Christmas Tchotchkes

I love Christmas. 

I love the food, I love wrapping gifts, I love silly carols, I love ultra tacky house lights, I love putting up the Christmas tree and I especially love the ornaments.

These two vintage Christmas ornaments were from a small collection passed down to me from my grandmother. I still remember hanging them on her small tree as a kid.

I love buying ornaments on overseas travels (they're small souvenirs that get used at least once a year). This  Mexican mama is from our Playa Del Carmen.

And a pinocchio from Venice!

And a fluffy owl from Richmond in Tasmania.

This one is a lovely new addition - a gift from Germany from a very thoughtful friend.

And a gift from last year with a favourite line.

Let your heart be light -- Merry Christmas everyone!!

Impatience and Hydrangeas

I cheated. I bought the worlds biggest hydrangea bush on the weekend. 

I've been watering and caring for my little mail order seedlings all autumn and they've barely grown. And my two transplants from last year are not doing so great either. So when I spotted this gigantic beauty in the nursery at Capalaba Produce where I was meant to be fetching chicken feed - I gave in to all notions of being patient and just bit the bullet and bought it.

And I knew exactly where to put it - this ratty looking garden bed gets morning sun and afternoon shade which suits hydrangeas perfectly.

Mr Tchotchke loves lending a hand in the garden

Wa - lah! Who doesn't love a before and after shot? I topped up the bed with lots of organic sugarcane mulch to help it retain moisture.

It's so fluffy! I'm sorely tempted to lop off a few blooms to bring inside. I think I'll give it a few days to settle in.

At first I felt a bit guilty for giving in to temptation and not sticking it out with my seedlings - plus it was the single most expensive plant I've ever purchased. But I figured it could be an early Christmas pressie to myself - and it was just as much as a few bunches of flowers and would provide me with far more enjoyment. Let's hope I can keep it alive until next year!

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

Everytime I use chia seeds I think of the chia pet ad at the beginning of Wayne's World. Ch-ch-ch-chia! Just me?

I made these yummy pink grapefruit and organic yoghurt cups for dessert last night.

And I sprinkled crunchola and chia seeds over the top for extra texture.

Since I've been sprinkling chia seeds on everything recently - this caught my eye in Bunnings a few weeks ago.

Don't you love the tagline - Kids love them!

It's done pretty well in the veggie patch so far - it's popped out these blue flower heads which google tells me will then form into seed heads - for my first chia seed harvest!

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

Summer already?

We're still a few weeks early - but it feels like summer is already here.

What's new in the garden? We've finally got some passionfruit growing.

We planted the vine almost two years ago and its sustained a few possum attacks but it just kept bouncing back. I love the passionfruit flowers - they're so crazy looking.

I've had a runty little hydrangea on this transplant.

And corn! That's a first too.

And our cauliflower is staring to do something. I think its trying to make a cauliflower. But who really knows. Its been in the patch since the beginning of winter not doing terribly much but I've left it there because it looks pretty impressive.

I always thought it was a winter vegetable - but it seems these summer days is getting it hot under the collar.

Total Besties 4 Eva

Charlotte and Henrietta are such a funny pair. 

They're joined at the hip 24/7. If Charlotte catches a grasshopper, Henrietta is over straight away. If I'm feeding Henrietta sunflower seeds, Charlotte wants some too. Most of the time Dr Octopus is still over the other side of the yard, totally oblivious to it all.

But this is the first time I've witnessed this.

I guess the chickens that lay together, stay together.

Bunnies of the Apple Isle

Pet bunnies are illegal in the fair state of Queensland. Mr Tchotchke once made the mistake of asking about this at a pet shop and was harshly chastised by the shopkeeper with the reasoning "they destroy infrastructure!"

So that may have something to do with why I'm so enamoured with them. You know - you always want what you can't have. I don't know if I'd move to Tasmania just for the bunnies, but they seem to have more than enough to go around.

We saw this little guy in the side yard of a house in Swansea on the east coast. Very Peter Rabbit no?

Here's Mr T staring down a cooped up junior detective on the front lawn of the Swansea Police station!

Here's a city dwelling bunny back down in Hobart.

And me chasing after him. Yah I'm really subtle.

And this relaxed chap was in the gardens at Cascade Brewery. One too many pale ales I suspect.

Ah bunnies - the forbidden fruit.

I Want a Tasmanian Garden

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth - I've just been to Tasmania. But its okay - they have abundant gardens, gobsmacking galleries and bunnies-a-plenty (but more on that later).

This amazing creeping rose was at the Governors House in Hobart. We jumped a fence looking to get to the botanical gardens and realised later they were private grounds. Whoops - sorry gov.

This is from a front yard in Richmond. Not sure what the flower is - like a hydrangea but half the size?

Here are a few pics from my travels.

These amazing houses are in Battery Point

Would you believe these gardens are at the Cascade Brewery? Beer and gardens together at last.

Beautiful blooms aside - it's good to be home.