Gentlewoman, vintage caravans and a Full Scorpio Moon

Hello, I've been blogging on my writing Blog which you can find HERE but have been missing my personal blog lately so here's a post of a few things that have been inspiring me recently.

The Gentlewoman. I do love this magazine for its title and cover and the contents are most interesting as well. Have you seen this one?

Vintage Caravans have been taking up my thoughts. I long to live in the country and write in a beauty like one of these.

My daughter Daisy has also been inspiring me for her computer know-how. I had no idea that at six she is capable of uploading the internet, googling DISNEYLAND and having a good browse around YouTube for videos on Disneyland whilst my back was turned. I, of course am totally pants with technology. The collage above is of Daisy meeting her father for lunch in the city when she went to visit her naturopath last week. Daisy has a gallstone which we are trying to treat naturally as well as medically.

I am loving the cold snap that has hit Sydney and there is a wonderful Full Scorpio Moon on her way.

Have a lovely week and stay creative. xx
green vintage caravan from happylovesrosie
quote from weheartit
pearl lowe's vintage caravan source

Chit-chat Wednesday and When you can't take no more!

The humidity in Sydney is dire at the moment. It's hard to sleep of a night and we are always shattered in the morning. We are all exhausted from the constant, blasting, merciless heat. I posted a few photos on my writing Blog from my Tasmanian trip here.http://josephinetalepeddler.wordpress.com/


Here's a few more to remind me of a cooler land.

And how wonderful is this ad from the 70's advertising 4711 ice cologne?

Only the 70's would be so surreal they would pitch the add at truckies. Have a wonderful week.

Chit-chat Wednesday and Celebrate the Light

Hello,

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas/Summer/Winter Solstice season wherever you are in the world. I believe life should be celebrated and I love ritual. And so this time of year never fails to make me happy. I have the Summer Solstice and then following close behind Christmas. On the Summer Solstice I decorated my backyard with candles and shells to cast my wishes and secrets to the universe. And at Christmas, I shall be watching as my daughter perform as an angel in the Christmas Mass.

I've listened to far more runs of the Chipmunks singing Jingle Bells than any sane person should, but I still love this crazy season. Here's a selection of some of my favourite Christmas albums below. I love seeing The Wishing Tree in our local shopping centre heaped with gifts for those less fortunate and my daughter's joy in selecting a Barbie doll for a little girl to place under the tree.

The harvest is stored. The light is returning.


I have a fridge stocked with essentials such as Tasmanian cheeses, figs, French Champagne, and nostalgic treats such as Milk Tray and good old frozen chocolate Bavarian. The latter treats are essential as they always make me remember my old Nanny.  We have queued for three hours to see Santa at David Jones but the end shot was worth the wait. And the window display is always a joy to witness.

We  made a Christmas pudding and chutney. Once again, the amazing Jamie Oliver has got me through with his organised approach to Christmas. This DVD is highly recommended.

Family, friends, feasting and celebration of new life - it's a glorious time of year. The air feels sprinkled with pixie magic dust.
Merry Christmas to you. Celebrate life, light, family, and home. And in the eloquent words of Charles Dickens:
'I have always thought of Christmastime, when it has come around - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave."

From A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

vintage christmas images via google image search

Chit-chat Wednesday and Song of the Currawong

Currawongs have taken over our garden. They love the big native tea-trees to sit and sing in their melodious voices. They sound like honey in the morning and evening. We're thinking of re-naming Sparrow Chateau (our writing shed) into Currawong Shed as both the Scribe and I love these birds and their singing so much.
Smuchie, our cat, loves the challenge of working out how to kill them but their beaks keep her at a wary distance.
Magpie season has started in our local park. I admire these fierce birds as they strive to protect their young. I can still remember yelling at some man last Summer for throwing birds at a poor Mother Magpie who wanted only to be left in peace with her babies.
We're so lucky in the inner-city to have the amount of native fauna we do and we never take it for granted. To live amongst planes overhead and heavy traffic is compensated by the kookaburras, bats, lorikeets and our singing currawongs.
In other news, the Scribe has spent the last few days in a hyperbaric chamber at the hospital for his latest diving adventures on the weekend. I am jealous as he comes home looking so youthful and refreshed from all that pure oxygen.
And I'm hard at work on a new writing project which is very exciting and I shall talk about soon.
May the rest of your week be filled with all the beauty of the Currawong's song.
Thank you for visiting me. xx

Chit-chat Wednesday and A Cup of Sunshine

The light was so beautiful in Sydney over the weekend. Cups of sunshine sprinkling the inner-city. We played family board games, op-shopped and fed wild pigeons. I watched the new Miss Marple and we fell asleep through Prime Suspect. I met my women's spiritual group. We baked chicken, apple crumble, went to swimming lessons and looked for pixies in parks. It was a weekend of little happenings but perfect. Midweek it is raining again which is my favourite weather. I am working on my crime short story which has to be my lightest one yet. The sunshine on the weekend must still be with me. All week I am humming a little tune and feeling happy inside. The Scribe is leaving next week on a work trip to look for sharks. I shall miss him. I plan to throw myself into my new book so I don't notice his absence. And I have been watching a lot of Charlie and Lola. xx

