Floral moodboard - jan/feb

I'm joining in with Karin and Asa with a January/February garden moodboard.

 I suppose I'm cheating a bit as this beautiful tree isn't growing in my garden, though I can clearly see it from my backyard.

It is a Red Flowering Gum, Corymbia ficifolia also known as Albany red flowering gum, and previously known as Eucalyptus ficifolia. Confused? Isn't it beautiful though.  I adore the way it shows it's buds at the same time as open blossom and the big gumnuts.

I have many more pics which I think I will share next time.

Thanks for dropping by!

xx

7 vignettes challenge

A few weeks ago I took part in a seven day photo challenge on Instagram, run by Jen Bishop of Interiors Addict. It was so much fun! Each day there was a new theme to create a vignette for. I met lots of new people and got to view some truly stunning shots.

So, I thought I would post them here..

Day 1's theme was Nature and I took the above and the below shot. I was quite pleased with the one below.

Day 2: colour (above)

Day 3: Fun

Day 4: Flowers/plants. Gosh, I was so happy with this shot! It's OTT but I like it that way :)

Day 5: Mementos (above and below)

Day 6: Side table or coffee table

 

Day 7: kitchen

Jen was so kind to feature two of my images amongst her pics of the day.

I was so chuffed! Below are screenshots :)

Another challenge starts this coming weekend and no doubt I'll post it if I get my act together!

Have a lovely week!

xx

Friday flowers

Thank goodness for Friday - it has been a bit of a manic week. My aim to post more regularly has gone out the window. Oh well.

There really is not much happening in the garden this week. The roses are just starting to come on again and the gladioli are on their way out, so maybe I'll get a garden Friday flower next week.

I am pleased to say it's been over a month now and my orchid is still alive! I am pretty green fingered, but my theory with orchids is to find just the right spot for them and then ignore them a little, but I am not sure with these fancy pants Phalaenopsis types. I think the right light and a water once a week is the go. So far so good.

Well, it's Australia Day tomorrow and that of course means a long weekend. Unfortunately for me I am working this weekend so I will be looking forward to Monday :)

Have a good one peeps!

xx

ps sign up for Valentines Good Mail Club closes Sunday evening. There's only a handful of us so far so email me if you'd like to join in.

Good Mail valentines call out

It's Good Mail time again!

Who's up for a Valentines mail out? 

Valentines is not huge in Australia (or maybe just in my life?) - I think I may have received about 2 cards in my life! So, I thought it would be a bit of fun.

Same guidelines apply...

- open to Aus and international penpals.

- have fun, no stress, decorate an envelope any which way - draw, paint, stamp, stick!
- write a friendly note to your recipient - it doesn't matter if you don't know them.
- you might like to enclose something extra, a nice photo, a favourite recipe, a thoughtful quote, some pretty paper.
- when we receive them we can start sharing them on our blogs or instagram and the like.
- it's really important to keep everyone's identities private, so no passing on addresses or posting images showing surnames and addresses please :)
- if there's only a few of us I will send out all of our names to you, otherwise I will pick 6-8 out of a hat for each of us.

So, email me at sarah_b100(at)hotmail.com if you'd like to join in.

Sign up will close this Sunday night and I will try to email everyone next Monday.

Are you in?

xx

Edit: this mail out has now closed but I will be back for an Easter mail out :)

Friday flowers... blue and green

It's been a whole week without a post! I thought I was doing well regarding my blogging but work just gets in the way, darn it.

I picked up these agapanthus at the local farmers market last Sunday and they are doing well. I love the colour against my lovely painting. Don't they say that blue and green should never be seen? I love it as a colour combo.

 

I'm very happy to have this weekend off work. I have a few jobs to do but hopefully some fun things as well. I plan of getting back here early next week with a call out for the new Good Mail Club mailout, so have a think about joining in. It's a Valentines theme this time :)

xx

Friday flowers - Bleached beauty

Phew, it's Friday! These last few days back at work have been a chore!

