to move or not to move.. that is the question..

Well for a while now Fred has been saying that he wants to move.... and I have been saying nope. Not after 12 years of fixing this place up and getting it the way I want it.  Not after doing the extension with my dream lounge room and definitely not after doing all the gardens and planting 30 new roses! Nope, I don't think so.

Ok, so after a couple of months of hearing him whinge.. I said maybe. I suppose if we have to move it better be now before I'm to old to pick up a shovel. The only trouble is we both don't want to move until we have found something else first. The move may or may not happen, I'm not fussed but we have been to see a few houses and here are a couple of them.
                                                                       House no.1.

Critic no. 1.. the roof is too flat. This house would look so much better with a high pitched roof. At least the ceiling itself is not flat and was actually raked all through.

I loved the fireplace and the colours she used on the walls.. all the pictures are deceiving as they are not as roomy as they look..

don't really like the bench top, oven or sink... but it is a good size though.. bigger than mine and something I could change later on..

this was a nice area.. adjacent to the kitchen.. looks pretty roomy in the picture but again there really isn't that much room around that dining table.. bummer! that's the family room in the back. I loved all the windows.

of course with any house there are it's good points and bad points. This place also has a pool and an outdoor spa, but no garage for Fred, so he would have to find somewhere to store all his stuff and believe me he has A LOT of stuff till he built his garage.

House no. 2.

When we pulled up to this house my heart just melted. This picture is deceiving as that cement path is not the footpath. There is actually a large paddock in front of it and is set back on the property. It has a lovely tree lined driveway and pretty gardens all round. I loved the outside and thought this is it...'till I walked in.

kitchen was a good size, even though I would be pulling out that stove from the brick fireplace, adding top units and removing that ugly island. Also it had the  bath room come off the kitchen...I didn't like that. 

this was a great size room but the ceiling was too low and felt a bit cramped... another deceiving picture..

 

 great pool and gazebo at the back.. loved this part.

the dining room looks so bright in this picture but in reality it was extremely dark.. I would be putting in a skylight for sure but I loved the fireplace and french doors. 

Overall this house was too much work inside and too small and cramped for our needs.

So the search continues.. either 'till we find something or 'till we get fed up of looking but I have to say I love house hunting .. it's a lot of fun! 

bye for now,

Maryann

a foggy morning and what else is blooming..

I know all I seem to be talking about lately is my garden but there IS a method to my madness. I am preparing for the winter, which is not that far away. So when I'm feeling cold and have had enough with it all in a few months time I can look back on these posts to brighten my day and know my garden will look pretty again.
This morning I woke up to some pretty thick fog...

it was quite magical really.. so misty and eerily peaceful with just the sound of birds calling in the background..

Well, Thelma, which is what I decided to call my scarecrow, is doing her job really well and my previously devoured beans are now filling in again  and are taking over the arch. The cucumbers (on the other side) have taken off too but are not as fast growing..

My pumkin has taken over my veggie patch... and I only have 1 plant..!

near my beans I have basil and behind that, my zucchini plants.

what I picked yesterday and a couple of eggs.. compliments of the girls..

 a great yield of tomatoes.. times it by 10... so over summer all I have been doing is making this, 

yes, lots of pasta sauce. I have been freezing it and hopefully it will see me through winter or just about.. not to mention all the tomatoes I gave away to family and friends.

Now my cucumbers have started I am looking for ways to preserve them.

and here are just a few more flowers from my garden...

Hope you're having a great day where ever you are ..

take care, Maryann

and a few more roses...

Well I wanted rain and now I have it. It has been raining for 3 days and my garden is just drinking it all up. I decided to cut a bunch whilst there was a break in the weather..

you can see they are covered in raindrops..

centre pink frilly rose... Lombard ..

above (light pink) La France...

above David Austin's Sir John Betjeman

They just brighten my day.. hope they brighten yours too..

take care, 

Maryann

dried rose wreath...

