"Put Your Dukes Up!"

I found this little boxer doll (complete with black eye) while I was rummaging in our shed for forgotten treasures. I bought it years ago from a country Field Day (a bit like a show but a proper rural one) A lady was selling all the dollies that she used to exhibit in her dolls museum. Sniff. I think it's pretty obvious why I bought him. I'm sure you would've too.

The old wooden days-of-the-week board is a more recent purchase. I saw it and had to have it. A touch of quirk that sits quite nicely with my Ladybirds. It's from an infant school in the U.K. after all - a perfect match. When I'm old and dotty I'll use it to remind me what day it is. I'll sort out all my pills first (in one of those little plastic container thingo's) and then I'll swap the days around. Bingo! I won't be forgetting any senior citz meetings!

I bought this old metal planter

from the same shop (More Than a Stick in Midland) It's for Annabel. She's come over all ouchflower and needs somewhere nice to keep her "babies" (they all have names!) I'm planning to give it a quick coat of spray paint tomorrow.

While we're talking makeovers, this

little cupboard is currently getting one.

(and look, Annabel made her bed!)

"My main thrill in life is makeovers. They give me a sense of control in a world of chaos" Cher Horowitz, Clueless.

Anth bought it from a garage sale ages ago. For less than a fiver. It's those chunky splayed legs that suck me in. And its knobs (a nice knob makes all the difference I've found, and I DON'T mean that in a rude way!)

While it's quite nice as is, it deserves a fresh coat of paint and I've got something special in mind to hide the ply which is in horrible nick, atop it.

I am going to do this

image: projects I'll never get round to - Erika Stolzer (via Pinterest)

with this

What do you think? As much as I love vintage paint-by-numbers, we've got a few, and I know they'll never make the cut as far as getting hung (not enough wall space, gotta be picky). I reckon it's better to use it than to leave it gathering cobwebs, don't you?

I plan to have it all done and dusted this weekend - I'll show it off (or not if it's a flop) on Monday.

I haven't been op-shopping in quite a while and my sojourn on the weekend was just to fill in time between appointments (the girls, not mine), but I think abscence makes the op-shopping heart grow fonder because not only did I find this very pretty dress

which will definetely need a

petticoat!

BUT

(look away from your screen Pippa!)

I also

found,

for

FIVE BUCKS each,

these

!

West German Amsterdam vases by Scheurich

(I know, I couldn't believe my beady little eyes either!)

Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome and I loved your hilariously funny comments on Woobinda. So much funnier than mine. x 

p.s. extremely handsome Germans here  if you're that way inclined... 

Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday.

This one's special because it's got the date that "Merle and Bert" bought it neatly printed on its top right.

(Merle volunteers at the local hospital kiosk and Bert helps out at the Railway Museum - he's a tinkerer. This is when they're not grey nomading their way around Australia in their caravan. A Viscount. Purple upholstrey. Its got a sticker on the back which reads something like "Spend the Kids Inheritance or Die Trying!")

I reckon the 17th of August 1988 must have been a particularly exciting day for M & B. After all, they were holidaying in Coffs Harbour, home of The Big Banana weren't they?!
I say this, having not had the pleasure of seeing T.B.B. in the flesh...yet! I have however, written about other Big Banana t.ts. so I consider myself well qualified. Plus we're of a similar vintage.

Anyway, it's a treaured t.t. in pristine condition and I really love that "Merle" wrote the date atop it (in Hobbytex, I think...) The colours are much brighter than they appear in my pic and despite the fact that it was made in the 80's, I still think it's pretty cool.

The hibiscus flowers, frangipanis, palm trees etc are all self explanatory but who is the bearded man wearing the baggy green? Please drop me a note if you know. Ditto if you get the vintage biplane reference (I think it might be Les Holden's, Canberra)

Thank you x

Is anyone else watching this ?

You know, you really should because "dreaming is free"

Cherise Collins' beautiful home, designed, built and decorated by architect Damian Campagnaro.

Fifteen minutes up your sleeve on a Sunday night? Watch Dream Build.

(As much as I love Kevin and last night's house, it's all repeats as far as he's concerned, and I reckon it's nice to see some interesting Australian homes on the telly, don't you...)

Dream Build: 8.15, Sunday nights ABC1.

Woobinda

Yesterday I bought a pile of vintage Little Golden Books from the op- shop where I used to volunteer. It cost me $2.50 for 15 of them (and that's without a(n ex) staff discount. Most of them were published in 1973, but the earliest, Wagon Train, was published in 1958. 

I still love Ladybirds more than LGBs but when LGBs are of this vintage and so cheap what's a girl to do???

One of them is called 

published 1973

and to say it's not what I've come to expect from a LGB would be a massive understatement.

Woobinda starts off inanely enough: it's the story of John Stevens outback veterinarian and his daughter Tiggie. Other characters include Peter Fisher, John's offsider (a recent vet graduate from Germany(!?) and Kevin, an Aboriginal boy, adopted by John.

Remind you of anything ?

It's on the third and fourth page when things start to get interesting. Look

"After receiving treatment, most of the animals are handed over to...Tiggie"

You'll see more of Tiggie in a sec.

Here she is on page five

Not the usual stuff of Little Golden Books. No Eloise Wilkin in this one. They weren't meant for thirteen year old boys...were they?

"She is half in love with Peter" (half in love?) "who treats her like a younger sister"

(Peter is a far stronger and more virtuous man than many! Jeez, he'd have to be, to resist Tiggie's very obvious charms!)

