Sam’s Visit

Our Grandson Sam came to visit us for a few days and we have really enjoyed having him here. Alan and Sam have worked in the Kitchen Garden, planted seeds, transplanted herbs, been across the road on the tractor, been cane toad busting at night and generally had fun. This morning Sam even had a go at some painting.  We will be sorry to see him go :(

When Everything Old is New Again !!

Alan bought this white outdoor setting many years ago during the 1960’s. We have taken it with us on all of our moves since we got married and Alan has painted it several times. With our house now on the market we had decided to `Garage Sale’ it until I read the latest edition of `Home Beautiful’. There  I saw a feature about a super trendy home in Notting Hill in London – owned and decorated by a super trendy young Interior Designer – and there in pride of place on her back terrace was one of these settings :) So now we have decided to keep it – it certainly is very nice to sit here now and eat Brekkie in Winter or Dinner on a Summer evening, and watch the birds playing in their bath under our Arch of climbing Honeysuckle and Jasmine. I am sure we will find the perfect spot for it in our next home too.

Quote of the day:
There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read. - G. K. Chesterton

Melanzane

I had to take a photo of these gorgeous `Graffiti Eggplants’. They look wonderful and don’t need any special treatment before cooking. Tonight they will be part of a Ratatouille which I plan to cook in my Le Creuset Cast Iron Casserole. My secret ingredient in this is Woosie Sauce but low salt Soy is good too.

Monsoon

 

Rain Rain and more Rain !!!! We are right in the middle of a Monsoon and it has been raining heavily non stop for hours. I took this photo of Alan this morning on his way back from collecting eggs and feeding our Chooks. They are out of the rain in their house but are very depressed as are the horses.  There is flooding everywhere but luckily although our Dam is overflowing, all the water that lands on our property drains well away.  I have read 3 books since Monday but thanks to my Treadmill I haven’t missed my exercise :)

Butterflies are Free

We have this beautiful plant with mauve flowers near our front door and last week it was smothered with yellow butterflies. Their colour coordinated perfectly with the flowers and I had fun trying to get a photo. I found that Butterflies move very fast so I focused on the flowers and finished up with a blurry butterfly. Anyhow it was a fun and relaxing way to spend half an hour on a Summer’s Day. (For Gardeners this plant  is Duranta Repens – Geisha Girl and originates from Japan).

Abbey Fay is 1

   

Our beautiful little grand daughter Abbey turned 1 last week.  We gave her her first bike and she received loads of other great presents including a magical Doll’s House from her Mum and Dad. On Valentine’s Day she partied hard with friends and family and pink was the colour of the day. We all had a great time and Abbey loved her pink cake.

Inspired by Klee

 

I loved participating in an on line challenge this week which asked us to produce a piece inspired by the Artist Paul Klee. I got carried away and had a lot of fun playing  in Art Rage using water colour brushes and gloop  pens. Then I exported this into Photo Shop Elements and added an Art Doll by Ruby Rynne.  I also used one of Ruby’s background papers and blended this into my piece. I love the result but I think Paul Klee would be spinning in his grave :)  I do think he would have loved Art Rage though.