Kitchen party

I've been invited to a kitchen linky party hosted by the 

inimitable Sarah, of Modern Country Living...

so I'm going to show you around my little kitchen in our English rental house....

Firstly, this corner by the window is where I am always

faffing about...changing the scenery....

I use an old round French bread board as a base

to arrange some paraphanalia...

and I usually have a bunch of flowers

or at least some sort of greenery to soften it.

Scattered around the rest of the kitchen is an assortment 

of vintage bits 'n bobs... some of which I've found locally,

but a lot of it I brought with me from Australia.

These sieves are great as this predominantly white kitchen 

needs a bit of warm wood going on...

 These little French cannisters came with me from home

and have done a round the world trip...
ending up where they started...back in Europe.

This lovely cherry red pudd'n bowl sits on top of my

microwave... it's from the 'Jamie at Home' range...

now if you want some really gorgeous and practical
kitchenware, go to one of these parties...

Luckily there are lots of open shelves in this kitchen

which enables me to display my bits and play around when I get bored with it all...

although, I have to agree with Sarah...

open shelves can be real dust catchers...

Another favourite, from home...this little cabinet with a silver framed mirror on the door..

a good place to stash those odds 'n ends...

My other big bread board is very handy...

and when not in use lends a bit of rustic charm...

This is where I keep all my 'dregs'...

for cooking purposes only!

My other seive, which is hanging on the wall...

this was sent to me by my lovely friend in Australia...

she knew I would love the label...

and finally, behind the door, a beautiful frilly linen apron,

made by a lovely lady back home...

Well that's it...if you would like to see more kitchens

pop over and say hello to Sarah...

If you would like to have a look at the beautiful new kitchen

I left behing in Australia...

with my kids...have a look at this post.

Awards

Today I want to acknowledge four lovely women who have each sent a blog award my way....

 ***

Marnie from 3 pickles, is from my home town of Melbourne in Australia, in fact I suspect she lives quite close to our family home. She writes about her life with 3 little boys in tow...and she kindly sent me this 'Versatile Blogger' award...

Thanks Marnie.

I would like to forward this onto Paul at "from sheep to alligators". He is a Brit, currently living in Florida and he is fascinated with alligators...photographing them in their natural environment, which often happens to be in suburbia. He also chronicles his observations of American life and how it differs from life here in England. Definitely a good read!

***

Lisa Roy  is a Canadian who has recently moved to Dubai. Her photos of this vastly different city are amazing and you can follow her exploits and quest for new digs via her blog where she describes herself as .."a designer obsessed with pretty things, beautiful spaces, interesting places and ...handbags!"...she has kindly sent this lovely award my way...

 Thanks Lisa.

I am sending this award onto Robyn from "Out of Ours". Along with her family she has made the move from England to Melbourne, Australia and in fact lives in the exact area where my kids went to school...not far from our family home. I love reading her stories and seeing her photos of very familiar sights and have to admit that I have a good laugh sometimes as she struggles with the lingo and some of our strange customs.

***

The Liebster Blog award is given to newbies with less than 300 followers and was very kindly sent to me sometime ago, by a lovely lady named Linda from "Flowers on my Table". Linda lives in Ireland and like myself, loves French and Scandinavian country style.

 Thanks Linda.

I would love to send this onto Zosia at "Polonica: Home Again". Zosia has lived for many years in Canada and has recently returned to her home country of Poland and through her new blog is rediscovering her old stomping ground.

I am going to send this award also to Beth at "A Welsh Girl in Australia". Beth is another expat living in Brisbane and is bravely facing not only the challenges of a new country but all that tropical Queensland has to offer...snakes, spiders, jelly fish, sand flies, budgie smugglers etc....(not wanting to put anyone off Australia at all)...

***

Lastly I would like to thank JoAnn from "...and Bob's your Uncle", who kindly sent me this award back in March. She describes herself as "a Minnesota girl hanging  in England for a while" and blogs about a range of topics as she experiences life in her adopted country.

Thanks JoAnn.




I would like to forward this award onto Deb at "The fisherman's cottage"...she is over Norfolk way...a place that is definitely on my list (especially as it has a great French Antique shop)...I love reading about her vintage finds and her photographs are lovely.

