Wordless Wednesday # 12 Avalon UPDATE!

Remember this...

Avalon Quilt Kit
Well...

Avalon waiting quilt underway

Avalon waiting quilt

wordless wednesday

Rock-kies?

Well, L, you've done it again, but with nothing but the best intentions...
Today, L's dad was coming over to assist us with putting on the door handles and locks onto our freshly installed screen doors, mind you, we still have to install the fly screen!
Anyway, back on topic, L spent the morning whilst I was watering the garden, making and baking some little 'Baby Cupcakes'. Cupcakes are the next sister's down 'cup of tea' really, but L said, "what can go wrong?

Empty Cups

So the 'cups' were separated and sorted in preparedness for the cake mix...

Cake mix

Ready to bake

So, things were going along swimmingly, and they were looking good. The instructions (destruction's) said that the oven had to go on 180 for 10-15 mins... So after the said time, and after a look, it was now noted that the oven had been turned only to 120... Oops...

Biter's beware

Ok, so whilst they were iced and sort of looked ok, upon closer inspection, and trying to 'peel' off the paper cup, it became obvious that we were not going to be eating cupcake's, but more like Rock Cakes, Iced Cookies... So I will just mix them together, (sorry, no pun intended) and came up with Rock-kies!

meet me at mikes

Meet Me at Mikes goodness

oh the packaged goodness, or is it the goodness packaged. A bit of both really, last week I was in Melbourne but managed one hour to tram it to 'Meet me at Mikes' on Bridge Rd and back again to Flinders St where I was staying. I came across the Meet me at Mikes blog a little while ago and decided I needed to make it there if I could next time I was in town. Such a cute shop, plastered with Golden Book covers and filled with vintage stuff and crafty goodness. So good, I managed to get two pieces of Shannon Lamden (Aunty Cookie) Home Sweet Home in Black Fabric. I bought some of this fabric in Olive some time back from her etsy store and love it so much I have not brought myself to cut into it yet. So this was a very exciting find. So that was the goodness packaged.

The packaged goodness; the bag with a page from a Noddy book attached, the receipt for the envelope (how posh) made from the page of a vintage book, and the fabric wrapped in crunchy cellophane with a suprise tag again made from the page of a childrens book, being all too cute.

Statue

Statue

Wordless Wednesday # 11 Cockatoo!!

Cocky & Bread

Cocky on clothesline

wordless wednesday

Banksia Rose and photo editing...

In this shot, I have taken a picture of our Banksia Rose that is growing up and through or Bottle Brush.

Banksia Rose (Natural)

Here, I have edited it by just reducing the saturation of colour. I sort of like it, do you?

Banksia Rose tweaked

Wordless Wednesday # 10 Plates but no tea!

Tea Plates

Tea Plates

wordless wednesday

Tranquility of spring...

In Sydney, we are now in spring. I had to go down to the Farm Cove area at work, and the Main Pond seemed to be a sign of tranquility and peace on the day. So here are a few 'snaps' I took of my time down there...

Royal Botanic Gardens, Main Pond

Royal Botanic Gardens, Main Pond

Royal Botanic Gardens, Main Pond

Royal Botanic Gardens, Main Pond

Royal Botanic Gardens, Main Pond

Welcome to...FINN!!!

Well, yes I know it has been a week since our last post, but we have both been somewhat busy of late. BUT, we do have a new member to the family!

Name that fish

We are not sure of a name for him yet, L wants to call him 'Graceful' but I am not sold on this. We spent all of about 2 mins picking hm out of about a dozen or so fish... It was easy for me, he was one of three others that were blue, and a strong, vibrant blue at that.
So, please, may I hand it over to you, you and you, yes all three (maybe more) of you to suggest a name. We will take suggestions until Sunday night 9pm (of which Australian Idol should be finished) Australian Eastern Time. I will post the luck name, and winner of course, Monday morning Sydney time!

Thanks to all of the suggestions, but the winner is Bob-kat, amongst others...
I did like Shephard's suggestion of Azure as well!

Colour and tones...

I really like the effect of the Tulips in Spring against the rustic earth tone of the Heritage Sandstone Wall...

Macquarie Wall & Tulips

Wordless Wednesday #9 Avalon Waiting

Avalon Quilt Kit

wordless wednesday

Spring at work...

Well, Spring has arrived well and truly here at work. I had to go out to locate a Weeping Schotia tree, which I located on our database 'EMU', and I just had to take my camera with me. This tree is an amazing one, as it's common name is also the 'Drunken Parrot' tree, as a lot of the local Parrots and Lorikeets that drink the nectar become 'DRUNK'!

So, may I present to you, a 'Montage' of the "Spring Walk'!

Spring Walk, Sydney
1. Spring Walk Mixed Bed, 2. Spring Walk Tulip, 3. Spring Walk Wisteria, 4. Spring Walk Pathway, 5. Spring Walk Pathway, 6. Spring Walk Tulips Bed, 7. Spring Walk Tulips Bed, 8. Spring Walk Wisteria, 9. Macquarie Wall & Tulips, 10. Spring Walk Tulips & City, 11. Spring Walk Tulips, 12. Spring Walk Purple Flower

A weekend of activity!

This last couple of days have been somewhat frantic, so we are sorry we have not been about that much...

Firstly, the Circus came to town, or at least the park that is just around the corner from us. Of course, we took the 'hound' with us as he does love a walk...

Circus is in town

Then, Thursday afternoon I was on the 'table (Doctor's of course) as I was having what's known as a Chordal Epidural. This is for my bad back and is used to, rather than target the nerve root directly to alleviate pain by the sciatic nerve being compromised, it 'floods' the entire lower spinal region with a cortisol treatment, OUCH!

