Trestle Table Love....

I have had the most beautiful couple of weeks. Not all wonderful. But lots of beautiful moments to make up for some really awful ones. 

I've had an idea in my mind for a little while now. 

I didn't end up with an outdoor table when I moved to my new life. I managed to save my lovely chairs that I painted quite awhile ago now.  

Bringing an idea to life is such an exciting thing to do.  

Planning, shopping, working it all out.

A trip to the Toowoomba recycling centre is always a fun thing to do.  

So many beautiful old doors to choose from. I found this one. Perfect for what I had in mind.  Strong, heavy, chippy and oh so wonderful.

A lovely friend made the trip to Bunnings with me. We had found a great set of instructions on the net and had our list ready.  How good is a trip to Bunnings!   One of my favourite places to go. Dangerous even!!

Home with our bits and pieces the fun began.  

My friend owns all the gear necessary. What a beautiful afternoon of building fun we had. 

Perfectly worn and chipped from years in another life. 

Right at home under the tree at Lorea House. 

Such perfect little details a reminder of its previous life. 

Ready for a perfectly beautiful summer of memories. 

Pink Custard Kisses....

Oh my, this heat wave is unbearable.  I am so thankful for my air conditioning in extreme weather such as this.

It is so very quiet here today, so a little baking filled my morning. 

Mr Buble and I in the kitchen.

Kisses....        With love.....

 

Don't forget my little giveaway in the last post - at the moment there's one entered.  Lucky lady if she gets all three!!!  Draw in a few days.

A Little Baking....

 

 

Time worn utensils.

 

 

 

Favourite recipes...

 

 

 

 

and new recipes.....

 

A lovely day indeed.

Carnival of Flowers 2013

 

Two months have disappeared since my last post and now Spring is here!

 

Goodness what a busy time. 

 

We have prepared and entered our garden in the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers once again.

 

This year we were awarded with

First - Outdoor Living Area

First - Family Friendly Garden

Second - Cottage Garden

Third - Design Concept Award

 

We are looking forward to sharing our garden with all who choose to venture to our little corner of the world.  Today is the most glorious Spring Day - almost perfect. 

 

Seven Years...

 

Today, it is seven years since we moved into our home.

 

So much planning had gone before.

 

 

 

And, so much hard work has gone after. 

 

So proud of what we have achieved in the last seven years.

 

 

We are preparing our garden again for Spring. 

 

On such a cold, miserable day it is hard to think that we will again be in our Spring garden in around 10 weeks time.

 

Looking forward and counting down!

Iffley, Goomburra

 

Fifty years ago, my Nana and Pop left this home and took their family to a different place.  A place with further opportunities for farming.  A place that was my home.  A place that has allowed my family to be successful in their farming venture.

 

I have spoken about this home before here.  I had never visited this home.  The home of my family for generations before.  I have heard of it for the whole of my life and have never quite fathomed how my Nana left it.  What a sacrifice of love and devotion to her family.

 

 

 

A little while ago, the  family who live here were in contact with my Dad.  They were interested in the history of this home and of the people who have lived there before them.

 

We were invited to visit.  I was so thrilled.

 

And so, we visited.

 

Tears flow now as I remember this day.  It was wonderful.  To see my Dad walk the farm and tell us the stories.  Some of it I had heard many times in my life.  Some of it new.  All of it wonderful.

 

My Dad was brought home to this place as a baby in January 1942.  My Nana had moved here as a bride in 1940.  My Pop lived here his life with his parents.

 

This is our family home. 

 

Not that where we have been for the past fifty years is not, it is in the original history of our family arriving to Australia and taking up this land in the Goomburra Valley that holds my attention and my heart.

 

 

We strode accross these paddocks and saw where the animals had been kept and the buildings that had housed them.  Many of them built by Pop and Dad.  Many of them older than that.

 

 

The Wisteria that I have been told of over the years, magnificent in its stature, growing on the arbour built by our family.

 

Oh to see it in the Spring - I may have to take a little trip!

 

 

 

 

 

Stories of a young man helping his father build a barn with timber cut from the farm and allowed to develop in age to be used and of the barn up the road which is identical built to help a family member.

 

 

 

 

Yards and fences built by the hand of my Pop. 

 

I wanted to stay forever.

 

The method the same as the one my Dad used on the fence around my vegetable garden.

 

 

Eva and Mike so kindly invited us into their home.  I could almost not contain myself.  I felt tears slipping down my cheek constantly as I remembered my Nana and the wonderful woman that she was.

