Beachlife.

We have been having a fabulous time out here at The Beach House. Not a complete holiday unfortunately as both The Farmer and myself have had to drive back and forth to The Farm and our country town to work. Not a huge distance so we have definitely survived.   Given that temps on The Farm have been regularly in the mid 40sC the beach has been by far the better option.... After today though we are both on full-time holidays so that will be lovely.

The Farmkids have been busy beaching and enjoying themselves.  We did a bit of "landscaping" in the back garden and installed a patio/pool arrangement....

Relaxing

We also have put some quality time into really important things like teaching Herbie to skateboard.... Needless to say he prefers a snooze on our bed.

More Relaxing

Books have been read. Yummy food has been eaten and lots of bike-riding and swimming has been done.  We have had the boat in a few times and Farmgirl and I did some ski-biscuiting.

Farmgirl and I Doing Our Best Bond Girl Impression. She Has More Natural Talent Than Me.

Lots of beach walking in the evening.

Pretty

Overall, work not withstanding, we are having a great time!


I have also had a few people asking about The Beach House and what it looks like!  I will try and grab some photos next time I give it a tidy up.    Basically it is a little weather-board house that has been renovated and is quite beachy and cute.  We love it and it has always provided a great place for our family to relax. Like lots of farmer's wives I struggle to get The Farmer to relax if we are on The Farm. Every weekend turns out to be some sort of working one, so coming out here has always provided an escape for us all.

Anyway - I had best go and do exciting jobs such as changing the sheets on Farmboy's bed!

Hope everyone is enjoying summer and not completely roasting in the heat.  It has been just horrible in WA and the fires in the Perth Hills have been hideous.  55 homes lost.  Not nice at all.

Take care.

The Beach.

Well I have finally bobbed up post Christmas Craziness at The Beach. Yay and double yay!  After an extremely busy Christmas and then a trip to Busselton for my sister-in-law's surprise 40th, we eventually got ourselves out to The Beach House.  And are planning to stay here for a few weeks.....

Beach

The first full day we were here I was in a jumpy, non-beachy mood so I concentrated my efforts on cleaning out The Beach House kitchen cupboards.  We had not been out here much last summer (as we had the big NYC trip) and hence the pantry had a few interesting surprises of the vintage spice/aged curry powder type.  Needless to say, once I had expended all my excess energy and made enough order at The Beach House for my type A personality,  I was able to relax into holiday mode.  We had a gorgeous beachy morning with The Farmkids yesterday.  So much easier now they can both swim!

One of my favourite things about life in a little coastal town is the "town" bit.  Living on a farm our friends and neighbours are usually a decent drive away.  We are lucky enough to have close friends with a beach house in the same street here and lots of other friends just a short walk away.  This results in lots of wandering around drinking coffee or wine depending on the hour.  Having a local fish and chip shop seems like a luxury coming from The Farm!  (Although one meal of fish and chips always seems enough for a few weeks...)

Old Photo - Put In As I Had Lost This Hat And Found It While Cleaning Out Cupboards - Yay!

So - enough smug beachiness from me for now.  I will try and pop up the odd blog post whilst out here as I will hopefully have a bit more time.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  Once again no huge New year's resolutions for me.

Take care wherever you are.

x

More Beach

Have A Happy Sparkly Christmas!

The blogger known as FF received an email  telling her that sequins are over.  Here at The Farm we have come out strongly in support of the sequin and everything sparkly, particularly in all things Christmas.

Look.

Nothing Says Christmas Like Red Sequinned Baubles

Or Silver Ones

Or Even Gold For That Matter...

Sparkly Baby Owl

Disco Deer

Little Tree That Rude Guests May Have Referred To As Drag Queen Tree.  Which I Took As A Compliment.

I hope wherever you are you have a truly fabulous Christmas with family and friends.

Stay safe.

xx

Merry Christmas

A Winner - Cranmore Home Giveaway.

Good morning!  I have drawn a winner for the gorgeous share platter from Cranmore Home.  The winner is Mel from Coal Valley View.  Congratulations Mel.  If you could send me through a quick email with your address and which design you would like on your platter then I will pass those details on to Tracy.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

We are elbow deep in the last week of school and all that comes with it here plus harvest should finish within the next day or so.  Yay!!

Take care and enjoy your Wednesday.

Lovely Things. Cranmore Home And A Giveaway!

Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while will know that I have a little weakness in regards to on-line shopping.  So imagine how thrilled I was when a Western Australian based on-line homewares business approached me with the offer of a little giveaway.  Cranmore Home is run by a bona fide WA farmer's wife, Tracy Lefroy, so I was happy to hop on the bandwagon, particularly after I had had a little peak around the Cranmore Home site.

No Undercushioning Here.

