April Autumnal Adventures

It is holiday time again, and with the family I set off for the coast via two open gardens in the Monaro district east of Cooma.

To get to the open gardens we passed through a tiny town called Numeralla. I would like to return here one day, the little town in a valley surrounded by poplars looked very appealing. 

As we drove through I was singing "There's a happy little valley by the Numeralla shore" which is actually about the Eumeralla, a river in Victoria, but hey it rhymed! Here's Slim Dusty singing the Aussie folk song about cattle duffing (stealing). I love the bit which goes "When the moon has climbed the mountain and the stars are very bright.."
 



The first garden was "Wondalee", the garden of Sue and Mike Litchfield on the Tuross Road at Countegany. This lovely, well established country garden surrounds a fibro house. From the garden there are beautiful views of the countryside.
This is a cold climate area, and there were autumn leaves in abundance as well as late blooming roses.

 In the cabbage patch

An old fashioned country tennis court. In the background is a gigantic silver elm

 Looking towards the house. I quite liked the combination of garage with loft above, separate from the house.

Folk enjoying tea and a chat 

 These rounded steps with white seaside daisies growing along them were quite unusual. I have always loved crazy paving too.

My husband and daughter stride across the lawn, leaving me to admire the roses growing up the verandah  pillars. I plan to plant an ornamental grapevine like this one on the northern side of my house, but I have to build it a metal pergola first.

                                             An oak tree along the drive

Ducks waiting for someone to turn on the tap. They've been waiting a long time I feel.

 The wind here in winter is very strong and freezing cold. So a windbreak is essential.

Wooden gates were available for sale. Here my husband is chatting to the gatemaker, Tom Brown. I liked the look of these sturdy tree guards. If I had tree guards like these the kangaroos would come off second best.

There was a sheepdog trial demonstration. Here the dogs are having a rest after showing us all how they round up the sheep. The farmer is chatting to the visitors about how to train a dog without destroying its spirit. 

I admired this stone wall.

 

The next house was completely different. It is the garden of John and Shilo Bowe, surrounding the house and nursery of their business, Tableland Trees and Shrubs. (there's a great photo on their website of the nursery in the snow).

This garden is 25 years old, and serves as a source of plants for the nursery and to demonstrate the specimens for the customers. To get to the garden we drove higher up the mountain, along a windy track through tall gum trees and scrub then to a clearing.

Walking in the gate, we saw an interesting cow sculpture.

 

 Just look at this beautiful golden elm. I like the log seat underneath.

 

 Looking out from under a weeping silver birch across to the willow by the dam and the gum trees in the background.

A lovely old gum tree. Can you spot the cubby in its branches? 

I think this one is a ribbon gum. Gum trees are evergreens but they shed their bark at certain times of the year, which can be an amazing sight.

       
A dam provides water for the nursery. The owner collects the water once it has been used to water the plants and sends it back into this dam for reuse.

 

I am an admirer of vegie gardens and hope to put one in at my place before too long. This one had a handy tip for defeating the dreaded cabbage white butterfly that longs to nestle in your brassicas, lay its eggs and poop to its heart's content. The trick is to enclose your cabbage patch with ordinary white netting - the butterflies can't get through the mesh and your broccoli etc will be safe.

I have a blue spruce like this at my place, but it is nowhere near this tall and majestic. Maybe one day....they seem to grow really slowly. 

The Pickle found me some chestnuts. We saw some in the supermarket the next day for $6.99 a kilo!

 

 Rather interesting retaining wall made from pine logs.

The little trees in the nursery each have a dripper for irrigation and are buried under weedmat. I fought back the temptation to buy a few for souvenirs since we had a car load of stuff and were headed off on holidays.

This is a swamp oak. The Pickle was interested to hear that there are deciduous conifers. We like to listen to a They Might be Giants song called "C is for Conifer". 

This one is turning a lovely yellowy hue.

 Each tree in the garden was labelled so you could jot down its name and ask for one at the nursery. What a great idea!

 

Here's the song about conifers:  

When we sat down for a rest, I asked the Pickle "What tree is this leaf from?"

 

I was very proud of her when she answered "The tulip tree!". Then I realised she was reading a label on the tree. D'oh! We have one of these at home but it had the misfortune to collect a passing kangaroo and is not looking so good.

 

Well, that was a great start to our holidays.

I will fill you in next week on our adventures at the beach. Until then, here's a photo from when I was down the coast on year seven camp last week - coincidentally at the same little town where I am staying with my family.

PS I found a house which was for sale in the same road as the gardens, and I'm including the link because the photos of the landscape are just stunning and much better than mine! It's very rustic and the toilet is a dunny out the back but really I think I'd be in heaven here. So long as I had an internet connection, that is!
http://www.raineandhorne.com.au/properties/70026

Sydney Collages

Hi there,
Shop News first!

In shop news, I have used up all my Strawberry Tea Party fabric by making a dress to give away and two special orders. Isn't it pretty?

