Here's some pretty pictures to look at on this lovely Friday afternoon...

remember my globes?

I will be a happy girl when I can retrieve them from their dusty home in our shed and display them as nicely as this. I love that chalkboard too.

I have a similar collection, but of vintage Tasmanian apples instead of tomatoes...not similar at all I suppose, but they're both red and shiny...

And how's this for a pretty collection of vases?

I think they might be ginger jars...

 I'm crazy for this kitchen floor!

and sticking with kitchens...

(this is the kitchen I was telling you about Flo)

I think I've died and gone to kitchen kitsch heaven!

I wish that I could claim credit for these lovely pics, but I can't...they are all from Country Living Collection Style by Marie Proeller Hueston (Hearst Books 2004) which I borrowed from the local library...you might be lucky and find it at yours too...

I can however, claim credit for this pic of today's tea towel

   

but not for this lovely pic from Life in Australia

Dinner for two, Sydney

David Beal c.ANTA

Just a reminder that this pic was taken in 1968, I've been to restaurants recently with almost identical interiors and I've seen very similar chandeliers on the covers of quite a few glossie magazines too...just saying... 

I hope your Friday night is a little like this pic too x

Sooooo, what made me happy yesterday? Receiving a lovely parcel in the post from Max that's what made me happy. Actually happy doesn't quite hit the mark...try ecstatic, thrilled, over the moon...that's more like it.

What's not to love about:
a) receiving proper mail?
b) receiving a parcel wrapped up in a giant map of Australia?

the ladies in the Post Office loved your wrapping too Max

Max kept the Aussie flag flying proudly inside my lovely parcel too (not bad for a Yorkshire girl living in New Zealand!)

And when I thought the smile on my face couldn't get any bigger...look what I found inside

yep, even Kiwi lollies for my girls! ( if I decide to share ha-ha)

hiding under those lollies...look

!

(this is when I started squealing Max)

the wonderful, lovely, kitschy Australiana kept coming...

Florenz Australia S&P shakers

and nestled inside this

tiny little box

(you can see why I was so excited can't you...just look at the lovely thoughtful way Max has put this together!)

was

the sweetest, tiniest pair of kangaroo earings!

Lovely Max even included a gorgeous book about quilts...now that I'm a bone fide quilter! Ha! AND a novel based on the blog that first got her interested in blogging...

Am I a lucky girl or what?

Let's just say that if you scored Max as your partner in Lakota's swap you are going to be one happy camper!

And if you haven't had the pleasure of Max's company check out her blog HERE

I'd like to end with a tea towel from New Zealand or Yorkshire, and although I'm sure I have some somewhere in  that third drawer down of mine (!) I don't have pics so this will have to do...

thanks for reading and thank YOU Max x

One of the country towns we drove through after our pie lunch on Sunday was the wheatbelt town of Northam. It is a pretty place, established in 1833 on the banks of the Avon River. As we drove down Fitzgerald Street (the main street) we saw lots of beautiful old buildings like these...

former National Australia Bank 1908

former West Australian bank 1918

 

former Bank of NSW 1915

 

Avon Bridge Hotel 1859-1897

Grand Hotel 1895

(all pics West Australian Vista)

Apologies for tiny pics

But standing there among these Federation beauties was the building that really took our breathe away...

Northam Town Council

constructed in late 20th century Brutalist Style

and it's sister

Northam Public Library

The architect of these wonderful concrete buildings was Bulgarian born Iwan Iwanoff (1919-1986) You might remember this house I fell in love with...another wonderful Iwanoff...there are quite a few wonderful homes by Iwanoff not too far from where we live. And yes, we've driven past to check them out! A girl can always dream right?

Library again

grey, drab? never!

(All pics 6000 times)

I just think it is so cool that a conservative country town had the vision to hire an architect like Iwanoff to create such interesting public buildings.

I'm so glad we decided to extend our pie drive to Northam...it really was an unexpected thrill to discover them.

Unfortunately I don't have a tea towel from Northam, this one will have to do...

it is West Australian after all...

Here's a pic of the pretty little pictures I bought in York yesterday

they remind me a little of old fashioned seed packets

I think Pear and Cherries is my favourite

the label on the back says: This 'n' that which is a bit like today's post... 

