In The Eye of the Beholder.......

Hello there, we're being engulfed under a sea of late season Zinnias......

It's time for them to be pulled out but I don't have the heart to do it.

 The bees are still collecting pollen and the plants are still doing their best to flower, albeit smaller, daintier blooms but they are looking tired and it's time.....

So.....I donned my new gumboots I do feel rather stylish wearing them, hehe..(Target jobs)found a pair of secateurs and picked a hoooouuuuge bunch.

 I'll wrap them up share the love and give them away to a few friends, then I won't feel so bad about pulling out the spent plants.

The garden will look awfully bare, but it needs a rest. I haven't saved any of the seeds as they self seed and even as the weather is cooling down, little seedlings are popping up here and there.

I hope I have encouraged some gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere to give these beauties some room in their garden.

Please let me know if I have.

I would love to see some pics...✿✿✿

It's been a little while since I posted so here's a quick catchup on what's been going on here in the SBL household...

I had my usual stall at the Bright market last Saturday.

 

It started off extremely foggy, a right 'pea souper' and as I dawdled along the road barely able to see 3 metres ahead of me I did wonder what on earth I was doing up at sparrow pop instead of being tucked up in a nice, warm and cosy bed!!

In fact, I think my subconscious was trying to tell me something, as I had dreamt I had the dates wrong and the market was cancelled hehe!!

The day turned out to be a stunner and by mid morning all the stall holders were peeling their layers off as the temp. headed towards 24 deg.

I was more than happy with my new Brooch stand and although sales were just average it was still a lovely day out (despite the early start!!)

After the market finishes and I've packed up my stall I always head up the main street of Bright. It's particularly pretty in Autumn and the two op shops are open till late afternoon, yippee

There's always the hope of finding a forgotten treasure and I was happy to spy another vintage sewing box tucked away on a high shelf. 

I'll show you this little beauty next time.........

!.

 A row of trees along the back road between Porepunkah and Bright.

Beneath each tree a circular carpet of fallen leaves. 

In the mid afternoon light, the colours are delicate, everywhere you look the Autumn colours just take your breath away......  !

Back home and someone has forgotten to check on the Feijoas in the back orchard.....ooops!!

✿✿ Hellebores ✿✿

A wedding anniversary pressie for my hubby........

We celebrated 19 years on Tuesday.....where has the time gone?

He would like a carpet of Hellebores under the Silver Birches in the 'Wild Wood', so I thought they were the perfect thing.

(I just deleted the pic of the other plant, arrrgh! which is a Pink spotted Hellebore.)

He does like the regular varieties but I thought these were quite striking.....

The weather has cooled down quite a bit in the last week and the wood heater has been making things nice and cosy in the evenings.

 Along with the shorter days and cooler temps, Milo or hot chocolate with marshmallows starts to make an appearance with

Brambly Hedge mugs marking the change of seasons....

A short break with a warming drink before I start dinner makes a nice end to Autumn days.

Tig's favourite spot to enjoy the late afternoon sun.....

-----✳✳✳✳✳------

There has been a subtle shift in blogging and crafting here and I'm trying to figure out what's behind it......

I won't be doing any markets in May due to time away so I will be  able to get out into the garden and give it a good tidy up which is well and truly overdue.

A nice drop of rain last week has given the weeds a new lease of life...... At least the ground won't be rock hard when I try and pull them out.

Before starting this post I armed myself with a coffee and a slice (or two) of cake. I was worried that I was going to have all sorts of issues after reading of other bloggers frustrations with the new  blogger interface.......

But, I have to say despite having a trial run a few weeks ago which caused me no end of frustration I have surprised myself and found it relatively easy to use today plus there are some great, new features.

I am not keen on changes to routine etc. but it gets the thumbs up.....next time, well, we'll see hehe....

Thanks for popping by for a visit despite my sporadic posting.

I hope you are all well and I wish you a wonderful weekend.....

We're off to Mt.Beauty Music Festival, No. 1 is playing and it's his 21st. birthday tomorrow....

Someone asked him if he was having a party for his birthday and he replied "party, hah, I'm having a whole festival" yep, he's excited......

Till next time....

Claire ✿✿✿

If the Hat Fits.........

Hello there, I have been a little wayward in posting recently still recovering from the Folk Festival last weekend and getting back into the swing of things......

So, how are you all, I can't believe it's Thursday already.....no I'm not going to mention the 'T' word and how fast it's flying.

Would love to clip it's wings and slow it down a little!!

Anyhoo, grab a cuppa and let's begin with something a little crafty

Sweet, little crocheted flowers inspired by a garden bed full of vibrant Zinnias has inspired me to whip up a few of these........