 



Etsy has introduced a drop down menu so my customers can choose what size they want for their baby dress.  This is a great tool for my shop since I don't have to make one of each size, I can just make a sample and then make the dresses "to order".











Wonderful.
More Tea Party fabric was purchased today and will be available for made to order dresses in a month or so.
 

☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

I am just back from a trip to Sydney. We had a rather fast trip back because we thought the dog boarding kennel was open till 5 but when we rang to check found out it closed at 4. Oops.

Due to feeling worn out, I am posting a pictorial blog today. I am providing some hints so you can work out what it is you are looking at, but I did not want to give too much away, so they may be rather cryptic.

All photos taken in the vicinity of the Sydney CBD, or on our trip to Manly.

Collage made using Picmonkey.com, which is an excellent tool, and even has a template for making a facebook cover photo collage.

In the photo above you can spot

* my first manicure (from the nail bar at DJs)

* paddling at Manly

* Queen Victoria's dog

* a photo which nearly got me kicked out of DJ's department store

* a car which my husband says is a special order matt black Mercielago, for someone who is so rich a normal one won't do

* a ferry

* our hotel

* the Pickle's matching manicure (it matches the DS!)

*a plane tree

* "the claw! the claw!"

In the above set of photos you can see:

* a porthole

* a futuristic building

* an indoor tree

* people climbing the bridge

* the pool with the window in the floor

* a guinea pig artwork

* the view out the hotel window at night

* no parking

* an old building with a regrowth problem

* a Totoro dessert from a restaurant (Pickle had to have one, and a piggy bun too)

* sea dragons

* the soon to be dismantled monorail

* self portrait on a ferry

* the Aida truck arriving at the Opera House

* instructions for tourists on how to cross the road

April holiday fun

We've just returned from a holiday at the coast, staying in the far south of New South Wales in the little town of Tathra. I would like to share some highlights and some holiday snaps with you. If you know anything about how to get the photos nice and neat on the page, please let me know. I have given up trying to get them all in a row, they just keep spreading out no matter where I put them!

 First off, we stayed in a town called Mollymook. Hubby was keen to try the pies at this pie shop, and they must have been good since he went and bought three more to takeaway. Just   in time on the day before we left I received a package of frames in the mail from my supplier in, no joke, Framingham USA. So I was able to get my first cross stitched pendant ready for my shop, a lovely red and pink rose.

Note address: the Princes PIEway LOL

We arrived in Tathra and set off to find our holiday house, which we borrowed for the week. It  was absolutely beautiful, having just been renovated. Hubby loved the bifold doors which opened up onto a deck with a sea view. I told him I would rather be enclosed and live a little like a wombat. Oh well. 

Sadly, the weather was not ideal. We had to find other activities as the clouds opened up and the seas were rough and stormy. 

We had several day trips, and pretty much everywhere we went we had coffee and cake, or in the case of the Pickle, caramel slice and a milkshake. I managed to find some interesting items at the local op shops. We went to Merimbula a few times. In the St Vinnies op shop I bought some patterns. We went out for dinner at the sports club and then to the movies. We saw the Lorax in 3D, which we all liked a lot. The Pickle is really fond of his moustache, and here she is giving him a friendly cuddle. I said to hubby as we went in that I felt like I'd already seen this movie since I'd seen the preview, but it turned out there was enough surprises to keep me interested.

 I cross stitched this little brooch and put it up for sale in my shop. It was really nice to have some handwork to do while I was away from my sewing machine. you can see the coloured grid which I graphed out beforehand.

Cheese making machine

There's something not quite right about this cow

We went to Bega to visit the cheese factory. My daughter showed me how to eat a "Stringer" which is a lunch box snack that was not invented when I was a kid. At the Salvos in Bega I bought an 80s cardigan which I wore nearly every day for the rest of the trip.

New pair of flower earrings, $3 from big W. I am a big spender!

I resisted buying any plants since hubby said they wouldn't fit in the car.

A close up of my 80s cardigan - it's acrylic! 

$3 earrings I bought at the Bega BigW. 

Gratuitous food shot: this was roast mushrooms with beetroot and feta. It gave me garlic breath but I didn't mind. MMMMM

The barber shop in Bega is also a shoe store - I wanted to try on a pair of shoes while having my hair done but Hubby said no.

A cool old car

These are my all time favourite earrings, I wear these most days and even to bed. I have decided if I ever lose one that I will commission a jeweler to make another pair straight away. They have outlasted many a pair of $3 earrings! I bought them in Armidale in 1998.

We visited an amusement park in Merimbula named "Magic Mountain". Sadly a tree had fallen on the toboggin run and it was out of action. It was smaller than I thought it would be, and it started to rain, but that did not stop the Pickle from having fun. My favourite ride was the go-karts, but hers was the waterslide. Oddly enough, it went underground through a tunnel. Hubby and I were too chicken to go on it. Well, to tell you the truth, we just did not want to get wet. We stood under an umbrella and cheered her on. 

Hubby and I agreed that this must be where old council playground equipment comes to die - they also had a roundabout that did not go round, and a Huckleberry Hound see-saw. 

