The Garden

The garden is just looking marvellous at the moment.  The lawn and the swimming pool are sprinkled all over with Jacaranda petals and just look divine. I used to have issues with Jacarandas, as when I was at university there was a saying: "If you haven't started studying by the time the Jacaranda in the Main Quadrangle blooms, then it is too late!"  I had Archaeology in that corner of the Quadrangle and had to pass the tree a few times a week.  Anxiously I would examine it for any signs of blossoms! University now seems like a lifetime ago and as I live in a house surrounded by four jacaranda trees I have grown to adore them!


The "exam tree" in bloom!  Aaaaaahhhh!!!  Image is from here:

The rest of the garden is looking fabulous as well!  I recently read (I think in House and Garden) that for every $1000 you spend on plants for the garden, the value of the house can increase  by up to $5000!  My planned New Years Resolution preventing future nursery purchases might be unnecessary, I am investing in the property!

Mr Mischief (aka baby Pirate)

When your children are born you imagine that one day with your loving and nurturing care they will grow up to be Noble Prize winning authors, eminent surgeons, you know pillars of society types! Then gradually your ambitions for them start to disentegrate and you realise that all that really matters is that they grow up to be happy and in this one's case... we are doing our best to prevent him from spending some time at Her Majesty's Pleasure.  Yes we have a two year old delinquent Chez Pirate. 

Vandal?  Check!  Indeed, this one has a future career as a graffiti artist.  Most significant crime?  He walked up the hall with a purple crayon and left a line running the length of the hall and the very large, rather expensive painting hanging in the hall?  Yes, went straight over the top of that too. 

Thief? Check!  Twice now we have found him harbouring stolen goods in his pram.  He lunges for anything in reach and then hides whatever takes his fancy.  We now have to search him and the pram before leaving any shops.

Identity theft?  Check! He raided my purse and ran off with the drivers licence.  Who knows what he was planning to use it for?  When we finally found it, he had somehow snapped it in half.  The mind boggles just thinking about it!

Here he is perfecting his break and enter techniques.  Note the collection of tools at his feet:

Hmmmm.

Look what I found!

After dropping the Captain off at pre-school this morning, the baby and I raced around a few of our local op shops and look what I found!

This divine vintage pyrex bowl, which is going to be used to house the rest of my boring and non-vintage pyrex bowls! Four dollars!!!!

And the discovery of the morning, this lovely unchipped, immaculate (and genuine!) Cornishware vase... Five dollars!!!!!  (Flowers from my mother-in-law, thank you Pat!) The stack of books, yes picked all of them up this morning... 50 cents each!  I am so pleased with my mornings shopping!

A Tag - Thank you Sarah!

The lovely and always thoughtful Sarah at One Perfect Day has passed me a getting to know you tag.  One day I really hope to sit down and have a coffee and a slice of her raspberry cake with her!

What is your favourite time of the day?

It used to be the morning,but since I have had children I love the end of the day.  After everyone is fed and washed and the boys are in  bed I do a final tidy up of the house and then sit down and have a chat to my husband.  Sometimes we will have a glass of wine together, often I have a peppermint tea.  A brief moment of peace and quiet, knowing that the boys are safe sleeping and all is well in the world, before bed!


Where and when did you meet the love of your life?

In 1997, I was at university and had a part-time job in a big law firm in the city.  One day a bicycle courier walked in to the mail room in head to toe lycra ... and I will have to do a blog post one day with the rest of the story!


What three words would your friends outside of the blogging world use to describe you?

Loyal, clever, fun (from Veronica who I met at Girl Guides when we were both 12!)



What country would you like to visit and why?

India.  It was my favourite posting (my father was a diplomat) and I would love to go back to see my Ayah (Nanny) and introduce my boys to her!  I have been lucky enough to travel the world, both through my job as a flight attendant and my childhood travelling with my parents and India was the most magical and wonderful place.  I still dream about it and I haven't been back since I was 10 years old.


What is your favourite dish to cook?

Scrambled eggs, made properly with cream and buttery toast. 

 
Salt or sugar?

Both.  I love Asian cuisine (having grown up in predominantly Asian countries...) and both flavours are fundamental.


What are your must have make up or beauty items?

Jojoba Oil (love it as a moisturiser) and Moroccan Oil (hair),  as I had to wear make up every day for work I quite enjoy not wearing it now. If I am going out at night though, a bit of bronzer (Nars Laguna), Mascara (Covergirl Lash Exact) and Lip Gloss (Mac) always makes me feel groomed! 


What are your favourite flowers?

Do I have to choose....?  I adore so many, favourites include peonies, blossoms, singapore orchids and roses.



What are your worst vices...honestly?

Champagne and coffee.



At what time of your life were you happiest and why?

When we found out that the hole in The Captain's heart didn't require surgery.  I was so grateful that my tiny and precious little baby would not have to have open heart surgery.

Thank you Sarah for tagging me, I feel very honoured!

Happy Halloween and out first Jack-o'-Lantern

This weekend was rather frantic,  on Saturday I drove down to Canberra to attend my 20 year school reunion (yes, I am that old!).  On the way down, just as we were passing through the Southern Highlands there was a serious car accident right in front of me.  Literally, the car in front of me lost control and ended up swerving across both lanes twice and crashing into the median barrier.  Fortunately, the driver was uninjured and I was able to stop in time and thankfully the car behind me also managed to stop in time.  I was driving with my oldest and dearest friend who is pregnant with her first baby and also my not so little baby and I am so grateful that we are all okay!  Anyway, the school reunion was fabulous and it was a lovely opportunity to catch up with friends that now live overseas or that I had lost contact with. 

