Deadline Blues

Image Packhouse

'Dr, Dr, give me the news, I've got a bad case of deadline blues. No pill's gonna cure my ill, I've got a bad case of deadline blues!' Activities behind The Hedge will be somewhat curtailed for the rest of the week as I've a deadline to meet with the completion of a project at work.

A happy week to you all & back to the Salt Mines for moi!

McCreamy

A great balance of the traditional with contemporary fittings & finishes

This new Living Room was created from an old Conservatory & uses the same colour scheme as the kitchen to create a unified & relaxing space.

The light fitting over the small dining room table can be raised & lowered.

This custom-built cabinet sits comfortably in a small corridor that links the kitchen to the new Living Room.

A bank of 6-pane windows & a skylight provide additional light to the kitchen.

The owner made the mirror & its matches the silver look of the other furnishings in the Sitting Room.

A relaxing corner of the new Sitting Room with original paintings & art work.

All the custom-built cabinets were given a hand-painted finish.

Images Trends Books

MOTH's always having a go about my style files complete with magazine pages from many, many years of diligent reading & collecting. He says they take up valuable cupboard space & should be turfed. However, he fails to recall (conveniently!) that our previous home's new kitchen, bathrooms & laundry were all designed from various pages of these precious files & often he was the first one to put his hand up to take a compliment on the finished product! Now in putting together the final finishes for our new bathroom, the old files have yet again come into their own, as I pour over them, pulling lots of different ideas together to formulate our end result.

I'd forgotten I had this one tucked away in the kitchens section & how much I love it. While it would be unsuitable for our present house, I'm still enamoured by it despite it being at least 10 years old. The owner from Wellington in New Zealand, combined her favourite images & clippings from magazines & because of this was confident enough to complete the entire design process herself. Her house is an old 1890's timber frame villa & as part of the renovation process a new Sitting Room was created from an old Conservatory which led off the kitchen. The original kitchen had an old coal-fired range in the fire-place & this was removed & the fire-place tiled to match the colour of the kitchen. A new wood combustion heater was about to be installed in that space, to provide additional warmth to the area.

Magical Mystery Tour

MOTH & I are not generally great telly watchers, but we've been enchanted with Michael Wood's incredible History of India series. Last night we sat in front of our first fire of the season, with a yummy curry on our laps & a delicious bottle of Trollinger/Lemberger blend dry Rose from the gorgeous Larry & Marc at Hahndorf Hill. No kids, no phone, no interruptions - what a treat it was! If you haven't caught it thus far, sadly it's the final show next week & you've missed what I think is the best piece of telly I've seen for years.

P.S. MOTH had a MM Tour of his own at the Cheech & Chong concert on Friday night. He reckons just watching the audience was as entertaining as C&C's routine. Apparently they opened the show by asking the audience 'Hey, hands up if you've ever been busted' & there was an almighty cheer & a 99% response rate (MOTH & the kids definitely excluded)! He said there was a guy sitting in front of them complete with dreadies, tatts & an Iron Maiden T-Shirt circa 1974. As they were leaving MOTH accidentally bumped into him & MOTH said for a split second he thought he might be in for it, but as he quickly apologized he got a 'Hey Man, no worries, stay cool' & the gentleman quietly 'floated away' as MOTH so succintly put it!!

Images 1,2,5,6,7 & 8: BBC Image 3: Belfast Telegraph Image 4: PBS Image 9: Moviemail

Known Unto God

Image Temple

"Should anything happen, Mummie, don't grieve for me because it is His will and That is always best. To the best of my knowledge I am pretty well prepared to go and face my God, but of course I have no particular wish to go yet. Somehow or other I feel firmly convinced I will survive and so I do not worry at all.
"Should this be my last letter, dearest, remember I will always be waiting and watching for you and praying also, darling Mother, for your spiritual welfare ... Oh, Mum! How I wish I could have one farewell kiss before going into battle."

Words from a letter written by Lt. Leo Corrigan to his mother in Sydney as he left for Gallipoli. He was killed 2 years later in action at the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on September 20,1917 aged 22. The following day, he & five other Australian boys were hastily buried in an unmarked roadside grave, their bodies were wrapped in blankets and tied with signal wire, their hands clasped in prayer. Back in Sydney his father received his war service medals & his mother his prayer book & rosary beads. As a devout Catholic, his mother Sarah had hoped Leo would become a priest after the War. In 1919, when his grieving mother wrote to authorities to request details of her son's final resting place, the reply was 'Place of Burial: Not Known'. Living to her 90's, she always longed for a photo of her son's grave & never recovered from her loss. 91 years on, Leo's grave still remains unknown.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET

Pink Rules The Day!

OK that's it! I love all my 6 boys dearly, but this past couple of weeks, I've had an absolute overdose of the boy thing. Them, their mates, their hoon-mobile cars, their parties, their empty stubbies, their disgustingly dirty work clothes, their muddy boots, their loud raucous laughter, their beer & footy nights in front of the telly - it's all become a bit much, & that's only MOTH!! The air is positively thick with testosterone and don't even get me started on all the blokes at work! So I need a cloud of pink & pretty in my day - quickly. (With apologies to dear Fifi Flowers the Queen of all things pink!)

