Picture books for grown-ups...

My neighbour has all sorts of wonderful books which she kindly lends to me.  Today she dropped over some lovely books - what I call "grown up picture books"...

While I'm sure my neighbour has gained inspiration from these books I think she also has "the gift" when it comes to knowing what looks good.  Her house was featured in one of the Australian Country magazines a couple of years ago and her garden is full of surprises.

So I think I'll go and put the kettle on and settle down with one of these "grown-up picture books" and fingers crossed I might pick up a few ideas.

"Rescue" by Anita Shreve

"Rescue" is finished....yay for me!!!

Can't say too much about it as one of our bookclub rules is that we aren't allowed to discuss the book before our get together.  Sometimes we do break that rule tho...

Let me just say it was good to read a story that was nice and simple.  I didn't need to keep turning back to refresh my memory about which character was doing what and neither did I have to read a whole lot of facts.  Looking forward to our get together and seeing what dessert Judy has made, oops I mean discussing the book.

Did you get any new books for Christmas?  One of my gifts was a book voucher, so I am looking forward to spending that.  I know it will be tricky because if you don't choose wisely you can't return it, but I'm up for the challenge....

Now to get one of those books finished that I've been reading forever...

PS We were lucky enough to have 2 toddlers to share Christmas day with this year.  Here is my 15 month old great nephew exploring my sister's Christmas tree..Christmas is so exciting with young children.

Time out....

Richard and I took some time out from all the Christmas "stuff" earlier in the week.

We went and walked around the magnificent Botanical Gardens in the heart of the city.

Didn't even attempt to hug this tree.



Being a tactile person I had to touch this to see that it really was prickly.

I've probably got room for a pond this big in the garden but what's my chances?

We had quiche, wedges and salad for lunch overlooking the water.

I love water features.  The best I've managed in our garden is a couple of bird baths
and a clam shell for the puppies to play in.

Hope you've had some time out too this week.

 

Merry Christmas.

My Mum's 80...

Last weekend we had the joy of celebrating my Mum's 80th birthday.

My niece organised an absolutely divine birthday cake for her. 

Fortunately there weren't 80 candles to light otherwise it would of needed more

 than my 2 sisters and I to get the job done.

Mum enjoyed the company of her old and new friends.  Her sister had surprised her earlier in the week from England and of course her daughters (except for the eldest who lives in England)
 and their families were there too.  Mum says she intends on being around for at least 20 more. 
I wonder how many additions there would be to our family in that time.

PS  I've made a spectacular start with the new book for the month.  I'm nearly half way through it.  The best things is that I want to get to the end to see what happens.

Bookclub - "Committed"

Interesting book I chose for bookclub - not!  I finished it 5 minutes before the girls were due to arrive at my house for our monthly get together and that was with a bit of skim reading.

I kept picking it up to read so hoping that the "story" would start but Elizabeth Gilbert spent a lot of the book investigating the concept of marriage.  Some of the facts were really interesting but all I wanted was a good story and I wasn't alone.  One of us even said the book was a bit self indulgent by the author. Most of us finished it with very little time to spare, well except Judy who's still reading.

Having said that we all had turned down page corners to mark spots for the little gems that the book contained and we did manage to answer some of the discussion questions I had printed off from the internet.

I love this one, talking about having children:  "Yes, you lose a lot of your freedoms.  But as a mother, you gain a new kind of freedom as well - the freedom to love another human being unconditionally, with all your heart...." and then asking her mother about the best time of her life - "To be perfectly honest, the best part of my life began as soon as you kids grew up and left the house..."  At the end of a busy day with the boys, work and house I think I know what she means.

The best couple quote would have to be after Elizabeth and Felipe are at the end of their tether with each other and Felipe just says "Let's just be careful of what we say to each other for the next few hours...these are the times, when people get tired like this, that fights can happen.  Let's just chose our words very carefully until we find a place to rest."  So true, haven't we all said things that as soon as they leave our mouth we wish we could take them back.

In hindsight I don't think this book was a good choice for bookclub but more for a solo read.  I also think that if I'd read it at another time I may have enjoyed it more.

And what did we have for dessert?

A very yummy Cherry pavlova...

Next book is "Rescue" by Anita Shreve.

No words necessary...well maybe a couple.



This is my nephew's "office" today.

I think Mother Nature has forgotten which season we're in.

More thunderstorms to come tonight.

Empty nest

Just like this nest in the vine out the front, our house is empty this week.

Yesterday we were up at 4.45 am to get the boys to the school so they could travel to play in the National Schools Volleyball Cup.  Five buses of students left just after 6.30 to travel the 750km to Melbourne.

Unbelievable how quiet and empty the house feels. Beds have been stripped and all bedding washed and hung out to dry...although that may take awhile considering we keep having thunderstorms.

Not everyone coped well with the early morning start...finding it necessary to have a little nap in the afternoon.  Hope you're enjoyng the weekend.  I love thunder and rain so I'm as happy as a pig in mud.

Thundery Thursday

Today was a wonderfully wet and thundery day.  I love listening to the thunder but someone who lives in our house doesn't....

Lulu isn't too keen on thunder and she tried lots of different spots to hide in but that thunder just kept on thundering.  Julius on the other hand...

was only concerned about finding someone to throw what's left of the ball.  All thoughts of thunder were momentarily forgotten when Darcy and Fudge from next door, who also dislike thunder, came over for a surprise visit.  They tried getting through the fence and under but kept getting stuck so Tom and I went and got them.





and yes Julius is still carrying his ball hoping that someone will play...  Now a little sunshine please to dry the washing.

Wonderful Wednesday

There are so many blogs I enjoy reading.  I've noticed that many do certain things on certain day e.g "White Wednesday" where they photograph white things and post them.  I've been trying to think of something for Wednesday too.  I did think "Wine Wednesday"  where I could road test a bottle of wine for you or "Whine Wednesday" where I could tell you my woes but I've decided on "Wonderful Wednesday"...So I walked around my garden for something to photograph and this is what I found...

My first zucchini flower on the first zucchini seedling to survive past 3 weeks in my garden.

The apple tree has little apples on it.  Last year we didn't harvest one apple from the tree.

The first flowers opening on the passionfruit vine.  Can you see the bee's bottom

just poking out?  His legs were covered in pollen.

And last but not least, the first harvest of peas.  Not many but yummy.

PS  I'm about a quarter of the way through "Committed"...mmm...not sure about it yet.