So, here's some Friday Flowers. I took these pics of some beautiful delphiniums with my new camera, intentionally over exposing them. I'm really happy with the results. I'm even thinking of printing up one big.

Hopefully you are all up to something fun this weekend. I am still at the salt mines but thems the breaks :)

xx

Summer

Oh my goodness, today is the last day of my holidays. Back to the salt mines tomorrow. Not happy.

I must say I'm not sure I achieved much during my break - the weather has been too hot for much.

I love this tree above. I believe it is some type of grevillia. It grows in our neighbour's yard. The birds love it and I love the contrast it makes against the sky.

My tomatoes are growing pretty well. With all this heat I have been busy keeping the water up to them. Here I am relaxing with some bubbles and my new mauve volley shoes. Cute I think :)

There has been some crazy weather. Rainbows (always welcome) and awful bushfires (not welcome). I feel so awful for all of those people that lost homes, not to mention the poor animals that lost their lives. Despite being some distance from the fires, our cars we still dusted with ash.

Above: A very smoky sky

The above photo was taken on the evening of our hottest day where it reached almost 42 degrees Celsius. We went down to Lyn's parents for dinner. They live on the water. This shot shows the reflection of the bushfire sunset on the side of the boats. A bit eerie I think.

Well, as I said, it's back to the "salt mines" tomorrow (or at least the art gallery). We realise that working a full year, only to have a couple of weeks off is not enough, so will be saving hard so we can either do a road trip on the mainland or a quick trip on a plane sometime during this year. Something to aim for and look forward too.

Keep safe people.

xx

We all scream for ice cream!

My sister gave me an ice cream maker for Christmas and I have been busy making ice cream ever since!

I've tried a number of different recipes, mostly made up from the accompanying booklet and internet recipes and thought I should write them here for future reference (and in case any of you might be interested!)

My first batch was raspberry - I cooked the fresh raspberries without any sugar or water until they were very soft. For the base I used 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of cream, with about 1/3 or so cup of pure icing sugar and a drop of vanilla.

Result - nice flavour and colour, but a bit icy.

ps I made a coffee version with this recipe. Was nice, but icy.

Cookies and cream...

Base - 2 cups of pouring cream, one egg and 1/3 cup pure icing sugar. I cooked these until the icing sugar had melted, cooled and then chilled in the fridge. Whilst churning I added in crushed Oreo biscuits.

Result - super creamy, just like you'd get at a nice parlour!

( I also tried this recipe using 1 cup cream and 1 cup pouring custard from a carton, but the results were not as creamy)

Banana...

Same base as above, except I used 2 egg yolks instead of a whole egg ( as that's what was in the fridge). Add in 2 mashed bananas with a touch of lemon juice.

Result - Yum!! Better than a Barney Banana :)

Peppermint...

Same basic base and then I added in a crushed Peppermint Crisp bar and a drop or two of green colouring.

Result - absolutely delicious! My sister has requested another batch after eating the first.

So there you have it. I feel kind of guilty for eating so much cream, but it tastes so good and has none of the extra nasties that shop bought ice cream can have. Also, once Molly's leg is better we will get back into walking :)

If you don't have a machine I reckon it would still work if you mixed it up and placed it in a container you had kept in the freezer overnight. You just might need to take it out a few times and mix it up a bit.

What's your favourite flavour? Any suggestions for me to try?

xx

Dec/Jan garden moodboard

I am joining in with Karin's moodboard this month. Here is my December/January garden bits and pieces.

So what do we have?

Sort of left to right...Queen Anne's Lace, geranium, hydrangea, fuchsia, cornflower, lavender, thyme, viola, salvia and a dried Love in the Mist seedpod.

I have been doing a lot of gardening during my holidays, but there is still so much to do. The spring bulbs have left a lot of bare patches for me to fill and don't even get me started on the veggie patch. Nothing is doing well at all, so I have ripped plants out and have been digging in mushroom compost, sheep poo and our own compost. I am hoping to reap the rewards with my next veggie crops.

Busy, busy, busy!

xx