Sunday Lunch

Care to join me for Sunday lunch here - it's gorgeous isn't it! We could probably give the throw rugs the flicko though, it's way too hot for those. It's been a silly week - an 0330 start on Wednesday morning, a long drive to the Airport, the first plane to Sydney, the train into Central, then a long train trip up to Leura in the grey, misty cool Blue Mountains, just to attend the last session of a Divisional meeting. Then up at sparrows the next morning, a long, long road trip to the Airport, the plane to Adelaide & back at work by lunch time. I couldn't go earlier as there was an elective case to support here on Tuesday, but really, did I need to go for just an hour??!! The things we subject ourselves to.........

It's the Australia Day Long Weekend here but I'm working, as an emergency case has appeared. But gosh Sunday lunch looks appealing, what should we talk about? I'd love to know what you have planned for 2104 - travel, work stuff, new goals. And you know, I always reckon a long comment is a good comment!! It's the weekend dear Hedgies, so go enjoy! 

The Clan

It's been a tough week - my dearest friend's Dad died suddenly over the Easter weekend. R & I met each other on the first day of our nursing training some 39 years ago as 17 year olds & formed an instant bond & I met her Mum & Dad not long after. R & her family have lived overseas & interstate for the past 22 years, & although we catch up as often as we can, I still miss her every day. She was my bridesmaid & is Godmother to Son # 5. R's been back in town for the week supporting her Mum & we have spent lots of time together. Yesterday we said goodbye to her Dad & if a funeral can be truly wonderful, this one was.

Although born in Australia, her Dad carried his Scottish heritage with pride. We were close neighbours for many years when I lived in our previous house & I would often see him walking down our street with his trademark Scottish tartan cap sitting jauntily on his head..... & I always felt reassured that all was well in my world. Yesterday that same cap sat atop his casket & as the pipes played him out of the church, it was the end of an era. So this image of his clan tartan is a tribute to one of my extended clan.

Slàn leat

Princess Patricia

Princess Patricia van Esshe - happy 5th birthday mate! We jumped into the bloggie world around the same time & 1,130 fabulous posts later you're still going stronger than ever (while yours truly can only dream of such posting stamina!). Thank you for the gentle beauty & generosity of spirit you share with us each day here.... & especially through your beautiful art & design. Always posing a question that makes us stop & think & wanting to share our thoughts. You are a unique & original stand-out in a bloggie world cluttered with sameness. I'll splurge at your blog bar, a glass of Krug please - I raise my glass to a legend!

Images: pve

A New Star

A Library of Design

'Really Millie, who wants to read another blog?' Ummm........that would be me Janelle!! Every now & then something very special arrives in our wonderful world & Janelle McCulloch's new blog A Library Of Design ticks every box I need to become an instant devotee. Wonderful words, scrumptious images, a delightful sense of humour, eclectic subject matter - all from one of Australia's best known design journalist/photographers & published author of 15 architecture, interior design, travel and gardening books.

Trust me, there are no fusty musty Shush Keep Quiet signs over at Janelle's library. Go & treat yourself to a visual & cerebral banquet here. It's the weekend, so go enjoy. I know I will, I swear this new job of mine is causing me to lose the will to live!!

Millie Archer

First thing Monday morning I'm heading to the Registrar of Births, Marriages & Deaths & changing my surname to Archer. It seems yet another Aussie Archer is experiencing great success with a bonza product. Not only is brand French Essence attaining world dominance faster than you can say ' Blog Superétoiles' than another Archer makes their mark.

Chris Archer is a well-known Aussie winemaker now living in New Zealand. He's created a cheeky non-vintage carbonated Riesling called Ritzling. He suggests drinking it with a twist of lemon & viola you have what the clever Mr. Archer calls a blend of 'pure happiness'.

Ritzling comes in a four-pack of 250ml. bottles & just check out that exquisite packaging. I'm sure Madame V. Archer would give it her tactiturn approval & may even want to add it to Shop French Essence.

So after what's been an extremely average week, I reckon come Monday & the name change, big things are in store for moi. I see a stunning farmhouse in the idyllic French countryside, an olive grove & a big book deal on the horizon - bring it on!! And Vicki if you read this post, I reckon you & I need to open a bottle or 3 of your relative's product for quality control purposes. It's the weekend, so go enjoy!

