A wee break..

Yes, I am taking a little break to focus on my girls and some other commitments that desperately need more attention than what they have been given lately.

I look forward to posting again after Easter. I hope it is filled with special time with your loved ones.

In the meantime, if you need a bloggy fix, check out some of my favourite links at the moment:

The House That AM Built - lots going on here, all action! It is wonderful to see a house being shaped in such loving hands.
The Lettered Cottage - always an inspirational home blog.
Simply Natural - great posts on interiors, compiled by the decerning eye of Catherine.
Pure Style Home - gorgeous blog!



See you all after the chocolate-rush!



xx

Latest purchase

A painting.

I was lucky enough to recently purchase a large water-colour by Dutch artist Gerrit Zaagsma. Ger is my fathers cousin and Ger's brother brought some of Ger's works to Australia for my aunty to sell in her gift shop. Ger paints mostly landscapes, canal-scapes and villages, capturing the change of seasons in Holland and more recently Burgundy, France.

I particularly adore Ger's work for his moody skies. My dodgy photography skills do not do this painting justice, but the canal is a beautiful almost indigo colour, and I can't decide if the sky is threatening darkness or offering the hope of light.

Read more abour Ger here or see much more of Ger's work here.

Favourite Poladroid

..so far...

Lots of fun to play with. You get different effects each time, I am loving it :)

Thanks Poladroid!

(This is my little sister Jessi, about 1982. She has her own little bundle of sweetness to hold now, with the birth of her first child, Abigail, last week. I am such a proud aunty!!!).

Metallic Monday

Well this tub certainly takes the cake! Do you like or no?

Not actually sure if I like the look of it.....I am still undecided on the whole open bathroom fad. Sure, there is no shower screen to scrub and no getting accosted by a sticky shower curtain....but I just see a whole lot of mopping up to do. Even perfect drainage would not prevent me from spreading shower water from the back wall to the bathroom door.

I think it actually boils down to my fear of falling over on slippery surfaces.

I do not dive. Not because I can't (although there is not much dolphin-like style involved in my attempts). I just have a horrible fear of slipping at that crucial moment of transferring your momentum from a earth-based location into an air-based flight. Blame it on too many episodes of Funniest Home Videos, but the fear of slipping, cracking my head open or worse, getting my foot stuck in the hand-rail that surrounds most pools, stifles any inclination to launch myself at the flirting depths of blue.

My second fear is slipping over in the bathroom. You know, being found el-nudo after cracking your head on the sink/toilet/bath. There is no doubt I will be investing in all-round safety-rails in my bathroom once I turn 60...or 50...maybe even 40 (oh god, that is only 10 years away).

Don't laugh!

Bones get brittle as you get older you know!

So, tell me, have you got an open bathroom in your home or have you used one before? Is it as messy as it appears?

Jacon Termansen via Desire To Inspire

Testing, 1, 2, 3...

Just playing around with Poladroid.....

xx

Happy Friday!

Hooray for Friday!

A very quiet week here @ the Pepper Tree. We are finally recovering from a big day at the races on Monday (my uncle's horse ran 5th), Miss Chooken losing her voice for a few days, my sister finally welcomed her baby daughter to the world (more on that next week!), and the general running around after two young children that leaves you breathless and brain-fried by 9pm each day.

I love this photo for the light and colour. I have an area off my kitchen that would be perfect for a breakfast nook like this. I would ultimately love to convert it to be part of the kitchen -proper, by moving our fridge and pantry here and building an island bench. But, that is a bigger reno than we can take on at the moment, so maybe getting rid of our ugly computer desk (ie, finally converting part of our spare room to an office area) and making a gorgeous casual meals area would be a nice solution. Hmm, food for thought :)

See you next week!

xx

Image: Wohnidee via Daisy Pink Cupcake

Did I mention she is walking???

Oh yes she is!!!

Miss Sunshine turned two in February and decided to start walking in her birthday week!!

In the past week or so she has gained so much confidence and is now turning corners, doing 180's, even taking on some obstacles (read: toys spread all over the floor). Walking is the new black in Miss Sunshine's world, crawling is old-hat.

We are simply estatic.

We did not know when Miss Sunshine would walk, due to her Global Developmental Delay. Already it has changed her perspective on games to play, challenges to tackle and mischief to get into.

