Beyond the Ordinary Front Yard

Goose Clothes by Kathy

Go beyond run of the mill garden ornaments. These people have certainly got a niche market going on here. There's an outfit for every occasion. This should get your neighbours' attention. I promise.

More op-shop-ness

I loved this material so much when I saw it that it was with great selflessness that I gave it to my sister (and the fact that I even said that must mean that really I am incredibly selfish?).

Doesn't it make you want to curl up in bed or do finger painting or something?


And who couldn't love a pink ice-cream tin? Made even more lovely as Neville has an identical one in his shed, full of nails, and remembers when they were common rubbish. Ahhhh.

This one wasn't my op-shop find, but was found for me by Mum & Mim sis. Love the grandma nighties, especially those involving pink AND lace. And funky retro patterns.

Speaking of grandma nighties, I was on a girly group op-shopping trip recently and upon my purchase of two grandma dressing gowns, both pink, several people exclaimed disapprovingly of one dressing gown's particular grandma-ness and the shop lady then became offended as she was a grandma, and didn't like the dressing gown at all. I loudly proclaimed my affinity for all grandma-like op-shop products and my pride at being daggily grandma-like myself. My not-grandma-like sister actually commented on it recently. I think it was the crocheting that did it. Should I now admit to my fascination with the CWA and the temptation to go along to their next open meeting just to take a look? I don't think I want any long-term commitments here though. I just want to go. That's why I haven't gone yet. (??)

Now, this find takes the cake. Could you get any better than a tiny golden poodle? Actually, I think a tiny enamel pink and white poodle just like this one would be highly prized.

Crocheted Cupcakes

My mum was very pleased with her latest birthday present. (Thank goodness for that). It's actually a pincushion, but the bigger white and pink things are just beads, sewn on. The rest are lovely pearly pins.

And the real cake wasn't too bad either. (Chocolate and Clinkers, you can't go wrong there.)

Comfort Food

On a related but much nicer topic, I have had some hankerings for awesome comfort food lately. My list of comfort food is long and never runs out. I forgot to take a pic of the gooey golden-syrup dumplings I made a few weeks ago, but they really weren't very photogenic. My sister visited on the weekend and bought vegie soup and the preparations for some golden-syrup dumplings. Very appreciated, that was :) I don't know what her recipe was, but I used a combination of these two ones recently. I think I use a different one each time! Mmmm, comfort food.... Mashed potato Cake, especially cheese cake Chocolate- although I'm not sure if that really counts, it's just good anytime Milo Rice Pudding Cauliflower & cheese sauce Golden-Syrup Dumplings Chocolate pudding Chips & gravy Custard! Is there such thing as a universal comfort food? I wonder.

Grandmothers and secret recipes

My sister has taken on the mantle of the family special-pastry apple-pie maker and I have been bestowed with my great-aunt's famous Christmas pudding recipe, which I am going to attempt much earlier than Christmas :). One day my great aunt will not feel up to making 20 Christmas puddings for all the related family groups & then what will we do? (My grandma stopped her pudding and fruit-cake making years ago).

I dream of finally getting the secret family recipes for my dad's partner's Christmas fruitcake (with pineapple, carrot and pecans?), and for the iced tea I drank while staying at a bed & breakfast on Staten Island, where the lady comforted me as I sat crying in her kitchen (long story, that one :)).

Wouldn't it be terrible to die and not pass your secret recipes on? Or to have no-one to pass them on to? I found it quite amazing that people even die (as in, in hospital, not suddenly) with no-one even really knowing that they are there, let alone coming to say goodbye or spend time with them. That may be terrible naive of me or something but it really never occurred to me before. I am finding this incredibly depressing.