summer loving

I'm loving summer. I love the smell of summer, the raspberries and cream taste of summer. The birds in the blue sky sound of summer. the slightly sunburnt, way too tired feel of summer, after a day at the beach.

I've loved having a couple of days in Melbourne with my two youngest girls and my eldest. I loved watching the girls play, together, running in the wind, holding hands, swinging, climbing high. I love the way they try to work things out, the simple joy of watching them having fun is so beautiful.

We had a crazy old, funny time at the beach. For my country girls it's such a huge adventure. One a little nervous but her sister helped her to find the courage to step in, go deeper.

I found a beat up old chair and plonked it in the sand next to an extremely tanned exotic dancer. She was amazing in her red bikini on a striped banana lounge. The girls skipped over waves, splashed, looked for shells, watching the beach police driving up and down, the groups of families, the gulls and the ships dotted on the horizon. They were amazed at the rubbish in the water and helped to drag a whole newspaper out. Eventually we had to go, we left the chair for someone else.

We got to do city things too. The Muppet movie was incredibly great! I loved it and so did they. We did a little bit of shopping and Rosie practised her escalator skills. They negotiated crowds, learning to walk so as not to bump into people, a tricky thing if you are never in a crowd.

We stared up at the roof of Melbourne Central with it's beautiful old shot tower, gracefully still standing amongst the endless shops and bustling throng.

We spent time with our beloved Char. When the girls were in bed she & I became detectives and hunted down lost family on Ancestry.com./

 So much fun, so addictive, so amazing. We found the ancestors of  dear William Henry Walker who died in a gold mine.  His grandfather, his brother, our relatives, our blood. Char found the shipping information for my parents trip to England in 1960 - their names crossed out as they jumped ship in Marseilles, hoping to hitch hike to London.

We went out for dinner, walking the hot & steamy  footpaths of Lygon Street where I had flashbacks from the 70's. There once was a pub on the corner of Lygon and Faraday and I went there often as a child, with my friend and her mum. Us kids looked for lost coins on the sticky carpet under the bar, and ate peanuts from a machine. All to the sounds of Skyhooks and The Stones and Bob Dylan on the jukebox.  It was such a different time, we did as we pleased really, as the adults drank and smoked and partied on. Hard to imagine now. What was that pub called?

I took the kids to  Ikea where we looked in all the rooms, picking our favourites and sitting on couches not wanting to ever get up.  I wonder if anyone has ever crawled into one of the beds for a nap and stayed the night. Imagine that.

We managed to sneak in a bit of op shopping too. The amazing oppie in Woodend had a half price sale, woo hoo! And a trip to Savers is always fun. We tried on dresses and skirts and found some ace treasures. 

We're home now and our summer holiday continues. I'm loving the looseness of time, the sleep ins and the freeness to do as we please. Although it was fun to be at school today for a working bee, nice to see old mates and give the grounds a tidy up.

What's happening in your world? Are you finding some simple things to make you smile? Hope so,

see you soon lovely ones xo

 Tagxedo by Sunday

Fleamarket Finds

Lots of lovely finds to show you this week. This illustration comes from one of my favourite thrifted books, handed on to me by my mum who found it many years ago.

While I was taking the photo's for todays post I have had so much fun revisiting this gorgeous book.

If only you could see the many pages of beautiful ideas, patterns, pictures...

I'm seriously going to have to try to make some of these adorable dolls clothes, this is only page one! There is a very elaborate wedding dress over the page, I might have to start with something simpler though, such as bloomers, ok... maybe the hankie.

So sweet..

Guimpe? Isn't that a town in New South Wales...?

Yesterday on the way back from Melbourne I found this kids footy jumper for $1.50, just right for a certain girl I know who loves the Doggies!

And I'm pretty happy too with this cotton bedspread which appeared at Savers in Brunswick. Boy is that one bustling shop!

Finally here is a dear little tin pot thingie which I found a few weeks ago. I love the flowers, the little knob on top and the mystery of what to put in it? Any ideas?


I can't get enough op shop action. I love to make friends with the volunteers, they are the salt of the earth and are often older women who work hard, like a chat (sometimes) & are great at giving back to their community. Do you have a favourite opshop, or opshop person, maybe an opshop story? I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email, my address can be found with my profile.

Have you found anything amazing lately? I bet you have. Do pop over to see Sophie & see what other treasures have been found. See you soon sweeties xo