Sunday Kindness

Once again a beautiful gerbra, I know, I know, I am addicted.

So for a little Sunday morning kindness.....

Choose being kind over being right,

and you'll be right every time.

Richard Carlson

Have a beautiful Sunday.

Renovations and Gerbras

The markets on Sunday are the best place in town to get some wonderful gerbras.  The couple who run the stall get their freshly cut flowers direct from the grower and they are just stunning.  Three bunches of bright, glorious colour for $10 now that is a bargain don't you think?

I love gerbras I know I've said it before but I do so here's a few shots for you.

Oh aren't they just gorgeous?!!!!!

Now my next project is my studio/grannyflat/mother in law apartment, whatever it would be called in your neck of the woods.  Until now this room/studio/flat has housed all the girls bits and pieces, packed and stored until they moved into town and their own house.  Which they did a few weeks back.  So yesterday I began the unpacking and sorting of all my scrapbooking, photography things.  No small task as I have a small shop load of gear up there, seriously.  I think I have the market sewn up on home scrapping equipment.  

First I will say the colour is changing, I am not a lime green girl, well not in this way anyway.

Neither am I a silver girl, gold all the way for me ha ha!!  So these colours will be going.  Not sure what I will replace them with yet, stay tuned.  I am on my way to buy some curtains today so probably a colour from them.  

So as you can see a big not quite empty canvas.  Over the bench in the first picture there is a kitchen, complete with sink, wall mounted urn and cupboards.  Also the rear door to the studio, I think that's what it will be mostly.  Then to the left there is the toilet, shower and vanity.  So a guest would be quite comfortable.  My thoughts originally were to totally dedicate this to visitors.  I have a great friend Gretchen in the states who I would love to come visit and a lovely couple John and Sharon from California and of course the adorable Helene and her family from Cannes.  But truthfully the number of visits will be much less than the use I will get daily from the space as my studio.  We could also fairly easily rearrange things when a visit is imminent.  Plus in a short while we are adding a new master suite to the house, so we will also have a bedroom, complete with the most incredibly comfortable queen bed and ensuite available in the main house.  Hence my decision to make it a studio.  

Come back and see what I eventually do to this space.  I want it to be a really great, comfortable, inspiring work space.  Let's see if I manage to make it happen.  Rather exciting really.

A Rainbow of Colour

Gerbras, they used to be old grandma's plants.  You know they would be these dreary little plants with a single ring of lonely petals round the spiky centre, that grew along the path from the gate to the steps to everyone's nana's house.  Well they were in my childhood neighbourhood. 

Well haven't they had a makeover, an extreme makeover, at that.  The last two weekends we have ventured down to our local Police Citizens Youth Club Sunday market.  I discovered, well actually I didn't discover my eldest daughter Alicia did, a man who sells these gorgeous gerbras. Freshly cut on the Friday, at $10 for 3 bunches of a dozen blooms a bunch.  Now here that is an absolute bargain.  So last weekend I bought 3 dozen and filled 3 vases, scattering them round the house.  This weekend Adrian got me 6 dozen of the gorgeous things, so I now have 6 dozen fresh flowers and about a dozen or more left over from last weekend.  It looks like a florist in here.  I love it!!!!

Some of the heads started to wilt a little over time so I snipped them off and put them in tiny crystal vases, one beside my bed and one in my office, so now I see them everywhere I go.

I haven't adjusted these at all in photoshop, only cropped off any extra background and the colours are still just beautiful.  How lucky am I to have all these beautiful girls smiling at me all around my home?!

I have a little recipe that I feed them that makes them last longer and the vase water look cleaner, I'll share it with you....

In about a litre of water, 1 teaspoon of bleach, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vinegar.  These little beauties love it, but I use it on all my fresh flowers.  With gerbras though, don't fill the vase with water.  Just say a quarter to half full otherwise the stems go slimy and soft, they last much better in shallower water and then every day or two change the water and snip a little stem off.  You'll get so much longer from your flowers.

So from me to you, lovely peach gerbras, lots of love all.