Gardens of Warwick..........

I had been planning for a month to go to see the Open Gardens in Warwick this weekend.  As the week went by it seemed uncertain.  And still so yesterday morning.  That was until I heard on the radio just how wonderful they were.  I had to go!

First on the list was the lovely 'Haddington'.  A lovely old property with a beautiful sprawling garden.  We were also invited to walk along the verandah and peek into the rooms!  The garden was lovely and obviously still a work in progress.

Next on the list was 'Merrilees'.  Another magnificent old home with the most beautiful iron work on the verandah.  This garden too was lovely.  This home featured the most beautifully wide verandah I have ever been on! 

Up the stairs and on the verandah was a lovely lady selling her wares.  Susan Volz of Our Kitchen Garden was up from Brisbane.  Her story is one that I could relate to.  Unable to find the things of her dreams that she had seen in magazines for years, she and her family set to and now makes them!  Just beautiful.  Kicking myself that I didn't make a purchase or two - why do I always to that!!  Oh well an excuse to visit Brisbane I guess!!

This little view at the rear of the garage - stunning!

'The Laurels' was my favourite I think.  This garden is owned by landscaper Clint Kenny.  It is perfection from front to back - so many ideas. 

I loved the set up of the vege patch - very much my style!  This picture is a little ordinary, but the rain had started and I was juggling camera and umbrella!

Be still my beating heart - A wash basin in the vege patch - I have the basin in my garage and I just need to get it organised in my own vege patch. 

This garden is all relatively new, except of course for the magnificent original trees.  Oh to have some big trees.

The Woodland Walk along the western boundary of the home is stunning, lined with Tropical Birch trees.

The little dam is at the back of the property. 
What a lovely spot this must be to sit awhile!

And this, is where the chickens live - Buff Orpingtons and the most beautiful Wyandott's I have ever seen!



The Garden Tool Shop is also part of Clint's business - once again - beautiful tools and garden bits and pieces. 

I really could have gone again today, I enjoyed it all so much.  I hope they are open again some time.  It was just a lovely day out.  Time to forget about my everyday ordinary life and enjoy the beautiful Southern Downs area.  I just love it down that way. 

It was so lovely to be inspired by these gardens and by the people who obviously love their garden they way I love mine! 

Christmas Decorating.......

Just wanted to share my Christmas decorating with you.



Christmas Wishes.......



Little birds on the sideboard........with



Berry garlands.......



Baubles.........

and

Dragonflies............

Hope you and your family are enjoying your Christmas preparations.  I just can't wait for the time off - if I am ready for Christmas day it will be a miracle!  Full time work tends to do that.

Alexandra and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon at a sweet little Christmas show - princesses, pirates and Santa too!  Much fun!  I am so pleased we at least got to do that together.

Yonder Lane.........

Today, we visited the most delightful garden which was open as part of Australia's Open Garden Scheme.  It was beautiful. 

The front door and verandah was just beautiful, with Pierre De Ronsard roses being trained along the front.  Pierre De Ronsard is certainly blooming beautifully everywhere at the moment.  The season must have been just perfect for it.

The Potager below, was also a lovely highlight for me.  Very similar to our own Potager, but on a larger scale.  I was a little jealous!  You can see over to the left of the Potager a beautiful, Wisteria covered arbour where there were seats to enjoy all the hard work the owners must put in.  Four very large Olive trees occupied each corner and there were sixteen raised beds.  Stunning!

"Summerfield" is down a lovely little country lane at Carbalah near Toowoomba.  After all the recent rain, we had to park up the road a way and walk down the lane.

It was a lovely little walk.  The weather has turned quite cool here after the rain, even with frost predicted for the morning.  We certainly didn't get at all hot on our walk.

As we neared the end of the lane, the house came into view.  What a sight to behold.  It is just beautiful.  I so wish my home was situated in such a lovely setting. 

A red barn - be still my beating heart!!  At that moment, I wanted to sell up and start again!! I think?  I loved how they have put traditional timber barn doors on their barn, instead of the usual 'colorbond' roller door. 

The verandah wrapped around two sides of the home, with one side being quite deep and facing the north.  What a lovely spot it must be to spend some time.

Around to the south of the home, another beautiful area to spend some time.  I so wanted to take those two chairs home with me!!

One the way home we stopped off for a lovely coffee and a wander through a little nursery.  Such a lovely afternoon.  I am glad we took time away from our own pruning and weeding to enjoy this lovely garden, down Yonder Lane........

