saturday nights are all about....

                                                        getting out the wine glasses...

                                                       undressed free-form pavlova....

icecream with crushed malteses to come......

foliage....

using these all day in preparation for the festivities.....

a splash of these here, there and everywhere.....

What will you be up to tonite at your place? Do tell?

food that twigs a memory

I love eating fish for lunch, always have and always will. My mum makes a yummy tuna, spring onion and mayonnaise mixture on rye which I eat a few times a week. Then there are the roll-mops on pumpernickel squares and smoked mackarel that are regulars.

 My good friend Vicki first introduced me to pink salmon when I was 20. After one morning out we were famished and she made me a pink salmon, capers and cream cheese slider on rye. It was simply divine and I made it again for the first time today in a very long time. Yum....thank you my friend!

By the way I had many of  my "firsts"at her place, like Beef Wellington, Risotto and amazing pastas.

outward bound

This morning Avy and I woke early as she was off on a trip to Forster to see her cousin, Ginger!

 We were both a little nervous and apprehensive as she wasn't due to leave until next week but plans needed to be changed very last minute and she only had a few hours last night to get things ready after the meeting. I hadn't driven out to the airport either since moving here, but all went really well and I'm feeling unusually comfortable in my new surrounds given the fact that I've only ever lived in small cities, Wanaka didn't even have traffic lights just one round-about but we did have people driving on the wrong side of the road all of the time, due to the overseas tourists. None of that here so far!

a moment of madness, excitement

 I felt the need, the need to stop in at Savers on the way home for a "breather." It's been ridiculously cold here in the evenings and I couldn't resist this beautiful woollen goodness. Aren't the colours just BEAUT!? Kyland has dibbed it and it's his already, as we speak watching a movie all cosy with his Milo.

                      I don't have any woollens from the Mills in Launceston so this is a first...

Tomorrow it's a day out with my boy, longboard in tow whilst I check out the Vintage Shed in Tyabb and perhaps a walk on the beach if the weather breaks and the sun decides to shine....

gifted with...

A week before we moved into our house we drove past and out the front was a skip full of the "houses" unwanted goods. The house is one of our landlords holiday houses that they no longer use and now rent out to us but it's obviously had so many memories and years of happiness as we could see by what was in the skip. Needless to say we pulled out 5 bikes that were stacked on top and left a wee note asking if we could leave them in the backyard until we moved in. Our landlord who is so very lovely said she was "delighted" that our kids wanted the bikes and told us a story about each of them and who they belonged to. This one is our favourite! It has a gawgaus leather tooled seat on it and takes pride of place on our front decking.

 This one our landlord got for her 12th birthday and Avalon loves it. It needs a lot of TLC as they all do but the features on it are so cool.

 I even have a pear tree, an apple tree and a nectarine tree which will need nets put over them this week as the parrots are getting to them....

                                            Coolest slippery dip for all of our little friends....

And our galvanised garden shed with my favourite windows, louvered ones.

at my new digs

Welcome to my new digs in Mount Martha, on the Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne. For the first time since leaving NZ we are astounded by our new environment and as one of my girlfriends said ,"it's a good fit" for us Hilly's. Apart from the gorgeous bay, the mountains close by and the setting itself I'm loving the cafes, shops, buskers and interesting markets nearby. I freak out everytime I walk into an op-shop and almost pass out at the sheer abundance of goodies. This PEARL drum is one I couldn't leave behind and it sits boldly in our living room and suits itself as a coffee/drinks table.

 My grandpa who is from JAVA had lots of these around his home, some inlaid with mother of pearl so needless to say I couldn't resist. It's quite a large piece and who doesn't love a pineapple!

                                

A corner in Avalon's room

One overnight bag I made, one bought.

And a hessian light covering. I needed to add some rawness to the space in my haven.

Wordless Wednesday

Melbournes goodys

Hey it's Avalon again, check out my Asos shoes that I scored from Savers!