Phew...

It's the weekend and I'm sure glad it is!

I'm off to meet my girlfriend "G" to have a coffee, lunch and a wander around some shops...and of course a very large chat about our respective weeks.

She's been working extremely long, hard hours. Me? Not so much. But I still get tired towards the end of my working week and it's nice to catch up over some nice food and a really good coffee.

This is Concha's sewing room.

What I'll be doing tomorrow though, is trying to get my sewing room looking something like this.

Who am I kidding? It will NEVER look anything even remotely like this. I am much too messy...but it's nice to dream that I might get organised one day

I won't post any before pictures of my sewing room. I'm not nasty enough to do that to you. I don't think you'd ever recover from that sight.

Have a great and safe weekend

Surprises

Don't you love it when you walk into the garden and out of the corner of your eye, you detect a small splash of colour. It wasn't there yesterday...or at least, you didn't notice it yesterday

But there it is. Just sitting there. Very, very pink.

Then, on closer inspection, you notice more. Purples and yellows...

Amongst a sea of green

Very yellow.

Just tucked into a corner

... and very pink. I forgot it was even hidden in there next to the lime tree. In fact I thought it had died long ago. Thank goodness I was wrong.

Magnifique Filles

A couple of years ago MONT (man of number 10) and I headed overseas for a very nice holiday. We had a few days in London and we headed to Portobello Road to have a look at the market there.

SYMPHONIE

During our wanderings we walked past plenty of antique stalls as well as clothing and food etc...but we stopped dead in our tracks at one stall, when we saw these two gorgeous girls.

MELODIE

There's a little plaque on each one stating they are by the sculptor Ruffony. Apparently he was an Italian who worked in Paris. He died in 1925, but I'm not sure when these were actually made.

They are extremely heavy though, so it was a bit of a worry getting them home and still be under our allowable luggage weight. I had also added to our booty with a few purchases during our travels....no surprises there.

We purchased an extra case, a small one, so we could carry it onto the plane.

We'd been told by the vendor that the base of the statues were Bakelite, so we didn't bother declaring them when we got to Tullamarine airport. WRONG! They are wood and were picked up by the X-Ray machine, so they had to be extricated from the many, many layers of bubble wrap and (dirty) clothing so the Customs Officer could check them out.

In the end, everything was fine... no active, living bugs in them. They now have pride of place in our loungeroom and MONT says he gets a real buzz walking by them every day and remembering where we were when we bought them.

They are lovely girls. Thank you Ruffony.

Howdy Neighbour

I have a confession to make.

I like living in the suburbs and I like our neighbours.

Suburban life is not for everyone, it can be fraught with danger and cause untold damage, especially to your liver, depending on what your neighbour's like to drink. Some people like the inner city life with cafes, restaurants and tram stops right at their front gate, some prefer an apartment or flat with no garden to worry about, while others prefer a more rural lifestyle, with an acre or two separating them from their neighbours. Some don't want to know any of their neighbours at all.

Me though...well, while I like my peace and quiet and the idea of having a few acres around me, I really like our quarter acre block....and yes, I like socialising with our neighbours.

A couple of weekends ago we had all the neighbours over for a casserole night. There were 18 people here including kids. Everyone brought a pot of food and a bottle of wine and we had a terrific night.

That's a thing I like about suburbia...you can always get to know your neighbours

I can't handle living in a "box" with no garden or outdoor area. I like the idea of being able to walk out the door and still be in my own living, green world. I especially like it of a night when the lights are illuminating the silver birches.

There's something about "living, green, space" that makes me feel wherever I am is home

Even when I was working interstate some years ago, (last century aggghhh) the criteria when looking for somewhere to live, was to find something with a yard or garden. It wasn't just for me though, it was for the critters who travelled with me all over the place...and I always got to know my neighbours.

All I can say now is, bring on Summer, because once I break out the champagne cocktails on a warm Summer evening, there'll be no stopping us.

Yep, suburban life is pretty darn good.

Back to the Future

Back in the 70's while still at school, I was no different to many teenage girls. I loved fashion, but money was a bit tight, so Mum taught me how to sew on her old Singer Machine, which she still has by the way.

For inspiration I'd regularly check out the local newsagent for fashion magazines...and I fell in love with "19".

It was from the UK and in my mind that was pretty exotic... if the UK can be classified as exotic, but it was to me way back then

Anyway, I still have a few of my favourite copies, so I thought I'd share some of the fashion that was being featured in 1974

A lot of the fashion was Summer and beach wear. It had a bohemian casualness about it....a look that says long summer days on the sand under a palm tree and balmy nights under a mosquito net in a small hut.

Notice anything though? How timeless this photograph is? It could've been taken just last week.

