Mid-week pick me up

Thank you for your reassuring and sympathetic comments on my post about the driveway. I’m feeling better about it, our friend doesn’t think it will get much worse, but he won’t be able to fix it until it dries out. So we’re just keeping an eye on it, and driving on the opposite side of the road! It’s our only access onto the block; we have a very strange shaped block of land, a big triangle with a narrow access (only 20m) at the wide end of the triangle. It just so happens that it’s also incredibly steep and goes over a creek! Anyway, we’re being positive and hoping the wet weather stops soon.

So I thought I’d share a few things that have made me happy this week.

This guy is seriously cute with curly black hair and his white tummy. The “Oreo” bull (really a belted Galloway) lives over the back fence, which is about 10m away from the hut. We have a series of long narrow windows that run down the hall and smaller windows on the back wall of the living room, as well as the breezeway French doors. So as I wander down the hut, I often lock eyes with this dude. He seems quite calm. Just happy to munch the grass and watch the crazy antics of our dogs!

More red in the hut. I just had to go back a buy a few more of these candleholders from Spotlight, ahem like seven more!

Finally, we got around to finishing off a project we started in June last year.

Do you remember the two unloved Blackwood chairs we found at the tip? Rob had sanded them back and oiled them last year. But with nowhere to put them, recovering them didn’t seem that urgent. When we moved to the hut, we popped them up in the loft and forgot them again. Last weekend we picked up some red fabric and Rob pulled out the many staples and replaced the horrible dirty blue hessian fabric with the new bright red. Now I’m thinking I’d like to recover the four pale blue chairs with red too….watch this space.

Hope your week is going well, mine has certainly picked up!

 

Just quickly...

Oh dear- now I'm being tempted via email (directly) with Fred Ward pieces before they're auctioned.

I weakened. Couldn't resist this myrtle buffet/dresser and two bedside tables that match our previous purchases.




Gosh I just realised I didn't show you the myrtle dresser with the mirror we won a little while ago.



Soon to be on their way across the Strait. Hopefully we can move into the hut soon- cause our flat is starting to look like a furniture warehouse!

A little bargain

A little myrtle table sourced from Melbourne. Rob's been busy stripping back, sanding, oiling and polishing. It came up a treat! Just perfect for in the breezeway entrance to the hut.

Our weekend:

What fun we have together over the weekend, the weather was pretty foul in Hobart and we even woke up to snow on the mountain this morning, so our activities were limited.

We had a little pup recovering from the snip; trying to keep a 6 month old German Shepherd quiet is easier said than done! Poor little girl kept looking underneath her to see if something was biting her.

We went shopping for an oven, and after much debate, settled back to a fairly standard oven and cooktop, with the realisation that when we do mass catering events we would tend to use a BBQ. We decided to invest in a BBQ with a side burner and the capability to do rotisserie (this is highly exciting for Rob) rather than a huge oven that we would have to heat up all the time for the two of us.

We went and sat inside the hut and looked out the windows at the rain (what a novelty).

We baked a white chocolate and almong cake with cumquat marmalade. Hmm still in the testing phase that one.

Last night we won this little beauty on ebay. I was a little excited I have to admit, hunched over the iPad counting down the auction time and relaying the bid amounts. I think Rob and Claudia thought I had lost it. Maybe I had. I really wanted this little myrtle bedside as it matched our sideboard.

The highlight culinary wise was a vegetable stir fry, with the veg we'd picked up on Saturday morning at the very soggy Salamanca stalls. After a week of over-indulgence at the meeting it was nice to eat real food that still tasted like vegetables!

P.S. Still working on getting the photo exchange sorted. Should have some pretty pics of windows soon.

Our latest ebay purchase...

It has to be said, Rob and I have no self control when it comes to the buy it now option on ebay.

We found this myrtle chest of drawers for sale the other night on ebay, and could not resist.

It's actually from the same seller we bought the sideboard from a couple of months ago.

We think it's a shame someone replaced the original handles, but we may be able to fix that later.

Hopefully this is on it's way to Tasmania, which means I need to start rearranging the furniture in our tiny flat to accomodate it. Bring on the hut, where I already have just the spot for this!

Addictions

Forgive me father for I have sinned...(sorry I can't escape my Catholic upbringing) despite the fact we're saving for our hut, we couldn't help ourselves this week.

Exhibit 1:

This super cute koala friend was waiting at a local market on our drive down to the block. I had already predicted I might struggle with fighting the urge to collect tea cosies here. Besides how could I resist him- and he keeps my first one company now.

Exhibit 2:

Continuing on with our obsession for 50's Danish modern furniture, we started hunting around Hobart for an appropriate sideboard. Not entirely happy with the range we started googling yesterday, and found this. Unlike the ones we had seen around town that were veneer it is made of solid myrtle, and matches our table. It was designed by Fred Ward, during his time at Myer Heritage Furniture. Finding this style of furniture has peaked my interest in 1950's Australian furniture design, and has given us some direction in our bargain hunting.

So in a reckless moment we clicked the buy it now option on ebay.

Now we just have to work out how to get it from Melbourne to here! Luckily my aunt doesn't mind babysitting it until we do.

So in confessing my little moments of weakness to you I have found absolution.
Do I have to do penance?

Spring

Snowflake Photo: R. Wiltshire


Lemon Meringue Pie

Savoy cabbage with our bargain find at Salamanca- a Le Creuset frypan

Flowering quince Photo: R. Wiltshire

Last weekend felt like Spring, the Snowflakes and Flowering quince are out.

We cooked a Lemon meringue pie for a family lunch, piping the meringue made it look like a sea anemone. Sadly there were no left overs!

We found a bargain frypan at a second hand stall at Salamanca which made us pretty happy. I bought some cute little bottles of pear juice, and although the juice was nice all I wanted was to use the bottles as mini vases.

Can't wait for spring to start for real. Particularly looking forward to the longer days.

Our growing furniture collection

Nigella with "her" armchair

One of the bargain dining chairs from the tip-shop. I forgot to take a before shot, this is after it's been sanded, oiled and polished.

Our latest acquisition: a myrtle board table from the Hydro for our dining table.

Best bit is that it's 1.2m wide!

It is waiting in our carport to have the horrible polyurethane stripped off, then it can be sanded and oiled.

But we couldn't wait yesterday, we had lunch outside at our table.

Almost the full collection of our chairs too.