Australia Day

On this our National day may you enjoy strawberries on your pav

.......& bling on your flip flops!

Image: Gourmet Traveller

Moving Right Along

That's it, I'm done for the year. Apologies for the lack of all things Christmas here at The Hedge - the Chrissie decorations are up & my Christmas Playlist is on 24/7 trying to jump start my festive spirit, but that's about it. The (in)famous Millie sparkle has gone AWOL, but I've got 2 weeks vacation now & I'm going to make locating that lost sparkle & doing a reinstall my main priority. The second half of 2011 has been one of the most personally challenging I've experienced in a long, long time & I'm not sure I've handled it very well. Still I can't rewind that tape, so I'll just have to cop it & move right along.

This year only 2 of the boys will be gracing us with their presence on Christmas Day. #1 will be staying in Melbourne with the other side of his family, #2 is flying out to Burma tomorrow for a 4 week back-packing & filming holiday with his lovely girl, #3 is driving over from Melbourne tonight to join us briefly, #4 will be spreading his legendary good cheer at his workplace-the most remote mining site in Australia & #5 & his bride-to-be, the sweet Miss A. & puppy Tazzie will be with us. We were lucky to have 4 out of 5 home last Chrissie, so I'll take who I can get this year & be grateful.

I have a rendevous with our In-House Orthopaedic Surgeon on my birthday early in the New Year. I need to sort out a pressing issue with a very dodgy knee that has been causing me much grief this past year. The Radiology report was ominously presented to me in a black envelope & it made for a nightmare read! All the years I spent trying to impress the sons with my massive torpedo kicks playing footy with them at the park has come back to haunt me. Then it's off to the Company's Annual Sales Meeting in Sydney for a week & all the standard rah-rah stuff that brings with it.

Thank you dear Hedgies for sticking with me this year. It's been a yukky year for us here at The Hedge. The renos came to a screeching halt when MOTH's crook back appeared & put his entire life on hold for 6 months. It appears the last ditch procedure he had in Sept. is finally starting to help & he's now managing to do a few hours work each day in his business. Then there was my change of jobs & return to full-time - enough has been said about that & I'm putting all my ducks in place to effect happier times there. Chuck a few family issues in the mix & I'm over 2011.

The Hedge will be back on track next year, with the renos. ramping up again & more shocking Before & After images than ever! MOTH & I wish you all the most wonderful Christmas Day on Sunday with your precious ones. We value your comments, emails & personal contact more than you'll ever know. I love you & I love the joy this medium brings me. Onwards & upwards & let's do it all again in 2012!!

Image: Not On The High Street - Indian Garden Company

Close Your Eyes Kate

Thanks everyone for your very warm Welcome Back messages, I've now emerged from hours spent doing a mountain of laundry & clearing all the paths around the house from the mass of wet Autumn leaves that threatened to engulf us! Jac asked to see my HK purchases, & while they're many & varied, this one is the stand-out, I am now the proud Owner of my very own Kate Spade handbag.

And Kate, if you happen to be reading this, I suggest you close your eyes now dear, as the model for this shoot isn't exactly one of your normal gorgeous girls. That's MOTH's hairy arm it's hanging from & believe me, he wasn't doing the thumbs up sign as I passed over the VISA card in the store to pay for this beauty.

I just love the spotted fabric lining, as Model MOTH's displaying so well. It had it's first run out at the Pub last night, where we met Son #5 & his fiancee the gorgeous Miss A. for an Engagement Party planning session. I could hardly bear to put it down on the Pub floor while I ate, sorry Kate.

How Good Was That!

Just a quick post to let you know MOTH & I are now back home after our 10 glorious days in Hong Kong. I can hear the chain saw screaming as he's down cutting up wood for the fire - we've returned to a bitterly cold snap here in Southern Australia & it's freezing!

HK exceeded my expectations a zillion times over - what a truly vibrant, frantic, diverse city it is. I loved, loved, loved, loved it. MOTH & I bought an Octopus card as soon as we arrived & then caught the Mass Transit Rail (MTR) everywhere. The MTR moves 2.6m. people a day around HK, so it is a highly organized & easy to use system of transportation. It also meant that we walked kilometres & kilometres every day, which was fab as it meant that we could eat as much as we liked & then walk it off! I've actually come home lighter than I was prior to leaving, which is VERY good thing!

Hazardous MOTH appeared twice during the 10 days & one episode involved an 'interesting' experience up in a little village close to the Chinese border. I won't bore you with the details but it required me stepping in very quickly & using every diplomatic negotiation skill I possess to diffuse a situation with a overly bureaucratic local authority. If I hadn't MOTH would probably be languishing in a cell somewhere in rural China driving his fellow in-mates crazy with his bad jokes.

And then there's the shopping - hooley dooley I was in Heaven! I hired a smart phone when we arrived which was loaded with interactive details of all the shopping meccas, restaurants, interesting walking tours + all the MTR maps & it was invaluable. It also meant I could Facebook the kids & let them know what they were missing (& what MOTH was up to!). Lots more to tell you, but I'll save that for another day. I'm looking forward to finding an hour or so to catch up with all your news, but need to get going & do a heap of domestic chores before I can indulge that luxury.

Image: Travelpod

It's Vacation O'Clock!

