Apple seed

According to various sources, we now are in possession of one apple seed, or a sweet pea. It's the craziest feeling! And the biggest surprise. We had intended to do this - starting now. So we're really only one month early. But who could have anticipated this! We hadn't even started!

Green thumb

So, in addition to being a whiz with basil and marigolds, it appears we are also growing a sesame seed!! That will soon be a peanut...

Love for Sale...

I'm spending a week working at a small town emergency department. Away from my man and feeling lonely and a bit isolated... A bit pathetic really as it's just a week and I see him in 2 days! I'm working evenings, the least sociable hours, and staying in a circa 1958 motel. For someone who I thought tended toward solitude - this is a lesson indeed! Maybe I like to have the option for some 'me' time but a whole enforced week does not a happy girl make.

Anyway am keeping busy with big dreams of gorgeous places to live next year, arranging my work terms, planning holidays.

Next year I'm taking lover on a sneaky trip to beautiful Queenstown for a weekend! We'll snuggle up, throw snowballs and stroll the beautiful wintry streets. Can't wait!

And speaking of Sale, it's actually a beautiful place! I'm walking round the lake each day before work. So there are worse places to be.

Grace in small things

1. Love

2. Family

3. Babies

4. Kindred spirits

5. Smooches

Christmas party

An Arabian Christmas Party is the reason why I was not super-keen to get out of bed this morning! That and perhaps a leedle too much red wine.
Our menu:
Olive oil flatbreads
Hummous
Olives
Prosciutto and asparagus filo cigars

Then for dinner:
Cold roasted eggplant with tahini, buttermilk and pomegranate
Lamb schwarma
Spicy chicken wings
Green couscous with herbs and pistachio
Watermelon and feta salad
Herb-stuffed tomatoes

Dessert
Homemade baklava with vanilla-orange syrup

Delicious! Merry Christmas!

The happiest year

Somehow our happiest year yet has coincided with the garden becoming lush and full of fruit! Maybe it senses happiness and this provides extra inspiration to climb towards the sun? The real mystery is the basil which is popping up everywhere - next to the chili, under the Tahitian lime... metastatic basil. Divine!

In my hometown hanging out with gorgeous old friends and my increasingly doddery Dad. It's going to be a good week. Good.

Grace in small things #6

1. A FANTASTIC dinner party last night (thanks to great friends)
2. Garden inspiration - radishes, strawberries, Thai basil, Italian parsley, garlic chives, and sweet peas
3. Homemade muesli bars
4. A new generation of gingerbread denizens
5. Sliders for dinner tonight (thanks to the Pioneer Woman!)

Grace in small things #5

1. The best job in the world
2. A day full of barbecue-hopping!
3. The beach! - and on the flipside: the bikini ;-(
4. Sufjan Stevens at the Sydney Opera House tomorrow night!!
5. New home - to buy a little nest for us, or to rent a big and beautiful apartment?