So let's start the day the PINK way!

Out of my lovely pink bed......

.....mmmm, let's see what yummy things are in my cute pink refrigerator.

A pink raspberry smoothie will be perfect.

Now I'll just wander into the charming pink breakfast room & enjoy coffee in those pretty pink mugs.

Getting ready for work, I can't resist putting my pink bag down for a minute & gathering my thoughts on this chic pink sofa.

Now off to see some clients in my cute little pink car, won't they be surprised to Miss Millie arrive in this!

On the way back home, I'll pick up some gorgeous pink peonies.

I guess I should do a couple of hours work in my very cute pink office.

Oh, it's time for afternoon tea, what about some sweet pink treats......

....and these pink macaroons are too delicious to leave!

Now I'll take my treats into the elegant pink salon to enjoy in peace. Table for one please.

I'll do my afternoon's reading in the pink living room, such a soothing colour to surround myself with.

Well, that's work done for the day, time for a glass of my favourite Billiecart Salmon Brut Rose - love those pink bubbles!

I'll wander out to the Terrace & enjoy the pink champers watching the pink sun go down. Doesn't the table look wonderful all dressed in pink!

After dinner I might even spoil myself with a slice of frozen raspberry layer cake - so pink & delicious.

And I'll eat it in the formal pink sitting room - no boys allowed here!

Now for a luxuriating soak in my divine pink bathroom.....

....and off to bed with some delicate pink roses to put by my bed. Sweet pink dreams to me!

Image 1:Christian Louboutin Image 2: Chic Shack Images 3,15,16: Country Living Image 4: NZ House & Garden Image 5:My Home Ideas

Image 6: Voyage Decoration Image 7: Auto Fashion Image 8 & 11: Brides Image 9: Country Home Image 10:Nordiljus

Image 12:Homepoint Image 12:Pink Is A Religion Image 13:The Wine Country Image 14:Debi Treloar Image 17:Angelique Interiors

Image 18:Rose Story Farm

Boy's Night Out

In my wildest dreams I would never have invited my parents along to a Cheech and Chong concert (Mum would have thought they were a pair of visiting Asian concert Violinists!), but in a funny kinda way, I guess you know you've been a successful parent when the kids want to shout you to one!! That's what all 5 boys have done, & so MOTH's off on Friday night with Sons 4 & 5 + 15 of their mates, for a night of laughter followed by a serious male bonding session at the local Pub. He was quite surprised when the ticket arrived, but seriously chuffed (oops, no pun intended!) that all the boys could be so generous in wanting his company for the evening.

I've had to quietly take him aside & let him know that there has been a serious police presence complete with sniffer dogs at all the C&C concerts here in Australia, & on average about 25 fans have been busted after each concert. MOTH did reassure me that at his age the only grass they would find in his pockets would be left over from when he emptied the catcher on our lawn-mower last weekend!

Click Go The Shears Boys!

Since receiving this month's copy of SA Life, I haven't been able to stop looking at this image. I defy anyone who's spent any time at all in Aussie shearing sheds not to be spell-bound. The familiar aroma came flooding back to me - a heady mixture of lanolin from the thousands of freshly clipped fleeces tossed onto the wooden floor, the buckets of perspiration dripped from the shearers & the rich, overpowering scent of the oil used to grease the mechanics of the shears. Just breath in deeply & I promise your senses will be spinning!

The shed sits on the Adelaide Hills property of Sue Tweddell. She & her late husband Ed purchased the 1840's property 11 years ago originally as offices for their Nepenthe wine business. The cottage was derelict, but as the restoration process moved on, Sue realised she wanted to make the property into a private family retreat. Following the sale of Nepenthe & Ed's sad & untimely death 3 years ago, Sue has spent considerable time here & finds it a wonderful place to entertain guests informally. She still keeps her town-home in Adelaide, but just a few minutes up the Freeway, the magical properties of Gumbank await her.

Sue is a great supporter of the South Australian arts. The formal dining room provides a perfect back-drop for one of her beautiful pieces.

The downstairs living room features neutral tones, with a botanical theme. The antique wood duck decoys came from the U.S.

Sue didn't want to continue the neutral theme here in the winter sitting room, so she used a strong crimson colour give the room warmth & vitality.

Sitting perfectly in one of the old windows is this antique dressmaker's mannequin.

The small eat-in kitchen which Sue uses for informal candlelit dinners for friends & family. It was originally the cottage's pantry.

These West African wooden soldiers which Sue found here in South Australia line the corridor to the new bathroom.

The upstairs sitting room has sweeping views across the property's gardens.

Sue's used a mixture of antique Australian, European & Scandinavian pieces to lend an warm & inviting ambiance to her cottage.

The back verandah provides a dry spot for winter firewood.

The wide, shady verandahs are typical for an Aussie cottage of this vintage.

Images SA Life & Peter Hoare