Monday, Monday

..........so good to me, Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be. Three gorgeous people did three equally gorgeous things for me today - totally independent of each other, unasked for & very unexpected & in three different cities. I have finished the day with a huge case of the warm fuzzies. Kisses to K, J & P, if only you each knew how you lifted me up & sent my spirits soaring. You didn't have to, honestly you didn't, but I'm soooooooo glad you did!

A quick travel report from my week in Melbourne. The Metropole was AMAZING - please put it on your list of places to stay when next in the City of Millie's Many Sons. Slick, sophisticated, minimalistic, occasionally dark & brooding, with rooms big enough to hold an International Tango Workshop, I loved it & them some.

Then there was Spice Temple, oh my goodness what a night we had. A stellar, stellar meal, with impeccable yet relaxed & friendly service - my little tootsies still curl up deliciously at the memories. And my favourite indulgence, Billecart by the glass (or 3), Neil Perry & the Rockpool group, 5 Millie stars you legends!

MOTH's off to Dog Grooming class & he's taken puppy Lulu to practice on tonight. He's had 5 classes now & has had a ball, even though he's the only bloke. He's under strict instructions to trim not clip Lulu's shaggy coat. I just hope his mind hasn't wandered during the theory lessons, & that puppy arrives home still recognizable. Off to pray to the Patron Saint of Dog Groomers for a miracle.

Images: Arne Maynard

For Jeanne

Many of us read this week that our dear Bloggie mate Jeanne & her family over at Collage of Life have received news of their next posting. They are off to live in Vietnam in 2012. In her inimitable style, she's up for the challenge, so here's a little taste of what's to come Jeanne - from my very favourite homewares company Vagabond Vintage. Full screen & volume on & I promise you'll be transported to this magical destination in a heartbeat. It's the weekend, so go enjoy!

Vagabond Vintage Vietnam 2011 from Arthur Thompson on Vimeo.

Lounging Around

This weekend I'll be lounging around on my day bed. If you believe that you'll believe ANYTHING!! But before I head off for my weekend of cleaning, puppy washing, shopping, cooking, washing, weeding lounging, I wanted to pass on some news from my bloggie friend Michelle over at Hugo & Elsa. She's become a legend in Tasmania for her amazing cupcakes, but due to lots of exciting things happening in her life (think Matthew, Nick & Ross at A Common Ground) she's packing up her mixer & saying goodbye to her little cupcake business. If I knew that was on the cards I would have made her an offer on the spot & headed off to Tassie to take over! So before the patty pans are put out to pasture for good, I thought I'd share some beautiful memories of Michelle's exquisite creations. Read it & weep dear Hedgies.

Vanilla Vanilla with Crystallized Violet

Classic Dark Chocolate

Spiced Chocolate filled with Gluhwein Pears, Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting & a Pear Chip

Sour Cream Cake filled with Rhubarb Poached in Blood Orange

Backyard Lemon & Wild Blackberry

Crabapple with Salted Caramel
Sniffle, sniffle - geez Michelle, how could you mate. It's the weekend, so go enjoy!

Image 1: Richard Tubb Interiors

Magpies Revenge

Davo mate if you're reading this, here's some consolation for not being able to fly your beloved Collingwood flag on the car arial after your loss 2 weekends ago in Melbourne to those awesome Cats.

Black & white gorgeousness.

In the very salubrious setting of a Paddington terrace (not Eddy Everywhere's place).

You are the most atypical Magpie supporter I know, but I still loves ya babe!

Images: William Dangar

The Power Of Social Media!

OK gorgeous Hedgies, here's the deal. My dear Bloggie chum A-M from The House That A-M Built has been powerless thanks to a huge stuff up by her energy provider Origin. Go here to read her story. She's been updating us on Twitter today & the comments via her blog post & Twitter account have gone off the scale. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she wasn't trending globally, there's so many agitated A-M fans baying for Origin's blood on her behalf. Here's some of her Tweets.

The House That A-M Built: Would You Ever Use Origin Energy?

