Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Last night a family gathered together to kick off what will be two weeks of over-eating and celebrating. Mum had cooked up a spicy feast and the evening was filled with endless smiles, laughter and conversation.
Husband and I will be hosting out first dinner party this weekend and we are excited because we love food and we love to cook. So, this last week has been spent deciding on a menu, writing up a very long shopping list on several pieces of paper, a naughty wife spending too much money on fancy (and unnecessary) things like truffle oil, turkish delight and orangle blossom fairy floss, a patient husband putting up with her holiday spending madness and lots and lots of time spent thinking about table decorations and fairy lights.
On the menu:
Appetisers
Cheese and chive tartlets
Spicy herb meatballs
Salt and pepper prawns
Three kinds of salad
Pea, mint and fetta
Warm potatoes with capers
Roasted capsicum with chilli and lime salt
BBQ
Fish
Lamb
Sausages
Chicken
All served up Asian style
Desserts
Chocolate and hazlenut tart
White chocolate and coconut mousse
OK, i am off to buy some last minute purchases...I think husband is pleased that i lost my credit card two days ago.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009
Bedrooms and bathrooms





Photo credits: All photos by Polly Eltes
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Pumpkins and cabbages
It never occurred to me how utterly beautiful it could be...

in a vase – its leaves resemble petals washed in purples and faded whites...
and even pumpkins can look so stunning...

laid out on a silver platter...

or stacked on top of each other...

or on its own...
If I had to plan my wedding again, maybe (just maybe) the tables would look like this…
covered in faded European linens and white lace, silver goblets and antique cutlery, embroidered napkins and greenery at each place setting...and...cabbages...yes, BEAUTIFUL cabbages would make for gorgeous centrepieces.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Aisle of blooms

Thursday, April 23, 2009
House of dreams
I long for a stately home from yester-year – not too large, but large enough for two and two or maybe three more. The boy pictures something with clean, modern lines, filled with space and very little yard. I dream of a beautiful limestone fireplace that warms the room with golden light, white-washed walls infused with the subtleties of age, floor-to-ceiling shelves of masterpieces and classics, timber floors pierced with old life, high ornate ceilings that hang crystal chandeliers
and a story-book garden growing cherry blossoms, herbs and berries. At the bottom of the garden would be a magnificent old tree with dark brown arms holding and enfolding stories and secrets in its boughs.
Nestled beneath its canopy of a hundred floating voices would be a dear little tree house – a place for solitude and relaxation, for inspiration and imagination, somewhere to dream sweet dreams and become lost in deep thoughts. Whatever our house of dreams will be, I can not wait to bring it to life...
with beautiful furnishings...
and wonderful scents and smells...
to clothe it with love...
paint the walls with laughter and good times, nurture a family in it and together with the boy, grow old in it...
Now our love is deep enough to need no frantic gestures. You smile in passing, touch my shoulder. I walk with you in the garden, sharing the last light, the flickering of the bats, the scent of the roses. We are at home in quietness. Passion and the everyday flow from each other, equal expressions of our love.
Charlotte Gray, 1937
Photo credits: 1) Peonies and Polaroids 2) Unknown source 3) Paul Massey 4) Cherry Blossom Girl 5) Unknown source
All other photos by Paul Massey
Monday, April 20, 2009
Late Autumn days

Rich gloom slowly exhales a film of faint vapour.
The light bids farewell and departs hastily.
Night winds start to dance wildly
through the blackness.
Stars drown in a lair of purple mist.
Darkness hangs veils of
grey cloud and violet shadows.
A forgotten chill returns.
Winter is nigh.
Photo credit: Weather Underground
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A garden party
The Casket
I have a garden of my own
Shining with flowers of every hue
I loved it dearly while alone
But I shall love it more with you
And there the golden bees shall come
In summer time at the break of morn
And wake up their busy hum
Around the Siha’s fragrant thorn
Thomas Moore, 1835


The bride would carry a simple bouquet of fragrant lavender, berries and rosemary tied with vintage lace. She would wear something so fabulous she could and indeed would wear it again and again.
Nothing welcomes Spring more beautifully than dining outside.






After a slow and sumptuous breakfast, the happy couple will retreat to a quiet corner; with the sun now high and hot, they find coolness in the shade of a big, handsome tree; they stare into the heavens and smile...
"Ah, what happiness it is to be with people who are all happy, to press hands, press cheeks, smile into eyes…And the perfect afternoon slowly ripened, slowly faded, slowly its petals closed".
(Extract from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield, 1922)
Friday, April 10, 2009
It is a truth universally acknowledged…
My latest must-have and well thought-out (Should I buy this trench coat? But the boy already bought me a very similar one for my birthday...it’s not that similar...and...you can never have too many trench coats...and...winter is just around the corner...and...I will be needing lots of warm layers for when we go to New Zealand for our honeymoon)purchase...
I must say it looks slightly better on Penelope but doesn’t everything? I just noticed the shoes...hmmmm
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The mean reds

The cause? Sadness...it’s crisis overload – emotional crisis, economic crisis, identity crisis; someone you know is dying from cancer; someone you know has just died from cancer; the all too familiar be glad you still have a job; another psychopath on the rampage; another earthquake; another Josef Fritzl (I wonder how many more of these sick beasts that disguise themselves as fathers are out there?); depleting disposable incomes; an unsympathetic property market – and the list goes on...
Image by La Porte Rouge
A cure? If only...But, surely happiness is everywhere if we take a moment to look...
Things that make me happy...

Wedding expenses coming under budget (which makes me wonder whether our budget was way too high to start with)...




And the list goes on...