Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Tinny Tree

tinny
ˈtɪni/
noun
AUSTRALIAN/NZinformal
noun: tinnie
  1. 1.
    a can of beer.
    "let's crack open a tinny, mate

I know I've missed the boat timing-wise as far as the following pics are concerned, but they are too good not to share (and I don't want to can't wait until next year!) 

Anthony and I went for a walk this arvo, and saw this 
??? tribute to Christmas (and beer!) on somebody's verge!

Feast your eyes on on the work of a creative genius
(committed recycler, die-hard Emu Bitter drinker, et al!!!)
Have a good one (2015)
but not this good...
it might be detrimental to your health!

x










  


Thursday, December 25, 2014

Happy Christmas

this is what it looked like at our joint...
there is a similar snap of Anthony - except his mouth is wide open. Not pretty!
We're a bit fuzzy around the edges IRL too!
and we get things upside down and back to front sometimes quite often.
It's been a while(!!!) and I cannot, for the life of me(!), work out how to get these pics the right-way-round. And my 'helpers' are all asleep! Bah humbug!

I hope you had a lovely one and all the best for 2015 too x




Monday, October 13, 2014

Who says Pigs Can't Fly?!

this one did. All the way from Broken Hill! (thanks Jane x)

The coffee table I've plonked it on is new to chez Oram too.
Made in 1977 this baby was offered to a lot of people before it made its way to us. Can you believe no one wanted it and that the word ugly was used to describe it?! 
Some of you probably can, but as far as this beholder's (get it?) concerned it's...love!
Need to shuffle things around a bit to make room for '77

In addition to handsome Germans, dollies, Australiana, and (oodles!) of other stuff, I have a small collection of sea-side paint-by-numbers. 
These wonky (but beautiful and painstakingly done) little paintings are my take on The Secret (which I haven't read so I'll scratch that) I'm hoping if I collect enough of 'em that whole visualisation + affirmation = desired outcome thingy will work.
(can you guess what I'm hankering* after?)

Anyway, a few days ago I found another painting of the sea (not by numbers) to add to my collection
this one (apologies for dull photo - it has been quite overcast here in Perth) for two dollars in an op-shop. Turns out I hit the jackpot! 
not in an Old Masters way...we're talking more your 1930's artist with cred...we can't quit our jobs yet and we're still hankering* 
Perhaps discovery or treasure would be a better word? It is a very special find regardless, especially as far as suburban West Australian op-shops go.

I know it's special because:
a) it just is and 
b) someone has scrawled some info about the artist on the back which allowed me to do a spot of research.
This (grubby) little oil is called Rough Sea. It was painted by Alice Maude Fanner in 1930. Google tells me that Alice (1865-1930) was a renowned painter who specialised in marine landscapes.  She was tutored by Julius Olsson and her paintings were exhibited at many galleries including the Royal Academy. There is an Australian connection too - she married an Australian business man named Arthur Edward Tate - I'm wondering if this has something to do with Rough Sea turning up at an op-shop here...
Alice's paintings sell for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds(!) which makes finding it quite thrilling, but I'd love it even if it was worth nothing. It looks quite at home with the p.b.n. - although they're nervously minding their P's and Q's with such posh company in da house ;)

And while I've (hopefully) got you here, please don't forget to chuck some money at Julianne's Frocktober campaign. So far gorgeous (pop over - you'll see!) Julianne has raised nearly $600 for research into ovarian cancer! You're a super-star Julianne!
Donate here. 

Thanks for reading and thanks in anticipation (hint!) for your Frocktober donation x

In our garden. It's a Leucospermum. Cordifolium yellow to be pre-cise. Isn't it lovely?!




Sunday, October 5, 2014

It's Frocktober Again...

but I'm not frocking up this year because frankly...I do not have 'it' in me.

Pathetic really because I definitely, positively, absolutely do not want Ovarian Cancer in me either!

And nor do you. Obviously!

