travelled back to the 1860s in Brisbane

Life is a whirl isn't it?
Last week Europe; this week backwards in time to the 1880s.

Like the veritable Doctor I acclimatised very quickly.
 I left my calling card at the front door.

I was served a civilised afternoon tea. The good china was out I can tell you.

A discussion was had regarding how many trunks and wine chests to take when travelling abroad. The answer of course is dependant on the number of staff acoompanying one.

I do prefer to leave my stuffed sleeve dog (it's a real thing;I googled it) at home though.

I inspected the linen cupboard.

 

then had to rejoin the 21st Century

Back in our yard there are recent developments.

 

.....and washing up isn't a chore at all, even though I have no servants in 2012.

 

 

Until next week......

have travelled to Europe in the Great South East

Beunos dias.
Paul and I have started to gather a Spanish vocabulary.
Post holiday depression has resulted in a decision for us to join a tour to Spain and Morocco in May next year.
It's so important to have something to look forward to and to motivate the work cycle.

In an attempt to enter the European psyche we indulged in the following during the past week.

Lunch in the glorious Brisbane Winter sun at Popolo Italian restaurant.

Spectacular tapas.

We hitchhiked down the road to Spain to absorb the visual splendours of Goya, Velasguez and the like.

A forest of Torres Strait Island totems brought us back home.

... not sure where we are here?

Back home working on my next masterpiece,

but the garden is reflecting our Euro tour.
Perfumed jasmine

Fragrant freesias

Adios amigos.

have also mastered a blogging feature

With the assistance of number 1 son, I have added the gadget that you'll see to the right on your screen.

You can now subscribe to have my blog delivered to your email inbox.
What a treat.

...and because blogs are such a visual medium, I'll show you a photo of the latest block I had to complete for homework for PPP.
We're making a Sampler quilt.

This one involved foundation piecing.

Have a great week.

am doing some serious washing up

What a lovely Sunday.

We had a lovely long skype chat with Nick and Mey. 
They'd been sorting Roatan photos and so had we. Ah the synchronicity.

Birthday season has officially begun.
Mey kicked us off with hers at the beginning of August, and tonight the family gathers to celebrate Myles 19th.
It's always difficult to decide on a menu, but the one thing that got Myles' wholehearted approval was the idea of a chocolate buffet.

I am a bit worried that these girl's parents let them wear a little too much make up.

... and are these guys naturally so ebulient or do the empty glasses tell the real story?

For our weekly garden segment, we'll feature some visitors...

and to close, I'd like to thank my 'son' Scott who photobombed a number of my photographic attempts.

Back to the washing up!

went to an exhibition opening

My dear friend Mel's first solo exhibition opened this afternoon.
She's a very talented mixed media artist.

Here's one of the pieces on show.

I had the honour of opening the festivities.
The crowd was enthusiastic and some pieces were sold.
Congratulations Mel!

Here's this week's photo from our garden.

had a lovely day in the country

Duty called me to Boonah last night. It was opening night for the next phase of the travelling State of the Art 12 exhibition.

Boonah is a small country town in the Scenic Rim area of South East Queensland.
It takes us about 1 hour and 15 minutes to drive there.

Here's a photo of the Gallery this morning. All the mess from the shenanigans cleaned up.

Paul thoroughly enjoyed his dinner last night. We were lucky the kitchen decided to serve us; after all, it was 8 pm.

Today however, we've had a lovely relaxing day.
It started with a breakfast with a view.

.... and turned out to be filled with fauna

.... and flora

.... and flora and fauna

....and ants.

All in all, a thoroughly fine expedition.