I don't know about you but I seem to wear the same jewellery over and over.  There are some pieces that never come off (except when going through the airport screening of course)...two silver bracelets I bought with money from my parents to celebrate my 5oth are always with me.

I have a bit of jewellery...not much of it is precious in terms of dollar value, but I do like a good necklace or pair of earrings...or three.  But I wasn't wearing much of it because it was shoved away in various drawers, boxes and what have you's.  Except for the necklaces...they've lived here for a while...I think you've seen them draped over my bedroom mirror before.

But my earrings and rings were another story. Not any more!

I had been collecting 'silver' mugs from op shops (ignore their unpolished state) and one day, not so long ago I had an idea. Mugs as earring holders...and a bowl for bracelets, rings and brooches...why not? So I did...and now they're being worn...I really must polish that silver one day though!

During a lull in the great honeysuckle massacre last weekend, I thought I'd have a bit of a play with my camera and its zoom function.

These photos were all taken while sprawled on a sofa...

...too knackered from my mammoth gardening effort to do anything much than slide from one to the other to vary the shot a bit.

It will come as no surprise to you that I like a bit of colour and pattern. Oh yeah...and buddhas. Of any description.

Pictures of zoomed-up-on flora next week I think.

Enjoy your weekends everyone and thank you for your comments this week. I hope to be spending a bit of my weekend in the courtyard, weather permitting, and without the secateurs this time. And I probably should do a bit of dusting as well judging by these photos ;)
all images: a tranquil townhouse

I'll be honest...

I haven't been overly inspired this week

Couldn't seem to find all that many images that made me stop in my tracks.

To be fair though,

I may not have expended much effort looking this week

I spent a great deal of time in the garden on saturday and sunday

and had what amounted to an almost screen free weekend

it's good to do that from time to time don't you think?

On the plus side, my mammoth gardening effort means the honeysuckle is now kaput, and the jasmine has been released from its evil clutches and can now do it's own perfumed thing :)

In important news, mum's op has been rescheduled for the 24th. Fingers crossed it happens this time :)

And in news of the trivial kind, I'm thinking of buying this chair.

images seen on: belle maison; the diversion project; ish and chi; abigail ahern; dust jacket; the veda house; sarah tuttle on absolutely beautiful things; the style files; the home in paradise; matt blatt

Happy Monday. How about those All Blacks hey? That was a close one! 
But enough about the rugby...there are more important things on the agenda today! Those of you who've been visiting the townhouse for a while will know that the first born (my daughter Jess) works for Cleo Magazine. She's just been promoted to features/lifestyle writer...that's my girl :) She's asked if you lovely people could help with an article she's writing...

So, in her words...

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a cute story for the magazine about life advice from 9 – 90 year olds and was hoping you could share some words of wisdom someone under the age of 10 or over 80 has given you.

It could be funny, silly, profound, practical or supremely beautiful; I want to hear everything!

Please include the name and age of the person who gave you the advice.

I know you’re all super busy, so I thank you very much for your time!

Jess x

PS – a six year old once told me (in a very exasperated voice) “Jess, time comes and time goes and it doesn’t matter anymore.” Out of the mouths of babes…

Would love it if you could help my girl out...so I don't have to come up with something clever :)

I think about relationships a lot.  Probably far too much. I like this quote.  I'm not sure how true it is, but I'm willing to give Bob the benefit of the doubt...drug induced though its birth may have been. I find myself nodding along. It talks about laughter, thinking,  awareness (of yourself and the other person), acceptance, reasonableness, acknowledgement, responsibility, care...all the right ingredients for a good relationship I think. 

I don't believe there's such a thing as complete perfection in a relationship but we hold on tight and value those bits of perfection that come to us...more often than not if we're lucky...those times of pure pleasure and rightness...before the next bit of imperfection...the annoying interlude, careless word or thoughtless act comes along to bite us on the bum. Whether it's done to us, or by us. 

But what I think I know about the perfect relationship is this:

the perfection in a relationship comes from overlooking the imperfections...the ones that don't matter all that much...the tiny little gnat bites...the ones that won't be important in six weeks or at a stretch, six months.

