Frankworks

Oooh .... if I could I'd buy lots and lots of things from this space! Big thanks to Tas-ka for pointing me to such a sweet collection of goodies!

What's good for you?

... so that's the secret!


aha!


Sounds great! Let me try!


Tapeworms???!! Oh, they're sanitised..... OK then.


Charming.


??!!!!

Street art

I like finding art in the small laneways of Melbourne. So many people pass by without noticing ....





(some of these are a little hard to read - you can click on the images to enlarge them)

**Oi! What happened to my pictures???***

Oxford baggies

I just love this pic of a 1920s chap in Oxford baggies, and the sweet young things at his side:


Maybe I should have some made for G...?

A week in November

Broad Bean Sermon

Now's the time for gathering lots of sweet and tender broad beans! Unfortunately they rarely make it into the kitchen, as I tend to graze on the raw beans straight from the pod while I work in the garden, 'marvelling at their tiny emerald perfection'.



Les Murray accurately described the appeal of broad bean pods in The Broad Bean Sermon when he wrote of 'knobbly, frown-shaped' and 'boat-keeled' specimens:

.... beans upright like lecturing, outstretched like blessing fingers
in the incident light, and more still, oblique to your notice
that the noon glare or cloud-light or afternoon slants will uncover

till you ask yourself Could I have overlooked so many,
or do they form in an hour? unfolding into reality
like templates for subtly broad grins, like unique caught expressions...



Delish!

Spring greening

I've uploaded these pics a little late, but I want to keep a bit of a record of my garden over Spring and Summer. This season we have lots of broad beans and oriental poppies adding texture and volume, although some of the other plants have been crowded out. The Queen Anne's Lace, Rudbeckias, Echinacea and lower-growing perennials are struggling to find space and sunlight.

Emerson has been making nests in the straw mulch, so I have to be careful and protect my seedlings where possible. I've set up a bird bath under the Pandora - hopefully when it sends down its curtain of tendrils it will provide lots of shelter and entice the birds into the shade (despite Gus' outrage at having birds in his garden).





The beans are ready for harvesting now. I can't resist them when I'm working in the garden - they're so deliciously sweet I eat them straight from the pod and they don't have a chance to reach the kitchen.

Gus is climbing trees again.

Sunday Nibble Club

My gorgeous friend Leigh-Anne has decided to branch out (away from the corporate world) and indulge her considerable culinary and creative talents. We were recently treated to a beautifully relaxed afternoon at her Sunday Nibble Club, tasting all kinds of heavenly delights, including Duck with Orange & Watercress, Chicken & Lemongrass Soup Shots, Peanut & Chili Chilled Prawns, Prosciutto & Rocket Forks, Salmon Crepe Purses, Mini Lemon Meringue Pies, Sticky Fruit Pastries with Orange Blossom Syrup.....




The food was exquisite, the presentation professional, the company delightful - what a fun and inspiring day!

Ray

I discovered Ray Caesar's web galleries today - his images are drenched with rich colour and often a little disturbing. They remind me somewhat of Mark Ryden's artwork ....

Haunting ....

....terrifying .... fascinating.


Chris Jordan's photographs are nothing if not arresting. They make me feel scared, but I deeply admire his technical skill and the way he has chosen to communicate his message.

Check out his amazing collections over here.

Splosh!

When did wellington boots get so cute?

Colour Stripes

Today I found a link from Camilla Engman's diary to the wonderful Kris' Color Stripes. The author is a designer based in Italy who seems to love clolour and delight in details of everyday things the way I do, but she goes to the trouble of capturing the beautiful colour combinations she finds and collating them in her 'scrapbook'.



This looks like fun! I'll keep an eye on this one ...