Inspired, I bought myself a kimono...a red one in fact...and I also made some of those cami knickers, or at least a version of them that I felt comfy wearing when we were at the beach for our annual holiday. Funny what you'll wear around the tent on a hot day isn't it?

This fashion shoot was done in Tobago in 1974.

The pink chiffon blouse with floral print from "Nostalgia" from 4 pounds
White Cotton cami-knickers with lace trim from 8.50
Blue floral kimono 12 pounds.

I bet they'd cost a lot more now!

Sadly, "19" stopped being published in 2004.

Another part of my teenage years gone...

Football in September

Life at Number 10 can sometimes get a bit testy at this time of year...because not only is September the first month of Spring here in beautiful Melbourne, it's also the beginning of football finals.

MCG

Yes, the days and nights are gradually getting warmer....but Melbourne in September takes on another life. One filled with colours of the competing teams and good hearted banter with work colleagues and neighbours.

...and things can get a bit testy because my team, The Geelong Cats, and MONT's (Man Of Number 10) team, The Western Bulldogs, are in the finals this year



Geelong won the Grand final in 2007 and were runners up last year

Now, for those of you who don't know anything about Aussie Rules Football, think of the Grand Final here as Australia's version of the "Super Bowl" or The World Series".

The MCG holds around 100,000 people, and each year it is full to capacity with footy fans attending the Grand Final. If the ground held twice that many, it would still be full.

That's a lot of bums on seats...and mine will be adding to the total this coming weekend when MONT and I head to the "G" to watch his team

Yes, while I barrack for the Cats I still go along to cheer on his side, except when they play mine...then it can get a little, how do you say.... difficult.

Carn the Cats.

Soothing and Calm

The first weekend of Spring

Wouldn't you love to be able to stretch out on this sofa in the Spring sunshine and snooze or read a book? I know I would.

Have a great weekend everyone

The Precious Drop

Melbourne has been on Stage 3a Water Restrictions now, oh, it feels like forever, and it looks like the drought we're experiencing will be sticking around for sometime - read: forever!

We love our garden, such as it is, so we decided to take steps to make sure it survived the drought

This is not the most picturesque section of our backyard, but it certainly is a vital part of it. It's our number 1 water tank and it's tucked in a corner right up the back. It takes all the water from the carport roof and took no time at all to fill during the first downpour we had after it was installed. We've had it now for a few years and Dear Husband connected a hose to it for the overflow, as well as a pump and tap so we could water the garden.

These are the other two water tanks in the yard. They're down the blindside of the house, where we've planted all the shrubs and plants that we didn't want or have room for in the rest of the garden.

The tanks are called Waterwalls and they're quite slim so they'll fit in a small area and still give you room to move around.

These also have a pump connected and supply water to the toilet in the front bathroom. They're also linked by a large hose so one can flow into the other if the water level gets low.

The green hose in the front yard is also connected to these two tanks and works as the overflow outlet into the front garden.

The large black hose is actually connected to the outlet of the shower in the front bathroom. We didn't want to waste all that water and see it just go down the drain, so instead the hose takes it straight onto the grass in the front yard.

We have a similar system in the backyard, with all water from the washing machine being drained into a large container and then emptying, via two hoses, onto the back garden. I buy a low phosphate, plant and mineral based washing powder that's friendly to the garden and it washes everything just fine. The garden is also thriving, so we must be doing something right.

Spring Cleaning

Cleaning and housework are NOT my strong points. No.



Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and my strengths do not lean towards spending time behind a vacuum cleaner or broom. I'm much better at a general tidy up than a good cleaning session. I like things neat and tidy. I like things put away, but as far as polishing and dusting go.

Forget it.


Until we got this girl, I could go a full 2 or 3 weeks before I had to break out the vac. But now, it comes out a lot more frequently, because she sheds. I always find her discarded fur under the sofa and chairs...sometimes it looks like a scene out of an old western...with dust bunnies blowing through the house like a lot of tumbleweeds rolling through the desert.

Dear husband says what I should do is open the front and back doors and he'll get this contraption ...and just turn it on and watch everything move from one end of the house to the other...not a bad way to do a cleanout.

This week though I am going to attempt a mini Spring Clean. A good vac, a dust and a cleanout of the study, which is looking more like the drop off point of a paper recycling plant than a fully functional office.

Spring has Sprung

Some pretties for the first day of Spring.... and what a gorgeous morning it is in Melbourne. A scattering of white fluffy clouds dotting the blue sky...But it could all turn nasty pretty quickly, if you know Melbourne weather. Perfect one minute, windy with rain and hail the next.



A pretty floral dress from Michael Kors, which really appeals to me. I'm going to have to try to find a pattern and some similar fabric to see what I can come up with.

Some nice white china with beautiful creamy rich roses...perfect

Have a wonderful Tuesday, wherever you are!