Beautiful Day Out

Hello everyone.
I hope you are all keeping happy and healthy...

Well, we are in the middle of Winter here in Aus., we are so lucky here because we still get Sunshine practically every day. Yesterday was no ecxeption!
After a week of cold and dreary wheather we had the most glorious, sunny day so I decided to go to the beach to meet a friend for coffee...

After our coffee we went for a nice walk along the board walk, to absorb the beautiful Sun's rays...It was great...instant boost of cheeriness!

You can see the beautiful Rays shining down!

I hope you all had a Superb weekend, my dear friends! :)

Even though I haven't been blogging much, you are all still in my thoughts and prayers!

Loving Wishes Nat :~)

About Time

Greetings dear friends!

I have been slightly obsessed with my new hobby---Photography---so it is taking up any spare time I have.
Posting photos on flickr---viewing contacts photos and posting them in groups, takes more time than I can spare.

You have been in my thoughts and in my prayers though...I haven't forgotten you!
Here's my latest post on flickr...it's a photo I took at the Botanical Gardens a couple of weeks ago...and added a poem I wrote..>I hope it looks ok!

United as one

A journey begun

To a future we see

Where all are set free

I want to start

A revolution in part

One of Love and Peace

And Giving...never to cease

Love and Light Nat :~)

New Plants

Greeting dear blogster friends...it was about time I placed another post, don't you think?

I have to confess...I have taken up a new hobby...it is photography. I seem to spend all my spare time on flickr now...but have missed you guys...so I thought I'd better come say hi!

I thought you might like to see these plants, my husband brought home the other day...for those who don't know these, they are cabbage like ornamentals...they look unreal (literally speaking) and I just love them to bits...I hope you do too!

Although I like the colour of the one above...I do think the one below show the leaf details better!

If you want to see what I've been up to on flickr...just click on my flickr link and pop in to say hi!

LL Nat :~)

I apologise...these photos look a bit wonky here for some reason...they look so much better on flickr!

Future champion!!!

Saturday we went to watch my son's soccer game.
It wasn't the best day but there some clear patches.
The photo I captured here happened because I saw my son change position from defence to attack...as they were 1 goal down...I knew instictively that he was going to shoot a goal...I saw the hunger witten all over his face!

I held the camera facing the goal...and to my surprise, not only did I capture the goal but (double whammy...I got my grandson running with the ball...a second before he let his right foot rip...to kick a great kick (he is only 3yrs old) to my daughter (who's out of the picture...she was on the right of the photo).
He has definetly inherited his father's gift!

If you look closely...the ball is at the back of the net...my son is the one in yellow top, at the front, bending down for his victory...whatever it is they do!

LL Nat:~)

Beach timeout!

Hello my dear blogster friends!

Last night, my daughter Mina (from Sugar Baby Creations) and I went for a lovely bit of 'timeout' at the beach (our favourite place to be)...we'll call it timeout but it was more a photo shoot...we both love photography and nothing give us more pleasure (and free therapy) than a beach shoot!

          I have posted one of the photos I took...I hope you like it!
                                         
                  This is a photo of the Jetty/Pier at Grange Beach!

Have a super weekend everyone!

LL Nat :~)

Druuuuuuum Rooolll Pleeeeaaase!!!~~~Chrystallier Makeover!

Greetings my dear blogster friends!

I am so happy to say that my project has finally been finished...(delayed by a couple of weeks due to unforseen circumstances)...I was starting to think that would never happen.

It has taken blood...sweat...and tears (literally) to do it but it's done.
I won't bore you with the details but just will say that it's not something I will undergo in a hurry...not when I don't have the time to spend on it continuously until it's finished!

I am happy to say...I am quite pleased with the end result...and with having saved this piece from doom!

This is the complete piece!

This is the inner detail of the top piece as shown in an earlier post!

Here you can see the details of the black I gently rubbed on, to give it a more aged look...I would have liked it plain white but didn't think it would suit the style of the cabinet!

This is actually, a 1930 piece that mum had rotting in the garage...it was painted brown all over with gold handles.

It's good to be back, I hope to catch up with you all, in the next couple of days!

LL Nat :~)

Happy Easter!

Hello dear blogsters, it has been a while since my last post.

I have had a very busy 3 weeks due to funerals, ill health and my usual commitments.
It was around a year since my last visit to the doctor, I thought I did pretty well until a couple of weeks ago and then I was back there.
I'm happy to report that it's nothing that a couple of doses of antibiotics won't fix (even though I don't like medication, i guess sometimes it's got to be done).