Barbara..............

My dear friend Barbara invited a group of her friends to share in a lovely Spring Morning Tea at her home this morning.

We enjoyed such a lovely morning in her home and then enjoyed her lovely garden full of special plants which she enjoys.

The Wisteria was such a lovely sight as you drive towards her home.

Barbara always has such lovely and different plants and flowers to enjoy every time I visit her.

The view across the beautiful vegetable and herb garden back towards the house.

Thank you Barbara for such a lovely morning.........



Boys Toys..........

Yesterday was huge.  We travelled to the Gold Coast to pick up BJ's new toy, well, boat at least!!  I had no idea that he ordered anything near this big - so surprised is probably an understatement!! 

Mitchell was at work all day, so missed out on the outing. 

The best bit of the day for me was a walk on the beach, although windy and cloudy, it was lovely to walk on the sand and get my feet wet in the ocean.  One more week today and we will head to the beach for a lovely week of rest.

The boys are dreaming big fish and Alexandra is hoping Daddy can pull one of those big water tyres behind the boat and have fun in the water!!

And as for me - I feel sea sick just thinking about it!

Lovely Outings.........

Do you feel the excitement?

I am blogging regularly AND I've been to two lovely places on the weekend!!

We went for a nice little outing yesterday afternoon, another beautiful shop called The Complete Garden and another little drive out to Highfields - just to show BJ "Christmas Ideas".......

 Hint, Hint - I hope he caught on!!!!  

The beautiful treat above was shared for afternoon tea.   Delightful......

 I could get used to weekends like this.

Simple Things Small Joys.........

Yesterday Alexandra and I ventured out into the madness that is pre-Christmas shopping to try to achieve some gift shopping.  First stop was the hardware store to take care of some of the male variety of our family.  After this was achieved we made our way to Highfields, a lovely little village on the edge of the mountain range near our city.  Two lovely ladies have opened a delightful shop there.......

Can you guess who?

Of course, the lovely Cathy Penton of Simple Things Small Joys and the equally delightful Angela Osment of Chelsea Blue Whispers.  What a wonderful way to Christmas shop.  The shop is as I thought it would be - stunning!  When I find and visit truly beautiful places like this my head spins and I find it hard to concentrate - what to choose, what to look at first!!  I am taking BJ back this afternoon to have a coffee at this lovely little centre and of course visit Simple Things Small Joys again!!

Even down to the most beautiful packaging and a beautiful little surprise in my bag when I got home - a beautifully presented postcard.

So really, my shopping wasn't at all stressful.  I chose some lovely gifts from some lovely people and only had to face the chaos of the large shopping centre for such a short time.

Thank you Angela and Cathy for providing such a beautiful shop!  I hope your venture is both successful and enjoyable for you.  Blessings to you both.

Union Jack love.........

I thought last weekend that I would have a little play and get in on the Union Jack love that is sweeping through blogland at the moment.

I had been saving these lovely big pom poms for ages, so it was lovely to put them to use.


I finally ventured to our city library and was delighted to be able to borrow some lovely books. Myer also had 35% off some of their cook books recently, so added some Jamie Oliver and Donna Hay to our collection.



It was Alexandra's school fair today. All of the usual stalls, cake, sweets, produce, plants, books, second hand, jewellry and of course food and more food to consume!

I was really pleased with this beautiful tea cosy. At last a sweet little hand knitted one in very tasteful colours.



The little posy of flowers on top was really what sold it! I think they are just so sweet.

Saturday is slipping by very quickly here, 3.45p.m. and I am still trying to get the washing done! Roast dinner tonight - yum!

A wonderful weekend to everyone!

Market Basket........

I've just returned from a lovely morning out. At the beginning of each season there is a Farmers Market held at Glengallan Homestead.

This place has fascinated me for probably all of my life and until today had not been there. It lay in ruins from the 1940's until 1993 when finally the restoration began. It is owned by a Trust and receives no funding at all from the government. By rights it should be recognised as a national icon. The story of the original owners is interesting. They lived in the home for only two years until they were forced to move out - bankrupt! It was lived in by another two families until left to decay in the 1940's.



The view from the front room and verandah of the home is beautiful. This looks east out towards the Great Dividing Range.

Today it is so hot and dry, it's hard to believe it is the first day of Autumn. Roses everywhere, lovely still despite being the end of the season for them. I may have to go back in the Spring.


More of the lovely garden from the top floor verandah.



