One of the joys of having built a brand new house is the chance to start a new garden and boy, have we (mainly TraderVic) been working hard on landscaping, planning and planting our new garden. Here are a few pics to show you the bounty from our garden - I love flowers.... In another post, I will show you some more pics of the actual garden.
Monsalvat For my girlfriend, Heather's birthday, my other dear friend, Franca and I took her on a tour of Montsalvat and then lunch at the cafe there.
This photo below cracks us up as this gentleman and his baby photobombed us! I love the fact that we are all laughing with delight!
Montsalvat is "where the life of art is lived and a fabled past meets a vibrant present. Montsalvat is Australia’s oldest continuously active artists’ community; a place where art in all its forms is made and taught, and art’s transformative power is celebrated in exhibitions, festivals, concerts, workshops and artists’ residencies."
It is a place full of gorgeous buildings with interesting nooks and crannies, all built with recycled materials (long before the current recycle craze). Let me show you.....
If you are a fan of the Phryne Fisher Murder Mysteries, well "Murder under the Misteltoe was filmed in the Great Hall at Montsalvat which they turned into a winter chalet - snow and all! (NB: We do not get snow in Melbourne).
Here is a scene from the episode below and you can read all about the Phryne Fisher books and the TV series if you click on the links.
Our lunch:
Here we are waiting for the tour to start, I think that Heather looks like a movie star here with her dark glasses.
Franca took this candid shot of me through a mullioned window - I wonder what I am smiling at - obviously happy thoughts!
I must say, we had a fabulous day and for a final fillip, my aunt (by marriage) actually lived at Montsalvat as a child in the (hippy) commune in the 1940s and 50s as her father came out to Australia from England to help build some of the buildings.
My Garden
I planted about eight or nine of these plants (I thought that they were hollyhocks but when I posted this pic on FB/IG, everyone else who knows far more about gardening than I do says "No" but maybe Snapdragons (?). I am sure that I planted Hollyhocks, though! Anyway, the point is that after months and months of waiting - really healthy plants - this is all that I have to show in the way of flowers! So disappointed.
So, that is the end of Part Two of February Miscellanea, one more part to come (either later today or tomorrow - and there may be a nice surprise in this one).
Each month I seem to have a number of random things that I want to share, so I thought that I would have a monthly Miscellanea post. Here is my first one for the year. Foodim A girlfriend put me onto this wonderful App for your phone that lets you take gorgeous photos of your food.
It is the brainchild of famed English TV cook, Nigella Lawson. The story goes is that she was sick and tired of people putting up very ordinary photos of her food on IG and FB, so she developed this app to allow us plebs to photograph like the magazine professionals. Here is one of my photos - it does look good, doesn't it? (And the cherry pie was delicious). You post on the Foodim App (which has its own social network) but you can save the photo to your phone so that you can then share on IG or FB easily. ... and here are some more of my pics....
You can read more about it in this article. Floral Bouquet My girlfriend kindly brought me these gorgeous flowers after my nose operation.
Family Photo
My daughter's boyfriend gave me this photo of the two of them (I can rarely get DD to allow me to photograph her) at a wedding. I popped down to TK Maxx and found this perfect frame for only $10!
Brand New Garden
TraderVic and I are so proud of our new garden. Over the past year we have turned nothing into something. What a feeling!
TraderVic and I have been to see a few movies over January.
1917 - absolutely phenomenal. I so felt that I was there in the trenches.
JoJo Rabbit - oh, my goodness, what a brilliant film! Who would have thought that a story about a ten year old boy living in a small town in Nazi German, whose imaginary friend is Hitler would actually work?????
Knives Out - this nod to Agatha Christie was a lot of fun although I did find Daniel Craig's channelling of Kevin Spacey's accent a little off putting.
Well, that is it for my January Miscellanea.
Thanks for visiting and please don't forget to leave a comment as I do love a good chat,
