Sunday, October 2, 2011

My Russian Twin

Hello dear friends

In my little part of the world today, we have magnificent blue skies, a slight breeze (a great improvement to last nights gale force winds) and the birds are singing. 




I guess you might be thinking, 'is Jane Russian', 'is she a twin'?  I'm none of the above.  This is my Russian Twin, my most magnificent Hippiastrum in bloom.  Stunning isn't it.  A gift to our garden from a special Aunt, in rememberance of a special Uncle.

One bloom inside the other, isn't that so clever!

Lots of lovely things have happened since I last blogged which seems like ages ago. 

We've enjoyed a little refresher at the Gold Coast.  Whales!  I have never seen so many whales in my entire life.  We could look out to sea at any daylight hour and in less than a minute (i kid you not), we would spot at least one, either a huge splash out to sea or the fine spray, or the slow rise and fall of them through the sea.  What a treat.  We felt so lucky, and my favourite word... grateful. 

The first morning when I awoke for the sunrise, this is what I saw... At first I thought there must have been some kind of eclipse happening, but due to all the smoke haze around the previous day or two, this is the sun rise.  Have you ever seen anything like it?


It's a bit blury because I zoomed my little camera in as far as I could!
On the way home from the coast, I took a short detour, via Ikea.  I've been looking forward to a visit there since their 2012 catalogue landed in our letterbox recently.  I had spotted a side table which we just had to have, the identical side table to one we found at the Woolloongabba Antique Centre sometime last year.  $10 cheaper than we paid at the WAC too!  Not to worry.

Whenever I go to Ikea, I always stock up on tealight candles.  This time I found some jumbo tealights which are perfect for our outdoor lanterns.  So, with a flatpack sidetable and a bundle of candles we make our way to the checkout.  ahh, but wait there's more....  Very strategically placed, not far from the checkout I spot the forever useful, have always wanted one, stepladder.  For $14.95, I stop and pick one up.  I'm excited, I got to go to Ikea, got my candles and two flatpacks!  The day ended on such a good note, as my wonderful husband happily constructed by purchases for me.


Hairy and Whiskas are the
guardians of the new table!



You know this Ikea stool.  I'm thinking,
I might do some crazy collage on it.

Mega tealight, standard tealight

I have included a video which I saw on another beautiful Janes' blog, Life on Planet Baby, and asked her if she would mind if I could 'pay it forward'.  Of course she agreed, I think we all need to see this, it will offer you something, whether you are a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend or all of these.  Full credit and applause to Kelly Corrigan for finding the words. 




On the reading pile...


Dropped into the library and got these. 
I had been waiting for My Heart Wanders
to come in.  Do you have this, or have you read it?
Pia Jane has a beautiful blog.

I have just finished reading "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein.  There were tears (i'm deeply emotional) in the final chapters.  A wonderful read, the story told by Enzo the dog.

And I've just started reading "Hearts on a String" by Kris Radish.  The prologue got me in immediately, where the Great-Grandmother teaches her grandaughter of "the precious, beautiful, sweet string that connects all women". "The string is a powerful force, my sweet girl.  It allows women to lean into one another and find a sister when they need one.  The string can never be broken.  You can use it to pull yourself up, to pull yourself forward, or to steady the place where you must remain."  I'm feeling it, are you?  And just by co-incidence it ties in really well with Kelly's video above too.

oh, oh!  In the time since I started writing this post, that 'breeze' I spoke of at the start, has decided to get windy agian.  Hold onto your hats!  I hope you find beauty in your surrounds today. 
Jane x


4 comments:

  1. Goodness, Jane, you have been busy! That flower is absolutely stunning - lucky you. And thanks for the sweet mention - she is just fabulous. J x

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  2. It was a windy week last week wasn't it. It sounds like you had a lovely week. Getting up early to see the sun rise and to watch the whales sounds like a relaxing place to be. I think next school holidays we need to plan a little getaway like this. x

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  3. I wonder if we saw the same whales...? I saw mine down a bit further at Broken Head. I was in awe watching them. The first image of the birds are beautiful - is it yours?

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  4. Sounds like you've been busy. I absolutely love the little birdies on the perch - very cute. I am also a big fan of Ikea - cant get enough of that store.

    e

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