Tea & Toast :: Winter Warmth

 

 

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Good morning evening to you on this lovely wintery, Tea & Toasty morning night. {Can you tell that I began this post this morning and now it’s night time and I’m still working on it?} How is the weather right now, in your neck of the woods?  Lately it has been absolute perfection here. Sunny days. Crisp nights. Frosty mornings. All of the reasons why winter is one of my favourite times of the year. Yesterday was a little nippy, though. {Today turned out to be just as chilly} Cold, southerly wind chilling everyone, who dared the outdoors, to the bone. I still loved it though. I love that feeling of being tossed around by the cold, wintery elements outside and then quickly escaping it to the warmth of a toasty nest. The bones start to thaw. The icicles on the fingers start to melt. Simmering soupy aromas  waft about the place. Bread is  in the oven.  The wood box is nice and full and the fire’s sizzling away. What is there not to like about this time of year?

So, today’s Tea & Toast is all about keeping warm. Think tea cosies and tea, sizzling fires, heart warming food, snuggly rugs and  hot chocolates.

Don’t you love this month’s cover of Country Style? It’s all about keeping warm. Wool everywhere. A perfect issue for wool lovers like my step-mum:)

 

 

Grab something hot to drink and something toasty to nibble and let’s go get warm …

 

Wool and knitting – so very wintery and cosy, don’t you think?

 

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Tea cosies …

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and warm winter breakfasts …

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Hot chocolates …

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by the indoor fire …

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or the outdoor one ….

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Lots of baking …

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Cosy beds …

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and handmade lovelies …

 

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Trusty old boots for keeping your toes toasty and warm …

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A lovely place to rest to end a wonderful wintery day…

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Wasn’t that a nice way to spend a winter’s morning night? I hope you enjoyed it.

Happy Tuesday!

Kim x

The Guest Nest :: Louisa Janke

 

Welcome back to The Guest Nest. What another lovely treat we are in for today. Some of you may already know the lovely Louisa Janke from her blog and online shop, Vintage By Lou Lou. If not, pop on over {after you meander through her nest, of course} and say hi. She has a lovely, lovely blog and sells a gorgeous range of vintagey treasures online. I can’t wait to show you her nest … let’s go …

Over to you, Louisa ….

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Who lives in your nest? 

I am kept cosy in my nest with the best of company: my darling Phill, Little Master & Little Miss (the kidlets), Bing Crosby & Leroy Brown (cutest dogs on the block), Coco, Pepper & Ginger Cakes (the girls, cluck cluck), and Lizosaurus (our bearded dragon).

 

How long have you lived there?

We moved in to this beautiful Queenslander over a year and a half ago.

 

What made you move to this nest?  

The story goes a little something like this; I have loved this house - a beautiful turn of the century Queenslander - ever since we moved to the area.  Each time I drove by it would be "oh I love that house" followed by a BIG SIGH.  A year or so later I met my business partner & incredible friend Janette at our local farmers & wares market and we hit it off immediately.  As luck would have it, the house of my dreams was Janette's beautiful home and when she moved to acreage, we moved in.

 

Could you show us around your nest?

My nest is my fave place in all the world. It’s the place to escape to at the end of the day or potter around in on the weekend. It’s important to me to surround myself and family with all things we love, after all it’s a huge part of where we live our lives and I’m all about doing it well. Everyone deserves this and I think it’s achievable by all even on a budget.

 

Our home is furnished with mismatched pieces of vintage furniture and décor pieces. These are pieces I have collected for years and some are even from my childhood. There are still pieces I am seeking such as a beautiful armoire to hold our linen and vintage blue and white plates to create a cluster wall in the lounge room.

 

 

What is it that you love most about living in your nest?  

It goes without saying but my family (which includes our crazy yet delightful furry, feathered and scaley friends), and then followed by our kitchen garden. To prepare meals for my family from ingredients out of our garden is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

 

How about your favourite feathering thing?  

Is there just one thing?  Gardening, cooking and writing about it.

 

 

You are into vintage, right? How does this influence your nesty feathering?

When it comes to vintage I am certainly eclectic but I am probably most strongly inspired by British style.  There are bright pops of vintage colour but then at the same time I love a more rustic, natural palette.  My lounge room features more of these neutral tones as it’s where we go to relax and unwind.

