Quangdong Decorations

News of the impending decorations has drawn enthusiasm from Sydney, England and possibly New Zealand.

After almost scorching ourselves with the hot glue gun, then asphyxiating ourselves with the silver spray, the children and I have made countless tiny silver things for the Christmas tree.

Hal is taking some to school tomorrow, for the classroom tree. Boy, Room 3 is lucky.

Below is the photo of the quangdong nuts in their natural state, and in the front, the new, turbo boosted silver plated version.




Call me crazy, but I'm not starting a small 'quangdong' business yet.

I'm about to wrap some Christmas presents.

Am I getting ahead of myself?

These are to send to Sydney for the Kiwi Cousins, along with a birthday present, so I sort of have an excuse.

I do love Christmas.

This weekend we are going to make decorations from pine cones and quangdong nuts. The latter are also known as native peaches and grow wild.

The Absolute Gent's father, George, adores pies made from them. Recently, we found a veritable orchard near the shack, and loaded our sun hats with the small, bright red fruit.

I divested them of the nuts and stewed the fruit, adding a generous helping of sugar.

And more sugar.

And quite a bit more.

They were still very, very bitter, with an aftertaste of bitter.

So we didn't eat the quangdongs, but we kept their nuts.

Imogen and Hal are very excited about the decorations. Hal has to take one to his beautiful teacher on Monday for the class tree. We met said lady at our local shops this evening. Hal proceeded to throttle himself as a means of overcoming his excitement/pleasure/embarrassment that his most loved teacher was before him, discussing cacti and carols (as you do).

Hal is 6!

Hot Wheels. It doesn't get much better than this!

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I was keen to write about this film partly because of the incredible cinematography by Roger Deakins.

Unfortunately, these images don't do it any justice whatsoever.


The Assassination... has suffered criticism for being too long, too slow, too lacking in suspense. Yes, it is slow and long. But it is incredibly beautiful.

It is a film about hero worship, in all its ugly, misguided, scrabbling pathetic-ness, but it remains visually captivating. The capture of nineteenth century Missouri is bleak yet breathtaking.




One of my chief feeling of unease when watching the film is that I failed to care about anyone in it. Not Jesse James, nor Robert Ford.

And yet. And yet. The acting of Pitt and Affleck was superb.




Flawed, interesting and a must see for its aesthetic charms alone.

We have been doing a minor bit of entertaining lately. Last weekend it was brunch for some long-owed 'return of invitations' guests. I love doing brunch - the cheat's way to entertain. We had sausages and bacon, roasted winter vegetables with rosemary, home baked bread and savory muffins, plus chocolate cake and a fruit platter.

It's easy to cater to all tastes, especially on the plonk - champagne for all, and orange juice for those not imbibing. The children had a similar menu outside and could grab and go in the garden, making for a more leisurely meal for the grown ups!



And yesterday was the Pirate Party Sleepover. It continues as I write this early Sunday morning! Hal is plaything to three very energetic girls!

Immy and Hal did all the decorating of the Pirate Cake. My cake making skills are like my sewing skills - full of good intentions, love doing it, rather mediocre results. But clag a whole lot of butter icing and some smarties on, and you're laughing.

During the birthday tea, Mother Earth gave us this delight - the end to a marvellous day.

Little Cutie

I'm sharing this teeny little row cottage (terraced to the Poms) that's for sale in the centre of Adelaide. I thought it was a tiny piece of genius; absolutely minuscule but beautifully realised. There are no windows on either side walls, and the long, narrow design means that the space would be rather dark and claustrophobic.

Although I would never recommend positioning rectangular pieces of furniture in rectangular spaces at an angle, I think this restrained room is elegant and simple.

The use of white as the predominant colour gives the illusion of more space, clean lines and lets the warm wood of fireplaces, floors and doors sing.

The kitchen is adorable. Classy, simple and very in keeping with the mood of the cottage and the whole interior.

Sewing up the pirates

One of my little pleasures is sewing. At this point you might have visions of me whizzing up cocktail dresses and creating italian strung curtains.

Think again.

There are chaps who can't change car tyres or mow a lawn, and there are women who can't sew. I'm one of them.

I love to sew, and I love my 1930's Singer sewing machine (treddle). It lives at the shack, a place of calm and quiet. Despite hours of practice, however, I still sew wonky seams and struggle to create a perfect end product.

Last weekend, after purchasing some lovely (read SLIPPERY) red lining fabric and gold cord, I put together the treasure bags for Imogen's pirate party.

That sounds easy, doesn't it?

It took me two hours and I paid some fines to the Rude Words Jar.

Imogen and Hal are happy, however, and have filled them with the treasures for the Treasure Hunt next weekend.

Next task: designing the treasure hunt...