Magnificent, Marvellous, Mighty Monday and BB, Prince Charles and IKEA

It's Brigitte Bardot's birthday on Tuesday. As regular readers will know, I adore BB and so Happy Birthday to this icon. She just gets better and better with age.

I'm also loving the 2011 IKEA catalogue. When you live in a small brick house, IKEA is a fantasy trip to heaven. Not only do you get to eat meatballs but I love their storage ideas. I can sit for hours pouring over their catalogues. I've been to Sweden once and the Scribe twice It's like a fairyland country to me.

And I'm totally rapt over The Delicious Miss Dahl cooking show which features Sophie's literary references. You have to love a cooking show where the presenter strolls through Highgate Cemetery, old bookshops and talks about the glamour of train stations.

And Prince Charles gets a nod this week for his gorgeous, candid remarks on a recent BBC documentary.

"...he describes speaking to shrubbery as something that keeps him "relatively sane". "I happily talk to the plants and the trees and listen to them. I think it's absolutely crucial, " he is reported to say. Underlining the importance of his garden, he adds. "Everything I've done here, it's almost like your children. Every tree has a meaning for me."

I hope you pop back on Wednesday as I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Miss Flower Potts.

And thank you so much for all your good wishes over my book deal. I'm still floating. Thank you. You're all wonderful and I appreciate you all. xx

images of Bardot source

image of Prince Charles source

Magnificent, Marvellous, Mighty Monday and Sharks, Yellow Roses and Sophie Dahl

Hello,
I spent the weekend working on a crime short story for the annual Sisters In Crime competition. The sunshine was as glorious and light-filled in Sydney as my story was dark.
Here are some lovely things inspiring me as I start my week.
Vintage-style yellow Rose Wallpaper. This lovely paper was recently in the latest Australian Notebook magazine. I do love yellow roses. I've sent for samples of this one (Eglantine) as I'm planning on papering our laundry area and our outside writing shed (Sparrow Chateau). Regular readers will know we've built an outdoor writing shed in our small terrace backyard. Because I've been working on Poets Cottage, I haven't had a lot of time to decorate it. However, we are going to take down our old Hills Hoist line in the next couple of weeks and install an old-fashioned Granny line to open up the space before Sparrow Chateau, so watch this space. I've also ordered the pink and red floral Eglantine for our bedroom. I do love vintage style floral wallpaper. And this one is so beautiful: olde-worlde but with a modern twist and snap.
The Scribe never fails to inspire me. He recently returned from diving with the Great Whites for a story for his magazine. Here is about to enter the shark cage. He went down with the sharks not once but five times and in very choppy conditions as well. He was safe from the sharks (some who he said were bigger than cars). However, a tuna did take a bite out of his finger.
If you care to see a short footage of one of the sharks, it's on his Blog here.
And I can't wait for Sophie Dahl's Cooking show which is coming to Foxtel on September 20th. I think she is the prettiest woman alive, she has the greatest cheekbones. The show sounds wonderful with its literary references and nostalgic blend. I loved her book, Playing With The Grown-Ups.
I hope your week is filled with old worlde glamour, creative and thrilling adventures.
Thank you for visiting me. xx

wallpaper eglantine image source:

sophie dahl image source

Chit-chat Wednesday - In love with BIG BRICK!

Following on from my previous post about life in Little Brick Cottage, it must be said that on the weekend I fell in love with little Brick's big sister – Big Brick! I had resisted looking at her for a few weeks, despite the Scribe's urging, as I knew she would be out of our price range.

However, on a sunny Saturday I had some shopping to do and so I went to inspect the house the Scribe was so enthusiastic about. I've often developed crushes on houses (my current book is based around a certain real house in Tasmania) but never have I experienced falling desperately in love with a pile of bricks and mortar from the moment I walked in the door.

It felt as if the house breathed me into her very bricks, as if she was as excited to see me as I was to view her. She was truly magnificent. The Scribe had already described in loving detail all her glories and so I was prepared -but not quite ready for how perfect she really was.

She wasn't grand, there was still work to do on the old lady; she had a shabby side. She was a three-bedroom, very pretty Victorian house. She had my favourite feature (exposed brick) and a perfect wooden staircase.

The staircase made my heart sing. It was like a staircase from a children's book leading to a magical land above. And indeed the rooms above were magical for space and storage! I'm sure Narnia would fit in the lovely massive built-in wardrobe. I'm sure our Little Brick Cottage would fit in that wardrobe! Add a truly perfect series of stained glass windows and the brick kitchen even had the original servant's bells.

I wandered through her as if in a dream. I could hear the laughter and whispers of the many children who had lived and played within her walls. This was a house of friendly ghosts.

The Scribe had been so smitten when he had viewed her that he hadn't wanted to leave. He had heard many viewers complaining about 'our house' – even having the audacity to mention open-planning and modernizing her!

When I could finally tear myself away I was almost in tears. For a short time I could see my family living, loving and restoring Big Brick to what she deserved.

The real-estate agent asked me if I liked the house and, all reason long departed, I enthusiastically said I did. How much do you think she will go for?" was his next sneaky question. Still shaking like a lunatic in love, I whispered the sorrowful truth. "Over a million." He looked shocked at the honest reply. I could see he was frantically trying to work out whether this was some new mind game I was playing with him.

"Nah," he said. "I'd say mid-800s to early 900s".Previously they had told the Scribe the auction would start at the early 900s.

"We'll see," I said, resisting the temptation to push him out the door and barricade myself within. I retired to the nearby churchyard to listen to a magpie sing a doleful song about foolish girls who look at houses priced above their budget and fall in love with Big Bricks.

Fingers crossed the new moon brings some good fortune our way! As I told the Scribe – if we miss this one, there'll be something even better ahead for us! We'll attend the auction on Saturday and pray it will be passed in until we are in a position to buy her!

Have you ever had an experience like that, where you feel irrationally in love with something that wasn't a human being? A pile of bricks? Shoes? Some other item? Post and tell me if you did and share your wild irrational longing with me!