A new life for an old bathtub

A few weeks ago, after much harping by myself about my (lack of) vegetable gardens, my husband moved the old bath tub from the house into the garden, where we had talked about putting the raised beds.
This idea was good for me because it gave me the opportunity to see if this was the best place for growing vegetables without too much commitment. For my husband, no doubt, it worked for him too, thinking that the vegetables would fail to grow, thus, I'd end up losing interest and move onto something else.
To everyone's surprise, the vegetables we planted have really taken off. The soil is some we had left over, it's turf underlay and apparently it's quite sandy with water absorbing crystals and lots of chicken poo.
We've planted different lettuce, spinach, beetroot and some herbs; coriander, basil, mint and parsley. It's going gang busters!
The seedlings were tiny when we put them in. These photos were taken at the beginning of the week and already they are noticeably bigger.

Must rush, I'm madly trying to finish Jonathan Franzen's Freedom in the next week. The Corrections is one of, if not my favourite book, but I'm not loving Freedom as much. Has anyone else read it?
Seven days!

The dying kangaroo

It's now two weeks til I leave for New York, and guess who I'm flying on. That's right - our 'national carrier' who currently isn't carrying.
What a turn of events, it's so fascinating. I suppose that's what happens when you hire an Irishman to run an iconic Australian brand, and then back him up with a Board of men who make Montgomery Burns look like Bill Gates.
The whole $2 million bonus would be hysterical if it were part of some satirical anti-capitalist comedy skit, but as a true story it is unconscionable and provocative.
If Qantas survives, and it probably will, it has already shown it's ugly underside as just another ho-hum company hell bent on making an obscene profit regardless of any social costs to the nation who has been supporting it for the past 90 years. And some things can't be unseen.
Personally, I'm happy to pay extra for a ticket on a plane if I feel confident it has been meticulously maintained, with no corners cut, and is being flown by a cohesive, contented crew.
Sadly, on the other side of this dispute Australians may no longer feel an allegiance to the company. Qantas has certainly proven it feels no allegiance to us.

Bedroom mini-makeover

What to do on a rainy Monday? With the help of some new bed linen, and using what I already have, I did a little boudoir makeover.
This is before, in all its glorious drabness.

...and after with some new linen.

And again. Before.

After.

Before.

After

Before.

After.

It's not finished of course. A house never is. I still need a rug, new lampshades, a bed head and new curtains, preferably ones without holes in them from the cat swinging off them.

Now, has anyone ever heard of ASAP skincare? Apparently it's the business, and it seems everyone else has used it and loved it except for me. I don't know how on earth that one slipped through without me noticing, but more importantly, I'm onto it now.

A bunch of lillies, two topiaried ficus, tomatoes and a wire setting

Oriental lillies are beautiful at the moment. I got these ones from Rosalie Gourmet Market.
Coincidentally, they were $15, the same price I paid for each of these topiaried ficus-es-s. Some might say that the topiary should have been left behind in 1995, but I disagree. I think they are a classic.

We got them this morning from the Caboolture Markets. There were lots of plant stalls there and I would have brought home more, but we had to curtail our visit due to Peach's having a meltdown. She decided to wear a long white dress and a white fur coat (it looks like its made from harp seal), just perfect for some dirty country markets on a hot morning. Although the temperature was getting up there, and her face was obviously flushed, she refused to remove it  in a typical Peach's style stand-off, which are always totally devoid of logic.
Let me tell you, the bargains don't stop there with the ficus-es-s. I also got these pretty cherry tomatoes for $1. One dollar! I actually detest fresh tomatoes, but they make great kitchen bench decorations. I can also just bear them in a salad smothered with fetta cheese and olive oil.

Cherry tomatoes. Boring, I hear you say.
Well then, feast your eyes on this.

This is my 1970s wire setting, which actually has three chairs and a table. It's in A1 condition and it was only $59 on Ebay. That'a bargain, no matter how you look at. It's perfect for that area. The chairs are comfy, it's not bulky and the sun can shine through it easily so the grass doesn't die, and it goes without saying it's a first rate afternoon g & t spot.

Taming the problem child

Remember last month I showed this photo of the area directly outside our pool gate. It's been a real problem area. There's lots of problem areas in the garden when you live on a hill - terracing is key!

This is how it's looking now.

Again. Before.

After.

