Singing out the weekend

Heard last night. Surprising, exhilarating, fabuloso!







PS - and we discovered this great new/old spot to eat before the show.We enjoyed the old Razor's Edge restaurant, so great to see it's been reinvented. I had the oven baked schnitzel and my husband had a great sirloin steak. And the hand cut chips were as good as they say! The upstairs section had only opened the night before -seems like a lovely outdoor terrace that we can look forward to using as the weather warms up.

Mildura days

En route to Mildura. A pink sunrise at Tullamarine airport, through the window of my plane :::

The patient :::

One (very heavy) plastered ankle, post op. Patient doing well ((and much better now, two weeks on))

More than anything, Dad was mad with himself that this could have happened. But he is slowly adapting to the new method of getting around for the next 5 weeks - the hop. Aided by a tall frame, a daily physio class and fluoro pink hand-held weights, he is gradually developing strength - and great pecs! Not bad for an 87 year old!

My brother and I ended up staying a full week down there - we both felt that we couldn't leave him, at least until he was more comfortable and we were a little more sure of the (long) road ahead. After initially hoping we could fly him back to Sydney to be close to me, the hospital advised that it might be better for him to stay there. They were happy to keep him there for the length of his rehabilitation but we still spent the week trying to decide what to do, how to get him home, when, where, etc. In the end we agreed that he was in the best place for now. The hospital is fairly new and we are really pleased with the treatment he is receiving. And the food is great. It's varied and fresh and well cooked and he has a lovely selection of fresh fruit with each meal.

He was initially in a 4 bed ward with 3 other men. One man was in his 50's and his family were frequent visitors, nice people but noisy, talkative Italians. The other two, Tom and Bert were men in their 90's. Both were old farmers from the area, one had been in the RAAF like Dad. Both men were frail but had a sense of humour that was gentle and charming.

Later in the week, Dad was thrilled to have a visitor from Legacy, a retired navy man. Dad has been involved since the end of the 1940's so it was nice for him to be on the receiving end of their support and care.

Dad sent us on daily errands, getting him organised for after our departure, because we both had to eventually get back to work, home and all the rest. So each day, after he had finished his lunch we would head off for ours. Then it was off to do our errands and sometimes we would go for a drive so he could have a rest in the afternoon. We drove by a rather well known Mildura restaurant, and dropped in for lunch. Great pizza and coffee :::

A very skilful front of house man made an offer we couldn't refuse - a table, the last one he assured us, for dinner that night. We had to eat ... so we took up the offer.
Later that night, after an undeniably good but excessively expensive meal, we agreed we had been somewhat duped - crazily priced wine, mostly connected to the owner in some way. But the man can definitely cook. With our close proximity to the kitchen, sitting at the table we were told was reserved for family and friends, (squeezed under the serving counter and butted up beside the plating and despatching table), we could observe The Chef in action. He remained remarkably restrained all evening, but we were nevertheless treated to a show of sorts - a trickle of slightly fawning fans, clutching his books and lining up for his autograph and personal advice for their home cooking. What perhaps amused us the most was our used-car-salesman front of house man who turned up sizzling, smooth and sharply dressed for the evening show. My brother christened him The Pimp, but we agreed he was an extremely likeable one.

So, Mildura. We got to know it quite well over the 8 days. Mildura is renowned for it's grapes, both wine and table, fruit and vegies and particularly wonderful navel oranges, in season right now. Oh, and The Chef.

I've been shopping!

Enough music for a wee while - I have purchases to report on! ...

A friend at work bought a cute clutch/purse today from MayasKalupi :::

It's a bit like this one

When she said that she wanted a coin purse in the same fabric, I went on the hunt and found some :::

{from MandMStudio}

I also bought the same fabric in green :::


When the fabric arrives we plan to start designing and making coin purses, clutches, wallets ... Anna's purse will be the prototype.

I also bought this lovely bag. It's velvet in a browny grey - a bit like a mushroom was how they described it :::

{Yum! from bayanhippo}

And I chose this print :::

{from the lovely people at inaluxe}

And then, I treated myself ... I shut my eyes and clicked on this one - isn't it lovely? And it's from Bondi, close to home!!

{from Sir Tom}
I love the fact that it is black and white, it looks a bit like a scandinavian needlepoint design and there are tiny pineapples as part of the motif. That reminds me of Marblehead, Massachusetts - many people had wonderful gilt pineapples over their front doors, or sometimes they had gilt fish or even whales. This purse is screen printed on hemp and is lined with black taffeta. Very very nice. It should arrive quite quickly if it's coming from Bondi!

I'm travelling interstate tomorrow, not on a holiday but to see my father. He is in hospital as he unfortunately broke his ankle last night and has just been operated on tonight. Dad and my brother have been on a lovely driving holiday together this week, so this is a really unfortunate accident. I have just heard that he is out of theatre and is doing well, but now has pins and a plate in his ankle. Dad is 87 but he is a very fit and hearty 87 year old with a great outlook on life so we hope he will recover speedily. It will be a slow process though, as I think ankles are tricky.

So, no blogging for a little while ... see you in a few days.

I got tickets!