Chit-chat Wednesday and The Wish Box

This has been a shaggy, dreary and harsh winter. We've all been sick in our inner-city abode constantly: the Scribe since March when our dog died (although we think his health may be related to a dive he did), and Daisy hasn't been at school for over a week so we get to play together at home.
Here is a Magic Wishing Box she made where she placed all her wants and wishes into it. (Many more wishes than I photographed here). Her wishes are always for very cute things such as bunny rabbits, eleven sisters and a Prince to kiss her and take her to a castle.
I have some good news. My agent has read Poets Cottage and is happy with it. Now she's going to start offering it to publishers.
My Wishing Box is blowing a trumpet, dancing on spindly glittery legs. Unlike my daughter, I only have a few wishes inside my box.
I do feel as if something good is going to happen.
Sniffs and Coughs from Brick Hospital. Thanks for visiting me. xx

Chit-chat Wednesday and Spike

It's raining today and the world looks bleak from my window. We had a lovely weekend where not a lot happened but it was perfect in its simplicity. I went to the op-shop and found a Shirley Barber board game for five dollars which we played all weekend. I found some time to read magazines and the weekend papers in the garden. Spike, our cactus, who had grown to a precarious height (18 feet) and was swaying dangerously for months threatening low-flying planes, finally got a haircut.
Hard to believe that a few years ago, I carried Spike home along King Street, a tiny baby cactus in a pot as a gift for the Scribe.
When Daisy was born Spike celebrated the occasion by sprouting his first flower (he has only ever had two).
Today I am working on a crime short story, based on a real-life incident that happened to me. Outside I can see cars covered in rain, a grey sky. Cars are swishing past boxes on our verandah filled with spiky body parts

Chit-Chat Wednesday and Blackheath

Blackheath is a little town high in the Blue Mountains. Originally named Hounslow, it was renamed by Governor Macquarie in 1815 because he thought Blackheath better suited its 'charred, wild, open heath appearance'. Charles Darwin visited the Scotch Thistle Inn in 1836.
Sometimes in winter it snows but sadly there was no snow when we visited. However the air was so cold that it blew a bad migraine out of the Scribe's head within half an hour of arriving.
We had no television in our little cottage. Daisy loved the very large backyard which had a magical fairy glen and a swing. We read books in front of the fire. I read Lisa Jewell's The Truth About Melody Browne (review due on Friday).
There were lots of leaves lying everywhere and we spent hours in the terrific Victory Theatre Antique Store. I bought a few things which I'll also post on Friday. Once it was an old-style picture palace; now it's floor after floor of fabulous finds and an always busy cafe.
And I fell in love with another house. Toured the house and came up with yet another book idea. It's heartbreaking to fall in love with houses; that's why I keep writing entire books around them. My first fantasy series I set partly in the mountains.
I’d love to move to the mountains, breathe that fresh pure air and watch the leaves fall forever.
There was even a small lion in the form of a cat that Daisy christened Purrdey, who adopted us the entire time we were there. When I close my eyes, I can hear his purr from here.

victory theatre antique centre image source

Magnificent, Marvellous, Mighty Monday and Lions in the Snow

Hello,
The city is crushing me at the moment. We are going to the mountains for a few days to read books, look for snow, mountain-pixies and possibly lions.
I am going to drink hot chocolate and not leave the cottage.
I'll leave the giveaway until our return at the end of the week. For anybody who has not entered, the draw will stay open.
The photographs are of my daughter who stayed home sick from school last week. You can see how ill she was (ahem).
I need to breathe fresh air. I do hope it will snow.
xx

snow images from weheartit

Chit-chat Wednesday and Cosy Days

We've just passed the Winter Solstice in Australia and I've been enjoying cosy days in our little brick terrace. One advantage of a small house is that it doesn't take a lot to heat. These couple of pics show where I've been scribbling in notebooks. They feature a few things I love in a room: black-and-white checkerboard floors, vintage chandeliers (I have a pink one in my kitchen), stained glass window and fairy lights.
I've also:
Finished Poets Cottage after nearly three years since it was first conceived in Tasmania on a family holiday (August 2007). At 93 000 words, it's one of my smallest books but I'm very happy and proud of it for many different reasons.
Visited my hairdresser who must have thought I had died or moved after three months of not seeing me. My new profile pic shows me chirpy now that I can see.
Been writing crime short stories for the annual Sisters in Crime competition. I love writing short stories after finishing a novel.
Lost everything (except photos and my draft manuscripts) in a major computer crash the day after I finished Poets Cottage. I had no computer for a week which was rather lovely when I got over the initial horror.
Bought a few goodies from op-shops and EBay. More to come on that.
Cheered my lovely daughter on in her first-ever sports carnival. Having been totally pants at sports all my life, it was amazing to see how good Daisy was. She won two seconds (javelin-throwing and long-distance sprint) two thirds and a ribbon for good effort
The photo of her running here is a race she actually lost when she turned around to see where her friend was. I love it, because it shows her enjoyment of the race.
I've been reading The Elegance Of The Hedgehog, a wonderful book. Bit slowish at first but if you persist you're rewarded with a magical read. This was my bookclub pick.
How about you? What cosy things are inspiring you or what are you up to? What features do you like to have in a house to feel 'right' in?
Do drop me a line. I'd love to know.
And a reminder that my giveaway closes next Monday and I'd hate for you to miss out.
Thanks for visiting me. xx

