Persuasion

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."

Can you guess where I'm off to next week? Yes, i'm a giddy school-girl-like ball of excitement. I'll be the one hanging out on the royal crescent hoping to bump into Captain Wentworth.

Any tips for me?

Kate  x

New adventures

We made it!

Henley-on-Thames

Almost a week in and jet lag free (long may that continue), we are settling in and tackling administrative chores. I haven't really given my camera much of a work out yet, but with a trip to Bath, and perhaps Cambridgeshire in the very near future, that will change soon and i'll be over-sharing.

Kate  x

A garden in spring!

It was a stunning garden, on a glorious spring day in the Southern Highlands. 

Utter bliss.

But now, for our final full week in Australia before moving- the to do list is intimidating...

Kate  x

Distant memory

These scenes from the weekend seem like a million miles from my reality this week. 

I am wrestling (and I do mean wrestling) with an assignment from hell. I have 2 more assignments to write before we depart for our new life in England. Which basically means I have 14 days to pull 4000 words from the deepest of depths. 

The timing hasn't been wonderful, 2 assignments due 48 hours after our plane takes off. Some people would calculate the time/hemisphere/date differences and submit just in the nick of time. Me? I am struggling with compound complex sentences, relating verbs and non-finite clauses without having to do that sort of maths too. My plan is to cruise along and push submit on both before I hand over my passport at the airport.

Wish me luck.

I really need it.

Kate  x

How August unfolded

There have been daffodils, violets and ranunculus.

There have been time with loved ones, time with just the two of us, and time alone.

Alex has been on numerous business trips, and I've helped my Mum move house.

There have been many, many preparations for moving ourselves...

Less than one month to go.

Kate  x

Daffs

We've got cheery spring daffodils in the house this week. These are the paler 'white' daffodil variety, and at $7 for two bunches I think they more than brighten the house up, affordably!

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils.

William Wordsworth

I love they're happy disposition so much, and they remind me a lot of my childhood. Daffodils were the only cut flower I remember my Mum having in the house. 

Kate  x

David Austin Roses

They're impossibly beautiful, and they continue to delight as they open and become even more beautiful.

All Monday blues have been chased away by their divine perfume. This single one sits on my bedside table infusing my dreams of one day growing a garden full of David Austin roses.

Kate  x

En Saison

En saison, or the very opposite, in this case. 

It's a blustery winter Saturday here. I set out to buy an inexpensive bunch of daffodils to bring some cheer indoors. I've been patiently waiting for the daffs to start appearing in florists and green grocers this season.

Then, my usual flower man had David Austin roses. In winter! A little more expensive than a bunch of daffodils or jonquils, but Oh-so-worth-it.

The smell is divine. But that's a redundant statement when talking about David Austin roses. They tick every box. 

Simply a superior rose.

We also came home with kalettes. The kalette is the newest vegetable on the Australian market, a cross between kale and brussel sprouts. Should be interesting. 

Kate  x

Winter pears

The apple tree that we usually pick raid from each autumn was almost entirely bare this year, so I am embracing pears in a big way to make up for it. A healthy addition to the fruit bowl, but also easy to turn into a sweet dessert.

They're beautifully photogenic. These are the Corella variety. The prettiest of all the pear varieties in my opinion. They lend themselves to a still life composition so nicely.

Ever since I read A Garden in the Hills by Christine McCabe (one of my favourite books of the last 18 months) I have thought about trying her apple fritters recipe. Now I am wondering if I should try it with these pears.

Recipe from A Garden in the Hills, page 307

To make the fritters, sift together 1 and a 1/2 cups of plain flour, 1 and 1/3 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt. To this add 1/2 a cup of brown sugar, 2/3 of a cup of milk and 2 well beaten free range eggs. (Preferably Claudette's. Of all the hen's eggs hers are the loveliest- brown shells, saffron yolks. We know they are hers for so resolutely independent is she that Claudette commands her own nest, frequently escaping the confines of the large chicken run to rummage among my vegetables.)

