CountryGirlClare

CountryGirlClare
Home : Garden : Cooking : Inspiration

Pages

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I went for a walk...

Little Dog and I went for a walk last night... he trotted all over the place sniffing and exploring. I found these lovely little plants.



I also saw a copperhead snake... didn't take a photo of that one though! Hope all is well in your part of the world. C ♥

Monday, November 21, 2011

Rushing through...



Helloooo!
Just a quick message to say "howdy" and show you my little TEA letters that arrived from the good old USofA recently. I have plonked them on the kitchen mantlepiece in front of my lovely Japanese tea canisters. Sweet hey? (Forgive the not so great photo but I just quickly took it before posting this note). Hope all is well with you, C ♥


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Etsy treasures

Hello there! Hope all is well with you. Christmas is fast approaching, as it does every year, and I have started looking for presents for family and friends. Etsy is one of my hunting grounds. There are so many wonderful items for sale on Etsy - vintage or handmade, there is something for everyone! I bought these old letterpress letters from ThreeOldKeys shop recently. Hmm I know I was meant to be shopping for other people, but I couldn't resist! Cheerio for now, Clare ♥


And a couple of my other favourites...


Hydrangea lamp shade from SarahFoote



Hello sign from Slippin Southern

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Almost finished...




Hello! Well, after spending hours and hours painting the wall unit I have finally almost finished it. Just the outside upper panel needs a top coat. I could not wait to start filling it with books and special things and here it is. Just one more box to fill up and a couple of others finishing touches. I am very happy with the way it has turned out and although it was hard to paint I think it was worth it! Everything else here is going along well. I hope all is well with you too! C ♥

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Here it is!



Hello friends! After waiting about 4 months our custom built wall unit was finally installed on Monday. How exciting! We now have to paint it which is going to take awhile. Then I can fill it with books and magazines and all sorts of wonderful stuff.

We have had the most wonderful sunny weather these last few days - everything is flowering and you can almost see the grass growing! I hope all is well with you. C ♥

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Kittens!

Hello blog friends! Sorry I have been away from my blog for so long. I hope you didn't miss me too much ;) All is well here on the farm. Our lambs are healthy and strong, the crops are growing and so are the weeds! Friends of ours found two little black kittens in one of their hay sheds and asked if we wanted one. Since our Puss died last year we have not replaced him and I had been casually keeping my ear out for another so was happy when Lyndon asked me if I wanted one. In the end the people that were going to take the other one could not so we ended up with both of them. I would like to introduce Itchy & Scratchy to you! They took a few weeks to settle in and the girl is still quite timid but the boy is a real character. Little Dog just wants to play with them but the girl (Scratchy) won't have a bar of it. Itchy gets shoved and pushed around by Little Dog who is a bit too rough sometimes! Hopefully they will catch lots of mice and sparrows. I hope all is well in your part of the world. C ♥



Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Norfolk


Hello there. Did I tell you about the amazing treasure I found in the barn? It was a Royal Doulton 'Norfolk' 1930's tea and coffee set. This is the beautiful milk jug. How wonderful is the "bamboo" handle? There are cups & saucers, little sandwich plates & a serving plate, a sugar bowl, tea pot, coffee pot. Now I am trying to decide what to do with it. Maybe when our new wall unit/bookshelf is finished I could display them there? Too beautiful to hide away don't you think.

It has been awfully cold and rainy here for the last few days. It's so hard to get out of bed when the weather is like that. It would be lovely to potter around at home all day! Hope all is well in your part of the world. C ♥

Monday, June 27, 2011

Decorate



Hello there! I am a fan of Holly Becker and her Decor8 blog and could not wait to get my hands on a copy of her new book Decorate. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a lot of time to read it yet but it was a joy to receive it and have a quick flick through. So many great ideas and beautiful rooms! In fact the book provided the inspiration for the name of my new Etsy shop "WhiteSpaceVintage". In other farm news we have a paddock full of happy little lambs, plenty of firewood and two lazy chickens who won't lay any eggs. Our wall unit is nearly finished (or so I'm hoping!) and I am waiting feverishly for them to deliver it. I hope all is well in your part of the world. C ♥

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Ohhh yum!

Ooo how delicious does this look? It's Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread. I was flicking through the latest issue of Home Beautiful that arrived in the mail today and their Style File "love at first site" section listed this fantastic blog - Joy the Baker. Hmm I wonder if I could find some time to make it this weekend? It is a long weekend after all... which is a delicious fact in itself! C ♥


Saturday, May 21, 2011

Confession


Hello peeps. I must confess something... I forgot about my blog! Life has been a bit too busy lately and my mind has been filled with so many other things there was no room for blogland too. *Big sigh*. I suppose everyone's life gets like that sometimes. That's what life is all about!I am at mum's place in the Yarra Valley at the moment. We are spending the day together tomorrow and then I am heading into Melbourne to catch up with my lovely friend Sally. Shopping alert!

Last weekend I cleared out the vegie patch. The tomato plants were looking very bedraggled and the pumpkin was all over the place. I also let a few sheep in there to eat the overgrown grass. I am looking forward to pruning the roses to let the winter sun in. The crepe myrtle has lost nearly all of it's leaves (the made a red blanket over the lawn) and so has the ash tree. There are mice everywhere and even a few rats, eww! Little Dog has caught two, good dog! Hope all is well with you. C ♥

Monday, April 11, 2011

Too many tomatoes!