It's still not finished. You'll see the fence has no palings, that's because we're planting a hedge there instead. That still has to go in, and I've also bought a little old wire table and chairs to go on the grass, which we will hopefully pick up this afternoon.
And in other news of progress, remember these eggs in the nest at my Dad's?

They've since hatched and the birds are about to leave the nest any day. I wonder how the bird is that was in the egg we dropped?
I have finally hired house cleaners, they start in two weeks and I don't feel any guilt (sort of). Clean, shiny floors, here we come!

Gearing up

It may be Friday for you tomorrow, but for me it's day 38 before I take off for New York. I have been surprisingly un-obsessed with it to date, but I can feel my enthusiasm setting in like concrete.
I've been reading Sybilla Court's Stylist's Guide to New York, and I've been re-reading Lily Brett's essays on the City.

 

I've loaned my New York Deco to one of the friends I'm going with.

I've planned a Woody Allen movie fest. Say what you will about him personally, the man makes an excellent fil-um.

I've done a bit of Mad Menning - goes without saying.

I'll possibly brush over Sex and the City again. I had it in my head to visit Magnolia Bakery, but I've heard you have to line up for an hour for your cupcake. I'm afraid the only time I line up for food is when there's a war on.

I'm open to any suggestions or advice from anyone. Unlike being pregnant, advice on visiting New York is welcome and appreciated.

Holiday snaps

Several times I have driven to Rockhampton from Brisbane, which is an eight hour drive, with my two girls. I've even done the drive by myself, with them being much younger, and we've never had a problem. I use what I call the 'drip feed' system.
This involves several brown paper bags, a felt pen and lots of snacky things. I divide the bags up into two piles, and roughly use one bag per half hour of driving for each small person. Then I number each pile of bags one to ten or whatever.
I put various small amounts of food into each bag, and number each pile the same, so when it comes to handing them out, the bags are exactly the same and there's no fighting.
While some of the snacks would be deemed unhealthy, my reckoning is that a dippity bit is not going to be as bad for us as ending up under a truck. My aim is to have them occupied so I can concentrate on the driving. And so, my 'drip feed' system worked a treat this time too.
Thanks to Grandma, we also had a basket packed to the brim with paper, pens and stickers to fill in the time.
We did our usual visit to the Botanical Gardens while there. They are still magnificent and into their 150th+ year, and it shows. It takes time for a garden to look that magnificent.

This old concrete whale is still there. I remember it from when I was tiny. It used to be painted black and white, but it's au naturel now.

Dad's garden is beside a horse paddock and he often has taipans, death adders and brown snakes up near his house - I know!! I was kept well and truly on my toes, let me tell you. I was trying to calm myself by writing such angst off as paranoia when I heard a story on the local radio saying that the snakes were out again for Summer, and to keep a lookout for them.
Then there's the crocodiles. As a school girl I used to row on the river. My career was cut short though, one morning when I saw an enormous crocodile in the water not far from where I was putting the boat in. To make matters much worse, that was the first morning I fell out. The coach motored out to me in his dinghy. My relief turned to horror however, when I realised he came to get the boat not me, and I was left behind to swim back to the rowing club, about 100m, to where I'd seen the crocodile. Needless to say, later in the day my mother called him to say I'd decided against a career in rowing.
This brings me to the weekend just past. Proof that children are in fact NOT wrapped in cotton wool at all. There was a rowing regatta on that very same river, right beside the sign saying crocodiles inhabit the water and can cause death or injury!

Achtung indeed!

Now I sense you're wondering if I managed to secure a concrete swan. No, in a word. It wasn't from the lack of determination though. I did knock on a door in the pursuit of one, but apparently it was a much loved member of the family. I've earmarked some for further investigation, however, the owners are currently caravanning and won't be back til closer to Christmas.
I managed to bring back some little dust collectors, one of which is a swan.
This duck is from Dad's house, and unfortunately, he's the only member of his family to have survived.

Dad gave me this shell mat, which belonged to my grandma. I really love it.



Here it is in-situ with the pineapples I brought back, for a tres tropical feel.

I just love pineapples as decoration, and they double as a very good fruit too.

We found this tiny bird's nest in Dad's greenhouse. It's hanging down, probably a bit difficult to see.

The next day we went back to have another look at it, and found these.

Dad just loves birds. These are his 'budgies'.

That's it for the holiday snaps.
My next trip away will be New York in November!