Wedding Belle Boys

A minus point, living all the way 'downunder' in Australia is missing out on big happenings and special celebrations in England with family and friends and this week we felt it so much as our dear friends Stuart and Kiel had their Civil Ceremony and got married in the English sunshine in Kent.





Those of you who have read the blog over the last few months know that they are the owners of FONTAINE Decorative Antiques and I have done quite a few posts ( click HERE ) about what they sell and their company and also their cottage on the coast in England.

We sent them this bouquet above.. .... Called 'Antique Posy' (which I thought was really appropriate) from the Real Flower Company... in England - my favourite place for sending flowers - such gorgeous English roses.

I really do wish that we could have been with them though to share their happy day.....

P.S. I did look for a 'Civil Ceremony' card in our local card/gift shop but to no avail - (perhaps the area where we live here is a little conservative for such cards - has anyone seen them in their travels?) Anyway, I found a 'plain' suitable card for them which was lovely.

CONGRATULATIONS dearest Stu and Kiel - loads more happy years to you both together xxxxx

Sofas of the most gorgeous kind

Namely, these Kilim Sofas made by George Smith - a long established English furniture company. I have admired and loved from afar for years! They cost a 'King's Ransom' as they say, but how lovely are they?

Each sofa and chair is made by hand and they are deliciously squashy and comfortable too. They also make plain sofas but I think these made from antique kilims are so unique and are their 'signature look '.

My friend Jo is lucky enough to own not one but TWO!! Here above is a photograph of her sitting room showing the gorgeousness! I will add here that in her 'former life' she worked in Interior Design so picked these up in the George Smith sale and was able to apply her discount too but even then she hid the exact purchase price from her husband!

Above is my own 'home-designed' version of a George Smith wing chair!! This I had made up in a small and dusty shop in Istanbul, Turkey when we were on holiday there years ago and after much bartering and 'too-ing' and 'fro-ing' regarding the price it was shipped back to England as the finished article 6 weeks later! Thankfully it turned out well and I was delighted and still love it, although one day maybe, just maybe I might own a George Smith hand made one!

Everyone has to dream......

First image and logo from the George Smith website - other images - me.

The kindness of strangers

Yesterday morning my daughter lost her purse photographed above...

As you can see, it is a V.S.P. - Very Special Purse. (aka Very Special Wallet depending on where you live in the world) so you can imagine that last night we were extremely sad. Not because there was a lot of money it and not because her bank card was in it either but because it was her 18th birthday present from me to her. She absolutely loved her special purse and I will never, ever forget the look on her face when I gave it to her 18 months ago - total disbelief and delight at the same time.

I received a text from her in the morning.... 'Mum, help - have lost purse! ' and when I rang her she said, through tears, "I had my purse at the train station and when I got to the other end I could not find it". Many more tears, sadness and reporting to the Lost Property section of our train provider here in Melbourne. Last night we thought -well, we have to be philosophical - it had gone - we could not change that - maybe it was taken out of her bag, maybe she had not zipped up the compartment properly, maybe it had fallen to the floor and into the hands of someone who thought - "Aha, my lucky day" ...... BUT NO!
It was OUR lucky day as a wonderful person - I know now as Suzanne found it on the train station and went to great effort to find us (in the end tracing us through a Library card that my daughter had borrowed belonging to her stepfather (Mr SE) that was in the purse) .

The kindness of strangers - a lesson for all.... What comes around goes around. And how lucky we were.

Design in Black and White - new book

I am really enjoying luxuriating in my new gorgeous book... 'Design in Black and White' - I bought it a while back now but only just got around to sitting down and really savouring it at the weekend.... It's by Janelle McCulloch - an Australian journalist and writer - who is as lovely as she is talented. She took the majority of the photographs that appear in the book.

See what I mean? Aren't they sumptuous? I had the pleasure of meeting Janelle McCulloch last year - I wrote about it on the blog - see HERE (I did not have many followers then so you may not have read about my initial meeting with her!).

My fellow Melburnian blogger and friend Claire from Haven Home and Interiors has also written about this book - see HERE for her review and when we met we talked about how we loved it.... (amongst many other books).