And here's a pic of my newest pillowcases

I know, I'm a machine!

my little tribute to the Beastie Boys...

these are so much fun to make

any suggestions for the next ones?

what about?

"laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone"  Anthony Burgess

I'm talking to you Anthony! My Anthony btw not Mr Burgess!

I bought myself So Frenchy So Chic on the weekend (or as my husband cheekily calls it So Frenchy So Sh_ _!)

I'm loving it all, but I keep playing one song over and over...Be My Man by Asa. Her voice is amazing. I have to share it with you...please, please, PLEASE listen and crank up the volume!

Did you love it too? I bet you couldn't help getting out of your chair and dancing, could you?

I'll end quietly with a tea towel

a favourite of mine...

how cool is the Narrows Bridge?

I'd actually never noticed what an interesting strucure it is till now... and I've driven over it all my life!

I'm off to listen to Asa A-G-A-I-N!!! x

  

I hope you're all having the loveliest Sunday...we have just got back from a drive in the country, we ate what we consider to be the best pies in Western Australia for lunch. They were from a tiny little "town" quite appropriately called Bakers Hill, only an hour or so from where we live...you don't have to go too far before you hit the bush in Perth!

The pies alone are worth the drive, but there are lots of little towns to explore close-by, including York which is the oldest inland town in Western Australia (1831) I bought five sweet vintage paintings from a little second-hand/junk/antique shop in York, I'll show you them when I've had time to take a snap.

We ate our pies beside this little home-made memorial (it is Foundation Day in Western Australia today btw, but we always eat our Bakers Hill pies here... just a lucky coincidence today) 

it was built by local school children in 1929 to celebrate the centennary of Western Australia

it has a sweet naivete which I think is really special

Now, as far as other treasures are concerned, I've only one thing to show and tell today. Yep you read that right. One thing! I just haven't had alot of time to poke around in op-shops this week. Sniff. It's a beauty though and a really special addition to my collection of Religionalia...

it's almost a Valentine to Jesus!

 Jesus is plastic, but I'm wondering if he's a newer addition because the rest of it is much older and I can just make out a faint outline where something else may have been embroided...look at those delicate and very fragile little flowers

it is missing its glass but I'm off to the picture framers tomorrow to have it replaced.

I

this

and as I said to the lady at Vinnies, I think he was waiting for me!

And that's "all" I've got today, apart from t.towel and a couple of fab pics from Life in Australia...

Evening drink, John Witzig

look at this bloke's wonderful hands...

Beer garden, Surfer's Paradise

David Beal

Today's tea towel just happens to be from York

how did I manage that???

Magic!

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention something very important:



Blogger is NOT letting me comment!

I'll be in touch again as soon as I can xxx

Linking to Sophies and Thrift Share Monday 

In the tradition of keeping it simple stoopid 
(this was frequently scribbled on my high school english lit essays btw!)
this post is going to be less about telling and more about showing...

Here are the rest of the goodies I bought at Sunday's jumble:

these were all from the twenty cent table!

the green dish is made in England

now that I am a practioner of the gentle arts...cough cough, a little sewing box like this will come in very handy...

I can keep all my notions and fripperies inside!

lovely cushions...one dollar each, pricey but nicey*

top barkcloth, others Rowe Australia

*by jumble sale standards

 this mug was twenty cents

magic mushrooms

I bought vases

Japanese

English, Crown Devon

ceramic class 1978

(Only a couple more gratuitous vintage sheet quilt pics to go...)

I bought trays

china tray

wicker tray, plastic tray

tin souvenir tray

and even a

folksy tray

I bought rammikens

our first oval rammikens...

don't you love those colours!

And I bought this sweet Soulet print

it will go quite nicely with our other Soulet's*

tiny wee little Soulet's

(not from the jumble but I wanted to show you anyway...)

* I'm making them sound like Rembrandts! Ha!

 And that's it I'm jumbled out. The rest of my haul didn't quite reach the dizzy heights of the T H Brown barstools but it wasn't too shabby either was it...

Just a tea towel and a post box (!) to go.

Here's the tea towel

And here's our closest post box...

for Liz

pretty old for a West Australian post box

pretty old for an Australian post box actually!

I told you I'd take a pic x

And that's all folks!