Anyway onto a happier note...I'd like to...

 (from the depth of my heart)

wish you all a very,very happy Easter.

                   

May you all be blessed with love, laughter, joy and good health!

I will be back next week with my completed project to post about...It was hard work but hopefully worth it!

Love and Light to all.....Nat xxx

My Project 3rd piece of the puzzle

Hi all,

today I worked very hard to get all the prep work done on my project...I am posting a picture to show you part of what I've done today!

2 coats of undercoat on this and the rest of the pieces!

 (Pieces... there are lots of) 

 I did ask for it when I decided to paint the inside as well.....boy that's hard work!!!

I think by now you've guessed, what my project is but the finishing has got me stumped!

I know what I want to do but tried it on an old stool and didn't like the look so it could be another week before it's finished!

If you have any suggestions...I would looove to hear them!

LL Nat:~)

'Sugar Baby Creations' givaway!

Hello dear blogsters!
I hope you have all had a great weekend!

I thought I'd let you know about this givaway from Mina at 'Sugar Baby Creations', (for her 100th Post).

This is a beautiful mini album scrapped by Mina  herself, with some very pretty pages inside!

To see more pictures and to enter the draw, click on the link below and go leave her a message!

http://www.sugarbabycreations.blogspot.com/

GOOD LUCK!!!

LL Nat:~)

My project 2nd piece of the puzzle

Yesterday was my day off from my commitements (with elderly parents) so I spent the best part of the day working on my new project.
I am giving you a glimpse at the second piece. I think you will be able to work out what it is from this photo!

It wasn't a very good day for painting but I managed to get 2 coats of undercoat done!
It would've been easier for me to get my husband to do it (he is a painter) and it would probrably have been finished by now but it is my project and I want to enjoy every minute of it!

I can't wait to get this finished and see if it comes out as I picture it to!

I have tomorrow morning off so I will work on it some more.

Wish me luck!!!

LL Nat :~)

New (from old) project!

Greetings dear blogsters!!!

I hope you have all had a super weekend!!!

I'm working on a new project which is probably going to take me around 2wks (could be more) of my spare time to complete.
I am giving you a sneak peek but if you want to know more, you need to come back in a couple of days when I'll be posting more clues, sorry!!!

Part one (below) has been completed!

I saw this gorgeous print at Ikea! It was exactly the sort of thing I was after.
This is glued to a piece of MDF (Particle Board). I liked it so much (the way it looked) that I was tempted to hang it up as a print.

Stay tuned for more!!!

LL Nat :~)

Great Givaway

Hi all,

I'm excited to tell you about this great givaway I saw on a post!
Epiphane are giving away a choice of a Cannon 5D Mark ll or $2500 gift certificate to Southwest Airlines!

Go check it out by clicking on the link below!

Good luck!!!

http://www.haveanepiphanie.com/home/2010/2/28/epiphanie-give-away.html

LL Nat

Northern Lights/Adelaide/South Australia

Greetings my blogster friends!
At the moment in Adelaide/South Australia we have the fringe festival and the city is abuuuuuzzz.....with tourists.

 Friday night, we went to see the Northern Lights (a friend had asked me if I had seen them.....seen them? I didn't even know about them, so much for advertising) and as,  I always take my camera with me I thought I'd take some photos...but alas my battery was dead.....not to worry I'll use my mobile, all excited I get it out, go to take a photo and guess what?.....yep you guessed it, 'low battery' flashing.......so on Saturday off we went again and this time both camera and mobile were totally charged...I made suuuure of that!

I could not believe how many people were in the city! The traffic was at a crawl. It looked like a foreign country LOL. Here in Adelaide we can still (NORMALLY) move with ease in the city!

Anyway getting to the point, I wanted to share, with those of you who can't see them in person, these beautiful lit up buildings, keep in mind these are just your normal, old stone buildings.

As you will see in the photos, these buildings are lit up with different patterns and colours, they look so good, they look as though they have been painted that way...until they change the pattern, that is!  ( This occurs every 5minutes or so ).

These lights go on from 28th Feb-5th March,

 every night from 10pm-12am

If you would like to see MORE, there are another 4 more photos on the next page and some more on flickr, you can click 'read more' below, or click on my flickr link on the right, to go view the other different patterns.

I hope you enjoy!!!