That's my take on it anyway...what's yours and what have I missed?

image from bits of truth

Ok, let's get the tough stuff over with first...after the Wallabies' humiliating loss to the All Blacks last Sunday...

I'm with Amanda, and her family, in their lovely house (above)...

well, not literally of course. Although I'm sure that would be lovely. But I will be hoping NZ wins the Rugby World Cup, seeing that Australia can't. Don't get me started.

There, I've said it.

In other news...I set myself a challenge this week...

to choose the top ten from blogs I haven't visited before...

(apart from Amanda's of course...I couldn't resist that pic)

It wasn't as easy as you might think.

I'm loyal, and a bit wedded to my favourite top ten haunts.

But it was worth branching out a bit, don't you think?

yes, me too :)

images seen on: small acorns; conspicuous style; walking around; marie claire maison; sanctuary; acquired objects; mom's turf; love you big; spicer and bank; buddha interiors

The phone rang in my parents' house just as we were getting ready to make the trip to the hospital for mum's operation...the one she's waited so long to have. The one that is hopefully going to ease the chronic pain she's been in all year.

I had a feeling as soon as I heard the phone ring that there was another cancellation on the way...and I was right. Unfortunately. With a mere three hours notice, the operation was put off. A hazard of relying on the hard working public health system I know...but still. I listened to my mother say reassuring things to the person on the other end of the phone, completely gracious in the face of disappointment. Oh dear, yes of course. I understand. There are a lot of sick people aren't there? It's just that my daughter's come all the way from Canberra to look after her father. Can you let me know when it might be rescheduled. Thank you for calling. 

She put down the phone and said quite calmly, bugger, it's off, it's been cancelled. I, not at all calmly, blew a gasket and managed to string quite a few F words into the rant that was my response to the news. Not at all gracious.

Both my parents had a very sanguine response to the bad news, Dad giving Mum a hug and sympathising with her. I was struck by the generosity of their response, although to be honest, not at the time. When it happened I was cross with Mum for being so nice to the voice on the other end of the phone....the surgeon as it turned out, who in all fairness, at least had the good manners to call with the news himself and not delegate it to some equally overworked nurse or hospital administrator. 

My response was anger, my parents' was acceptance, although as I remembered several days later, when the same thing happened to me many years ago...the last minute cancellation of major surgery...I responded in a similar way to my mother. She has taught me well it seems, except I was a big wimp and burst into tears when they told me I'd have to wait. There were no tears from mum last week. She's much stronger than I give her credit for. And more generous.

As are you. Thank you for all the lovely messages of care and concern I've had. It was a tough few days for a lot of reasons...when you live some distance away from ageing parents you don't get to see the small changes, you can't help out with simple day to day things. And the large changes...well, they just shock you. Having this blogging support group makes a difference. The phone calls, text messages, emails, FB comments from people I know and love, and from so many of you who I haven't met but who say kind words regardless, I hope you know how much it all helps.

So, I'll be back off to Newcastle to try again, hopefully in the not too distant future, and hopefully with mum getting into the operating theatre this time!  And as an added bonus, coffee with the lovely Newcastle blogger Pink Patent Mary Janes can be rescheduled as well. There's always an up side :)
all images by me, taken in the courtyard. Sorry about the fuzzy bird...who has decided to pay regular visits to stare at itself in the mirror. The vampire slayer is thankfully too old and slow to pounce!

Hello petals. 

As you read this I will be driving up the M-something or other on my way to Newcastle...

My mum's having an operation tomorrow

and I need to look after dad while she's in the hospital...

I'm hoping it will be simple and straightforward

but in their 80's, and with dementia involved, nothing is certain is it.

So I may be off the air for a little bit.

Or I might take my camera and find a few of my childhood haunts :)

either way, if you could cross fingers and toes for me...

I'd be very grateful :)

see you a bit later...

images seen on: beauty and grace tumblr; 16 house; a punch of color; abigail ahern (2); coco+kelley on desire to inspire; desire to inspire; princess anne county; lou, boos and shoes; belle maison