This week - Cleaning up, Gardens and Shoes

This week has been a week of cleaning up. I have been helping my Dad by clearing out Mum's things -  my younger Sister has been back for a couple of weeks from Melbourne to help out.  I had helped to clear out some things around 3 or 4 months ago, when Mum had become too ill to choose her own clothes and Dad was feeling overwhelmed when he opened up her wardrobes. But there was still a lot to sort through, and it has taken hours and hours. The silver lining of all this is that we have nearly completed a difficult and emotionally draining task. At any rate, I was the beneficiary of some of my Mother's shoes. We used to call her "Imelda" (my father referred to her as "the centipede" because she had so many pairs), as she was quite the shoe addict, and mum and I wore the same size. So I wore these to my son's Sports Day on Friday. They were from Sambag, and have a bit of a black and ecru scarf print on them.

The cleaning out mood also lead to my own home. I made way for the new shoes by throwing out 5 pairs that were past their prime in my dressing room, and also spending several hours cleaning out H's bedroom while he was at School (and so unable to continue his hoarding ways). He hasn't even noticed that I threw out a whole garbage bag worth of bits of paper and drawings, old lego club magazines, and junky plastic toys (ie landfill) received in goodie bags at parties. I sorted out his bookshelves, and it is all a lot neater. Next I have to tackle the playroom before the builders move in.



Yesterday was my Mother's Birthday. We headed up to Stirling to see Dad and to have afternoon tea and a wander in the garden. We spent some time in the Rose Garden, which is looking spectacular at the moment (as are the roses in the whole of Adelaide). The Rose Garden is part of the original Victorian layout, and is bordered by 4 meter high Rhododendron hedges that are currently in bloom. The garden is filled with flag irises amongst the roses, and there are a few feature plants that Victorian's loved, such as a large palm, and some Cycads dotted at slightly random positions. Mum loved Roses, and had spent a lot of time planting and regenerating this area. One of them, Delbard's "Henri Matisse", reminds me of the book "Through the Looking Glass" (the sequel to "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carol) where the white roses are being painted red under order by the Queen of Hearts.

Flag Irises and Roses

Rhododendron hedge, this is around 3-4 meters high

Another Delbard rose, "Henri Matisse"

And so, last night Mr AV and I went out to dinner at "The Pot" in Hyde Park. Mr AV is off to New York this week for work, but will only be gone for a few days. He asked if I wanted anything brought back from New York (unusual, he usually doesn't ask) and I actually couldn't think of anything.... I don't know what's wrong with me?! At any rate, the meal was superb. I ate the Pork Belly - delicious caramelised peanut salty sweetness crackling with melting meat underneath, and a very fresh and sharply tasty asian style green pawpaw coleslaw. Delish. I wore my Sergio Rossi peacock feather strappy sandals. My sore foot coped well with the extremely high heel, so I guess it's healed enough to get back into exercise. Oh Great.

I've made a few warm weather meals this week, and made this twice - Vietnamese cold spring rolls with my Vietnamese dipping sauce. It is always a big hit with the kids, and they tend to eat a lot more vegetables than they normally would. I put them on a big platter that I bought for Christmas entertaining this week from Outdoors on Parade (they also come in fluro colours, which would look great if you have an all white interior). These spring rolls contained baby spinach leaves, grated carrot, grilled chicken, spring onions, cucumber, coriander and rice noodles. They were completely inauthentic, but tasted great.

Inauthentic Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Lastly, I know you've all been dying to see how my cuttings have been going. So far, my Father's predicted death rate of 80% has not materialised. Hooray! I've got some very healthy Salvias, Sedums and Ecchiums. The lambs ears have unsurprisingly died. They were kind of an experiment. I might leave them in their pots for another week or two and then plant them out in the garden.

Hope you all had a great week x