Hello everyone. As we are heading to Coffs Harbour on Friday for two weeks I thought I had better do something with all of these tomatoes or they will go to waste. This morning I peeled and chopped a dozen and popped them into these little containers for the freezer to look after!

The last week or so we have had beautiful fine autumn weather and yesterday the rain arrived. I measured 23mm this morning - the plants would have loved that soaking! It's now clear and sunny which is so nice. I am off to Ararat this afternoon for a facial and grocery shopping.

I hope all is well with you. C ♥

Monday, April 4, 2011

Magazine heaven

Hello there! I'm not sure if you know but I am a huge magazine fiend. I collect them, display them and adore them. They are a great source of inspiration for me in a lot of facets of my life. One of my stress relievers is to sit down and flick through a mag. If I had to pick a favourite it would be Notebook: but I will have to re-read my issues (I have all 63) as sadly it closed late last year. Real Living, Home Beautiful, House & Garden, Madison, Marie Claire, Instyle... ahhh! The latest Country Style is out and once again has some great articles and home decorating. I have also recently discovered online magazines and although I don't like them as much as the real thing they still have a lot of appeal. Have a look at this beautiful issue of Adore Home. Hope all is well in your part of the world. Bye for now, C ♥

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Etsy shopping

Hello there! I bought this lovely print today from Janet Hill Studio on Etsy. I have a white wooden frame that will suit it nicely. It was great to sit and peruse some of my favourite shops on Etsy and admire all the fabulous products. In fact it was nice just to sit and relax for a while. I've had a busy week so am appreciating the weekend! I went for a walk with LittleDog this afternoon. We then wandered around the garden for a while and he found a baby blue tongue lizard! So cute :) Off to make dinner now. Hope all is well with you and your life. C ♥



Sunday, March 6, 2011

It's a bright bright bright sun-shiney day!




Hello friends!
What a lovely autumn day it's been here. I hope you have been out enjoying it too. Days like this make you feel happy to be alive don't they? We have so much to be thankful for living here - no wars or hunger or other bad things. Sometimes we can lose perspective on what is really important in life. OK that's my D&M event for the week!
I made another batch of green tomato pickles today. Grand total of 14 jars in the pantry now. At least the same amount still on the plants waiting to be cooked up! I also made a sweetie treat - chewy choc slice, yum.
Now that our living room is painted I can start organising the big wall unit. I drew up the plan today for it. Hopefully off see the cabinet maker on Saturday for a quote. I can't wait to fill up the shelves with our books, magazines, photo frames, etc.
Well, that's all from me for today. Wishing you all a happy week. C ♥

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Fruitful


Hello dear blog friends, I hope you are well and happy. All is good here at our place. The vege patch is overflowing with tomatoes (I am on to my second batch of green tomato pickles), pumpkin and strawberries. Do you like this amazing conjoined berry?! Along with the bountiful garden come thousands of bugs which are a bit of a bother but part of country life. I have been working at the bank as usual but have Monday off so I am greatly enjoying my long weekend. I went to Melbourne a couple of weekends ago and had dinner with mum and sister Julie which was lovely. Shopping was also on the agenda with my dear friend Sally. I bought a new wallet and handbag along with a few other bits and pieces. Ah that's my shopping bug taken care of for a little while! It was great to get away for a couple of days. Not much other news from me so I'll sign off now. Best wishes, Clare ♥

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Sunday drive


Hello friends. On the weekend we went for a little drive to the Grampians to see the landslide. It was a lovely day, we took a few back roads and saw some beautiful scenery. There is still a lot of water in the swamps and creeks and plenty of road damage too. Now that I am working full time the weekends are very precious and go by so quickly! I am heading to Melbourne next weekend to catch up with mum for her birthday, as well as my sister Julie and friend Sally. Hopefully I will also find some time for shopping! Well cheerio until next time. Best wishes to you all. ♥

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Time flies...



Hello all :)
Sorry I have not been around much lately. I have been working full time again and have not been able to find the time to post after catching up on all the normal day to day chores. I hope everything is well with you. Everything is good here even if a little water-logged! The photo above is of the road I usually take to get to work. It was blocked for the weekend which was convenient! Lyndon found a little turtle yesterday on his way back from Ararat. I am keeping it in a tractor tyre that used to be a sandpit but will let it go tomorrow down at the swamp. It is lovely and sunny here today which is great as we need the paddocks to dry out so they can harvest the wheat and barley without getting bogged every 50 metres. Not much else to report at the moment. Life is pretty good! Best wishes to you all. C ♥

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year...


Hello and welcome to 2011. How was your Christmas? I had a lovely couple of days in Daylesford with my family and received some great presents! It feels so long ago now. How did you welcome the new year? Fireworks and fun? We didn't go anywhere or do anything special, just stayed home and relaxed. I have not made any new year's resolutions... have you?

I have enjoyed a nice long weekend and am ready to go back to work tomorrow. I made a lemon slab cake, did lots of washing, caught up on bookwork, cleaned the windows, vacuumed the house, mowed the lawns... a very productive weekend!

One of my Christmas presents was a little box of Affirmations by Kate Knapp ... this one caught my fancy today. "I had a blood test and it seems I have high expectations. So I'm on a strict diet of no expecting and lots of enjoying." Sounds like a plan! Cheerio for now. C ♥