Fabbo Friday and How I would like to hang out the washing

The Magic Hat Bookclub (the fab bookclub I'm in) met this week. The selected book was The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. It's been a long time since a book has uplifted, inspired and moved me as much as this one. I was on the bus reading it last Saturday and had to restrain myself from jumping up and screaming, "Read this book everyone!" It's become one of my all time favourites. I'm sure Markus would be chuffed to know he was up there along with Enid Blyton, Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie. Warning - this is a book you need several boxes of tissues near as you reach the ending. I'm sure my sobs were heard all over Sydney. I cannot stop thinking about the characters. Hats off to Markus Zusak and Liesal, Rudy, Hans, Max, Rosa, Ilsa and Death.
It's Mother's Day in Australia this Sunday. Below is a little piece I wrote for the lovely Kate Lord Brown's writing Blog (which is one of my favourites) called What Kate Did Next. This was a writing exercise about what I saw that morning. There's also a photo of my daughter and myself taken at drop-off time at her school. Excuse our windblown look, and my daughter's hair is filled with olive oil as I had to cut a rather large piece of chewing gum inventively hidden by some crafty child. As you can see from the piece, my daughter loves to tell stories as much as I do. I think it was written just after this photo was taken, one of a collection of photos for the school's Mothers Day Mass celebrations. And so Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers and Grandmothers this weekend.
My daughter beside me skipping to school in the Autumn Sydney sunshine. Long navy legs, blonde ponytail. Grey tunic. A dancing dappled fairy as she recites a story to herself, "Don't listen, Mummy! It's MY story!"
Commuters in suits rushing past us to catch their trains. Planes flying overhead, low on their descent. Trains rushing past and the commuters run faster. My daughter collecting fairy-clocks and bits of rubbish. Garbage lying discarded. An old street man lies amongst his discarded oranges. My daughter glances briefly at him before she springs in the air to continue her story. Nearer the school, Nannies and Mothers rushing with small children. We swoop through the gates together like a steam of tunic wearing fish. Hugging my daughter goodbye - she smells of innocent stories and her dreams of the night before. Racing home, kicking clouds, heart singing with joy at the laptop waiting in my untidy bedroom. Now it's time for MY story.

When it comes to Blog posts I enjoyed this week, I'm still thinking about a post the beautiful Vicki Archer did for French Essence on lingerie shops in Paris. Sigh. Exactly what every Mother needs. The post is called Thinking of Paris. Lingerie and Lace. I hate to ruin any illusions but that is not me hanging out washing in my Parisian underwear, sadly. That is from the amazing link on Vicki's post to Fifi Chachnil.
And sorry Isabelle, but you're up again for your post on perfumes. I'm addicted to perfumes and so when Suzy's Vintage Attic opened her perfume cupboard, of course I was right there salivating. The post is called The Power of Scent.
And whilst we're salivating over French lingerie and perfumes, then we may as well salute Johnny Depp. Somehow it all seems to go together.
So many fab and lovely things this week!

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for visiting me. xx

Chit-chat Wednesday and A trip to Manly

To paraphrase the old saying, 'Every cloud has a yellow and pink lining'. Now that I don't have to work weekends in the department store, I've been free to join my family in 'Family Funday’ Sunday which is a scheme they have in Sydney to encourage people to use public transport more on a Sunday.
If you are a family you can travel to an amazingly wide range of places for $2.50 each which includes ferries and trains. We plan to do a lot of trips to the Mountains, the Central Coast and the Northern Beaches.
One of our regular daytrips is to Manly. We love the ferry ride over. Sydney really does show her best face on the harbour. Then Daisy enjoys an old-fashioned merry-go-round. The Scribe and Daisy always head to the aquarium to see the live mermaid show and watch the sharks. The Scribe swam with these sharks when I was heavily pregnant with Daisy and I think Daisy gets her fascination of marine life from our frequent trips there.
Whilst they were fish spotting I lazed on the beach reading the Sunday papers and an Agatha Christie. What bliss to be reading beside the sea and not in the gritty inner-city!
We enjoyed a beach picnic and then a stroll along Fairy Bower where the Scribe and Daisy had a rock pool swim and made new friends and (yes, you guessed it) I sat in a shady spot and read my Agatha Christie.
We spotted several large Eastern Water Dragons along the bush track which was quite amazing as they weren't timid of the throng of people passing by. Of course we had to have the obligatory Manly ice-cream before we departed.
A beautiful sunset over an iconic bridge heralded the end of a lovely Family Funday.
Thanks for popping in. Hope the rest of your week is filled with floating clouds tinged with yellow and pink. xx