Been trying to see this band for well over a year now. Missed them in the Festival of Sydney - they were totally sold out. I then had (slim) hopes I might catch up with them in New York, but finally, finally, I booked us seats today to see them at the Enmore - and can you believe it (I can't quite)- they are here in a couple of weeks time! This was one of my favest songs of last year ... and yes, that's Michael McDonald of Doobie Bros singing - they recorded this b-side track, featuring his voice - I think the story goes that he was in the next studio and they got him to sing backing vocals and one thing led to another ... I love this version 10 times more than their original, which is wonderful, but not great like this ...

Much smiling is going on here!!

and another

More music for the afternoon. Loving Best Coast - they are the best! Great summery, beachy sound, just what we need in the midst of a chilly winter.
(and check out the 60's dance routines, matching beige outfits and The Hats!!!)

Just coz

Everyone needs some T-Rex now and again .... Yay!!
Good for when you need a 70s fix. And this looks like the German Countdown - everyone seems so neat, cool and in complete control!

And another Yay!! - to Australia Post. The first of my Etsy purchases appeared this evening. More details tomorrow!

Moving on

I've rebooted my blogging. You can now find me over at Cherry pips. This was my first ever blog and after delving into my imagination for a new name, I came full circle and returned to the first.

It's much the same sort of world over there - the original posts were all very dated and not where I am now, so I archived them and started over. Come and have a look if you like ... now that I've had a good fiddle around with the new blogger templates, I'm kind of liking this new/old world ... at least, for the time being ...!

Shadow

I noticed this one sunny morning last week.

There were no actual cats in the vicinity ...

Me, now

Well, not so much the post modern flying helmet, but the being at a still point in my life, while the rest of the world zips by with purpose. There's a stop light over my head. But I like the fact that I'm oblivious to the sign that tells me to Keep Left!
You know, I see this as a hopeful image. There's possibilities. Even though there's a world rushing by me, one that I find myself standing a little apart from, I can sense that there's a way forward. It's a pause, a take stock, a thoughtful consideration kind of image, while I deliberate on which path to choose next.
It gives me a sense of how our lives go in phases. There's the high, uplifting, go-ahead type moments where we are all about the joys and foibles and craziness and wonderfulness of life.There's activity and industry and purpose and much meaning in all things. But then there are those times when we hover on the edges of our lives, perhaps by design but more often by accident, when we find ourselves in a place we may not have planned for or expected to ever be in. Yet ...
And I guess that's what this says to me. Yet ...

How's your day going? Is it full of purposeful industry and active meaning? Or are you enjoying a quiet, still moment of thoughtfulness? Whatever it is, hope it's a good one!

{this and lots of other wonderful images from Vintage Vogue, here}

Nice finds

{Cortona Clothesline from LinenLaid&Felt} - isn't it wondeful how she has captured the swing of the dress! Loving her wonderful handmade books ...

{Like this Mini Coptic Book}


{Sweet Pea soap} I'm so excited to find this - I am currently using this right now, although it is nearly all gone. I bought it from anthropologie in New York. Gorgeous shea butter soap, and the divine scent of sweet peas is just spring all over. How wonderful I can order this (and more of course) online!

{Cloud factory from PearsonMaron} I love clouds - isn't this adorable!


{tiny houses from thelittlereddoor} I also have a thing for small houses

More bag art

I am so inspired by bags at the moment. I really, really want to try making one. I have patterns, fabric to spare, interfacing - I even bought a magnetic closer at the recent Sydney Craft Fair. So, what is stopping me?? Workdays, busy weekends ... yes, yes, I must stop the excuses and just begin. In the meantime, here's some lovely ones to keep me thinking and planning ..

{from yorktownroad}


{from EightSeasons}


{from tortillagirl}


{from ChristyStudio - some lovely affordable bags there}

Rain

{from here}


{and here}

{another one from here}

It's the weekend and it's gone and started raining. Oh well I guess we need it, or at least the farmers do.
Anyhow, here are some of my favourite rainy things at the moment.

A bit like Christmas ...

I'm a Christmas baby, well the night before Christmas, so for me, birthday's are a long time coming! Because even though I love my birthday and the fact that I get what feels like a two day celebration, that's it for the next 363 days! So, I often entertain the idea of a mid-year birthday, to get me through the next 6 months. Somehow though, I  never get round to it. But this week I've been feeling like a child waiting in desperate anticipation for Santa to come down the chimney. Why? Last weekend, I chose my first purchases from Etsy.

When I think about it, this is really the first time I've shopped online. I've booked and organised travel online but I've never done any online shopping in a big way. But now, I can't tell you how excited I am to be waiting on the few bits and pieces I selected. Some are coming from the US and some, like the cards, from closer to home. It's amazing how such a simple thing could give me so much pleasure! Each day I feel a delicious anticipation for what might be there to greet me when I arrive home from work.

And today, I received these gorgeous cards from the Melbourne company inaluxe :::

I bought a set of 3 birds. This one is so sweet.


And a set that included this lovely image.

And this one.

Very keen to get something else from them, their designs are so wonderful. And a nice touch - they added a few extra cards and wrote a lovely little hand written message on a mini card. That's the sort of thing I really appreciate.

So, I'm very happy with my first mid-year birthday present to me. Looking forward to the rest!