OK, things have been a bit quiet on the posting side, sorry.......but things behind The Hedge have been out of control! There's been a current job I'm trying to wind up & leave in tip-top nick for my replacement, a farewell round of teary goodbyes to all my gorgeous clients, an engagement to celebrate & subsequent party to plan, a new job to get my head around & as of this morning, a big bag to pack. I've cashed in my Travel Voucher prize & first thing tomorrow morning MOTH & I are heading off to Hong Kong!!

We have 10 glorious days & I have so much planned. We want to be out & about as much as the hot, humid weather allows us & then back to the beautiful Langham Place each night to recover in luxury. MOTH's major focus will be on the food & mine will be on the cultural & historical aspects of the city (just joshing, of course it will be the shopping!!)

As some of you may recall, MOTH & I don't travel well together. In fact his name changes immediately he's left the shores of Australia from MOTH to Hazardous MOTH. I've pre-selected separate seats at other ends of the aircraft on all the flights, so that's a good start. 11 hours sitting next to him each way is going above & beyond my wifely duties. I've also notified the Chinese Govt. that Hazard's on his way & they have dusted off their Disaster Plan ready for action.

And if you want to keep up with all the domestic argy-bargy & MOTH's adventures & international incidents (something tells me there'll be a few!) I will be tweeting. So if you aren't already a Follower, do join me via the link further down this page. It will be 'Millie & MOTH Do Hong Kong In Ten Adventure Filled Days!' The House Sitter is comfortably ensconced by the warm fire here at The Hedge, so it's love to you all & see you at the end of May.

Image: Aparteque

United We Stand

Like so many others, I've been deeply affected seeing the devastation & loss the horrendous floods have brought to my fellow Aussies north in Queensland.
The response by Brisbanites to their brothers in great need has been awesome. An army of 16,000 volunteers turned up on Saturday & 10,000 answered the call yesterday. I am so proud of these ordinary people who stand in a queue with their gumboots, brooms, mops, hoses & buckets. Ready to be bussed out to the houses & businesses of complete strangers in faraway suburbs. They just want to do their bit - you are legends each & every one of you.

My 3 weeks vacation has gone in a flash. We had a house full of guests for 12 days & it was bedlam. The bookings spreadsheet I had done pre-Christmas never left my hands & was an organizational God-send. I cooked, cleaned, shopped, stripped beds, washed linen, remade beds & then started the cycle all over again. I haven't opened any of my Chrissie books, seen a movie or spent an arvo on the sofa. Although I did get my priorities right & managed to hit the New Year sales for some compulsory retail therapy.

We had a lovely Christmas Day at Son #5 & his gorgeous girl Miss A's house. I was so proud of them both, they did a spectacular job with lunch. With 4 out of 5 sons home, it was inevitable that a large amount of post-prandial clowning around occurred. I have the perfect caption for the above image, but MOTH would sue!

Over the Christmas period, things got out of hand amongst the reunited brothers on occasion & I was forced to read the Riot Act to a number of the sons. You know who you are & are pictured below.

Enough said!

A much more civilized shot of the Little Darlings & MOTH for The Hedge's Christmas Album. At 6'5" MOTH looks to be the quite short in this pic, either that or Son # 2 is still growing at 31. Each Christmas I put out a request that they make an effort & dress up for lunch & every year they do - NOT!

There was another birthday for moi. The numbers 55 suddenly appeared on my speedometer last Sunday, but there's no way I'll be sticking to my speed limit this year!

MOTH's famous Christmas Lillies displayed a great deal of confusion due our cold, miserable, inclement December weather. For the first time ever, the yellow Asiatics bloomed first & were a riot of colour for weeks.

Then their White siblings made an unfashionably late appearance last week & have filled the house with their breathtaking perfume.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for the beautiful & very generous comments left on the Our New Bathroom post. Your words have left MOTH & I positively buoyed & we are so grateful that you all managed to go the distance with us. In all the flurry of activity around here I really hadn't a chance to stop & revel in the joy of it all. However, we had a group of friends over for dinner on Saturday night & during the course of the evening I did what everyone else was doing. I wandered up to the new 'facility' instead of dashing into the grotty ensuite as normal. As I watched the nifty self-closing lid gently descend to meet the loo seat (only a mother of 5 sons can get teary-eyed over that remarkable innovation) I suddenly became quite overcome with emotion.

For the first time it really, really hit me that the Bathoom-From-Hell was no more, & in it's place was the fabulous room I've been dreaming about for so long. Back to work for me tomorrow, but it's lovely to be back here with you all. I have a big year planned, so I'd better get to it.

Images 1 & 2: Courier Mail 4: Amazon 7: Treehugger

Millie & MOTH's Grand Adventure

After much discussion, MOTH & I have decided to use my Travel Voucher on a trip to the U.S. I've been receiving frequent emails from Bloomies & Saks, telling me they're missing me, so I need to do my bit & ensure their balance sheets remain in the black. We are looking at 3-4 weeks in Oct. & instead of the usual Syd-LA route, I reckon we should do Melb-San Fran this time. Then pick up a hire car & amble south along the coast, heading inland to the Napa as MOTH says we need to do some serious research on the current vintage of US Pinots. A couple of days in LA & then a flight to the East coast & a few days in New York, then a leisurely wander up to CT, NH & ME. MOTH is hoping to be in Boston for the Head of the Charles race this year on Oct. 23-24, so that probably means a double back to beautiful Boston, which is not a problem.

So that's the tentative Agenda we're working on. As map reading isn't my strong point, navigating for MOTH with his very short fuse, may mean we end up in New Mexico or Canada, but more likely the Divorce Court! Have a fabulous weekend.

Image: David Marlow