I still haven't managed to crochet leaves that I am completely happy with, so the next best thing was to make the leaves using felt and some machine embroidery.

I just need to sew a brooch back onto the felt and there you have it a couple of new brooches ready to brighten up a dull Winter's day.....

I am in love with turquoise/bright blue, call it what you will. It just makes me smile and when you add that colour to a Kombi/camper van........woohoo I feel a little giddy.

Do certain colours or colour combo's make you smile.......do tell...

The inspiration for my brooches........although there's no blue to be found here!!

Autumn colour in the background

Some little Kombi vans rolled off the production line today, ready to be made into egg cosies for my next market stall.

Turn them over to share some Polka Dot goodness....

Are you thinking about chocolate?

Ok, let's backtrack to last weekend and the Folk Festival.

It was a wonderful weekend, of great music, friendship and fun.

We billeted a very talented young lady by the name of Maggie Rutjens and her lovely mum Cathie.

They travelled over from South Australia on Friday and despite being tired Maggie performed Friday evening and wowed audiences with her beautiful voice.She then had another 3 or so performances over the weekend and this being only her second festival she did a brilliant job.

Richard met her at the Fleurieu Folk Fest last October and their friendship developed. He has been a bit of a musical mentor to her and when she was accepted to perform here it was natural that Maggie and Cathie would stay with us, so we could share our little town and festival with them.......

Head over to Youtube and type in her name and you can hear the voice that sent shivers up my spine and in certain songs had the tears welling up.......

Take note of the multi coloured jumper Maggie is wearing in one of her videos........

Cathie knitted it 30 years ago and it was hidden away in the deep, dark recesses of a cupboard until Maggie discovered it and claimed it for her own. I was surprised that moths haven't been nibbling away at it over the years, but it was in pristine condition.

It's a work of art in itself despite Cathie's protests that it shouldn't see the light of day!!An unseasonal cold snap had everyone reaching for their beanies, and jackets on Friday night and Saturday, but the sun showed it's face for the market on Sunday and the day was a right pearler.

Of course I spied the bunting from a distance of 50 paces......

Hats seemed to be a common theme over the weekend,

whether it was for warmth or for fun....

These little animal hats were popular with the kids both big and little and it wasn't unusual to see a bovine clad head wandering through the crowd at one of the concerts.

I thought they were chooks and asked if I could take a pic.....

They were actually Penguins!!

The bows under their beaks were a dead giveaway!!

Hmmmm....

More hats....a top hat and a flat cap

Very stylish lads.

Now, I know it's a little hard to see, but I wasn't about to walk up to the front of the stage to take this pic.

Seated at the drums is Cara Robinson she was wearing the most beautiful vintage green dress with a sweet hat AND a snood.

Done up in her finery she belted those drums like there was no tomorrow.

Each performance she wore the most stylish vintage outfits.

Google Hat Fitz and Cara Robinson to check out their music and her wardrobe.....

The weekend sadly came to an end and I can tell you we were all exhausted.

Sunday night found us sprawled over the couches reliving the great music we had seen and not wanting the weekend to end.

The countdown is now on there's only 11 months and 3 weeks to the next Yackandandah Folk Festival, but hey, who's counting!!

Back to reality......

It was time to get out into the garden today, specifically the 'back orchard' and do battle with the weeds, grass and berries.......

I was in charge of the secatuers, chopper lopper thingies and the wheelbarrow.....

No. 1 bought in the ride on, the push mower and between the two of us we chopped, snipped, mowed, raked and finally rediscovered the fruit trees and berries.

Since the discovery of a brown snake a couple of months ago we had pretty much stayed away from the orchard.....

But today we staked our claim and it's looking tickety boo.

The cows enjoyed the grass and prunnings and No. 1 shared a joke with this gal who looks like she's only got 3 legs.....don't worry it's just the angle of the pic!!

Five years ago you wouldn't have seen No.1 within cooee of these beasts. Up close they are rather large and intimidating and when they start flinging their hooves around stand well back...

Awww ain't that sweet......

-----00000-----

Well, it's close to pumpkin time so I better head off to bed.

It's been a rather smokey week here due to the DSE carrying out controlled burns which is usual for this time of year, although not much fun it does give us beautiful sunsets.

I hope you are all well, thanks for popping over for a visit.

A big thankyou to all my new followers and to everyone for all the lovely comments you leave. It's always great to hear from you and never ceases to amaze me as to which part of the globe you are visiting from..........

Take care

Claire ❤❤

A big thankyou to Alison over at Tweed Delights for her help with all things computer related.It took a while but it just goes to show you, that you can teach old dinosaurs new tricks, hehe.....