I have started to collect dolls. Most of them in national dress. I know, but I can't help myself! Nearly every time I spot one in an op-shop it comes home with me. They are so cheap (and cheerful) I can't bear the thought of them being chucked out like yesterday's rubbish. Some of them are really, really old, and all of them are really, really beautiful. Originally I bought them for the kids at kindy (we have a multi-cultural table) but the more I looked at them, held them (and played with them!) the harder it was to let them go...
I have nowhere to put them, but they don't mind - as one of them said to me "we don't take up too much space" - and she was right ;)
  
Ovarian Cancer is an insidious disease
insidious
ɪnˈsɪdɪəs/
adjective
  1. proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects.


  2. it has no cure or early detection test 
    (early detection is key to saving lives) 
    however, funds raised during Frocktober aim to change all that, so it is vitally important that you (me, we!) support this extremely important cause. Agree?

    It would be lovely, lovely, LOVELY! if you could pop over to Julianne's blog, Sister Outlaws, and give her a bit of the same Frocktober love you gave me last year.

    You'll be in for a treat because nobody I know wears a frock quite like Julianne. For example,
    this is what she wears to pick up her kids from school!
    You put me and my tracky-dacks to shame Julianne ;)

    The stories Julianne tells to accompany her fabulous frocks aren't too shabby either! An Hawaiian surfer named Ace! Hollywood movie stars! Coburg Trash and Treasure! And it's only day five!!!

    As Julianne says "no donation is too big or small" 
    (actually I've added the too big bit!)
    Even your coffee money for the day would do very nicely (hint!)

    Please sponsor Julianne here 
    (and feast your eyes on her fabulousness here)

    Thank-you x

    p.s. thanks for your lovely comments on this post. Talk about a cheer-squad! I have replied to nearly all of them - there are a few "no-reply" bloggers I'm still to get to, but I will x 
    I call this one Imelda (Marcos), I'm sure it's her. What do you think? (she is not wearing shoes, but that's because she has no feet!)













Wednesday, October 1, 2014

I know it hasn't been very long since my last post, but it feels like forever to me...
I'm writing this one because (I've got that feeling in the pit of my stomach. You know what I mean, don't you?) if I don't, I may never go near this blog again. I can feel lucy violet vintage slipping away from my tenuous grasp as each day passes. I'm holding on, but only just. 

I like my little blog - especially the friendships I've made because of it,

(and I really miss the blogs I've loved over the years, whose writers have slowly, one by one, given up the ghost (most of the blogs on my - very long, blog roll in fact) I have struggled to find blogs to replace them - and reading strangers blogs just doesn't feel the same. It doesn't feel like belonging to a gang anymore like it used to...does that make sense?)

and I really don't want to let it go, but sometimes the words don't come and I'll find myself having sat in front of the computer for an hour with nothing to show for it! On screen - or around here at Oramsville! This even though I've got stacks of things to show and tell e.g. for starters: I've got an awesome post on retro Marimekko fashion in my head, another one on some incredible homes I'm lusting after here in Perth currently for sale...AND I haven't even shown you our renovated kitchen yet! (I feel so guilty about this as Abigail Ahern chose our kitchen to kick-start her Style Surgery series - something I see she hasn't persued...could it be down to my haphazard blogging?! As if! but a proper blogger would've got good mileage out of this pretty special opportunity...hmmmm???) 

Anyway this post is an attempt to keep my hand in.
A random collection of photos accompanied with brief descriptions. It's the best I can do at the moment - I think this might be the way forward...or not. We'll see...
a handsome German for my birthday from 
this GORGEOUS creature.
(wearing a dress - this one - made by ME!!!)
I have sealed the bricks in the passage-way (a hideous job) and repainted the remaining walls and ceiling. Lucy Violet's basket ball banner has finally got a home. I like to see it blowing in the breeze when the front door is open. It makes me happy.
a sign, and building I like.
a sunny corner of our kitchen
(that little white shelf used to hang outside Lucy violet's back door. She kept pot-plants on it)
And while I've got a pic of our 1979 Parker dining suite on screen, look how awesome the same suite looks upholstered in a different colour!
I spotted this baby (made in 1969 - the table doesn't extend like ours does, but apart from that, not a lot changed in ten years) at 20th Century Salvation. I mean I love brown (even though I was tut-tutted by a rather famous Australian interior designer for saying so) but gee I wish our chairs were orange too! Seriously, how much better would they look under that Orangina poster?! I showed/said this to Anthony and he pretended he didn't hear me?! Guess I'll just have to plonk a bowl of oranges on the table and be done with it ;)