Mix well and add the apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices, or grated if you're in a hurry. Drop tablespoons of the batter into hot oil (Mum used fat or dripping) and cook until golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with great, fat dollops of cream.

I think this would work well as a sort of pancake/pikelet recipe too. 

Maybe for brunch this weekend.

Kate  x

Delayed

I had my British passport and vintage sun hat ready for an English 'summer'.

And then we were delayed...

We should be England bound in time to experience the very last few days of summer now. Arriving on the cusp of an English autumn ain't too bad!

Kate  x

Linen

I love the freshness of all white manchester. I have slowly been collecting new sheets, pillowslips and towels in white to replace worn out, mis-matched and generally less attractive manchester. The white things we already owned have also been getting a 'white boost' with some extended soaks in the laundry tub.

I spied these lovely Euro slip covers in a shop on Saturday and couldn't resist them. I adore the embroidery detail.

In my experience as a once-a-week bed sheet changer, Euro slip covers tend to wear out at a very fast rate. And, they can be rather pricey. These weren't, so at $40 for the pair I didn't really think twice about bringing them home with us.

Washed and ironed (loose use of the term ironed), they're going on the bed on this Clean Sheet Monday (as Mondays are referred to in our household).

Such sweet details.

It has been a weekend of acquisitions. As well as purchasing these covers, we were also graciously gifted two nearly-matching old oak bank swivel-chairs. They need a little TLC. I was going to photograph them, but I am not sure how best to capture their patina and loveliness. I would like to have them completely restored, but the expense of having someone else do that for us is silly. It might have to be a project for me to complete myself. I know nothing about stripping and refinishing antique wood though. At this point, I don't know if I should leave the wood as is and just have the seats re-done in a nice heavy duty cream coloured drill material to give them a 'lift', or bite the bullet and do a proper restoration start to finish. More research is needed...

Kate  x

Poppies

Our move to England happens this month. 

With such an important date looming you'd think I would be hastily packing, sifting through paperwork, or occupied by some other equally important task. 

Instead I am spamming instagram with pictures of the poppies I bought last Friday. 

My time management is woeful. 

Kate  x

An arbitrary date

June the 1st is just another day on the calendar, but it has me fidgety about routines and habits.

I haven't finished a novel since March, my social media use aimless scrolling is sky high, and despite getting a nasty mole cut out of me and biopsied, I am still hit and miss when it comes to a sunscreen applying regimen.

Arbitrary though it may be, it's as good a time as any to re-commit to sunscreen, reading time and faffing with flowers more often (so at the very least I have lovely vignettes featuring cut flowers to post on social media).

Whenever I feel like my time is being wasted in ways I will regret, I meditate on this:

"RALPH WALDO EMERSON ONCE ASKED WHAT WE WOULD DO IF THE STARS ONLY CAME OUT ONCE EVERY THOUSAND YEARS. NO ONE WOULD SLEEP THAT NIGHT, OF COURSE. THE WORLD WOULD CREATE NEW RELIGIONS OVERNIGHT. WE WOULD BE ECSTATIC, DELIRIOUS, MADE RAPTUROUS BY THE GLORY OF GOD. 

INSTEAD, THE STARS COME OUT EVERY NIGHT AND WE WATCH TELEVISION."

-Paul Hawkens

I am off to have the stitches from my biopsy removed today, then I will be ticking off some much ignored chores from my to do list before reading a big chunk of The Wind in the Willows. A book I started, oh, last year...

Kate  x

Latest thrift find + enduring milk glass obsession

This little Coalport dish was a happy find for $4 at one of our local Vinnie's last week. I ummed and ahhed a little deciding if I would buy it (another thing to wrap and pack into shipping for our move to the UK), but I justified it because I am going to use it as a soap dish. I plan to stop buying liquid pump soap and instead keep this with a little bar of soap by the bathroom basin. (Alex is forever coming home from business trips with pilfered hotel toiletries- so I rarely need to buy hand soap). So that $4 is actually a bigger saving, in plastic waste too.