LL Nat :~)

Hahndorf (our treat)

Greetings blogsters!
I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine wasn't the most exciting (very quiet one) so this morning I went with my daughters (as a bit of a treat) to a place called Hahndorf. (Around 40 min drive from the city).
It's a quaint Little town in the Adelaide hills,  Sth. Australia.

At Hahndorf they have this gorgeous cafe` called chocolate n.5. They make the best hot chocolate and waffles to die for. (Our treat when we need a pick me up).

I forgot to take a photo of the waffles,  it wasn't until half way through eating, that I realise I hadn't taken a photo of the very thing we went there for.

It had been a while since we had some waffles and as this will be my last treat for 4wks you can understand why I forgot to take the photo, I was busy savouring every mouthful.

There are some beautiful old stone buildings and lots of amazing art and craft shops at Hahndorf.
Hahndorf was established by German immigrants in Adelaide.

This gorgeous red vintage car was out the front of a craft shop.

This beautiful old wagon advertises the market.

This brought back memories of when I was a child and used to ride on the back of one.

(Back home in Italy).

I love stone buildings!

 I don't think modern buildings have anywhere near the charecter, these have!

The wooden tubs all over the footpaths add charm to the place!

This is a great tourist attraction so if you come to Adelaide go see it. It is only around 40min.,  from the city.

Happy St. Valentine's Day everyone!

This morning at church, the priest told us the story of how Valentine's day came about.
Apparently in the time of the reign of Claudius 2nd., Claudius decided he didn't want his army of men to get married because he wanted them to be totally dedicated to the army. When Valentine saw the distress these young men suffered he went against Claudius and married them in secret.
When Claudius found out, he had Valentine Tortured and beheaded. Not a good story but  if it's true, it goes to show what people would do for love! (This is a short version Google it if you want to find out more).

I hope you all had a super Valentine's day and wishing you all much love!

Happy Chinese New Year as well!

(We had a beautiful dragon, dance in Church this morning). They put on a good show!
I hope you like the clipart, I got off the net free, (Thanks to the generosity of the people who create them and give them away). There sure are some talented people out there!!!

LL Nat xxx

Waterfall Gully Walk.

Greetings Blogsters!
Yesterday we took my cousin (who is over from Italy) for a walk up the hills to a place called Waterfall Gully, here in South Aus.

We went for a nice walk up the mountain with lots of nature to see along the way. We were going to go all the way up (3km) but when we got about 1km up it was just too hot so we turned back. (It a very steep climb).

I was able to take some lovely shots so I thought I'd share a few with you.

If you want to see more you can click on my flickr link.

The first two are of the waterfall. (I know! To those of you who have humungus waterfalls, this is more of a trickle). To us though it's a Waterfall.

I love this spot, it's so serene and only less than ten minutes from the city!

I love Blackberries and although they're just starting to ripen, I have to confess I JUST HAD to sample. YUUUMMMY!!!

This photo below is my fav, I would love this in my back yard!

This photo below is a game for you, it's called 'Spot the Cricket'.

This looks like debris but there is a treasure among it.

Let me know if you found the cricket!

I love the dry tree branch holding on tooth and nail, left and right is a photo of the woods, pretty!

We had a lovely walk getting to know my cousin whom we'd never met, he said he really enjoyed it too but wished it was a bit cooler so we could've gone all the way up.

My husband has agreed to take him back next week, one morning, early, before it gets too hot and then they'll have breakfast at the restaurant which has been (cleverly) constructed at the top.

LL Nat

My Hat and Scarf

A few days ago My daughter asked me if I wanted to go to Spotlight with her, I jumped at the chance!
While she was looking for material to make my other daughter a bag, (which turned out beautiful by the way) . I went to look at the bargain table. (I love bargain hunting).

I found 3 ball of this gorgeous wool for $2 ea. I thought 'this will make a nice warm hat'.

Let me tell you, it is not easy to crochet with this wool, as it goes from quite thin to very bulky, as you can see in the picture.

The other night, there was nothing interesting on tv (I'm sick of crime shows) so I decide to crochet my hat. Here it is.  It was quick (I did it in a few hours) although the wool was annoying to pull through when it got to the bulky bits. No patterns were used. I just followed my instict!

I found a button in my collection that went perfectly with it so I stitched it on.

Considering we have been having weather in the high 30s, I never thought I'd be making a winter hat.

I had 1 ball of wool left over so I decided to make a scarf to go with it. I crocheted 3 long strands of chains, platted them together, tied the ends in a knot at top and bottom and left the ends loose as tassles.