(upholstery ain't cheap!)

psst! there's some great stuff for sale at 20th Century Salvation, including this original mid-century toy beach house (I'll take a life-sized version too. Please)
I found this kookaburra sculpture at a local second-hand shop. The second I saw it I knew it had to be mine! Some might say it's just a big lump of clay and to use the word sculpture to describe it is...well blasphemy (Anthony?!) but I love him. Just look at that fine aristocratic beak!
Trinity Church, in the little country town of Meckering. Built following the Meckering earthquake of 1968. You know why I love this building, don't you...I would like a house like this actually.
We bought three of these old plywood water skis at a tip shop for five dollars. This is the first one we've hung - and it won't be the last! 
(and it won't take us three years to hang the other two either! Ahem!)
Thanks (alot) for reading x












  









   

Monday, September 8, 2014

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch...

there's been a spot of sewing...
namely these babies.

Ink and Spindle cushion kits in Buds, designed by Caitlin Klooger and screen printed by hand. 

Gifted to me

quite a while ago now, but I was too scared to sew them until...well yesterday actually, in case I made a mess of them. I am still a big chicken as far as zips are concerned!!!
(I pulled it off this time, thank God!)

by the one and only Ouchflower.

click the link if you'd like to meet her newest (and one of her most beautiful) creations.

Pippa (a.k.a Ouchflower) reckons Buds is a bit botanical, a bit mid-century. She's spot on of course. Buds also reminds me of Aboriginal dot paintings...but I could be "drawing a long bow" there...
Anyway none of that design stuff really matters to me...I just know I like Buds and I like love Pippa! 
gratuitous pic of our new vintage Rya, made by Van Guard Ege in Denmark (thanks Sue)

If you didn't like Marlston Hill Rotary Lookout Tower, you'll hate our new rug! 

btw the way your silence, comment-wise on this post was deafening. I'm thinking it speaks volumes??? Ha-ha!

Buds cushions in situ at the ranch
We have to do something about that bl**dy ugly wiring coming from that equally bl**dy ugly telly!
Do you like our old Passiona soft drink crate, marble-topped coffee table? It's a temporary measure, but we are liking it more and more...chances are it could stay - for a while anyway :)

There have been other things going on round here too, but I'll save them for another time. Thanks for reading x  

p.s. Like a good Mocumentary/laugh? Go and see this:

It's no Spinal Tap, but it is pretty funny.
Anth says "the best movie he's seen in a cinema for ages!"

note: A rarely goes to the cinema (ahem!) so like it though I did (and I really did!) I can't quite echo his very enthusiastic review ;)  

Friday, September 5, 2014

Marlston Hill Rotary Lookout Tower

Usually when we go "down South" we give the city of Bunbury a miss, however because we went to Yallingup last week en couple

(this means no bickering, whinging, perpetually hungry teenagers! No dog! No stress! No rush to get to our destination!)

we decided to stop there for lunch. 
Fish and chips on the beach and time to have a wander = lovely.

There are many beautiful old buildings in Bunbury - it was settled in the 1830's so we expected this. There are some incredible art deco buildings too (check Cronshaws on Victoria Street)  we expected to see them as well so no biggie there either, but what we didn't expect to see in conservative old Bunbury was this
Marlston Hill Rotary Lookout Tower(image via)

incredible Brutalist structure constructed of concrete and steel, designed by Sasha Ivanovich. Built in 1988 to commemorate the foundation of Australia.
(the city of Bunbury's bicentenary project)

Pretty speccy eh?!

