It's amazing what you see when you really look.....

I don't seem to have any trouble looking.
 To be honest, I probably spend half my day doing just that! 
Perhaps it's just part of my need to think about personality.
I hardly ever do anything on the spur of the moment, although I did jump into the mud puddles with Flynn when he was here, much to his surprise ( and delight)!
On the other hand, many people I know love doing.
Perhaps my new motto should be.......
More do, less look.
Or perhaps it should be a balance of both.
Yes, that's what I should aim for.

Did anyone else see this last night?????
Sitting outside after cutting back the catmint in the rose garden and stuffing myself with chocolate ( when it's gone it's gone, but at the moment it's sitting in the pantry waiting to be eaten), I couldn't help thinking how beautiful the sky looked.

And then all of a sudden.........

It was breathtakingly beautiful and I couldn't stop looking. Bill took these photos with his camera.

Can't stop looking at........

Thank you Jen. 

Mum's old kitchen scales given a new lease of life.

I have started to collect the seeds from these to scatter out the front.

Thank you Mima and Sue. Couldn't bear to throw them out so I will dry them.

We are loving our new pump. The tank is two thirds full, so yesterday Bill used the sprinkler on the grass near the back door. There's something so good about using the water that falls from the sky ( for free)!

More cogitating... (yes, it's a word!!)
How to paint the old sewing machine frame and what to use as the table part.......

I really like both these ideas.


And just when every little finger print had vanished and every little footprint had disappeared, I found this ...........

Apparently Bill did a check last week of all the farm pieces to make sure they were all in the box to return to the Toy Library.....Mmmm, must have been a Dad look not a Mum look.

We miss you Crazy Little Coconut boy.

Constructions one and two

A table to put things on 
We had looked at coffee tables a few times but couldn't decide on one.
The Christmas tree box seemed to be the perfect solution. 
There were some unused Indian cotton curtains in the linen press ( who knows where they came from!).
And Bill offered one of his shelves from the shed to be the tabletop.
Then the girls got to work.......

And we christened it appropriately.......

We knew it wasn't quite right.
Not high enough, not wide enough.....Apparently there are "dimension rules" for coffee tables (who would have thought!).
We didn't have time for that, so left it as it was.
It's been very useful so far.

A place to put the presents while you go and look for more.......

A perfect place to set up farms and Spongebob  lego......

Some of us even sat on it......

And of course just like everything else I keep playing around with how to decorate it.  Something tells me there are rules about that too!

Thanks for the bamboo tray Jo. It's perfect.

But now I keep looking at the Christmas tree and wanting to pack it all away, so we will need to come up with something else until we get the chance to have a look around.

Around the garden path

There is something charming and appealing about a curved brick garden path and I adore ours. Completed two days before Christmas Day and using the pile of bricks that had been removed in the new build.
Our two hard workers toiled for two full hot days.

With  help of course......

Now I am looking forward to growing some pretty alyssum and seaside daisies around the inside to soften the edges.
Or I might just dig those up at the base of the dirt pile. Can't wait.

Family Traditions

We celebrated Christmas Eve with some old traditions and Sam and Kiann introduced some of their own.

As children, a visit to the Main Street to see Santa on the fire truck was always exciting for us. He handed out lollies back then ....

.....still does!

When Sam and Amy were little, we would fill paper bags with sand and a candle and place them around our driveways just like everyone else in the whole neighbourhood.

We did that this time too.....but just up the garden path!

Sam and Kiann had reindeer food for Flynn to sprinkle on the grass.( thanks Deb....loved it!)

And their tradition is to have popcorn and hot chocolate before bed and watch a Christmas movie.

Everyone wore crepe paper hats found in their Christmas bonbons .......still do...

We decorated the Christmas tables with white sheets tablecloths, flowers from the garden and serviettes folded into cute little tree shapes with a star peg on top. ( Thanks Kiann! )

( the littlies up the end have been whited out by the sun! )

Bill always buys poinsettias at Christmas. They have stayed very fresh and vibrant in the Garden Room this year.

Lots of us took photos.....still do!

And some swapped their Christmas hat for a Ninja turtle one .......Nup, never did that!