Autumn Garden on the Darling Downs.

The above photo shows my use of some old farm implement parts that have rusted with age.

I like to give them new life...as a flower

My niece and I with Milly the Lhasa Apso

I am babysitting Milly for the week for my good friends who are interstate.

My niece was the original owner of Milly

and

wanted to come and see her

 after giving her away to my friends last year

This is my lavender walk

The plants were all propagated by me, saving $10 per plant.

They have been in now since end of September..

I think they'll be strong enough to handle the severe frosts we get out here

on

The Downs during winter

The archway went in last month and we bought a pink flowering rose to climb over it

Here is DH watering the garden and little Milly warming her belly on the warm white pebbles

Northern view of lavender walk

Under the shade of a big mulberry tree

Northern entrance to lavender walk with recycled timber slab and three rusted rings.

Milly has big sight problems...

 (cataracts on both eyes and completely blind in one eye)

and

doesn't see much of anything.

Here she has just smelt our cat but can't see it.

The cats are being nasty and hanging around when I take her outside for wees etc

They don't see her as much of a threat and keep hissing at her.

Our two manx are very territorial and act like watchdogs.

They love our scottish terrier, just no other dogs.

Front part of garden with white border edges that were already laid when we bought the house

DH and I don't like them

but have decided to try and embrace them in the front

as

this is our 'english garden' section

My new bird bath

It was a christmas present from DH but only came in a month ago

He had it ordered for months.

Front garden

with

Plum tree, roses, geraniums, lavenders, abelias, daisies and hawthornes.

This is the view from our front verandah

I love these neighbours....quiet, neat and far away

You might be able to see the australian flag painted on side of their shed

and

also the owner cycling home from work.

It's very flat country here.

It's taken a long time for me to get used to this.

I am used to hills and mountains.

After nearly 3 years I have come to terms with the plains.

I still hunger for the hills though.

A recent sunset

My courtyard garden

I just want to share a little courtyard garden with you.

It was at our last house

but

it

was cute

and

sometimes I miss it.

When we moved so did all our rustic bits and pieces....

all up 3 trailer's full

obviously more than what you can see here.

This beautiful rusty wheel came from my grandparent's farm

This rustic cow was bought from a man called Terry who hand cuts all his pieces

This water feature was made by my husband and my dad did some welding to make up the mock tap.

The bucket came from Dad's shed

and

was rusted out in the bottom

so

I

thought it would be great for our water feature

I call it

'There's a hole in the bucket dear Liza'

These lovely little winter violas were self seeding and came up amongst the pebbles every winter

This rusty old Singer sewing machine survived

a

house fire

so

I

thought it deserved to have new life

in

my

Courtyard Garden

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I'd love you to leave a comment

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Tea on a Tuesday

This is how I first spied my lovely little cup.

It was the box that took my eye

It was sitting on a shelf at my local chemist shop with a price tag of  $15

Inside was what I thought to be an average cheapie type cup complete with tassel.

It was a little bit different to anything I had seen before

however

I did not want to pay that much for one cup that was completely unbranded... 

but

I knew if I left it there I would regret it

because

the

box

was so

beautiful!!!!

I left the cup in the box for months

because

by

 quickly initially looking at it I did not think

I would enjoy drinking out of it.

One day I did get it out, washed it and made a cuppa in it.

Boy!

Was I wrong.

It is surprisingly thin lipped and lovely to drink from.

It has a lovely white glossy glaze that does not detract from the flavour of the tea/coffee...

It actually feels and performs like an expensive english bone china cup

Linked to

Sweetology

http://sweetology101.blogspot.com.au/

&

Rose Chintz Cottage

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com.au/

&

Martha's Favorites

http://marthasfavorites.com/

Friend's Sharing Tea

Friend's Sharing Tea

Autumn officially

starts in Australia today...

1st March 2012

So I thought it appropriate to kick off with a cuppa in my

Royal Doulton

Brambly Hedge Autumn trio.

This setting originally had 101 pieces

or so

the old lady I bought it from told me.

The two silver teaspoons shown here belonged to my grandmother

A cup of coffee for one.

The coffee cups are a lot smaller than the tea cups.

Coffee Pot

Tea Pot & Coffee Pot

The largest milk jug of 5 in this setting

All 5 milk jugs in the set

All the milk jug covers were crocheted by my mother

Here is the entire set on my antique Queensland Hoop Pine Hutch

This is a broken Sadler Tea Pot.

She has a chip and no lid but I love her

and didn't want to leave her out of the party.

She looks good with dried lavender

This is a miniature teapot my husband bought for me 2 christmases ago

As well as this one

This poor old girl has seen better days but I can't throw her out

and

she is usually covered with the teacosy below

I just love this made in Japan teapot

however

she  does not make a good cup of tea

so

she usually is covered by one of my favourite teacosies below.

Another teapot that I used to love

but can no longer use

as it's cracked right through

Love the style and simplicity of this teapot

I love this little sewing teapot.

I purchased her at a cheapie shop for about $9, years ago.

This novelty giraffe tower was an engagement present in 1982

This little mouse butler is serving his tea in a formal manner.

This darling little teapot holds about 2 small cups of tea.

I also purchased this one at a cheapie shop for about $5

This teacosy cost me $27 at a recent Antique Closing Down Sale

Here she is covering the Brambly Hedge Teapot

I bought this coffee pot a couple of years ago.

It is brand new but made to look distressed.

The green with white spots milk jug was given to me by a friend and neighbour.

I absolutely love it and have seen it being sold in antique shops for around

$100

This cute little blue teapot was given to me

by

my Great great Aunty Elsie who was born in 1900.

When she gave it to me along with a garnet ring in 1991 just before she passed away

she told me the teapot was 60 years old

and

she had purchased it new in the little Queensland township of Kingaroy

in about 1930.

So now it's around 80 years old....doesn't look it does it?

The two silver teaspoons belonged to my paternal grandmother

This little teacosy is usually displayed over the above vintage teapot

I made it a few years ago

I also LOVE this vintage country kitchen teacosy

given to me by a friend who knows what I like

as

we have similar taste

I LOVE

this utility aluminium teapot.

It is about 12 cup capacity

with

a

bakelite handle

and

knob.

The thermometer shows how hot it was today...about 30c or 86F in the house.

The thermometer belonged to my grandparents.

Everytime I look at it I think of them

xxx

This ugly but now retro teapot

was given to DH and I

at

our Engagement Party

in 1982.

I didn't like it even then

but it does make a good cup of tea

and

I do like the shape of it

and

now that it's old enough to be retro/vintage

I have come to like appreciate it...

orange

 and

all!

This is a funny photo to me

I am a tidy 'nut'

and

this is the aftermath

of my

teapot photoshoot

 this afternoon.

When my DH walked in the door he was shocked to see such disarray...

I said 'I've had enough of this place and I'm packing up'....

He knew I was only joking of course.

He laughed when I told him I'd been doing a teapot photoshoot for the last 3 hours

........(crazy women)!............

I had fun anyhow, even if I am in really bad pain now because of it.

My back just won't quit hurting.

Oh well such is life.

I have put most of it away and have decided that I will use this disruption as an excuse to wash and press all the doileys and milk jug covers, it must be about 12 months since I did that...I usually just take them ouside and shake the dust out of them.

Here's one last photo to end with.

Don't want to leave you all too shocked after the mess of the previous 2 photos....LOL

Thanks for visiting me today

at

Friend's Sharing Tea

linked up to

Bernideen's Tea Time Blog

http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com.au/

and

Sweetology101

http://sweetology101.blogspot.com.au/