The Queen is also a friend here who overlooks our living area, old books adorn shelves that have been thumbed through by previous owners, a trunk that has travelled more than I have is our coffee table in our lounge room and rests there with all the stories of its adventures. 

 

 

Could you show us where you spend most of your time blogging?

Today my favourite place to blog has been in my kitchen. Sometimes though it’s sitting up in bed or on the couch watching something in the background on the TV (more than likely English, I have a thing for the BBC).

 

Where is the one place in your nest {inside or out} that you feel the most cosy and relaxed? 

In our lounge room on Sunday afternoons, snuggled up on the couch with my kidlets while we're watching a film.  Hot chocolate "Azteca" style (melted dark chocolate, a pinch of chili and cinnamon and topped with a dollop of whipped cream) is probably involved.  Waves of warmth and comfort overcome me and often the heaviness of my eyelids sees me fall asleep.  This to me is delicious bliss.

 

 

Can you show us around your garden and tell us a bit about it?

We love our kitchen garden and it’s important to us to be able to grow our own food. Of late it has grown somewhat jungle like and needs some attention in the way of TLC. What you can find in our garden at the moment is rocket, parsley, silverbeet, broccollini, peas (a couple of varieties), thyme, garlic chives, mint, rosemary, passionfruit vines, lemon and kumquat trees, pawpaw tree, olive tree and the beginnings of a strawberry patch.

Our vision is to grow the majority of our fruit and veg and it’s fab to know the origins of where your food comes from. Did I mention that it’s jam packed with nutrients and tastes great too.

Thank you for visiting the Vintage by Lou Lou nest and hope you found it warm and cosy. Drop in for a visit again anytime.

Louisa Jane xo

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Thanks so much, Louisa, for that lovely sneak peak into your  vintagey nest. You have such a lovely array of treasures in your nest and even the Queen has a little spot there:) I love, love, loved every moment of that sticky beaking. And now I’m sitting here craving one of your Azteca style hot chocolates:)

 

But wait, there’s more!

 

Now for treat number 2. Not only has Louisa kindly allowed us into her lovely nest but she has also ever so generously offered up a present for one lucky ducky Nesty reader!!!! Yah!!!!

Back over to you, Louisa …..

I would love to  offer The Nest’s readers the opportunity to win this Kitchen Garden Pack by leaving a comment on this post below. The pack includes: 3 x Heirloom Seeds, Twine, Garden Scissors, Vegetable Scrubbing Brush and Trug. Good Luck! Louisa xo

 

Your comments need to be in by 10:00am AEST on Monday the 6th of August, 2012. So, comment away! What fun!

Thank you again, Louisa. A nesty meander and a treasure for one lucky reader – what a treat!

 

Happy week ahead to you all!

 

Kim x

My Dad :: The Fixer & Maker

 

I never cease to be amazed by the creativity and resourcefulness of my Dad. All of my life he has been this way – building and fixing stuff using scraps of this and pieces of that. It’s his passion and something that I can’t imagine him living without. He’s the person we all go to when we need something fixed or we have a missing part that needs a replacement. Ask Dad, is what we all say to one another when in need.

Take the other day for example. I briefly mentioned to Dad that on our way down to visit we’d lost one of the thingies that screws onto our bike rack.

 

No problem. Off we go, down to the shed. The rummaging begins – he looks through one of his many tins of precious bits and pieces, searching for something that could work as a replacement screw in thingy. You should see the stuff he collects. His shed is a museum of nuts and bolts and screws and nails and tools and everything!

 

 

He finds a couple of  things that look like they could work and with a bit of refining, cutting, filing and gluing …

 

 

he makes this which works a treat.

 

Dad’s latest creations on his own place are below. {My photos are not too great}. He’s turned a so-so looking colorbond shed/stables on their new property, into a gorgeous, more useable and much more character-filled space for Joanne’s workshop.

 

By adding some lovely rustic corrugated iron he instantly added character and practicality to the shed.

 

 

A feature wall out of old fence palings {very bad photo!} goes so well with the tin and highlights the gorgeous timber window he scored from his favourite shop – the local tip!

 

 

He’s also begun making a kitchen area for Joanne to dye her wool. A sink will be added very shortly.

 

 

Another score from his fave shop adds a pretty touch to this rustic space.

