Macro Monday - Bottlebrush

Mum's garden has been the endless source of macro photos for me. I really like these three perspectives of the bottle brush (native Australian plant). In the theme of Christmas colours and everything. I hope you had a good weekend - I had a well overdue Mummy/Daughter date with Anya which was lovely and finished my Christmas shopping. I also started Christmas baking today and will share a Grace family recipe of Almond bread later in the week - it is divine (time consuming but worth it).

Macro Monday - Pansy

Teeny Tiny pansy from my Mum's garden. Beautifully rich in colour and so delicate, about the size of my pinky actually. I would love to try a little felt pansy - they are so cute. I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was full of family :-) which is extra nice when you don't live in the same city! My hard-working father and husband installed a heat-reflective alsynite (laser light) over the pergola frame. I am so grateful as it means no more standing in the rain to unlock the house with two kids, groceries and over-flowing nappy bag (you get the picture)... it also means Anya has somewhere else to play when it rains etc... I hope your weekend was fab... are you following the Handmade Living book tour?

Macro Monday - simple rose

Another flower from my Mum's garden! The stamen are so vibrant on this simple rose! We have pre-school orientation this afternoon. I hope Anya comes home happy and still wanting to go next year :-) She will be doing two half days - it will be very unusual to leave her somewhere for 3 hours and just hang with my little man on a regular basis. Good for everyone I think. I hope you had a relaxing weekend.

Macro Monday - humble daisy

It has been a while since I posted a Macro Monday - I got to take a few when we were on holidays :-) One of those almost impossible things to do with two kids, around 4pm when the light is fabulous! This is from my Mum's garden - the humble daisy. I plan on boring you to tears with my holiday photos this week ;p Not really, I found some cool little places and ticked some must-do's off my list that I am looking forward to sharing with you. Hubby starts his new job today - yay.

MACRO Monday - Gardenia

I took this photo in my Mum's garden - so pretty you can smell it! Oh I would love to make a gardenia that looked this good. I hope you had a lovely weekend... ours was a mix of relaxing and boring chores. I sent hubby out on a man-date Friday night (read_movies with a friend) but the funniest thing was I packed him & his mate an apricot tea cake (Donna Hay - mmmm) with strict instructions to eat them in the car not in public ;-) They were off to see Avatar which I hear is good but not really my style. I might watch it on DVD one day... Anyway.... here is to a great week for all!

MACRO Monday - Tomatoes

This was taken a while back when I was getting ready to make tomato soup. I used Roma tomatoes on this occasion instead of vine ripened and the skins were far too bitsy in the soup. Vine ripened tomatoes seem to blend really well. Next time if using cheaper tomatoes I would just peel the skin off after roasting before blending... although that probably takes away a good deal of nutrients? Anyhoo - care factor?... I do like taking food photos!

MACRO Monday - Lilac

It has been a very big and busy week/end for me. I hope to slow down a bit more this week. We celebrated my daughters 2nd birthday on Thurs and I can't believe I took NO photos!! Very unlike me. But I did try and make up for it on Saturday when we had her little Spotty Red & White birthday party. She found it a bit overwhelming at times I think - the bubble blowing outside was a highlight. I'll post some photos when my Dad sends his! These lilacs are outside Anya's bedroom window and they remind me of my childhood - typically grown in cold climates. Beautiful aren't they.

MACRO Monday -

My dandelion photos are some of my favourite macros I have taken, although my little collection is running out - I might have to find some on Flickr or take some more :-) How was your weekend? We are enjoying a long weekend although the weather is stink :-( I love hanging out in the backyard with my little family - playing out in the fresh air - but alas we are stuck inside. At least Gordon doesn't have to go to work, still gets paid and I am off to have coffee with two lovely friends. And looking at the bigger picture, because I like things in perspective - at least we aren't suffering the wake of a cyclone, tsunami and earthquakes... it's been a rough week for the world.

MACRO Monday - Freesias

I bought these Freesias from our farmers market last weekend $6 - still lovely. They are one of my Mum's favourites, I always made sure I grabbed her some at the markets when they were in season - back in my floristry days. They give the room a soft pleasant, perfume.

It was freezing here over the weekend - what the hell happened to Spring? Thankfully we didn't have the crazy dust storms like the photos I saw of Sydney and Brisbane. Ours were rather mild. We grabbed some more goodies at the Lifeline book fair on Sat - proper second hand book prices. All in all it was a good weekend.