I happily splashed the cash (a whole $12.50 *sarcasm*) on these darling dahlias on Saturday though. That dusky pink colour had me hook, line and sinker. The combination of pale pink with the stark white of vintage milk glass is stunning I think.  I can't get enough of my milk glass vases. My collection is small right now, but I continue to grow it any chance I get. Milk glass isn't common place in the vintage/collectable/charity stores of Australia, but it should be more prolific in England. Fingers crossed.

My milk glass obsession started HERE in case you need convincing of its beauty. It is relatively cheap because it isn't to everyones taste, and I'm grateful for that. The real Fenton pieces can be a bit expensive, but the generic vintage no-name ones are quite affordable. I don't discriminate, and buy whatever I can spy and fall in love with. This one above was $17, and a Fenton hobnail one that I have was $20. I'd love to get a compote style one. I think they're lovely.

So, that's a big tick for milk glass, and a big tick for the last of the dahlias for this season. Although, I'll get round two when we're living in England. 

Kate

Styling and photographs by Moss & Vine

Heather

One thing I am particularly excited about in relation to our move to the UK, is a trip to Scotland, specifically the highlands. It is probably number one on my travel bucket list, and has been for a few years.

I've never seen heather in bloom before, but yesterday I was in the NSW southern highlands, and I spotted cute little posies of heather for sale.

I hope to be able to see whole moors covered in heather come next springtime in England and Scotland. 

Right now I am just enjoying the tiny sprig that I brought home.

Kate  x

Photo and styling, Moss & Vine

Life lately

It has been a quiet start to the year on this space. I'm in a transition phase. This year sees me back at university studying my masters. And also, planning an unexpected but very welcome (now that I've come round from the shock) move to the UK. We're off to Oxford. I can't wait to experience springtime bluebell woods and the Liberty of London flower stand first hand.

There has also been some serious swooning over David Austin roses. I can't get enough!

Like I always say, David Austin is a God!

Kate  x

Styling and photographs by Moss & Vine

The last of summer

Roses, hydrangeas, and stone fruit. This is what I associate with a summer garden.

I have had plenty of stone fruit, and even some roses. But my hydrangeas did nothing this year. Complete fizzer. Not a single bloom in sight.

My birthday Hunters came in very handy with all the wet weather we had.

The last of the summer roses didn't appreciate being picked very much... They were shattering within 48 hours.

But roses indoors is always a lovely sight no matter how long they last.

Kate  x

Moss & Vine

Janu-wary

Wary. That is how January makes me feel sometimes. It is hard not to fall into a post-festive-season slump! Although it is touted as a fresh start and a clean slate, the first month of the year just makes me feel blah (even though, or maybe because, it is my birthday month)! I concentrate more on what hasn't happened (yet) and less on the exciting things to come! And 2016 should be very exciting! To break out of this slump i'm in I brought home some pretty white and pink two-tone carnations. Cheap and cheerful. The combination of milk glass and soft pastel flowers is to-die-for!

There's not much that some $9 carnations, a scented candle and a cup of tea can't fix. But really, I have no good reason to be blah, and remembering how fortunate I am is really all the tonic that I need. It is just another month on the calendar after all.

This too shall pass.

Happy New Year.

Kate  x

Styling and Photographs by Moss & Vine

The eve of eve

It is the eve of Christmas Eve. Already! The year has flown by. I am filled with nervous but thrillingly happy anticipation for what 2016 could bring.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Have a peaceful, safe and joyous festive season.

Kate  x

Styling and Photograph by Moss & Vine

Clouds of blue

There must be loads of acidity in the soil around the Southern Highlands, because the abundance of blue hydrangeas in the area is staggering! Staggeringly beautiful.

Robertson, NSW

Bowral, NSW

'Popcorn' hydrangea

How to CHANGE THE COLOUR of hydrangeas.

Kate  x