I know some of you won't like it. You'll be thinking "spectacularly ugly, yes!" and that's okay, I get it. Great slabs of granite speckled concrete are not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's spectacular full stop. From top to bottom. "Beautiful in a dramatic and eye catching way" (the Oxford Dictionary definition of spectacular). Just look at that massive star-shaped sculpture which supports the viewing platform above it! Hell-ooo!

That's the thing about Brutalist architecture, you either love it, or loathe it. 
Rodney Gordon (British architect, 1933-2008. Check the Tritcorn Centre) said this:
Any piece of architecture worth being called architecture is usually both hated and loved.
He was spot on, wasn't he?!
You're certainly not feeling blah or wishy-washy about Marlston Hill lookout tower, are you?
image me (as are the following)
Oh concrete, how I luff you!
 
wish I knew the significance (or not?) of these flowers...

p.s. even if you are a 'hater' once you climb the (hundred or so) steps to the top and see that 360 degree view of Bunbury - its port, and coastline, you'll be more forgiving. You might even come round... It's definitely worth a bit of huffing and puffing. We even saw a whale :) 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Last Days of Winter

Anth and I spent the last days of Winter in beautiful Yallingup
(a small coastal town 257kms South-West of Perth, situated on the edge of the Indian Ocean). 

And gosh we had a wonderful time!

We stayed at Caves House, an iconic Hotel built in the inter-war old English style (as described in its Heritage Council listing) between 1938-1939. It looks like the perfect setting for an Agatha Christie mystery.
Well it does to me anyway...the English Roses among you may not agree(?)
We last stayed at Caves House over twenty-one years ago when I was heavily pregnant with our eldest daughter. It was gloriously faded and charming back then (shared bathrooms were still the go!), and we really felt like we were stepping back in time. 
Unfortunately recent renovations (necessary to preserve the building) have stripped it of some of its character. In our opinion, lovely as it is, it felt a little sterile compared to the Caves House we remembered.

Here I am in 1992 in the Guests Lounge
That beautiful art deco fireplace and etched mirror are still there, but the timber paneling has been painted and the Axminster carpet, club lounges and smokers stand are long gone.

It was also a pity the fire wasn't lit and that there were fake flowers in the vases - especially when there is an abundance of lillies to pick in the garden.
note: but it was really lovely to see the original terrazzo retained in our bathroom and that the exposed plumbing to our toilet was left in tact too.
my Nan and Pop had this terrazzo in their bathroom - mustard coloured strip and all.
The 'Ladies' at the foot of the stairs has retained a lot of its original features too. Love that mirror.
This old advertisement was hanging in the Ladies Loo. I thought you'd like to see it...
Similar images from old magazines and books, and original photos of Caves House in its heyday are framed and hung throughout the hotel.

The gardens at Caves House are beautiful. Over-grown and wild in places - they are very special. 
What hadn't changed for us, in over two decades (ahem!)is the magical experience of walking through the terraced gardens, along the dark and slightly creepy path (tunnel like, and always slightly damp and musty - even in Summer) to find yourself at Yallingup Beach at the other end.
Lillies, lillies everywhere!
What's the story Morning Glory?
(sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Round the bend and then...
Yallingup Beach
Anth dipping his toes in the icy water of the Indian Ocean. 

We ate well on our little sojourn too. Dinner at Lamonts at Smiths Beach Resort  (ten minutes down-the-road) was a particular highlight for me. I tried duck leg confit for the first time and it was deee-licious! (the bread and butter pudding I had for pudding wasn't too shabby either! Mmmmmmm!) It was so good we went back for breakfast the next day! (Speaking of pudding, I rolled out of the car when we got home, I tell you!)
Me at Smiths Beach. If this is (was) Winter, who needs Summer?!


Lastly and (as far as this post goes) totally randomly, I just want to say: "Carn the Tiges!!!"