After a wonderful night out, including dinner at Ottoman!  I then got up early on Sunday morning to drive home as I had promised the Captain that I would be home in time to help him celebrate Halloween.  Halloween, although not typically an Australian celebration, is taken very seriously in my neighbourhood.  A letter was deposited into our letterbox, instructing as that Halloween was appproaching and that if we were interested in participating to please tie the attached balloon to the letter box.  The Captain was entranced!  During the week we had purchased a pumpkin with the anticipation of making a Jack-o'-Lantern,  never having made one before I was not sure how difficult it would be.  Luckily, it was quite straightforward!

We started by carving a hole, to make the lid, in the top of the pumpkin.  Once the "lid" was able to be lifted out we scooped out all the seeds and excess pulp.

We then used a pencil to draw a face onto the lantern and I then used a small paring knife to carve along the lines we had drawn.

A candle popped inside and it looked fantastic!  The Captain was delighted with our efforts.

Sitting out on the front porch.

The Captain  Bat waiting anxiously for Trick or Treaters.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Captain - The Pirate Party

I woke on Saturday morning to the Captain standing next to the bed, fully dressed in his pirate outfit.  It was 6.03 am and the first thing he said was, "how long until everyone gets here?"  Blinking in the light shining in through the shutters he had opened, I was so thrilled to see it was a beautiful day. 

A sign outside the house welcoming our guests!

Eye-patches, bandannas, cutlasses and hats ready to hand out to the little pirates.

Warning sign on the pool fence.  As the decking is still unfinished we wanted to avoid anyone going into this part of the garden for safety reasons.

Baby Pirate.

The ship cake.

Cup-cakes.

The "thank you for coming" favours.  We wrapped little chocolate bars in gold paper as "ingots" and the skull shaped cookie cutter I found on the Thurs at Aldi of all places, after trying all the more obvious baking suppliers unsuccessfully!

Finally, some pirates arrived and so did Pirate Peacock.  From the moment these little pirates spotted Pirate Peacock sauntering down our street, lugging his pirate chest full of treasure, they were mesmerised.  Apparently he had docked his ship nearby and was looking for some buccaneers. 

Pass theTreasure Chest.

Tug-O-War (the little pirates LOVED this activity!)

Even this super-cute Pirate Princess had to walk the plank for being rude to the Queen.  (Pirate Peacock was also very funny!)

The Treasure Hunt

Where is that treasure?  The X is on the ship wrecked dinghy!

Finally they found it and had to whack it open with their cutlasses to get to the Pieces of Eight!

The Captain and his cake.

Thank you for coming to my party! 

For those that have asked about Pirate Peacock contact:

 http://www.fairycrystal.com.au/

He was absolutely fantastic!  Brilliant at keeping in character and entertaining the children, I could not recommend him more highly!

Mayhem Chez Pirates!

An eventful few days were had at Pirate HQ whilst R was away in Melbourne playing golf, staying at a glamorous hotel and dining at establishments like Gordon Ramsay's new restaurant. He had lobster and apparently it was outstanding, can you tell I am a teeny bit jealous...

Incident 1.  The Snake

The Captain announced calmly to me from the french doors that lead out into the garden, "Mummy, there is a snake in the garden"  the calmness of this statement threw me and I ignored him!  In my defence, I was thinking to myself that it must be a stick he is looking at.  A second, more urgent sounding "Mummy, there is a snake in the garden" got my attention though and I got up to have a look.

"Get inside the house and shut all the doors and windows!" I screeched, grabbing the phone to call husband and seek his advice on what to do.  Of course he was in Melbourne playing golf.  Admittedly and in his defence, it was a charity match raising money for Ronald McDonald House, however at that point in time I was outraged that he was not at my beck and call.  He suggested I ring WIRES.  They were very helpful and identified the snake as a non-venomous tree snake!  Phew! 

Incident 2. The demise of the Dishwasher

Out of frustration and to punish husband for his neglectful absence in my time of need I went and bought myself a shiny new Miele dishwasher and to go with it a lovely new Miele oven.  Well, it was on special and that never happens with Miele.  Plus, our stove top is Miele, so now everything matches and looks lovely!


Incident 3. The Power Failure

Tree-loppers across the road  in their attempt to remove some Bangalow Palms managed to accidentally knock down a giant Strezlitzia straight onto the power lines! No power for hours, this was merely inconvenient compared to incident 4 though.

Incident 4.  The Wardrobe Malfunction

I left the house at half-past eight and dropped the Captain off at pre-school.  Then with the baby went to do the shopping, pottered around Spotlight buying party items, had a coffee and some lunch and then visited several of my favourite junk shops.  During the course of the day I chatted with numerous people, but it was not until half-past two when I went to collect the Captain from school, that one of the other lovely Mums sidled up to me and whispered in my ear, "Emma, your dress is on inside out!" I was mortified! I have decided to blame R for this incident. If he had been at home he might have perhaps noticed such a significant wardrobe malfunction.  Also I might not have been so  distracted (see incidents one, two and three). 

Thankfully, throughout the mayhem, my two little pirates were angels... thank you boys! 

 P.S. I love my new oven and dishwasher and it made walking around the northern beaches with my frock on inside out all better, admittedly some rather extravagant retail therapy though!