A pair of pants may even last longer than a few weeks now! Seriously, she was crawling the life out of her clothes and shoes!!! I am already planning her winter outfits - I think she will be wearing a lot of skirts and dresses, as I very rarely dressed her in them previously as it was just not suitable for a rolling and then crawling bubba. By winter 2010 she may be trying out potty training, so this is my chance! I see lots of cute tights, pretty shoes and bouncy skirts. Miss Sunshine already loves clips in her hair and a hand-bag on her arm, so I think we may have lots of fun this autumn and winter. Finally, my appreciation of sports photographers has grown ten-fold - I can't seem to get a good action shot of Miss Sunshine walking!

xx

Friday already???

I can not believe it is Friday already, when I just seem to have finally wrapped my head around the week!

My mum is visiting for a few days and it will be lovely to spend some time with her before she flies off to see my sister and her soon-to-be-here bubba.

Mum and I are planning a little outing on Monday to the Adelaide Cup, where we are very excited to see my uncle's horse run in the main race! Go Bradstar and go Uncle Vince!

I would love to pack the girls their snacks in a lunch box as cute as this one! First spotted on Precious Style, the 1950's tin lunch box would make my girl's day! Alas, the bright pink "Littlest Pet Shop" back-pack will have to suffice.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xx

He put in his thumb...

And pulled out a plum,

And said "What a good boy am I!"

We had a lovely and unexpected visit from hubby's sister and her family earlier this week. Their youngest daughter is nearly 5 months old and I think I could just eat her up! Too cute, too cheeky, too chatty!! Simply gorgeous!

Lucky for us they came bearing gifts, namely a "small" bag of plums from hubby's mother's garden. Unreal! I love plums! She sent up a mixed bag of blood plums, prune plums and some other sort I don't know the name for. Now I need to spend a few minutes searching for good plum recipes, as I don't think we will get through them all and they are too good to waste. Plum muffins perhaps?? I need to give it some more thought.

Also, I stumbled across a vintage book of nursery rhymes that I had picked up along the way. I want to frame some with my sister for her new arrival. Well, she should have her baby by now, but her due date came and went over the weekend and now she is going simply stir-crazy. Planning some cute baby room decorating is a good way to distract her!

The artist of the book is Mabel Lucie Attwell, who was apparently well known in the late 1800's and early 1900's for her cherub-like illustrations. This book was one of her last before she passed in the 1960's. The pictures are simply gorgeous, but I only hesitated about pulling the book apart for a second, as some pages are already damaged and I don't read it to my girls as it is just too fragile.

Now I get to peruse and choose what nursery rhymes to frame!

Some are well known, but others I had not heard of previously, so it has been fun reading them. I will be sure to post the final framed results.

xx

He's a good dog

This is a tribute for my dearest friend who just had her beloved dog of twelve years put to sleep. Bundy was a gorgeous doberman, who was cheeky and had a great sense of fun. Bundy was gentle and loyal to his family and was a great mate for my friend for many years.

HE’S A GOOD DOG Fred Eaglesmith

He's a good dog.

I've had him for years.

He used to get up when I'd walk by,

Now he just lifts up his ears.

And he thumps his tail on the floor

When I talk to him.

When I talk too long,

he just ignores me,

And goes to sleep again.

He's a good dog.

I got him as a pup.

I tried to teach him all the tricks,

Then I just gave up.

'Cause he never acted very bright,

Though his eyes they've got this glow,

And I think he actually knows some things

That actually I don't.

And he never barks at strangers,

And he never barks at cars,

And he howls at the coyotes,

While they're howling at the stars.

And he scratches at the back door

Till someone lets him in,

Then he scratches at the other side

'Cause he wants back out again.

He's a good dog,

But one of these days

I'm gonna have to drive him into town,

And have him put away.

'Cause he don't hear that good no more

And he can't hardly walk,

But until then I look at him

And I say to him

He's a good dog.

xxx

Metallic Monday

Yes, I know it is two days late :)

Here is a metal (tin or zinc maybe?) trunk I picked up a while ago...for the mighty sum of $10.

I thought it would make a good toy box, but it is a little deadly on fingers. Hubby plans to install a gas-hinge to make it safer. The quilts in the background hanging over the girls sofa were made by an aunt and a long-time family friend - perfect for afternoon naps :)

At the moment I set up some toys on it each night for the girls to play with in the morning so that the toys boxes don't get tipped out totally before 8am ;). Little People are the favourite recently.

Cute hey?