Sitting in apartment complex corridor with my 2 boys plugged into the cleaners power. Going to bring out the jug and boil me a tea.

Epic fail ORIGIN ENERGY :

I have electricity. Now to clean out my festering fridge. Laying it all out and photographing it. Just what I felt like doing today!

Then lo & behold this Tweet to A-M:
@ Origin Energy

Hi A-M, Just read your blog post, I wonder if it would be okay to have someone call you to discuss this issue?- Claire

So these faceless Corporations have taken on board the power of social media & are now monitoring their Company's performance or lack of out there in social media land. Suddenly my world has taken on a whole new meaning. No more MOTH yelling down the phone to some organization's Not Customer Service dept. trying to resolve an issue the MOTH way. All I need do now is post my complaint here at The Hedge & it will be resolved in a flash. Oh the power, the power (every pun intended!!!). Do leave the amazing A-M a message of support if you can, I'm sure she'll appreciate it. It's the weekend, go enjoy!

Many Marthas Make Light Work

Oh gosh what a week that was! It was fascinating & scary being in a room of complete strangers, but it was a good opportunity to sit quietly, listen & learn about the people I'll be working with. And boy, oh boy, are there some 'dynamic' personalities amongst them! There are several who can best be described as 'intense' & I'm sooo not used to dealing with that character trait. I found them exhausting, literally sucking the air completely from the room. It confirmed my earlier thought that I am by far the most relaxed & chilled-out employee the Company has! Life's just too short for all that jazz, & somehow I'm going to have to work on some strategies for dealing that level of dead-set serious intensity, wish me luck!

I went straight from the Airport last night to Son #5's house for a Very Important Date. Sweet Miss A. had asked me to join her & the bridesmaids to make the Engagement Party invitations. After bubbly & a yummy supper, we set to. After a week of no fun, I needed a big hit of laughter & silliness & boy there was plenty to be had, as we tried to cut along the dotted line after too many champers, tie impossibly small bows, attempt to stick tiny pearls to the cards with a recalcitrant glue gun & deal with a run-away role of double sided tape. Despite my woeful attempts, the results were spectacular - the cards are truly gorgeous & the night a great success.

It was wonderful to get home to puppy Lulu who has run MOTH ragged in my absence. He ended up taking her to work with him yesterday & despite my misgivings she had a ball. Not exactly your typical Tradie's dog, she was a big hit with everyone at the job. She's asleep on my lap as I write this, still recovering from her first foray into the world of work. A bit sad I reckon for a 9 week old!

Out & Proud At 700

Only one person at my old Company knew I blogged. It was the most wonderful IT Manager in the whole world, the esteemed JG. He somehow made the connection between my log-on password & this blog through a Google search & voila, my cover was blown! I never told my colleagues about The Hedge because I wasn't too sure how they'd take it, a dilemma many of you have blogged about over the years.

My first day at the new job last Monday required me to front up to a State Meeting with a room full of complete strangers. At the end of the Agenda, I was asked to introduce myself & tell everyone a little about myself. I quickly ran through my work history & achievements & then the Devil took control. I added 'On a personal note I'm the Mum of 5 sons, am in the midst of a total house renovation with MOTH, I love to write & oh, I blog.' Immediately the room was filled with twittering derisive laughter & loud sighs. Then comments like these came thick & fast - 'Oh God I can't understand why anyone would want to do that!', 'I couldn't think of a greater waste of time.' 'That's so gross!' - you get the drift. With that the group wandered off to lunch & not another thing was said.

So that's it, I'm out & despite all the negativity - I'M PROUD!!!! Nothing I've done in the past 10 years or so has given me so much personal satisfaction, pleasure & enjoyment as blogging has done. This is my 700th post & I'm almost disbelieving of Bloggers stats. Those 700 have gone in a flash & thank you to everyone who has so graciously & generously contributed to the 10,316 comments that sit here at The Hedge. Its the weekend, so go enjoy!

Image: Tokyo Graphics

Lords & Ladies

Thanks everyone for your fab contributions - Friday's post produced some truly hilarious comments & Royal signatures! Off to get the Millie-mobile serviced & to prepare for a very big week ahead.

