Cranescape

It's funny what you notice when you are stuck in the morning traffic on the way to work.

Lately, especially when the sky has been so clear and blue, I have started noticing all of the cranes which are dotted along my route from Mt Lawley to West Perth so I took some photos yesterday as the traffic was particularly slow.

I'm not quite sure what the guy in the car behind me thought was going on as I leaned out the driver's window with my camera repeatedly, but he looked rather puzzled to say the least!

The Letter K

Knitting needles (of which I have a huge collection)

Kina shells from Papua New Guinea - historically used as a bride price

Kitchen scales

Out in the Garden

I have been madly watering my pomegranate and my lime tree and have been rewarded with lots of fruit.

It's fun watching the birds doing acrobatics trying to get the seeds out.

Just thinking about fresh limes makes me feel cooler - so that's a good thing in this never ending heatwave.

Unwrapped South Perth

It was absolutely meltingly hot at Unwrapped South Perth on Sunday.  Who on earth could have predicted several months ago when the event was being planned that it would still be 34C in the shade at the end of March?

Most of the stallholders (including me) ended up dismantling the walls of our lovely individual marquees in order to try and let the air circulate.

It was so hot I hardly dared move out of the shade into the sun so I only took one picture of my stall.

I still love being part of Unwrapped, as there is always such camaraderie between stallholders  - even when we are all melting with the heat.

Violas in Egg cups

As Unwrapped South Perth is only a few weeks before Easter this year I thought I would try and work with a bit of an Easter theme.

As well as planting violas in  miniature tea cups I have planted some in old egg cups as well.

and here are my tiny Easter nests.

Come along to Angelo Street, South Perth this Sunday afternoon and join us at Unwrapped.

Strolling around Albany

Strolling around Albany at the weekend I noticed that there is a lot of beautiful stonework which we don't see much of in Perth.

Unfortunately the art of stone wall building seems to be losing popularity, presumably due to the time-consuming nature of having to select each stone individually to make it all fit together.  It's a shame to think of such a wonderful skill disappearing.

The street light has obviously got absolutely nothing to do with stone walls but sometimes it's good to do something random!

Geese, The Oranje Tractor and the Supermoon

We were in Albany this weekend.  The weather was quite cloudy so I had to be quick to catch the supermoon in between the clouds.

We had lunch at a delightful place called The Oranje Tractor where everything is homegrown and homemade.  We arrived to the smell of freshly baked bread and watched the owner select the goodies for our platter from the beautifully tended herb and vegetable gardens that surround the property.

And these are my brother-in-law's geese who have a tendency to get very noisy in the middle of the night.

Sneak Preview

Here is a sneak preview of some of the goodies I have been making for Unwrapped South Perth.

Vintage bakelite buckle brooch

 

String of paper boats

 

Miniature bunting

Paper chain of hearts

Unwrapped will be taking place on Angelo Street in South Perth on Sunday 27 March  from 12 to 6pm.

Venn

If you have read my blog before you will know that I sometimes mention interesting cafes that I like.

Well, Venn is my latest discovery and it is not only a cafe, it is a collaboration which includes a shop, a bar and a gallery - a concept new to Perth.

A great pared back warehouse feel to the decor

Inverted pot plants (I wonder how they get watered?)

Very smart packaging if (like me) you can't resist making a purchase in the shop

Venn is on Queen Street, Perth.  It is well worth a visit.

Santana at Sandalford

Last night we went to the Santana concert at Sandalford Estate.  It is one of my favourite locations for a summer concert and we were treated to a sensational evening of music.

John Butler opened the evening with a terrific solo performance and Carlos Santana then upped the energy several notches with his amazing band.

John Butler gets things off to a start with some "bluesy rootsy" music, to use his words

As the light fades,  Carlos Santana takes to the stage and 

the intensity and rhythm increases  (yes, he is playing two guitars)

Cindy Santana on drums

John Butler and Carlos Santana play together

And their message was "we all live on the same planet and we can all do something to help others, no matter how small".

Sculptures by the Sea 2011

This morning we went to see Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach.

We were not the only ones with the idea of going early before the sun got too hot.  It was amazing to see so many people out enjoying the sculptures and then jumping into the sea to cool off.

I forgot my camera so these are iphone photos of a few of my favourite pieces.

The first picture is actually of the shadow cast by the sculpture which was a steel boat shaped like a leaf.

The Letter J

Jacaranda seed pods

Joinery

(detail of a chair at Venn, a great new bar and cafe in Queen Street, Perth - more about that later)

Jug

Breakfast in the Rain!

I can't remember the last time I had breakfast in the rain, but it was well worth the effort.

We treated ourselves to breakfast in the Pearl Cafe in Wooloongabba, which the is the antique shop mecca of Brisbane.  Needless to say we did not leave the Antique Centre empty handed.

Sitting inside looking out

Vanilla and coconut sago with ginger spiced poached pear and almond crumble (delicious!)

The Antique Centre

Paper Bunting

A brief interruption to my sequence of Brisbane photos to show you what I have been making since we got back, in preparation for the Unwrapped South Perth market later this month.

It is miniature bunting (each flag is no bigger than 8cms) made out of vintage paper and grosgrain ribbon.



Look Up, Look Down, Look Out!

Some more pictures from Brisbane.

Look up...
(The Powerhouse)

Look down.....
(Treasury Gardens)

Look out!
(A seriously big spider)

Brisbane Street Art

I have just come back from a trip to Brisbane.

One thing I noticed was that the local councils have obviously sanctioned street art on all the traffic signal control boxes which you find on the footpath near intersections.

Here are three that I particularly liked.

I took quite a few photos around Brisbane so there will be more to follow.