 

We went from room to room and Dad told me where each precious piece of furniture that I own had once been in that beautiful home. 

 

I imagined the card afternoons, the birthday parties and the dinner parties.  All in a different era when the ladies arrived and left their hats and gloves on Nan's bed until home time.

 

 

These handles all original to the house, I couldn't help but touch and remember those who have lived here and are no longer with us.  Worn with time but beautiful forever

 

Iffley, a moment in time etched in my heart forever.

 

 

Changes....

 

I'm not quite sure where the last 22 years has gone.  I think I blinked and then, gone!  While life has been busy while children have grown, somehow that time has come for our eldest to leave home. 

 

Goodness, I didn't realise it is this hard. 

 

To make it a little harder he hasn't just left home, he has moved 3300 kilometres (2049 miles) from our home.

 

A four hour flight none the less, plus of course the two hour drive we have to reach an airport in the first place.

 

Our boy is an adventurer with some wonderful goals he wishes to fulfill in his lifetime.  He is a television cameraman.  Cameron has begun his career in the local television station here in our home city and has loved every moment of it.  His long term goal is to travel overseas to cover world news and that will simply not happen from here.

 

So, he has joined a national network and has moved to the top end of Australia.  It's a long way from us and I will miss him greatly.  From here he hopes that he will be sent on work assignments to the Asia region.

 

I know that he will be just so successful in this position and I know his dreams will come true.  This is just the beginning for him.

 



 

 

 

We helped him pack some essentials into two suitcases and he has begun his journey.  The rest of his gear will follow when he is able to move into some more permanent accommodation - for the moment he is a motel dweller with a suitcase!! 

 



 

 

 

I travelled to Darwin a couple of weeks ago to work out some accommodation for him.  It is a long way from here and I had exhausted the "google" searches and my phone calls were reaching dead ends.  It was certainly worth my trip. 

 

He will be living in a beautiful unit that will be available at the end of next month. 

 

While I was there, two very lovely people crossed my path.  I believe they were a gift from God and came at the moment when I thought all was almost too hard to get our boy to be able to live where he had gained employment.

 

These people have offered Cameron a room in their home while he waits for the unit to be available.  This could be up to a month or more.  Very kind and most generous.  For this I am so very grateful.

 

 



 

 

And so, our life has entered the next phase as it were.  We now have two children at home and one away on the next adventure in his career. 

 

In two years our baby will be finished high school and Mitchell will be finished his apprenticeship.

 

See, I blinked and look what happened!

Spring Decorating....

 

I've started tidying the garden and placing of lovely pieces around - not only for the judging, but to enjoy in the coming weeks as Spring gets into full swing.

 

 

I just love the beautiful vintage looking cage - purely ornamnetal.

 

I love the colour and the shape.   I will probably move it inside too - I love the little terracotta pots that are planted with white viola.

 

I can see it inside with lovely ornaments and vintage lace draped from the bottom shelf.

 

 

This beauty was purchased at a lovely shop here in Toowoomba. 

 

Teacups and Twigs is a lovely shop at 9 Russell Street, Toowoomba.  If you live locally or stop by Toowoomba sometime, please visit Jane and her lovely shop.

 

 

Jane also has a lovely blog which she updates with beautiful things available in her sweet shop.

 

Say hello and tell Jane I sent you along!!

 

 

The freesias which have been in the ground for a few years continue multiply and are stunning this year.  The perfume is divine.

 

Our sweet peas are also flowering beautifully.  The scent in our garden is just lovely at the moment with all these beauties putting on their Spring display.

 

A dear old couple who have entered the Carnival for many, many years kindly shared these seeds with us a couple of years ago.

 

 

Four years ago, I planted a Wisteria.  I have watched and waited each Spring for the first flower.

 

This year it has happened.  It is stunning - but not what I expected.  I thought I had planted a deep purple flowering one - I have a pale lavender tinged flower - I don't seem to have saved the tag - does anyone know if it will change as it gets older - or have I been duped!!

 

 

Nonetheless, it is still beautiful. 

 

It is planted in memory of my dear Nana, Eleanor for whom this blog is partly named. 

 

In around 1940 she planted a Wisteria at our family home at Iffley, Goomburra.  This is the beautiful home she was prepared to sacrifice to allow her sons to further their farming dreams on the Darling Downs.  I believe from recent information that this Wisterial lives on today.  I think I may have to take a drive!