 

 

This shed is a work in progress but knowing my Dad, it’ll be finished very, very soon. There’s no mucking around with Dad. He’s a doer, that’s for sure.

I have to double check with Dad to make sure I’ve got this right but from memory I’m sure he said he only spent about $200 on the whole project. That also includes re-using old plywood from the shed and turning them into shelving and benches. {Did I get that right, Dad????} Incredible!

Unfortunately I didn’t inherit one scrap of my Dad’s practicalness or building ability, my brothers got all of those genes,  but I’m sure in awe of all that he does and I sooo love having a Dad who can do the things that my Dad can. We all are xxxxxx

Here’s to my wonderful Dad, The Fixer and Maker.

 

Kim x

Potaroo Palace on Learn Nothing Day

OK so why, on Learn Nothing Day, would we go to a place like Potaroo Palace where there is sooooooo much to learn about?

Because I forgot. I forgot that we were supposed to be learning nothing yesterday. If I’d  remembered then we most definitely would have stayed at home, locked in confinement, unable to learn anything all day. Oh, except that wouldn’t have worked because we have a computer in the studio and books and newspapers and magazines. Oh, and we have pencils and pens and paper and scissors and glue and sticky tape and stuff for creating. And, oh yeh, we are building right now so we have a constant supply of new knowledge imparted to us each day by builders and trades people about how houses are built. I guess we could have padlocked the door and put ear muffs on our heads so we couldn’t hear anything they were saying? But,  oh, that’s right,   we talk to one another a lot, during the day, even at home. Even if we were locked in confinement.

So, I guess we were always going to be doomed to fail on Learn Nothing Day. May as well have spent it somewhere like Potaroo Palace then, huh?

And what a fantastic, learning filled day, we all had. Lewi was in his element. Surrounded by native animals and knowledgeable, interesting, animal enthusiastic people. No better day could be had for a nature loving 12 year old.

Here’s a glimpse of our day which was filled to the brim with learning.

 

 

 

Sapphire the koala.

Priscilla the echidna eating her ever so appetising mix of minced meat and a million other vitamin rich bits and pieces.

An albino echidna.

We learnt so much about echidnas today. You probably already knew that they are mammals even though they don’t give birth to live young. But did you know that the most crucial part of being a mammal {there’s a few criteria that you need to meet if you want to be called a mamma;} is that they suckle their young. And echidnas do suckle their young. Did you know that? I thought I did.  I always thought that the young got their milk via licking milk secreted from milk glands in the mother echidna’s skin but, when you really think about it, that’s not true suckling. They actually latch hold of a clump of hairs on the stomach of the mumma echidna and suckle those which stimulates milk secretions through the milk duct/gland. So that’s what makes them tick the mammals box.

And, did you know that they are not marsupials even though they carry their young for the first couple of months of life in a pouch that they don’t have? Yep! We didn’t know that either. I thought they were marsupials because they had a pouch. Only the other day Lew and I were debating  whether echidnas were marsupials or not. He said they weren’t because they didn’t have a pouch. I thought they were because they had one. Well it turns out we were both right and wrong. They develop a fold of skin that they use as a pouch for their young’s first months of life. When they are done, it simply disappears!

Also, did you know that echidnas form a big long walking train line when it’s mating time? The female, when she’s ready to mate, at around 8 years of age, goes off on a long journey where she walks, pretty much, non-stop for …well, they re not really sure, but possibly up to 2 weeks. Along the way male echidnas join the queue behind her following along in hope that they might just be the mate she chooses at the end of her walk. So if you ever see a big long line of echidnas walking along in the bush you will know that the one in front is definitely the female! Fascinating stuff and showed me just how much there is to learn out there.

 

 

I love getting home and uploading my camera photos onto the computer to find photos that Lewi’s taken. He spent so much time wandering around with Rhys and Luca, snapping shots here and there. It gives me his take on the day. Love that.

Happy belated Learn Nothing Day. Did you succeed or were you like us who learnt far too much?

Oh, and by the way, Potaroo Palace, which is a not for profit animal sanctuary, is offering half price entry to locals at the moment. What a bargain!  So if you’re a local, $5.00 per child gives you an affordable, informative and fun, fun, fun day out as well as  supporting a wonderful cause. They are doing such a fantastic job in animal conservation.

 

Kim x