way out west...

In the middle of last month the fella and I went on a four day road trip to Walgett. Where you ask?? Walgett. No, I didn't know where it was either. But it's the place where Richard was born. And as far as I could tell that's its only attraction! I shouldn't be rude, but I have to confess it's not a place I could ever live.  Still, we had a great time at his Year 10 school reunion and it was lovely to see people who hadn't seen each other for 35 years having a fine old time :)
I took the opportunity to put the trip to another purpose, taking photos for the latest assignment on the photography course I'm doing. We had to choose a theme: so mine was rural NSW | people, places and things!  Here's a selection of my favourites...

There's been a squillion canola field pics on instagram in the last month or so, but gee...I never tire of them.  And I can't tell you how chuffed I was to work out how to do the slow moving water thing too...although I won't tell you how many attempts I had before it worked!

When we were in Walgett there was an aboriginal rugby competition on with teams from all over the place. I am pleased to report (as a born and bred Novacastrian) that the Newcastle team won! There were kids galore having a fabulous time...

And on our way back to Canberra we just had to stop in and stay with Julienne...I was allowed to take photos of her stuff...and what a rich source of stuff there was!

Coat stand in the longest hallway in the world! And here's the woman herself giving Richard a tour of the homestead :)

Had the best time, loved experimenting with the camera and even better, got to meet new people as well as see dear friends.

I had been scheduled to go to Shanghai with work but my participation got cancelled at the last minute...so I got to go to Walgett instead...

...the Shanghai of the west!! Oh well, there's always next year.

If you would like to see a few more images head on over to my Flickr account.

all images by Kerry Martin

laughter, linen and princesses...

I can’t begin to imagine a life without friends, and I count myself lucky to have some very good ones around me.  And I still...even after over two years, continue to be amazed by the friendship that blogging brings. I just spent a fabulous weekend in the truly wonderful company of one of those people...Jules from One Pink Chair. She wrote about it here.

If I dared to forget it, I was reminded in no uncertain way that laughter really is the best medicine. 

Jules made me laugh. I made her laugh too. We did a great deal of it...mostly at my expense though...now I think about it! 

Jules set me up in the 'princess bedroom'. Princess? Me? No way! 

And I slept on monogrammed linen...isn't it beautiful.

Jules fed me. 

I got her drunk. 

Fair exchange.

Jules taught me how to play words with friends...not very well as you can see by this...

I didn't beat her but I WILL one day. She may look sweet, but she shows no mercy when it comes to games...not a bit :)

Jules took me out for coffee with her fabulous friends and I could have sat there all morning. 

Hmm, perhaps I did.

 (I haven't quite worked out how to get the photos off my new camera, so this generic coffee shot I took will have to do for the moment!)
Breaking news...I worked it out...sort of. I still have no clue where they go on my laptop...but one step at a time hey?

Jules introduced me to four legged friends - not the feline variety. 

I sneaked Winnie food under the table when the mistress wasn't looking. 

Pooches are ok it seems, but don't tell the vampire slayer I said that.

It's such a wonderful thing to get away for a bit, out of your own space, away from the familiar. The time went very quickly, although the road trip home seemed to take forever. Not that it mattered. I was feeling good. Thank you lovely lady for such a soul enriching 48 hours. And thank you Souki for tolerating me. 

Now that one really is a princess!!

all images: a tranquil townhouse using the iPhone

how instagram is helping me cope with depression...

Well there's a blog post heading I never thought I'd write!
This is just a short post...dipping my feet in to see how it feels. But first I want to say thank you so very, very much to the people who've been in touch with me...by email, on FB, by phone, sms....you are so generous and I appreciate your kindness. I'm sorry that I haven't been back in contact...I'm not quite ready yet to respond in the way your kindness deserves, but one day for sure...I will be :)
So....instagram? I've been doing Fat Mum Slim's April photo-a-day. It's given me something simple to concentrate on each and every day, and something to look forward to...although some days have been harder than others. Case in point; Day 14: how you feel today...

There were many other words I could have used but this felt the most appropriate, and one that was at least publishable!

I've always loved images and I'm enjoying taking more of my own...here's a smattering. I was in Sydney last week for a meeting and when it had finished I took myself off for a wander in The Domain...this sculpture is a tribute to Speakers Corner...

Day 16: flowers...

Day 13: something you found...memories of happy days on beaches or walks...

Day 5:tiny...a silver buddha on a bracelet...gifts from friends...

Day 9: younger you...much younger!

So there you go. I've also signed up for a 6 week photography course starting this month...that should be a bit of fun!

all images: tranquiltownhouse on instagram

tassie highlights...things starting with F

By this I mean: friends, food, ferns and falls...let me elaborate...

One of the wonderful things about blogging is you get to 'know' people from all over the place. And if you're lucky, you get to meet them for real J

Such was the case last Wednesday night when I had dinner with Sarah from Molly's Maison and Jane from Life on Planet Baby. Here we are looking surprisingly presentable after a few bottles of wine, lovely Thai food and a great deal of conversation. Jane's car got locked in the carpark we yacked for so long!

And even better, Richard and I were invited to their homes on Saturday afternoon...now that I consider a real privilege. Beautiful pastries made by Jane and India for afternoon tea, and champagne at Sarah's...spoiled rotten we were. I wanted to take photos of their houses but thought that would be stretching the friendship a bit far! Just go to their blogs for that ok?

And then there are furry friends.  I had no hesitation in taking photos of the famous Molly in her natural habitat!  I'm not a dog person at all really, but I've fallen in love with Molly...well honestly, who wouldn't. Just look at her J

The day before this we'd headed off on a bit of a drive and ended up at Russell Falls in the Mt Field National Park. This place was stunning, really serene, and the oldest national park in Tasmania. We didn't have the best weather while we were in Hobart (and yet today it's going to be 36!) so it was quite cool but that didn't matter at all. I'm a bit fascinated by ferns...and moss apparently!