Although the book is crammed full of some absolutely gorgeous shots of elegant black and white rooms it's the one above that really gets me. A wonderful kitchen in a fairly modest cottage featuring a whole wall of blackboard paint - how gorgeous! Although I have always painted a large square of blackboard paint for writing notes, recipes and shopping lists in the last few houses Mr SE and I have renovated I have never thought of this wonderful idea of using it on a complete wall..... Next house we do I plan to copy this whole kitchen slavishly. It's just wonderful.

Book available from HERE.

'Design in Black and White' by Janelle McColloch. Images Publishing 2010

This photo goes with the post below

This is what I was served for dinner... how sweet - 'M' for Ma on my chicken and veggie pie - all homemade - read the post below to see who made it !! And, I have to say, it was absolutely delicious - even more so that I did not have to think about what was for dinner tonight.

I'm so excited!

Trinny and Susannah are on television here in Australia tonight... I know it may sound a bit 'sad' but I have had the day marked in my calendar for ages...!!

They are on Lifestyle You at 9.30pm - the programme is their 'making over' America series ! Can't wait..

Not sure if this has aired in UK yet - does anyone know?



Also, my daughter is cooking dinner tonight and I have been banned from the kitchen completely (she says I interfere) - well, nothing to do but relax in the sitting room - how lovely after a day at work - such bliss.....!

Weekend Flowers - a firm favourite

This photograph was sent to me by my sister (the one that got married a couple of months ago - click HERE if you like for the post all about her happy Wedding day).

She is delighted as the poppy plant in her garden is flowering profusely this year and she knows that they are one of my favourite flowers. Well, with a daughter named Poppy I couldn't really have any other favourite flower!....

Enjoy! And have a wonderful weekend everyone.

New Happenings

Hello Melbourne !

This welcome above is from a very well known American store opening its first branch in Australia right here in my adopted home City of Melbourne next month!! Behind that poster above there is a hive of activity and great excitement as GAP is arriving at Chadstone shopping centre!! Hooray - lovely cotton basics and good khaki trousers as recommended by That's Not My Age. In fact, I will admit that she told ME first that GAP was opening in Australia way before I knew and she lives on the other side of the world in London - she definitely has her finger on the world- wide fashion pulse! Since she gave me the nod about GAP I have been keeping my ear to the ground and checking out the Internet and today saw for myself where they are to be. I will keep you posted about the opening in due course.



Talking of other bloggers, I met a fellow Mebourne blogger today at Chadstone (where this photograph was taken) for a coffee at Capital Kitchen - a great cafe and homewares/lifestyle shop I've posted about earlier (click HERE) as has the very charming and lovely Claire Jackson of the wonderful blog Haven Home and Style... We had a great chat and an hour and a half just whizzed by - it was great to meet her and we had lots in common enjoying so many of the same things. Such a nice morning - how lucky we are that within our blogging community we are able to meet new people and have loads to talk about. Really, a complete joy.



In the same sort of vein I also have another blog to tell you all about ... a new one - Peony Melbourne. As regular readers know I have blogged about Peony (boutique perfumery) several times and now Jill Timms, owner of Peony has begun her own blog...... So, if you want to be kept in the loop about all things beautiful and fragranced be sure to become one of her followers. Her last post tells of the new jewellery she has in store too - including THE necklace that SJP wears in the film SATC2 - hop on over to her blog to take a quick peek.


Wishing you all a wonderful weekend whatever you may be doing and wherever you are in this wonderful blogging world...

New shoes and another new/older purchase

Last week I purchased these ballet shoes above..... They are black suede and the most comfortable shoes I have tried on in a long, long time.....It was an immediate decision - "Yes, I'll take them please" - and I almost thought about buying a second pair exactly the same (isn't that what fashion savvy professionals tell us to do?!!) Okay, I know - another pair of plain black ballet shoes, but the thing that makes these stand out from so many others (apart from the comfort factor) is.........

The small (very small - undetectable when looking at the shoe from the front) little wedge which automatically lengthens the leg - and I am sure, unless you are 6ft nothing with legs that go on forever this is a Good Thing....! ('She Wore it Well' (great blog btw) would not need the extra wedge to lengthen hers - lucky girl!!)