What a better occasion than this one to take my new Market Basket for a test run. I got busy yesterday afternoon and had a lovely time making a liner for my new basket that I showed in the last post.

The market was a little disappointing. We did get some delicious apples and nectarines from a farmer from Stanthorpe, some very yummy biscuits and also two bottles of delicious preserves - rosella jam and cumquat marmalade. Other than that loads of very ordinary crochet washers, teapot cosies etc. If they were tasteful I'm sure they would just sell like hotcakes!!



I am so pleased with how my basket turned out. Beautiful Tanya Whelan fabric, cute checked bias for the ties and the most beautiful "circle" (not sure what else to call it) to finish it off.

Gail McCormack makes and paints the most beautiful pieces, her very handy husband does beautiful restoration work. I saw these lovelies on her website attached to an old picnic basket - she was very kind to sell just a "circle" to me.

What a lovely morning I had driving through the beautiful Darling Downs countryside. The paddocks are full of ripening sorghum and sunflowers at the moment. It really is a beautiful part of the country to live - if only it would rain a little more.

A Night With the Phantom........

What a lovely evening we had at the Lyric Theatre last Wednesday night. It was actually the second time BJ and I had seen this show, the last time was when I was pregnant with Alexandra, so eleven years ago.

I think Anthony Warlow is getting better with age - his performance was brilliant. The full cast was wonderful. The costumes and set, fantastic. The children enjoyed their evening too. The boys decided they didn't like the songs - but enjoyed the music and all the action on stage.

I sometimes just wanted to close my eyes and enjoy the voices and the orchestra - but of course would have missed too much that was going on. It was so nice to be in the city for just the evening - maybe I will get to visit and stay longer next time.

Last week was busy but enjoyable just the same. Alexandra stayed with Grandma and Grandad for a few nights since it was the holidays - so after work the afternoons were a little more free.

I actually made it into the sewing room too and finally made my new PJ's. It is so nice to have achieved that. I have had that fabric for probably three years, so great to have another project done.

I love the ruffles on the top, I would usually baulk at little ruffles like that but the pattern had a great tip on how to turn the neat little hem and it worked really well.

I am looking forward to a visit to my dear friend Barb's tomorrow and hopefully some more creative pursuits this week.

Sunday Picnic.......

With the turf laying out of the way on Friday afternoon we only had work to contend with. With our youngest away on music camp we only had the boys at home, so just a little quieter than usual.

BJ had to work on Sunday as our relief baker was away, so after he had a little nap we set out with Mum and Dad for a picnic and a look at a lovely Open Garden in Warwick.

Our first stop on the way was a picnic lunch at Allora. It is a lovely little town where my Dad grew up. The park we stopped at was just outside the Anglican Church there. I was so pleased that the front door was open as this is the church where my dear Nana and Pop were married in 1940. I have been to that area many times in my lifetime but have never seen the beautiful little church.

The timber inside and the stain glass windows are just beautiful.

Warwick is a lovely city about an hours drive south of where we live. A little while ago I had been over that way and by chance discovered a beautiful quilt shop and B & B. I found out too that they were to be having an open garden weekend.

Glenrose is set on four acres of beautiful gardens. The house is a big old Queenslander that was shifted to the site. The front part of the house contains the quilt shop Glenrose Patchwork. It is just beautiful. The front verandah has tables and chairs and would be an absolutely delightful place to spend the day quilting.

In the grounds there are four beautiful cottages that are run as a B & B. Just beautiful. I hope BJ and I can escape one weekend in the winter and enjoy the little wood burners each cottage has. As much as I love my air con and don't miss the mess of a wood stove, I really do miss a lovely fireplace in winter. Glenrose Cottages are certainly very lovely. This whole garden and associated businesses are certainly a credit to the owners.

My Dad took us on some back roads on the way home, past where my Mum had attended a little school as a child. I enjoyed hearing and seeing where Mum had ridden her pushbike as a child and where the magpies used to swoop her and her brother and sister in the springtime. She pointed out the homes and who had lived in them and where she her sister had been invited to little birthday parties. It also made me feel a little sad when Mitchell's comment was he doesn't know where any of his friends live. What a different world we live in when attending school in the city. I am grateful that I also have had a country childhood and can drive around my district where I grew up and remember where everyone lived!!

With the beautiful rain we have had the Darling Downs is just beautiful. The eastern Downs is mostly rolling hills and at the moment it is looking just picture perfect. What a lovely day we had. I am just so thankful for that one little outing and for the change of scenery and different things to enjoy, even if just for an afternoon.