And the food...oh the food! Several kilos later...thanks in part to these delicious things. Without doubt, without a shadow of a doubt in fact, the raspberry danish you can see behind the chocolate thingies was the BEST Danish I have ever tasted.

From this place...

And then there were the oysters! From the Barilla Bay Oyster Farm, a saturday lunch of 30 assorted oysters (for $39...I thought that was really good value) and a wonderful ploughman's lunch that Richard got to before I could take a photo...you think he'd know about bloggers and photo opportunities by now wouldn't you! And as an added bonus, a view over the bay and a glass of Tasmanian wine. Bliss.

The produce at the Salamanca Markets on Saturday morning was also brilliant. We were going home the next day so didn't get to sample any of it, but doesn't it look amazing...all those jewel colours?

And just because I can, I'm going to finish off this post with alpacas. They're furry. They're funny. That fits with the theme right J

all images: a tranquil townhouse

top ten ~ 11 Jan 12...from Tassie!

Hi everyone...we're in Hobart

the diversion project

and loving it sick!

peep my style

We spent today at Mona

all fashion allowed

M.O.N.A.....Mona (sing it with me!)

design is mine

Can't help thinking of Lola whenever I say Mona

desire to inspire

Those of a certain age will get it I'm sure

desire to inspire

I've taken eleventy seven pictures today

greige

and then some!

justb

Deserving of a post of their own at some stage.

sfgirlbybay

But for today...it's the first top ten for the year!

And tonight I'm having dinner with Jane and Sarah...yippee :))

molly's maison

I'm a lucky blogger!

top six reads of 2011...and what I read in december

December was a very light on month for reading I'm afraid, but I did manage a few, somewhere in between the manic last few weeks of work, Christmas nonsenses and NYE frivolities...here they are:

Great House by Nicole Krauss - fiction

Shoe Money by Maggie Alderson - a selection of newspaper columns

Angel Puss by Colleen McCullough - fiction

All That I Am by Anna Funder - fiction

Freedom by Jonathon Franzen - fiction

Apart from the short collection of columns, all of these books were very good reads. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Angel Puss, set in Kings Cross, just around the corner from where the first born used to live, it was incredibly evocative of the area and the people who inhabit it. I bought it from a remainders bin on a whim...good use of a spare $4.95! 

And now the hard part...my favourite books of 2011. All in all I read 77 books last year (still finding it hard to say last year!). I was only going to nominate five, but a six book collage was easier to make J Bloody heck it was hard...even my very favourite author didn't make the cut this time! Because I read so much, the books I chose were the ones that have stayed with me...the ones I don't have to remind myself what they were about, the ones that made me cry, question, wonder, smile, cringe...the ones with 'staying power'. So, for what it's worth...my recommendations for incredibly good reads are, in no particular order because no way am I picking a no. 1 (oh, ok...Peter Carey!)...

In order of reading:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 

(a famous dying author summons an obscure unknown author to record her autobiography...ancient houses, bookshops, 'ghosts' and heartbreaks);

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

(A french nobleman and an english servant travel to the new world...full of beautiful historical detail...I especially loved the early days of Manhattan... wit, friendship and love)

The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper

(a very well written account of a pointless death, life on Palm Island and the brutality of our treatment of indigenous australians, but with a balanced compassion for all sides in this story)

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

(a 50 year old Harvard professor suffers from early onset alzheimers. This book's every word was enthralling, highlighting both the inner and outer 'workings' of the disease with an incredible sympathy for the sufferer and her family as they come to grips with what it all means)

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg

(a thriller...not everyone likes this I know, but I found it  fascinating and different. The heroine is unusual...a bit like Lisbeth Salander in the Millenium Trilogy...hard to like but you just have to know what happens to her)

All That I Am by Anna Funder

(the story of a group of Jewish Germans and their resistance to Hitler in the 1930s, set then and in the present through the reminiscences of Ruth, an old woman living in Sydney. Based on fact, it's a story of right and wrong, deceit, justice and injustice. Loved it.)

So there you have it! I hope to read more than 77 books in 2012, but I haven't started all that well...I've been painting my bedroom and putting up picture ledges. I'll show you all that when I get back from Tassie...off there on Monday for a holiday...and I'm having dinner with two bloggers on Wednesday...yippee!!

last post for the year...I have a date with a gallery wall

I don't know about you, but I need a bit of a break J

It's been a big year for all sorts of reasons...some good, some things I could have done without, and some significant changes on the horizon!

So while I have a bit of a rest from the blog and as many things electronic as I possibly can, there's some work to be done on my bedroom involving a whole pile of pictures and two Ikea Ribba picture ledges...

I'll be painting the lower half of the room and installing a gallery wall...I can hear it calling to me..."hurry up, I've only been waiting about a year for you to get off your butt and tart me up. Neglected, that's what I am!"  

I'll see you sometime soon, ok?  Early in the new year I'll sort my top ten pics from all of the top ten posts in 2011...I'm looking forward to a trip through the archives. 
In the meantime, have fun, relax, stay safe, hug lots of people. But more than that, congratulate yourselves for being a very fine bunch. Caring, kind, supportive, funny, thoughtful, crafty, nutty, talented, eccentric, intelligent and a few other words that will no doubt spring to mind after I've hit publish. You add another, very lovely dimension to my life. You are admired and appreciated. Lots of love to all of you...even the bits you're not fond of! 
See you on the other side (of the wall). I'm going to have to do it now aren't I?
images 1 and 3: pinterest; image 2: ikea