Spring Greens

The green of early spring is the greenest, most vivid, most emerald green there is, isn't it?

Unfortunately, early spring is not a great time in the vegetable garden.  None of the fun, showstopper crops like tomatoes or eggplants are producing.  We don't even have peas or broadbeans yet, although they are growing like crazy.

What we do have is lots of greens, which makes for great salads and stir fries (and looks of despair from some of my children who think I am trying to poison them, green being their least favourite colour in the food world).

Yesterday's harvest for a chicken stir fry, shown above, was fenugreek greens, silverbeet, garlic scapes, green onions and coriander.  Yum!

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A Very Special Housewarming Gift

When my father-in-law came to visit a few weeks ago he brought a very special housewarming gift - a map of Asia drawn by his grandfather when he was a schoolboy in 1889.

Old and faded and watermarked, this map is nonetheless a treasure.  Its elegant, spidery writing draws us back to an era when the British Empire ruled, when Iran was Persia and Thailand was Siam; an era when beautiful handwriting was a skill to be developed and admired.

The map doesn't have a permanent home yet.  At present it's on our sitting room mantelpiece.  However, it is the kind of treasure that we want to keep forever.

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Candle in the wind

Olá a todos! É fim-de-semana e adoro estar em casa, com mais algum tempo para ler e procurar imagens de coisas de que gosto e que me inspiram. Ultimamente, concentro as minhas poucas horas à procura de ideias para a festa dos meus anos e ando às voltas com tanta coisa linda que me passa pela cabeça e a sua adaptação à realidade: o espaço, a logística, os materiais, enfim, uma série de coisas que temos que planear para que no dia não falte nada!

Por isso, hoje deixo-vos com umas imagens de um elemento decorativo que adoro e que acho que faz toda a diferença nos eventos feitos à noite: iluminação com velas. Aqui estão algumas de que gostei.

E vocês, também usam velas nas decorações de festas?

 

 

Credits: 

Martha Stewart

Style Me Pretty 

Wedding Chicks

Hi everyone! It's weekend and I'm happy at home, having a little extra time for researching and reading and also looking for inspirational images. Lately, I spend my free time searching for ideas for my birthday party, as so many things are going through my mind and I have to put them into practise: I need to adapt those ideas to the space, plan all the details, look out for tableware and other bits and pieces...

So today I leave with with these images of candles, which are a decoration item that I really like for night events. 

And what about you? Do you use candles for your parties as well?

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Spring Walk with Flowers

Today three happy, laughing kids came home from the park with spring bouquets for their (equally happy) mother.

They then set about some creative, collective flower arranging in tiny cups.  Just perfect for the middle of the table at afternoon tea time.

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My Pretty Bedroom

I had so much fun joining in Show Us Your Life Friday at Kelly's Korner last week that I have decided to join in again with a tour of our master bedroom.  

Green, pink and cream has always been my favourite bedroom colour combination, and this room was already painted in these colours when we moved in last March. (The previous owners had fabulous taste!)

The master bedroom is in the original part of our 1915 house and has a 12 foot high ceiling and lovely old-fashioned windows that open outwards.  Are these called dormer windows?  Although you can't see in these pictures because of the bright light, the top row of panes is tinted pink.  

The green coverlet came from Laura Ashley a few years ago and the quilt cover, which is difficult to see, is green and pink on a white background - light and fresh and pretty for our Australian spring.

I don't like a lot of clutter in a bedroom, nor do I like bedroom televisions or other technology.  There is so much stress in our lives these days that I think it is worth making bedrooms as peaceful and restful as possible.  Anything I bring into my bedroom has to earn its place.

Our dressing table and bedside tables belonged to my husband's grandparents who married in the 1930s and I think they date from that period.  The cover on the dressing table is a scarf that belonged to my grandmother.  The silver picture frame was given to us by some Melbourne friends at our farewell party and I still haven't put a picture of us in it yet!

You can find some bedroom pictures that I took just after we moved in here. 

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you have a lovely weekend.

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Love in bloom

E quem disse que as flores artificiais não podem ser bonitas? Olhem-me só para estas fotos das flores  feitas pela Diane Phillips! Descobri estas preciosidades no blog Pinga Amor, da Ana Jordão, e estou apaixonada por elas! Queria comprar uma destas maravilhas para o meu aniversário, mas antes gostava de ouvir a vossa opinião. Qual devo escolher??..

 

 

Credits: DK Designs 

And why can't artificial flowers be beautiful as well? I found these lovelies made by Diane Phillips via Pinga Amor and I am totally in love with them! I am thinking about buying one of these for my birthday party, but I'd like to hear your opinion first. Which one should I buy?

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Miss Ladybird

ladybird on one of my rosebushes

'Oh my!' said the Ladybird primly.  'What a heavenly taste!'  She looked up at James, and she smiled, and James smiled back at her.  They sat down on the deck together, both of them chewing away happily. 'You know, James,' the Ladybird said, 'up until this moment, I have never in my life tasted anything except those tiny little green flies that live on rosebushes.  They have a perfectly delightful flavour.  But this peach is even better.'

Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach

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