not just cake

but shortbread too.  And a nice cup of Wedgwood tea.

Thank you Mum and Bron.

Mother knows best

For a while the kitchen looked the Christmassyest part of the house.
I had intended to clean, polish and hang the star candleholders...
The beautiful cloth is an Elizabeth David inspired teatowel that came with my Folio Society Diary.  Beneath it lies the bread Steve made last night - a big treat when you're no-carbs.  I suggested to Steve that we have tomatoes on toast for lunch but we nobly decided to stick with the ham and turkey.

We've been doing a sort of gift-tease - opening a present every cuppla hours.  Imagine my delight when I discovered this Bayliss Muscat Gourmet Cake from Mum.  Mum has never really got the idea of a carb-free diet, thank goodness.  You wait till you see the treat I've promised myself for tomorrow.

The white lantern is the prototype for the hundreds I was going to make to festoon the tree outside our house for the street party last night...  You can also see I managed to crochet one more Christmas Tree.  When I saw the wool I thought it would make a delightful forest of trees in the colours of the Northern Lights.  I'm more of an ideas person.

My poorly straightened and cropped photo does not do justice to the calendar Tamasin made.  The photos are beautiful, capturing exquisite decorative and design details.  The text is a joy to read.

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S

so far...

Steve is enjoying his ukelele and caramel wafer from Normanville.
Thank you for sending cards and presents.
Sorry I've been too slack this year to reciprocate.

A Childish Christmas in Wools

Thank you Georgia http://earthgypsies.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/oh-christmas-tree.html


Perfect, I thought, for using up all those bubbly corks that The Body Shop no longer recycles.
I had no green wool so decided on a blue fir.

Not quite as I had envisaged.  Like someone in an oversize beanie.
Maybe reverse the cork?

hmmm a baobaob

ok on an ordinary cork, of which I have 1.

Steve suggested making a red(ish) Father Christmas hat.
Then I made a slightly wider one for a bubbly cork.

Getting there.
But talking of spiffy hats, did you see these on the The Women's Room blog?

What a fabulous idea!
And a warning - this is the first Christmasy thing I've done.
Don't hold your breath for cards and presents.

should've included

people.

The spontaneous 'people shots' tend to get taken on my phone - and I forget.
Here's Steve on his birthday.

Here's Mum lunching in our Lady Bay unit.

The NZ sauvignon blanc fitted perfectly, CK. Had a lengthy siesta afterwards while Mum read her book and enjoyed the view.

And this truck I spotted on CK Beagle's street on my way home to Wentworth.
It has a seemingly unlikely 'Baby On Board' sign in the back window.

Lady Bay jaunt

Last week Mum and I spent a cuppla days at The Links Resort at Lady Bay.

The view from our room looking southish.  You can see part of the rather dry golf course, the spreading housing development, a vineyard and the beautiful hills that always remind Mum and me of Wales.

Straightahead view.

Northish view featuring the units the Gang of Four graced on their first Easter Trip.

Lady Bay proper with trademark Norfolk Pines.

Shearing shed en route to Second Valley.
The Leafy Sea Dragon is the icon for this area.

The Yule Log Willowa made and which we demolished on our lightning coffee-stop on the way home.

The Art of Being 65

 

seems mostly to involve Centrelink forms.