
some days have been very hot and spoiling the English roses so I pick them and let them dry naturally in a vase




 
 
 
 
 
Dusk
 
From the Library this week
 






Linking up with :

The Dedicated House
A Living Space
Knick of Time
French Country Cottage
Ivy and Elephants
Common Ground
The Colorado Lady
Shabby Art Boutique
The Thrifty Groove
Chic on a Shoestring
Country Farm Home
My Romantic Home
Sir thrift-a-lot
Rose Vignettes
Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co
 The North End Loft
Finding Fabulous
Lavender Garden Cottage
 

 


 

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Saturday Thrifting

Thank you  all for the kind thoughts at the loss of my Dad, it was much appreciated.

Yesterday was a big shopping day and I managed to fit in a couple of thrift shops to explore




 
A new Savers opened in the city and I found this 1930's mirror with piecrust bevelled edge for $7.
 I'm going to try and find a couple more in different shapes and put them on my bathroom wall
 
It's been ages since I visited the op shops in the  little country town of Lobethal (which has the largest display of Christmas lights in the Southern Hemisphere) In the CFS Shop I picked up a and some Christmas decorations for 50c
 
 
 
 
 
And in Hosanna's  a pretty tablecloth and an adorable and really ancient faded paper flower wreath..I have 4 now so I guess that makes a collection
 



 
We bought a massive load of fairy lights to cover the eaves and trees in the garden and they should be all up by tonight
This tree is going to have a net of twinkling  fairy lights on it
 
 
 
We dropped off our 2 roosters to the new owner yesterday (sob) and our 4 girls spent their first night together without them. We have found it's a lot harder to be impartial when you hatch your own . It's like giving your children away
 
 
The veg garden is fantastic but we have had to net it all as we have so many parrots.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slowly the Christmas decorations are going up in the house
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It's been 3 years since we could put up our pretty Christmas tree and decorate it as my naughty Russian Blue ,Sascha, runs up the trunk and I'm still contemplating giving it another go!!!
 
 
 
 
Sunbathing in the sunlight patches in the sitting room...looking totally innocent

Linking up with :

The Dedicated House
A Living Space
Knick of Time
French Country Cottage
Ivy and Elephants
Common Ground
The Colorado Lady
Shabby Art Boutique
The Thrifty Groove
Chic on a Shoestring
Country Farm Home
My Romantic Home
Sir thrift-a-lot
Rose Vignettes
Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co
 The North End Loft
Finding Fabulous
Lavender Garden Cottage