Hi girls, the roses I dried the other day are now ready to be used for my wreath. Not exactly how I planned it because it was supposed to be a heart shape but I'm still happy with it.
Here is the finished product...

I had some tulle on hand so I decided to use a bit of that here and there to soften the look.

I was inspired to do this after reading this post by Anne at White Lace Cottage..

I threaded the wire through the tip of the roses and used the smaller ones at either end and the larger ones in the middle.  I did use a needle first to create the hole for the wire to go through as the wire I used was not very strong.

so it turned out a little floppy.. next time I'll use a stronger wire..

I really like the look of this rose when dried as well as fresh..

I think I might just make another one! 

take care, 

Maryann

meet my new gardening buddy.... (the one I created)

Hi girls, if you follow my blog you probably know how much I love my garden. Not just the pretty flowers that brighten my day but also the productive side of it. I have a few fruit trees, apple, plum, cherry, lemon, orange and mandarin to name a few. I also have a grape vine and a veggie patch. So you'd think I'd get a lot of produce..... but not so. Nothing from the fruit trees this year, nor the grapes and now my veggie patch is under attack.

my beautiful beans that had reached the top of my arch just a few days ago (above) now looks like this (below)

From whom...? THE BIRDS!!!!!!!!!!  Those cute darling little things that sing so sweetly yet are so absolutely ruthless when it comes to the garden. They devour everything in sight.

I know a lot of people use nets to cover their trees etc and I sometimes do too but most times I don't get round to it or they still manage to pick through the net. So yesterday I'd had ENOUGH and decided to make a scarecrow. Not just any scarecrow mounted on sticks, but one that looked like a person, namely me.
She had to be life size, bendable, so I could not only stand her up but sit her down and move her arms. I wanted to be able to put her in different positions in the garden as I wouldn't put it passed those birds to figure out she wasn't real. So here is how I created her... and hopefully between the two of us we can keep those pesky birds away.

Here is what I used..

All of these things I already had.. the filling is actually the filling out of pillows that I had extra. When I used to make my cushions I would use a pillow and cut it down to size if I couldn't get the size I wanted from the shops. 

I worked my way from bottom to top. First I filled the pants then tied the bottom of the legs with string.

Had to try them out, yep looking good! The legs are just tucked into the old garden boots..

next I tucked in the T shirt and hot glued it to the waistband of the jeans.. and of course I couldn't wait to see what it looked like with a belt.

next I hot glued the back of the neck of the t shirt to the flannel shirt.. I wanted the flannel shirt to be loose fitting..

then I kept filling the sleeves of the shirt and tied the bottom of the sleeves with a string as well.. I didn't end up using that scarf.. at this stage she was looking a bit scary with no head. Making the boobs proved a bit difficult.... trying to get them the same size .. ha ha!

so next the head.. I cut out some calico and made the shape using a plate to get some roundness and also  for the neck.. turned it inside out and drew on the face.. unfortunately I am no artist.

I had some old garden gloves which I filled, fingers included, and attached them with hot glue at the rims.

I wanted to give her hair so I ended up purchasing a wig along with some white gloves as I really did not like the green ones. total for that was $8.50.

Actually her wig is pretty much how I am wearing my hair now! All messy with a fringe. If her lips weren't so voluptuous ( 'cause mine sure aren't) she could pass as me..

I think the white gloves are much more colour coordinated now.. 

Here she is sitting on the veranda..

finally.. out in the garden...she is attached to a pole from the belt (which is covered by the shirt) and a red string to keep her head up.

I know I have a red bandanna somewhere.. as I haven't used it in years, once I find it, I'll put that on her instead of the string.

she is already guarding my beans! good on ya..

So there she is doing her thing. Lisa says she looks scary as she looks real. Um yeah, that's what I wanted! 

 I want to name her and I am thinking either Thelma or Louise (cause I love that movie) or Matilda... or maybe if you can think of a name I'd love to hear it!

Linking up with Tootsie Time for Fertiliser Friday-Flaunt your flowers

take care, Maryann