Image: etsy - Sapling Press

Buona Pasqua

I've been feeling decidedly Italian this week. On the drive home from Melbourne, MOTH & I were reminiscing about the best food we've eaten together over the years. One stand out was a wedding anniversary celebration at the wonderful Gennaro's (R.I.P.) at Parkside. Gennaro presented us with Roast Capretto (Baby Goat) lovingly prepared by his Mamma the sous chef. It was one of those moments in life that you want time to stand still & never move on. I've managed to find a recipe that looks mighty good from chef Scott Conant - Moist Roasted Baby Goat (Capretto) with Peas, Fingerling Potatoes and Shallots here.

As Greek Orthodox Easter co-incides with the Christian calendar this year, goat has been plentiful in the market this week. So it's on the menu here at The Hedge this Easter weekend. I have the time & the enthusiasm - what a luxury.

So Buona Pasqua to you all dear Hedgies. It's the Easter break, so go enjoy.

Image: Not On The High Street

Media Darhlings!

A special shout-out to 2 lovely long-time Hedgies & Aussie bloggers who have recently been featured in the press. Kerri from Driftwood Interiors has 2 of her exquisite paintings featured in this month's Martha Stewart Living magazine. Of course MOTH has taken the credit here, saying that it is his very up-close & personal relationship with Ms. Stewart through their mutual love of crafting that got Kerri the gig. If you missed his tutorial on gift wrapping go here. You can have one of Kerri's gorgeous paintings at your place by going to her blog & following the links to her etsy store. Kerri, may this be the start of something so big, you need to employ MOTH as your Agent. The thought of him spending most of his time away overseas negotiating media deals for my blogging mates is almost too delicious to bear!

Mabel the cute beagle pictured on the cover of this month's Australian Country Style magazine belongs to Michelle from Hugo and Elsa. CS have run a fabulous feature on Michelle's leap of faith by moving to country Tasmania a few years ago. She & her husband Leo did what so many of us want to do but lack the guts to & they have never looked back. Big hugs to you Michelle, you are a star girl! Do visit Michelle's truly lovely blog, her photography is quite something & her posts on life with Hugo & Elsa, her burgeoning food business & their menagerie is an absolute delight!

Blog Love - Pass It On

Many of you know Jeanne over @ Collage of Life. She's a gorgeous gal, part-American, part-Aussie, part-Kiwi & now, part-Pom. I'm not sure what line of work her husband is in to cause all these inter-country moves, but I have a theory that he's an international counter espionage agent, however I'll leave that to Jeanne to confirm or deny!! Jeanne became a much-loved Hedgie a couple of years ago & I'm so glad she did. I have so enjoyed watching her wonderful blog grow & evolve since her first post. She has the knack of mixing things up perfectly. You can be sure of something different each time you visit her - humorous posts, visually breathtaking posts (from Miss Very Talented Photographer!), empathetic posts, thought-provoking posts, intellectually stimulating posts...... each one a treat.

Jeanne was kind & generous recently in acknowledging those of us who have been with her since the very beginning & are still with her today. She has done this via a Blog Love button - it's a way of saying...I love your blog & thank you for inspiring me.

To be a recipient of Jeanne's Blog Love we need to:

1. Provide the photo and link to our very first post.

2. Share the love and pass it on to whomever we like.

Why the first post?
It is when you took your first step and if you hadn't we would not be reading your words now. Passing on Blog Love is to let others know that we appreciate their friendship & that we love their blog.

This is my first post from Sunday May 18th 2008. It's title was It's Raining!.
And nearly 3 years later, nothing much has changed up here in the misty Adelaide Hills!

Here's what greeted me this morning in our quiet country lane.

The tall trees in our garden looking very grey & mysterious in the early morning mist.

So 665 posts & 9903 comments later, The Hedge is still here. I'm finding it very difficult to pick out a small group of favourites, so to pass this on I'm going to do a Millie-shortcut! Just go to The Hedge's Home Page & look under Fabulous Friends! If you find yourself there its because I appreciate your friendship & love your blog! If you'd like to pick up the Blog Love button & muse about your first post, please do so, I'd be honoured.