Then, on Friday night, L had offered to her 'next sister down' to come over and sit with the baby, oh and B will cook! The cheek of it all... So cook up a storm I did. We had, Creamy Chicken and Pasta, with an Asian Green Bean salad. Quite simple really, brown off some onions and some chicken (125grm/person), a splash of soy (to taste) and add a small tin of Evaporated milk. For about 3-4 mins, stir through pre-cooked pasta that has been lightly drained, as the remaining starch from it will thicken the milk into a sauce. Then, for the Asian Bean Salad, top and tail some beans, and boil so as they can still, snap. Put into a wok (or frypan) with hot, 4:1 of Peanut oil and Sesame oil and toss quickly. Now here is the twist, toss through whilst cooking, a cut of fresh ginger, finely grated, and about 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce. Serve and enjoy. Now, I think it is an appropriate time to say, I do NOT eat vegetables, but I am told that this is a great Bean Salad... Needless to say, that L was 'hogging' poor Riley, and he was sleeping like a ... well a baby!

Riley sleeping

Riley BW

Saturday, we were off to the Indian Bazaar, which is a school fete that raises (a lot of) money that goes to the missionaries within India. L's family have been going there for years, in fact, it is at the school that her 'favourite brother' went to! After this prestigious event, we had to duck off to an EVEN bigger event, my god-daughter's 2nd birthday! The day had started out so nice, sunny, but was going to change so the weather bureau told us. And change it did... It turned real bitter, windy and down right NASTY! Her dad made the cake, an Australian Wombat, which unfortunately for him, separated at the neck joint, but it still tasted great!

Breanna's Happy B'day Cake side

Breanna's Cake front

She had such a lovely morning, with lots and lots of presents, but on of the things she loved the most, was her sunnies!

Breanna's Shades

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BREANNA!!!

Breanna 2nd B'day

And for all of those who sent well wish's and prayers, L did read them all, and she thanks you. Each and everyone of you, for our recent loss...

Sticky post (for now): - UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!!

Hey there people,
Firstly, sorry about the chaos around here lately, you see, I thought that I would do a bit of maintenance around here, since I have a fotoblog and all...
L wanted to keep the same colours, and I wanted (needed) to convert our template over to the new xml version with all the widgets and so on...
I had this down-pat for L on Friday, as I was off, as the afternoon I had a Chordal Epidural and was on a recovery day.
So, in all of the working of it, it didn't want to have the comments, so, I am just going to have to start over again... BEAR WITH US (me...)!

POST EDIT: Ok, I worked it out, it is now 11:17pm, so I am off to bed, take care!!
I will fix the side nars tomorrow, it has been a long day...

wordless wednesday #8 Begonias

Begonia Island Gem

Begonia scharfii

Begonia & Grasshopper

wordless wednesday

Some Australian Fruits & Seeds

Australian Native Seeds

Australian Native Fruits & Seeds

A Rustic Bench

Last week when we were up at Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains, I found this bench, I liked it, so I snapped it...

MTBG Rustic Bench

oh please, be ready!!!

I had been asked, weeks ago mind you, to help a friend to move house. I did tell this person, that if I did I could only drive as I can not lift or shift anything heavy, and this was ok. I also told this person, that if they were to get a trailer, I had a tow bar and they can get the trailer. All organised? Nup!!

I had a call on Wednesday, asking for help on Thursday after work, sorted I will be there, BUT YOU HAD BETTER BE READY TO GO, as I do not want to be away from L for to long... Now it is a bit of a drive from home to the place, but off I went yesterday afternoon. When I got there, nothing, and I mean NOTHING was packed or ready to go, except the bed (Queen size) was in bits. I was not impressed and asked what the hell was going on? They were expecting to put it, the mattress and frame, INTO my car!

Now here is the crunch, I drive a Suzuki Vitara (Suzuki Sidekick) Station Wagon 4WD (SUV). It is small. A single mattress would not fit in let alone a Queen size one. And, as we had discussed weeks ago, if they were to get a trailer, it would make things easier, and this was agreed!

So, I left them them to it and off I went back home, sore from the drive in, angry that I had wasted nearly 3 hours driving in and back but I was now going to be late for seeing L as I would be driving back in the peak hour traffic.

So, please, if you are going to ask for help to move, BE READY!!!

Bristol 2004

Bristol 2004

In 2004, we were in the UK, and this is a shot from Bristol!

Japanese Gardens Toowoomba Qld

Japanese Gardens Toowoomba Qld

The Japanese Gardens are within the grounds of the University of Southern Queensland, where I am doing a Masters Degree... A larger version can be found here or if you like, in my Flickr account (with lots more)...

Wordless Wednesday #7 Purple Daisy

Purple Daisy
wordless wednesday

Dicksonia (Tree Fern)

Sunday, we went up to Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, and this is just a shot from the day. for a larger view, click here or have a look at my Flickr photo's!

MTBG Dicksonia, originally uploaded by burntofferings.

Mount Tomah Botanic Garden Waterfall

Over the weekend, we were very busy, and thanks to Sydney being the host to APEC, we had Friday as a public holiday (only if you lived in the Sydney metropolitan area).

Saturday, was Sustainable House Day, so L's team at work (well done C!) had organised a bus tour that we attended, and I was the (un)official photographer.

Sunday, we went to Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, for the field day for my photography course, and here is my 'shot of the day'! (for a larger (not full as it was nearly 9mb) click here or go to my Flickr)

MTBG Waterfall

Fallen Tulip

Fallen Tulip, originally uploaded by burntofferings.

Silver Princess

Silver Princess, originally uploaded by burntofferings.