Seriously - it is like a little treasure trove over there. An Aladdin's Cave of a shop - and it is on-line!  Yay.  I far too frequently find gorgeous little shops that I would like to visit again and again except for the fact that they are miles away from where I live.  (Although, let's face it - pretty much everything is miles away from where I live. ) I can pop into Cranmore Home anytime I like.  

Look at the sort of stuff you can find if you have a browse around the Cranmore Home website.

Pretty Things

More Pretty Things

I Just Want To Hop In That Bed And Have A Little Sleep!

There are two things I really liked about the Cranmore Home site.  The first is the fact that the stock is just a little bit different from the usual on-line homewares stuff you can find. I love that - especially at this time of year when I am trying to find presents for everyone.  The second is that lots of the stock is designed in Australia.  As I have to send gifts overseas (to people who live in cool shopping mecca places like Manhattan and Copenhagen) finding something locally made or designed that isn't too touristy or ugly has been fabulous.

So - overall Cranmore Home is a lovely little on-line destination when you feel like a browse.

Incidentally Cranmore Home is named after the property Tracy and her husband run.  It is a gorgeous old family property and the homestead has been featured in lots of interior design blogs.  Pop over to Tracy's facebook page to have a look if you love old houses - definitely worth a peak!

Now - the giveaway bit.  Tracy has very kindly offered one of my readers the chance to win one of these incredibly useful wooden share platters.  They are made in Australia from recycled wood by Rabbit Trap Timber.  And the best bit is Tracy will let the winner pick which one they want from the designs below.  

Rustic and Useful - What's Not To Love?

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post - I will randomly draw a winner next week.  If you want an extra entry then just let me know in your comment what your favourite thing on the Cranmore Home site is!  That's it.  Too easy.  Get to it.

Addit - This is not really a sponsored post in that I received no payment - I was just happy to run a giveaway and adore the website.  Plus love helping out a fellow farmer's wife....

Oh - and if you are based in Perth Tracy is having a pop-up shop on Dec 14th in a converted shearing shed near GinGin called "Beermullah"  Click here for all the details.  

Ladies Who Lunch.

Lots going on here.  The Farmkids finish school at the end of next week and then it will be on for young and old until we get to January.  All good fun though.

I had a lunch for some friends at The Farmhouse recently.  Thought I would quickly pop up some photos I have.  I will try and do a proper Christmas decoration post soon.  Plus I will take some photos of The Quarters - just need to get up there and clean up all the dead flies first.  I am seriously considering trying to photoshop the flies out.  Given that my vacuuming skills far outweigh my photoshop skills I may be better just cleaning I think.

Anyway.

Pretty Tables Set For Lunch

Slim Pickings In The Flower Department

Not much else to report really.  Has anyone read The Phryne Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood? I adore them and have just read the latest.  Late 1920s Melbourne is an excellent world to lose yourself in.  Phryne is such a fabulous character too.  I have finished the book and now want my own pearl handled pistol and Hispano Suiza....

Anyway - best go. Once again I am writing this in the early morning and The Farmkids are now up and demanding breakfast.

Take care and have a good day.

Christmas Tree

Harvest.

It is all go here.  We are harvesting away and thankfully making good progress.  I thought I better pop up some photos of the headers as I know how you all come to the blog for the heavy machinery.

The house paddock was done a little while ago.  When The Farmkids were small they used to get all excited when the gear was near the house.  Now they are bigger they have a quick look and then go back to what they were doing.....

I still get excited though so I took these photos.

Headers Doing Their Thing

When the blog first started I took this photo of the harvest in our house paddock.  That was three years ago!  Where does time go?

Watching The Harvest At Sunset

The Farmkids had been to a Halloween party - hence the pitchfork.  The more observant amongst you will notice we have changed the colour of our headers.

This years harvest is going well so far and yields are good.  We are very grateful for this - hopefully it will keep going well. Fingers crossed.

It wouldn't be The Farm if there wasn't a little bit of drama.

There was a fire a few weeks ago which was started by lightning.  Fortunately it then pelted down with rain and so the fire went out.

Smoke On The Horizon. Never Good In November.

So what else? The Quarters are pretty much finished.  I need to get up there and take some photos.  We have had several guests stay so far, including my parents, who we put in first.  I knew Mum would tell me exactly what else I needed and whether it was comfy or not! So they were the perfect first guests.

I will take some photos soon.  I have honestly not had the chance.  Here a quick photo of the verandah and some new chairs as a little taster.

Verandah

The Farmhouse is also decorated for Christmas.  I will try and get some photos of that too for you all.

Anyway - best go.  I have resorted to writing this in the early morning and The Farmkids are now up looking for breakfast so I suppose I better feed them....

Enjoy Friday.

PS - Did anyone else watch The Bachelor?  I was fascinated by Stalker Ali with The Psycho Eyes.