As you can see it is bulky in places and thinner in others but I like things that are a bit different so at least I don't have to worry about seeing anyone else with the same! 

Total cost $6.

I hope you like and it inspires you to create!

LL Nat

Organic, Home grown v Bought

Recently I bought some nectarines that looked a million dollars but when I ate them, they tasted like poison!

I don't know what they use to treat them but if the taste (and the way my stomach felt afterward) is anything to go by, it can't be good for you.

This, (needless to say) has brought me to appreciate the few fruit and vegies we  grow in the garden. I thought I'd share them with you.

These are some peaches we have at the moment. Although they don't look the best, they taste amazing!  I guess that's why they call them 'Million dollar Peaches'

Nothing beats the taste of home grown fruit!!!

Below is a picture of our blood oranges, they are green at the moment but I can't wait till they ripen as they are the only oranges I (absolutely) love!!!

We are now trying to grow as much organic produce as we can. I'm encouraging my husband to plant more fruit trees.

We also have fresh herbs, (which I love cooking with as nothing gives the same flavour to foods), lemon tree, chilli plant, eggplants, potatoes.

Below left is a photo of the potato plant flowers. ( I think they are so prettty) Vegetables and herbs actually have some very pretty flowers!!!

To the right is the flower from a plant called chicory, which is a bitter lettuce type of plant, to cook as greens. Very healthy!

In the middle is a branch of our lemon tree.

Last but not least I thought I'd show you a photo of the pomegrate (as in an earlier post) fully ripened. This is a photo of one from last year as this year's have a few weeks to go yet.

The grandchildren have a ball picking the seeds out ot them and eating them!

When our Mulberries are in season I will take a photo of them and show you what they look like.

I hope this inspires you all, to grow some fruit and vegetables, because no matter how small your garden you can always grow something, even if it's in pots.

LL Nat

SEAFOOD TONIGHT

Greetings Blogsters!
This afternoon I went to do some shopping and saw some lovely green prawns, I thought 'I haven't cooked fish for a while (I'm not a fish person but love shell fish) so tonight I think I'll cook some prawns',
then some saw some Basa Freshwater Fish fillets that looked so nice so I bought a couple of those too.
I'm not what you call a confident cook so I basically cook from my heart, adding what I feel might taste nice, not what the recipe say will.
Took shopping home and immediately started to clean the prawns (hard job but so worth it).
For photos and recipe,

I then placed them in a dish and added some freshly grounded LEMON ZEST and the juice of half lemon and the other half I used for decoration purposes.

Then in a separate bowl I added , a good splash of OLIVE OIL, about 2 tablespoons of (The Food Company) crushed onion, garlic and chilli. Then I chopped 3or4 small sprigs thyme and 3 or 4 small stems of Italian Parsley and added it to the mixture.
I poured it on the Prawns and (with freshly washed hands) I mixed it into the prawns.

I have to tell you, they smelt so nice at this stage I just about wanted to eat them raw, I knew I had created something special here! (I hope I don't sound too boastful!)

Then it was off to the HOT frying pan, to which I added a splash of vegetable oil and a BIG dollop of butter.

 Cooked the prawns for a couple min each side and Voi-la`!!!

This is the end result.

There was all this beautiful juice left over, 'what do I do with it? Hang on what about the fillets? I know I'll add a splash of white wine and in go the fillets.'

I must say I was so plesantly surprised with the end result that I reckon I could just about sell the recipe to a restaurant. lol

The family and I sure enjoyed eating them!!!

Sorry Min I tried to ring you but there was no answer.

Honest truth!!!

These are the Fish Fillets. As I said I don't like fish but I really enjoyed these because they didn't have a fishy taste.

Buon Appetito!!!

My teddy Rufus

Greetings blogsters,
seeing that I did say in my profile that I enjoy making bears, I thought I better post a photo of at least one of my bears.
This is my first opened mouth bear I have made. He is made from good quality synthetic fur, suede hand and foot pads and glass eyes. His face has been scissor sculpeted to give him his charecter. He stands at around 22cm high, is jointed at arms and legs and head with wooden disks and cotter pins, this makes him very posable.
The back of his eyes have been shaded with copic markers.
I enjoy making bears as I never know what charecter they take on. I look forward to finishing them and see what name suits them.
This one I thought looked like a Rufus! What do you think?

The tongue on this little fellow was also shaded using copic markers.