PADDINGTON ANTIQUES & AN INTERLOPER

After a refreshing Choir Rehearsal singing Handel this morning, I called into the

Paddington Antique Centre, source of my pink tea service found a few years back.

Their new cafe looked cosy and cute, and I found lots of appealing furniture, jewellery and glassware.

I didn't find an antique bargain, but I did source this Biscuit Barrel:

purely for aesthetic purposes, of course .......... and because I love pink.

See this thriving, triple leafed vine: it is an evil, insidious, interloper!

It has been quietly taking over the home of the Allamanda Vine, which of course looks like this:

It was only when I spotted the menacing tentacles of the interloper, attempting to strangle an adjacent palm tree that realised Something Was Not Right.

The interloper will not see the light of Monday morning.

It will find itself here:

A TOUCH OF COLOUR

The First Bloom opened today, on my Mary McKillop rose bush -

and only ten weeks since I planted it!!  Well done, Mary.

I'll be speaking to the other roses nearby, who are Under Performing this year.

Mary came into our lives after The Accident in April.

As our bodies slowly repair on our journey of recovery,

 I like to think of Mary as a sign of  new growth and regeneration.

In a burst of creativity, I produced a cushion over the weekend.

Just love this stunning cockatoo fabric from Beach Vintage.

This blue glass bowl is back in favour, after years languishing in a back cupboard.

Its Time Has Come!

I found a blue wren to keep it company.

The bowl was a wedding gift, one of the few to survive.

We have been married nearly 40 years .... I know, I can't believe it either!

Practising to be a bride - my First Communion Day.

Getting cold here - might have a fire tonight...

Rocket scientist to the rescue

Father bird is recovering well from his post-accident surgery,

 learning to rise from his wheelchair and use crutches to get around.

Hence, when our son, Rocket Scientist, visited the other day, the following conversation ensued:

Mother Bird:        If I bribe you with food, would you mind doing some jobs, on this little list??
                             Could you bring up the old armchairs from downstairs, and put them back in front of the
                             television/fireplace, as your father doesn't need to use the wheelchair here anymore?


Rocket Scientist:    Would that be the chairs I told you were really bad for your posture?


Father & Mother Bird:   But we love them.  They are sooooo comfortable.  (Chairs duly brought back).


Mother Bird:           The speakers on my computer don't work.  I can't skype with adorable grandchild
                                living in Foreign Country.


Rocket Scientist:      Your speakers are not plugged in.  Why don't you plug the speakers in here?
                                (Attempts to remove lead hanging from front of hard drive).


Mother Bird:            But that is the one I use to download photos.  If you take it out, I can't find the hole
                                to put it back in.


Rocket Scientist rolls eyes, gouges out another hole or something, and inserts speaker cord in computer.
Computer now says "I'm outta here"  when I close it down.................interesting....


Mother Bird:           Just one more thing - there is a can of peaches stuck under the driver's seat in my car.
                               Could you just extract it for me?


Rocket Scientist:     What the??????????


Mother Bird:           Well, there was the wheelchair in the back, and I had the shopping......... never mind..


Rocket Scientist loses interest in this story, rolls eyes again, and is back in a flash bearing tin of peaches.


Mother Bird:             Would you like a nice salad roll for lunch??


Rocket Scientist:      Gotta go now - (beats hasty retreat with handful of biscuits grabbed from pantry).

Can we blame him?

Winter gardens

Two King Parrots came to visit our bird feeder this week.  Aren't they gorgeous?

Very skittish and shy, though ....
they flew off at the click of the camera, poor dears.

Since The Accident, we have been living on fresh air, or to be more precise, Very Cold Air this week.

I decided a bit of domestic agriculture was required, and planted these tomato seedlings in tubs on the deck.

Much excitement today, as two of them are sprouting little yellow flowers -

baby tomatos in the making :)

The sweet peas are coming along nicely, too.

I planted some quick-flowering lobelia in there to give them the idea.

I made Pumpkin and Basil soup last night.  It's that kind of weather. 

You have to find warmth where you can in Brisbane, where we do it tough without central heating. 
 It was 0 degrees here on one recent morning.

Flannelette sheets, anyone?

Not a frog - that's a large leaf from our trusty Basil Bush.

Queen's birthday holiday today -

Happy Birthday Your Majesty

Surrealism comes to Brisbane

Next week the fabulous Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams exhibition comes to GoMA, directly from the Centre Pompidou in Paris. 

For brushing up on the subject, try this link to surrealism

The Elephant Celebes, by Max Ernst, 1921.

Not coming to Brisbane.

But similar exciting works are....

WINTER

I love winter, and happily it has arrived a little earlier this year to our corner of Sunny Queensland.

The snow has also arrived too, in our front garden.  This Snow Bush is the only snow we will ever see here.

The cold Winds from the West are biting us, so the Cardinal family is enjoying The Fireplace these chilly nights.

 Orange is my new Hot Pink.

Introducing: my winter pashmina -

with matching bangle from a local Budget Designer Cheap Shop!