MACRO Monday - Cherry Blossoms

The cherry blossom tree in our backyard only blossoms for about 2-3 weeks then leaves start to grow in their place and soon we have lovely shade for lazy afternoons on the picnic rug! We make the most of the outdoors here in Spring - it is my favourite time of year in Canberra. I hope you had a nice weekend. I have been sewing Anya a top for her 2nd birthday party - we are having a red & white spotty theme :-) I have really enjoyed sewing for her and plan to do more of it.

MACRO Monday - Vintage Jewellery

Some more divine 'TRUE' vintage bling from my dear Nanna - these were on loan for a party although I didn't end up wearing them, they still have the old screw backs on them - cute hey.

MACRO Monday - Roasted Garlic

This purple garlic was roasted for some delicious tomato soup I made - a la Donna Hay! It requires a whole head of garlic roasted with about 12 vine ripened tomatoes. It is soooooo yummy!! Soooo simple :-) My favourite part is squeezing out the soft garlic into the food processor :-) mmmm gooey garlic. I hope you had a great weekend.

MACRO Monday - Bluebell

Isn't this a divine little specimen. I took the weekend before last at Commonwealth park in Canberra, where they are busy growing bulbs for Floriade. I'm not sure if it was wild or not but very very cute.

MACRO Monday - Jonquils

Happy Monday everyone... How was your weekend? Mine was a little uneventful but that's ok! I did do the usual market prep... oh my goodness - I had better sell stock! Oh and my darling daughter has been a pain in the butt with eating dinner for months now (she's 22 months) but on Sat night she grabbed my bowl of pasta leftovers and hooked in! I nearly fell off my seat - what a lovely change... then she ate... I kid you not... 7 pancakes!!!!!!!!!! It was the highlight of my weekend!!! Yes it was :-) Jonquils from my mama's garden.

MACRO Monday - Lavender

"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green".... actually I think lavender is a soft shade of mauve but I didn't write the old English folk song! I was rather happy with this shot of Mum's lavender that I took last week. I could spend hours pottering around in the garden with my camera. Mum's garden has a lot more variety to capture than mine! We spent half of last week in Sydney, it was lovely to see friends and family. Anya burst into tears when we got home and pulled into our driveway - she just wanted to be at Mardi & Papa's! awwww

MACRO Monday

MMMmmm, so proud of Friday afternoon's efforts! I made these from scratch. The pastry tasted soooo good. They are Donna Hay's - Pear and Rhubarb pies. Very sweet! They are on page 160 of the Modern Classics Book 2 if you are interested.

I hope you had a sweet weekend, we did - spent half of it in Canberra the other half in Sydney! Gordon has a conference in town, so I am enjoying a few days with my folks and little (almost bigger than me) brother.

MACRO Monday - river grass

Last Sunday we put our explorer caps on and went for an adventure to see some local sights. We discovered Coppins Crossing about half an hour or so out of North West Canberra. These pics are taken at the Molonglo river. Anya learnt to skip stones in the river and LOVED every minute of it. I am holding on tight to her little hands as she loves to jump - even in precarious places! I hope you had a lovely weekend.

MACRO Monday

What a happy photo for a Monday morning, bright and cheery. Another photo from my Canberra Botanical Gardens shoot in January. We had a lovely weekend, full of family, rest, fun and creativity. I hope yours was too! I was thrilled to reach double figures in my Etsy store sales too! 10 sales on Etsy - yay :-) It doesn't take much to make me happy.

MACRO Monday - silver ring

I love this ring - I was lucky enough to claim it at a clothes swap a while back... it looks like a Mexican hat on my finger :-) One of my favourite Etsian's is Elizabeth Scott. She makes lovely botanical inspired jewellery - who wouldn't love that combo. I bought a pair of earrings for a friend's 30th last year and she wears them all the time. Lovely stuff!

MACRO Monday - Peony Roses

Peony Roses are stunning - they are used a lot in wedding flowers and can't you see why? The white ones are gorgeous too. I miss the days of having flowers ALL over my house, even in the bathroom. I have been under the weather all weekend... I hate being sick and I am not a good patient nor good at resting. So it may be a little quiet around here this week.