Anyway, as I was flicking through Woobinda in wonderment (a pet chimpanzee makes an appearance on page fourteen, remember we're talking outback NSW!)

the penny finally dropped. A quick google search later and my suspicions were confirmed. LGB Woobinda is based on a 1968 television series and Tiggie provides the sex appeal.

Here's a publicity pic of Sonia Hofmann, the actress who played Tiggie

image via

Sonia also had a role in the short-lived Australian series, The Unisexers (that's more like it!) in the 70's.

Did you watch Woobinda when you were a kiddo?

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo  was must watch viewing when I was little, on the telly straight after school, but until now I had never heard of Woobinda.

I like how old stuff teaches you new things, don't you?

I think Woobinda is a little gem. I'm glad my ability to resist temptation is not up there with Peter Fisher's. If I had his strength of conviction and steely determination I would've walked out of the oppy without it.

he doesn't mind a cuddle with a chimp though...

x

p.s.

just a little aside you might be interested in, last year Liza Goddard, the actor who played Clancy in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo had this to say:

"I wish I had flashed it around, as I had a lovely body, but I was prim and lacked confidence. Now I tell all the lovely young girls I work with, 'You’re gorgeous. Show it off.'"

So there!

p.p.s. Woobinda is meant to be an Aboriginal word for veterinarian, but I cannot verify this.

Linking with Sophie's Flea Market Finds here

   

    

Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday

There's vintages,

Greetings from Merimbula

Pure Linen. Designed in Australia. Hand Printed.

and there's vintages...

Made in Italy

Which one do you like best?

(bet I can guess!)

Answer: la bella Italiana

Si?

x

Kylie and Anth Visit MOMA (Perth Edition)

Yesterday Anth and I hit the big smoke and got all cultural at the W.A. Art Gallery's tribute to Modern Art: Picasso to Warhol Fourteen Modern Masters. *

"For the novice, modern art is not nearly so terrifying or so grotesque as it may seem at first."

(Pic and quote from my latest op-shopped treasure, Womans World - can't find a publishing date on this, but I'd guess late 50's.)

It was an amazing exhibition, breathtaking even. If you live in Perth and love 20th Century art etc you must go. Over 100 masterpieces are on show by 14 of the most iconic artists of the 20th Century (paraphrased from the official blurb)

Here are some of our favourites

Night Fishing at Antibes, Pablo Picasso, 1939.

Forget about hanging this on a wall, I felt like diving into it!

Woman by a Window, Picasso, 1956.

Painter and Model, Picasso, 1928.

  (It was about here I had an altercation with art gallery security for using flash photography! O-Oh!)

We both love, love, loved this by Matisse

Gourds, Henri Matisse, 1928.

"We would suggest that you view modern paintings, whether resembling something you know or just an abstract pattern, with your feminine intuition. Say to yourself, "Does it stimulate any reaction? Does it soothe me or annoy me?" (Womans World)

This one soothed

Interior with a Violin Case, Mattise, 1918-1919.

Some artists were less familiar

Woman with a Book, Fernand Leger, 1923.

I especially liked his

Big Judy!

(I can't remember the details - sorry. But isn't it fab?  Apologies also to the stranger in the photo)

And Anthony, this

The Nostalgia of the Infinite, Giorgio de Chirico, 1912-1913.

(Catchy title, no?)

I took oodles of photos and was moved by all of them in some way.

"The greatest condemnation of any modern painting is that it leaves you completely unmoved" (Womans World)

And, also in reference to the (hilarious!) notes in Womans World, none of them annoyed me.

I'll end with the Warhol's, our least favourite artist of the 14,  (but I think that's purely to do with over-exposure to his work) 

Campbells Soup Cans, Andy Warhol, 1962.

I would like to try

Cheddar Cheese Soup, would you?



Before and After, Warhol, 1961.

Brillo, Warhol, 1964.

And here I am in a cute little cafe called Little Willy, it's on William Street in Northbridge. You could go there for a coffee after you've been to the gallery...

 

(Poser!)

...if you want to.

Now it's really, finally (thankfully!)

Tom Gibbons. Born in Lancashire 1928, died in Western Australia 2012. Not in Picasso to Warhol, but I like it just the same x

p.s. you can be sure I'll be trotting out more little gems from Womans World, down the track.

* until 3 December.

F.O.T.C. Review, well sort of...

The boys  were awesome. I knew we were in for a good night when Uncertain Smile (the the) was blasted out in all its honky tonk (I'm talking about the piano bit in case you were wondering...) glory, while we were waiting for the show to start. I think I was seventeen or eighteen when this song was recorded and I've still got the album. The guy sitting next to Anthony wondered out loud who the band was, we felt really old (and I felt just a little bit cool - I know I'm a dag) that we were able to tell him.

Ah memories...

vintage coasters, picked up from an op-shop

Arj Barker was another unexpected bonus, we had no idea he was the support act (or special guest star - that's how he referred to himself!) and he was v. funny.

My only regret was that I didn't read Emma's comment before we left home. If I had, I would've been the owner of a Bret and Jemain t.t. right now. I had no idea they were selling them from the merchandising van. I suppose I could order one online, but that just wouldn't be the same...

(Another big tick for the boys. Tea towels with their faces on! Yes! That's definetely my kind of merchandising! Tee shirts = Boring! I wonder if Richard Till has one in his collection?)

I had to end with this note from Margot and Richard, written on the back of the coasters. "Thank you for being you"  No need to say more, is there?

Have a lovely weekend x

And just in case you want to...