Pickle and I got hopelessly addicted to watching The Voice each night. She is on Team Delta, and I am on Team Keith. Luckily I had something useful to do while I watched - I made this little pendant which the Pickle has named "The Gumball Tree". It is made with French knots in all colours of the rainbow.

We had an outing to Bermagui, which is a lovely little harbour town. In an antique store called "Belongings" I found the perfect dressing table for our bedroom, but sadly we could not think of any way to get it back home. We had to leave it there.
I found an amazing, fantastic, awesome antique store called "Strangers in Paradise". I wanted to move in there right away. Well worth a look in if you are ever in the district.
 I bought a pattern from 1955 to make my sister a swing dancing dress. it is this one here if you want to check it out or make your ownvintage pattern for sale I am sure she'll love it!

The harbour at Bermagui

I got a bit bored one evening waiting for The Voice to come on, and commissioned an artwork from my friend Niki - it is my first commission if you don't count my custom etsy banner which is at the top of my blog. It will be kinda like this one, but it is a drawing of one of my puppies, and it is a birthday surprise for the Pickle. Sssh, don't tell her!

I am so excited to be able to see what Niki comes up with. You can look at her beautiful artwork here http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageNiki

This little guy is Wilbur the guinea pig. Isn't he sweet?

On ANZAC day we went for a bike ride, and The Pickle and her daddy made these sculptural "houses" by the Mogareeka Inlet at Tathra.

Since it was our last day, I thought we'd better take the Pickle for a swim at the beach. The water was too cold for hubby, but the kid was mad keen so I took her in. I was really really cold until I went totally numb, and then I could not feel anything anymore so I was quite happy. My fingers and toes went white. There were a few hardy surfers with full body wetsuits on, but apart from them no-one else was brave enough to enter the surf. Even though it was a public holiday.

We visited the historic Tathra wharf. It is a lovely shade of orangey pink that matches the cliffs nearby.

A strange rainbow that looked kinda like an exclamation mark.

Hubby and I both agreed we'd like to live in this cliff top house.

Looking back at Tathra beach from the headland above the wharf.

Here's my handsome hubby trying to take a photo of me. He is saying "just take a  step back, now  another step..."of course, I am standing on the edge of a cliff. Har-di-har-har. The Pickle is coming to my defence.

For something different on the way home we travelled through the historic town of Bombala. 1500 people who don't mind the cold live in this little town at the top of the mountain. The road to Bombala is windy and very steep. We opened the car windows and looked out at the tree ferns in the rainforest on the way. Did you know that Bombala was almost chosen as the site for our Nation's capital? Bombala is known as "platypus country" and the main reason I wanted to visit was to catch a glimpse of one of these amazing creatures. The platypus and the echidna are the only two animals in the monotreme species. These are mammals that lay eggs. How extraordinary!

I had a snoop around looking for platypuses, but no luck. I would like to walk along beside the river one day.

Some interesting characters at the Bombala swimming pool

the river that runs through the town

A beautiful golden elm tree. I hope to plant one of these at my place.

Hubby warned the Pickle that dancing on the clifftop may result in falling poop.

Perfectly located halfway between Sydney and Melbourne (well almost)

The local cinema

the Bombala post office

The main street is named "Maybe Street" and here's the intersection with "Caveat Street" A horse chestnut stands on the corner, and the Pickle and I have collected some conkers.

An Aussie flag garden outside the RSL. Sorry, it is upside down, but you get the idea.

 At Bombala I visited the local Anglicare Op Shop which has a great selection. I bought some awesome vintage linen to be revamped and recycled into new clothes for the BananaOrangeApple store. I also bought some navy and white striped stretch knit which I hope to turn into a maxi-skirt.

There was a lovely little shop in Maybe Street called LouLous, right up my alley. Kids and ladies clothes, handmade jewellery, beautiful homewares - it had it all.

I resisted the urge to buy any goodies having splurged at the opshop, and here's a link in case you feel like window shopping too. I would have bought the Pickle a skirt, but they didn't quite come in her size. I am happy to see they do mail order.. http://www.loulousbombala.com.au/ or her FB page LouLous

Just to make the trip home even more interesting, I persuaded hubby to stop by the highway at the beautiful McLaughlin river to have another hunt for a platypus. Sadly none were forthcoming, I think they were burrowed away to get out of the wind, but here are some nice photos anyway.

A feral blackberry, these are noxious weeds in Australia

We noticed a camel in this paddock

The river with a farm in the background.

The McLaughlin river

An  apple tree gone feral and bearing plenty of lovely red apples. 

We had a break at Cooma for lunch, and I ran into Vinnies to see what they had on offer. I bought two more sheets - one with Paddington and the other Humphrey B Bear. How cool! The Pickle bought a yellow Woodstock stuffed bird, from Snoopy. 

We wandered around, enjoying the chilly sunshiny air and the busyness of this town.

I have decided that I am more of a mountain person than a beach person, but that won't surprise anyone who knows my background. I was, after all, born in Batlow, and was known when I was a baby as "the Mountain Maid".