***

Before I go, one of the conditions of accepting these award is that I have to divulge 7 things about myself....so if you really want to know...


1. I love food, preferring savoury to sweet...and usually I have a second helping.

2. Sparkling wine is my drink of choice...be it Champagne, Prosecco or Cava...

3. My favourite day out would consist of fossicking around junk shops or
collectible fairs...

4. A perfect night out would include dinner at a nice restaurant, a good movie at
the cinema followed by a sleepover in a fancy hotel.

5. Love to watch Episode IV of Star Wars...I know your opinion of me has just
gone out the window!

6. My first imaginary love affair was when I was in primary school...the object of
my affection being Davey Jones from The Monkeys.

7. Getting back to food, I would love to do food styling...that's of course as
long as I get to eat it too.

***

Lavender Pots

I found some little beat up gal pots recently

and thought that they would look lovely with lavender inside of them.

So I brought them inside onto the windowsill...where I could admire them.

Happy weekend!

Dirt under my fingernails

Well that must mean that I've been in the garden...as small as that is. It's hard gardening in a rental as we don't want to spend heaps of money...but at the same time, when the rest of England is looking stunning with a showy array of flowers in everybody's garden...well...suffice to say...I gave in and hit the nursery yesterday!

We have this funny little triangle shaped court yard, outside the dining room and I've tried to make it interesting with a variety of containers, most of which I bought with me from Australia...but a few, like the gal bath here, I have acquired locally.

Lavender is always a  favourite for me and I think it looks great in an enamel bucket like this one or even in gal....and I can bring it inside for a 'holiday' every now and then.

Fruit crates are handy and a very cheap way to display pots of plants...

With the walls of the court yard rendered and painted white, the green foliage and red flowers just 'pop'!

Just can't resist the colour...

I found these red metal golf thingies recently at a very interesting vintage shed...

These ribbed gal tubs are old washing dollies and prove very handy as tables or containers...

For some height I bought these weeping pussy willows, last year, and over winter I string those little Ikea fairy lights...the ones with the battery packs...through the bare sticks for a bit of atmosphere.

Now all I need is a little French vintage bistro setting...

The Royal Mail

I was just rushing out the door on Saturday,
when the postie handed me a parcel and quipped...

'here's something from the folks downunder'...

as he walked off chuckling at his Aussie humour, I dashed inside to rip it open...

It was a gift from my good friend and vintage shopping buddy in Melbourne...

so I knew it would be good...

The larger parcel was decorated with a vintage paper doyley,

complete with little red seal...

And as much as I wanted to just enjoy the 'wrappings'...

I also wanted to discover the contents...

and of course...I wasn't disappointed...

Inside was a vintage wooden "Victory" jig-saw puzzle, 

depicting a young Queen Elizabeth during her "Trooping of the Colour" parade

as well as a souvenir pennant celebrating a Royal Visit in 1954...

possibly to Australia...

but wait...there's more... 

a cute little box decorated with french script and

my friend's latest obsession, antique lace...

contained a vintage Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle...

in it's original box....

but don't go away...there's more...

also floating around in the postpak was this lavender sachet

made from french newspaper, stitched with red cotton...

so clever...

and finally she enclosed some favourite magazines including

Australian Country Style, American Country Living 

and a publication from the Yarra Valley with a great article

about one of our favourite interior decorators Justin Bishop.

I then had to take off for the day...

and I was just dying to flick through my mags 

and play with my lovely gifts...

Thank you Caroline!

Peonies for Alice

I'm back...and guess what...I've got more Peonies 

because they are bloomin gorgeous! 

My Dad had one Peony bush back home...

and he nursed it for something like 8 years

until it finally flowered...

every year we would be ushered outside to admire

the one and only Peony on the bush.

I used to pretend to be enthusiastic about this

particular flower...

after all it was a bright citrusy yellow colour...

not really my cup of tea.

It wasn't till I moved to England

and really experienced their true magnificence

that I could really appreciate the Peony.

Now I can't get enough of them...

To Alice, back home in chilly Melbourne..

hope you're feeling better.

I'm off for a walk to photograph all the other

'bloomin marvellous' flowers in our village.