Anyway, I digress...These lovely shoes came from The Ark shop near me and also they were very good value too for a pair of handmade shoes (with their own little cotton drawstring bag too) - $89.00. Amazing. www.theark.com.au

Secondly, this purchase - made about 3 months ago at the place advertised above..... A pair of classic wool straight leg black trousers at a discounted price.... About a third of their original cost.
Lovely quality, great fit and for me a good shape with a flat front and a side zip - perfect... Only trouble is I have to take them to be shortened... I still have not done so - I MUST this week....Apparently Armani trousers are never supplied hemmed - that part you have to do yourself !!

Ah well, you can't win 'em all, all the time!!

Going Batty

On Sunday we went out to see the huge bats (or Flying Foxes) roosting in their thousands in trees on the banks of the River Yarra in Melbourne. Each night at dusk they take off over the city in a dark cloud of flapping wings - rather like something out of 'Twilight'.

I have to say they never cease to amaze me - they look like large money bags all hooked up on the branches.
This one above has quite a cute face actually!

Look at their huge wingspan!

Here were are - my daughter and I taking them all in...

The last time I posted about these incredible bats was the day before my Mother in Law was leaving Melbourne after a stay here!! See HERE.

(All photography by Mr SE)

Something old, something new = a great mix

Something old - well not that old but I have had it since the Summer of 2005 (or was it Summer 2006?) no matter, all I know is that I have used it many, many times. So, on a cost per wear/use basis my lovely, squishy leather orange Anya Hindmarch bag has been an extremely good purchase. It's great at this time of the year (Autumn here remember, in the Southern Hemisphere) - I could even blend in with the foliage if I so wished (!) and equally good for the Summer months when I wear white linen trousers for example and tan leather sandals. It's a great shot of colour with neutrals and a good mood enhancing hue.

Now, this photograph above shows my new scarf - a fabulous leopard print with orange and tan stripes at each end and even nicer is that it was a present from my darling girl so it is extra special. She has excellent taste (I have tried to teach her well!) and knows that I am very partial to a little bit of leopard.

So you can imagine that this pairing of the old and the new .....

is very satisfying to me.
Hope everyone is having a very happy weekend wherever you are or whatever you may be doing....

I am a little preoccupied but hugely excited

Well, at last my girl has stopped flitting round the small islands in Indonesia and is about to flit to this large island of Australia and I could not be more happy!! Especially as it is going to be for longer than a 'flit' and she is staying with us till August.... Happy, happy, happy Semi Expat!

Below photograph shows a souvenir she brought back from her travels ..... However, she did have the good grace (!) to let me know before she sent me the photo that it is a henna one.... Otherwise she knows that I would probably have had a mild heart attack.

Oh to be young again!

So, you'll know where I'll be tonight - at Melbourne Airport (with a quick visit first to the Qantas lounge for a restorative and celebratory glass of champagne).

Saturday Outing

Today Mr SE and I went on a mini road trip.

We went south of Melbourne to the lovely Mornington Peninsula area (about 50kms out of the City) and on the way back up stopped at this lovely cafe called Lilo in Mornington, near the coast.

Such a great place. I believe it has only been opened since late last year. Lots of accents of green in the cafe. It really worked.

We had a pot of tea each (REAL tea leaves btw! - as Faux Fuchsia would say - 11/10) and shared a sandwich. Great friendly service and lovely little touches - for example the the teaspoons - look - all little vintage ones... so cute..

Photograph below shows our afternoon tea - I love the little milk bottles too (although they may have cribbed this idea from me - see this POST - ha ha!)

The sandwich was DELISH too - very fresh (Mr SE had already started his half before I whipped out the camera!) and I would thoroughly recommend this cafe - gorgeous little vintage touches in a modern setting. We will definitely be back. www.lilocafe.com.au.

