Stairway to high heaven

Given I think my garden is heaven, this must be the stairway to high heaven.  I moved the Gold Bunny rose (not very visible I must admit) to the landing today.  Other garden news:

6 figs on the fig tree (where else!), 1 olive, 1 apricot, 1 artichoke left (I ate the other two) and a good crop of self-sown rocket coming on.

Here's the passionfruit vine, my one hollyhock, and the hydrangea which is finally flowering after 4 years.  I wouldn't ordinarily try to grow hydrangeas in this climate, but they make Steve and me think of Mel.

The blackboard to which Georgia alludes

01 Queen Street,1983 and I was in France

Ma Vie en Rose

 I've got some garden photos that don't really belong on Tirra Lirra so I've decided to indulge myself and get this blog going again.  Cheating a bit with the above cos Steve was given these roses by a fellow student who he helped out.  Note that they are in the pot he made some years ago in Adelaide.

Here we have another of my long-term plans come to fruition (like the bougainvillea gnash wail).  This Crepuscule rose is planted on the southern side of the fence so received no sunlight until it reached deck height.  Now it's doing exactly what I had envisioned.  I always thought Crepuscule was a particularly unattractive name - but it means 'dawn' doesn't it?

Bit of cutesy for you.  I wanted the seaside daisy to take over the old tank stand, and it is.

Don't think I've blogged previously the fabulous outdoor (outhouse door, actually) blackboard Steve made me.  Don't know how we managed without it.

Time spent with Jill

Jill lives in Portland and I visit once a year.  One of the absolute joys of being at her house is to browse her library.  Here are some ideas I picked up for our house.

We already have our own rather fabulous grilled gate, but I was rather taken with this.

And then there's the balcony on the upstairs window from the stairwell.

Overlooking the garden.

Nice ideas.

You can tell she's going to Morocco soon.

I suggested this for Jill's bathroom.  She already has the bath and the space is right.

I offered to pot up the geraniums for her but she wasn't interested.

Our Couch

Some of you may have noticed that the blue couch has had a makeover.  Bought in Tasmania many years ago, the couch seemed a good idea because we could just wipe it down - we hadn't counted on Purdey, our cat, using the leather as a sharpening tool.  About 20 years and quite a few pets on, the couch was looking tired.  I'd thought it would look good in a tigerskin, for some reason that over-the-top look has always appealed to me.  Then I realised tigerskin would also look like ripples of sand dune, so the die was cast...  Unfortunately the tigerskin print was out of stock so we chose a zebra-ish one which the upholster had to order in for a cuppla weeks' time.  To our amazement he rang last Tuesday and said he could do the job that day, wildly surpassing our hopes.  And we both love the finished result.

It looks much the same as always from the back.

Sign of the times

Since we have had flooding, mild as it is, we have been advised not to drink the tap water without boiling it.  So we have also resorted to buying casked water.

I realised this morning that it looks quite attractive stacked up there.  Steve had his first Exhibition Opening last night and sold one of the brick prints in the kitchen.  The buyer is going to put it in her kitchen which is a little bit of whimsical placement that appeals to me - her house is made entirely of galvanised iron.

I usually go berserk when the cupboard doors are left open but this morning I thought they looked rather gorgeous.  Note where my remaining Limoges plate has ended up.

Dinner tonight

Just got these quiches, cooked by Steve, out of the oven.

They looked perfect.

But I understand now why the cooking shows don't use a blue background...

Steve's home

bringing 3 bags full of pink-eye potatoes from Tasmania.  Delicious with bacon.

In the morning

I do love the light in the morning.  A phantom window looking north...

In the kitchen

And the garden finally dressed for a little hot weather.

Great artists

Picked a couple of my Monet Mermaid roses today.  They perfume the room.

Later in the day a light breeze was shimmering the hula skirt curtain thing.

'Been a funny sort of a day'

This was one of Mel's (Steve's Mum) sayings and it always makes me laugh when I think of it. First of all curious markings on the bedroom ceiling

which started to drip...  I was a little concerned because my wardrobe is immediately beneath it.

Then a frog turned up on the edge of the bath in the upstairs bathroom.  I was tempted to kiss him to see if he would turn into a plumber.

pride comes before a fall

You may remember this proud image from Blogblodwyn .  Well, Friday I came home to this.

 Not the black bag.  That was a freebie with the Spanish Instyle Magazine I bought in Girona Airport.  My plate from Limoges in 1983.  I carried it home safely in my rucksack and it has weathered many moves.  The warm, wet weather was too much for the sticky plate-hanger thing on the back.  I took the others down to avert a new catastrophe.  It looks so forlorn.

The one remaining has the hanger-ring built into it.  It's not all bad though.  The drought has broken as you may know from the flooding in Queensland - that is bad for them.  Here the Darling River is high.

That grassy island is usually the edge of the bank.  Today the rain has stopped and I can inspect the garden.  Rabbit and lettuce look happy.

Cumquat is coming into blossom and smells divine.

And the washing is finally drying.  Don't often have that problem here.

I seem to have a fixation with underwear at the moment.  Be snowdroppin' next.