Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I love this time of year with warm days & crisp fresh nights.
I love that Easter is a celebration of new life, new beginnings. I find it quite motivating to rearrange & organise our home, to decorate & celebrate what we have.
To me it is a happy time, I hope it is for you too.
I'm loving fresh flowers especially dahlias that are in season, I must grow some of my own again for next year.
Our children had another Easter Hat Parade at their school & loved every minute of it. A lot of hot glue gun action was happening here.
Big excitement was had by me yesterday at our annual local Community Trash & Treasure event when I stumbled upon a set of Enid Blyton Hardcovers, just the type I have been collecting for years now, & hooray only $10 for the lot.
Shalom Passover to my Jewish friends.
Good times!

Front cover joy

The latest Green Magazine has hit the shelves & we are ecstatic about my husband David Boyle Architect scoring the front cover position. Inside is an awesome article titled From Two to One with many photos & great editorial regarding the clever subdivide he designed in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville. Not often are you lucky enough to work with a visionary of a client such as this one. I was commissioned by the client to design & upholster all her built in seats along with many scatter cushions from her amazing collection of fabulous mid century modern printed fabrics. Such great original printed bark cloth & satin jacquards.
I love this house.

Wall hanging

I'm enjoying this Beci Orpin wall hanging that arrived by post this week.
Another little purchase from Urban Outfitters. Such great colours & little embroidered sections. It really jazzes up the entry to our house.

Feathering my nest

I've been boiling up organic beetroots with vinegar, salt & sugar & they taste real good.
I love these little paster men's faces that decorate a recycled brick wall at my local cafe. My neighbour also has one of these teeny menfolk at her back door. I've become quite fascinated by them & googled away to find out they are collected by many folk & were manufactured by an English company named Bossons & there is quite an extensive range of characters to this set.
We are so close to finishing our house renovation & have moved into our new bedroom which is an awesome thing. So now I have an excuse to buy some homey thingy bobs to tart up the joint. I purchased 2 floor rugs from Urban Outfitters designed by the fabulous Beci Orpin. I love the gorgeous colours & graphic design, so super groovy.
I'm also enjoying Grace, A Memoir by Grace Coddington which is a fun read & a birthday gift from my Hubby.
Hope you have been having a fun old time. X

Baking day

When I awoke this morning my hubby already had dough rising in a bowl near the window in the kitchen. He had never baked bread before & today was going to be the day.
The result was great, a yummy crusty wholemeal loaf.
I spied some over ripe bananas in the fruit bowl & since the oven was already on I searched the web for spelt flour, banana & coconut bread recipes.
I found a delicious one that used coconut milk instead of butter & milk.
I'll definitely make this one again, so good.

Busy time of year

Life is so busy for us in the lead up to Christmas this year. Although the poor old veg patch is getting neglected it doesn't seem to mind. I still managed to pick some little tomatoes, lettuce & there are oodles of bush beans coming on. Yay for low maintenance gardening.
The Christmas Tree is up & decorated entirely by the kids. I've given up trying to control how it will look each year as I'm enjoying seeing their happy little faces when they load it up with decorations they have made at home & school along with ones we have accumulated over the years. It is fun trying to remember who gave them to us & when they came into our home.
Every year I make a panaforte for the Festive Season and this year is no exception, chocolate, coconut, sultanas, dates, walnuts, almonds & macadamia nuts along with brandy & apricot jam all go into the mix.
Yum we cherish each little piece nibbled on.
I would love to hear of your customs this time of year.

Bye bye Book Book

Today was a lovely hot sunny Sunday. After a lazy morning watering the fruit trees & the veg patch, we made our own rice paper rolls for lunch with thinly sliced beef from last night's BBQ & lots of fresh salad goodies.
It was after lunch that my husband discovered that one of our black chooks had died. Book Book the black chook had been part of our family for close to seven years now & she will be missed. Our kids weren't as devastated as we expected so we had a little funeral with our daughter placing the old girl into a freshly dug hole near the back fence & our son covering her with soil. Then we all took turns paying tribute saying a few words about what we loved & remembered about our time with her over the years.
Flowers were placed on her grave & then my husband sprayed us all with the garden hose which cheered us all up as we squealed & squirmed away from the cool wet spray.
The afternoon was one of eating Mangoes & cherries & taking a long cool dip in the ocean while my parents entertained the kids in the rock pool & built sandcastles by the edge of the surf.
I'm looking forward to many more ocean swims this Summer.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.