(Photos - all mine except Nos. 2 and 3 - these are from the cafe's facebook page)

White Horses of Wiltshire and the garden

Just before I came back to Australia a couple of weeks ago I took these photographs to show you... The first is of a white horse chalk carving high up on the hills very near our cottage in Wiltshire. In fact I pass it most days when I am in England - quite majestic isn't it ? I thought it was looking particularly lovely that evening with the rapeseed flowers at the fore front. Wiltshire is the county for white horses. There are or were at least twenty-four of these hill figures in Britain, with no less than thirteen being in Wiltshire, and another white horse, the oldest of them all, being just over the border in Uffington, Oxfordshire. Most of the white horses are chalk hill carvings, and the chalk downs of central Wiltshire make it an ideal place for such figures.
Of the thirteen white horses known to have existed in Wiltshire, eight are still visible, and the others have either been lost completely, or are in a sense still there, under the turf, but have long since become grown over and are no longer visible.
The Uffington white horse is of certain prehistoric origin, being some three thousand years old. Most of the others date from the last three hundred years or so. The one above I believe dates from around 1857.





The next couple of photographs are the last ones I took of the garden the day I left the cottage just after I had done a last tidy up - mowed the lawn and done a little thinning and pruning...

You can see from the photo how tiny the garden is - it runs down the side of the house and the white cottage at the back of the photograph is my neighbour's. Still, it is the perfect size and can be looked after from afar with a friend of ours (who happens to be a landscape gardener) coming in every 10 days or so during the Summer to check on the shrubs etc. and mow the lawn - really it needs very little actual looking after which is a good thing in the circumstances.

Particularly like this photo - wonder if the roses around that door have come out by now?

Saturday night

I was transformed back into the dancing Queen - young and sweet only 17..... Well, it certainly felt that way again even though of course the age was just a little bit out! We had such a great evening. Yes, it was a little bit 'naf', a little 'cheesey' and perhaps teensy bit 'camp' even but my goodness it was FUN!
Every single person was UP on their feet - hands waving, endorphins doing their stuff and at the end of the evening most people left with a huge
SMILE on their faces.

I LOVED it - regular readers will know that my secret has already been outed - I am an ABBA fan and I say "Thank you for the Music" and will do for as long as their songs are around.

Weekend flowers. At home and away.

Mr SE returned home last night bearing gifts... Well, a gift of many flowers. He said it was because I have been a good nurse looking after him after his operation on his elbow. So sweet of him as truth is (as my family knows) I am really not a great nurse and am woefully inadequate in that department and go all hollow-legged and lightheaded at anything which comes remotely under the heading of wounds and stitches needing treatment!

Such lovely flowers - I felt very lucky. They are from our local florist at the end of the road - now under new management apparently.

Away Flowers......

A display at PEONY. Showcasing DIPTYQUE'S organic Body Care Range.

Roses and Orchids above.

And close up of the roses on a French rustic iron garden chair.... - my kind of antique - a little bit battered around the edges but quite loved. Bit like me I suppose!!

A wonderful to weekend to you all wherever you are in the world and whatever you are doing.

At the end of the line

Mr SE and I took the train to the end of the line today...Up to the mountains or, to be precise the Dandenong ranges, near Mount Dandenong. He has been at home over the last few days as he had to have a minor operation on his elbow (caused by an old 'war wound' - not really - a leftover from a car accident he had in his early twenties). Anyway, I am pleased to say he is on the mend and apart from the wounded soldier sling he has to wear is feeling a bit better.

This was the view from the cafe where we stopped for lunch.

Just look at the colour of the leaves and the contrast with the blue of that sky... the mercury hit 19 degrees today - the perfect Autumn day.

Meanwhile back in the land of Oz

Whilst I have been away in England, Autumn has truly arrived in Australia and this is the view outside our house in Melbourne. Looking up to the right of the house.

And, below looking down towards the local shops, railway station etc.

Such amazing colours. Mr SE and I went for a walk at lunchtime and stopped at a cafe and partook of large mugs of delicious homemade soup. Just right for the weather.

A great weekend to one and all...

I am happy to report that so far my jet lag has not been too bad this time and I had a great flight over with dear old Qantas - 4 seats all to myself - and as you can imagine I stretched out and took advantage of making myself my own 'business class style bed in economy'!