Friday, May 01, 2009

A bit of everything

G'day dear bloggers, Hope your week has been wonderful. There are always heaps going on here to keep us busy. The only one who can sit down and enjoy the garden is the baby below, she's always relaxed it seems. Lol!The two-week school break has come and gone. We had fun sandboarding while we were away up north for a short time, here is a picture to show how beautiful the sand dunes were, they changed all the time according to how the winds blew. Amazing creation! The kids' school is having an Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) Day service today. Anzac Day(April 25) is a day we commemorate soldiers who died fighting for Australia's freedom in various wars and the kids' school holds their own memorial service. I've been attending them every year since the kids have been there and I often can't keep my eyes dry. It's very solemn and moving. There is to be no clapping of hands and the last post is played. To the soldiers, the last post represents a day's work is done and so to those who died, it represents resting in peace. There are usually ex-servicemen or war veterans joining the school community with their uniforms and medals on, and many teachers wear black on the day. All the school children are also asked to take flowers and greeneries from home and they make wreaths with all the contributions which will be used for wreath presentations under the Australian flag at the service. Here are the flowers I picked from the garden for the kids to take.
Roses here: Tamora and Ambridge Rose (Apricot, they look and smell similar, excellent flowerer, David Austin), Sir Edward Elgar(Reddish Pink, David Austin), The Dark Lady (Dark Red, DA), Jubilee Celebration (Pinkish apricot to mid pink, loves blooming, DA) and Pink Simplicity (Pink buds, flowers profusely, Floribunda) All DA roses shown here are perfumed, only Simplicity is lightly scented.I divided them into bunches so that they are easy for the kids to handle. To keep them fresh, I wrapped the stems in a thick wad of wet tissues and al-foiled them so the kids don't get poked by thorns while holding them. That was right up my alley, I really enjoyed doing those! Changing the subject, what do you think this is? (Drumroll) You'd be right to say it's a cloche, yeah, a lovely rather large choche! I love bird's nest setting in cloches, but since it's a rather large and tall cloche, plus it was really cheap, I thought I might be able to use it for displaying roses as they have the height to fill a tall cloche and make it a centrepiece or something. And as I said, since the shop was wanting to get rid of it and it was inexpensive, I bought it and am fiddling with it, it sure is fun. It has a flat glass base that came with it, but I popped my cake stand under it instead. Elevation is good for it, what do you reckon?Quite often I get given bath and shower gel and body lotion sets, you know the way, some of them just ain't quite the type you like, the smell, the colour, the packaging etc. I got given some which are beautifully packaged, but I'm afraid the scent was not the best, e.g. chocolate scent for bath gel and body lotion which is not quite like the real choc smell; you get the picture. When the bottles are clearly just lookers(and lookers only), I chuck the contents out and make them into pretty vases for my roses, one thing is for sure, they smell much more pleasant this way! Does any of you do that too? (Note: The middle one with lavender picture was a nice product, it was very well "lavenderly-scented", so I used it all up before I used the empty bottle.) Anyway, have a lovely weekend ladies, hope you'll get some time to sit down and have a nice cuppa.

12 comments:

Bobbie Lynn said...

The photo of the sand dune is really neat and I’ve never seen one in person. Your roses will make a beautiful contribution to the Memorial service. Great idea for using those pretty little bottles. I have a couple of jars of jam the refrigerator that have a pretty picture on them. Once they are used I can use them for outside vases.

Allidink said...

Oh I love them under the cloche! That cloche is great!

All the best,
Allison

Jennifer said...

Pity my computer doesn't have smell.....I could smell those roses from here if it did!

lady jicky said...

Your roses are looking fabulous!

Marydon said...

The roses are breathtaking ... what is the name of them please? They create a stir of aroma ... great pics.

My hubby loved Australia, as I mentioned before. He particularly enjoyed his trip into the 'outback'. He saw animals that even his aussie friends had never seen in the wild. He left his heart there ... but he left a wife & children back in the states that weren' moving ever again ... chuckle! After all these years he stays in touch with friends there.

Have a great weekend. TTFN ~ Marydon

Anonymous said...

Love the dune picture!!

Your flowers are brilliant. I don't have color yet but any day now we should have something!!

Joanne said...

Your roses are gorgeous what a pity we can't smell them. I love the cloche but think I prefer the roses not under glass. I like your idea of the re use of small glass bottles. Glass always works well with roses.
My first roses are just starting to flower Banksiae Banksiae so it won't be long now before others follow. New Dawn and Albertine will probably be next.

Southerncook said...

Oh my, I just stumbled upon your blog and all I can say is, WOW!!!! Your photos of your roses are amazing but the sand dune photo is incredible.

I grow a few roses, antique roses and David Austins so I do appreciate your photos. I will enjoy looking further at your blog. You also gave me inspiration for my cloche's as well. I have three, great idea.

Carolyn/A Southerners Notebook

Crazypixie said...

Lovely roses u have there..

Carolyn said...

The sand dune picture is beautiful and your roses too of course.

take care,
Carolyn

Anonymous said...

Lovely, Rosy. Your cloche is very impressive indeed! :) I love your idea of using lotion bottles - such a nice touch.

Thanks for your tips on what to do my rose bush. Wouldn't you know it... ever since I read your comment, it's been rainy everyday over here. I am thus prevented from doing anything in the front yard... :(

manila realty said...

Thanks for your tips as well