In between sick children (and Sick Husband, the worst situation of them all), I did manage to get out and about. Working backward, last night I escaped the House of the Plague, and went to see Mozart's Requiem performed by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Town Hall with my Dad. It was lovely, and strangely enough after saying that I hadn't seen a performance of the Requiem for ages (although you certainly hear it all the time as background music for Car advertisements), I had a sudden flash back to July, where I had a fleeting visit to Melbourne of under 24 hours to see the Requiem performed by Orchestra Victoria at the Recital Hall. I had completely forgotten about it. Last night I wore this emerald green silk Kate Spade top and seaglass green Kate Spade necklace. Disclaimer: my arms are not this scarily twig like in real life, it's a strange optical illusion (why does this never happen with my hips?).
I also had a day out shopping with a friend during the week. I Never do this. Really, I can't remember the last time I went shopping with anyone. Mostly because I'm so talented at shopping on the net, but also because shopping with small children is just tortuous (and most of my friends have them as well = double torture). Child free, we went down King William Road in Hyde Park, and when I saw this dress in Denim Iniquity, I knew that it was highly likely I was going to break my self imposed No More Shopping for Summer ban even before I tried it on. Doesn't it look suspiciously like a blown up Liberty print pattern (that appears on one of E.'s skirts I blogged about here).
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| E's skirt |
It was only by closer comparison at home that it appears to be a "tribute" to this liberty print - slightly different floral pattern, scale and colours, but similar nonetheless. I know I said I wouldn't buy any liberty print for myself.....but I bought this one (and technically it's not liberty print anyway). E is thrilled that we can do a matching mother/daughter look.
In gardening news, I've spent the week with my landscape guy trying to work out where a leak is from the automatic watering system. Thrilling. But I've also planted out some of my cuttings, which are doing well. I also did the rounds of the all the local nurseries trying to find some David Austin roses for my Mother in Law's Christmas present (hard at this time of year to get multiples of the same type). Now that I have them all home, I'm so tempted to keep them - aren't they pretty?
I'm gardening by stealth at my In Law's. After subdividing part of their garden and putting two houses on it, they have been left with two large and very empty garden beds in the remaining garden. The beds have stayed like this for the past year and a half. I've been busy planting things every now and again - they are not gardeners and are waiting to do the garden up with the landscaper.....eventually. My Mother in Law loves roses, and is very pleased that we gave some for her Birthday present in the middle of the year, so we have some more (my sisters in law have also contributed), and I'm going to plant some of the salvia cuttings I grew, and replant some of the flag irises that are growing in the gravel along their driveway in amongst the roses. I think in another year or two I might have filled up one of the garden beds for her.
And I've almost finished the book Wild Swans, by Jung Cheng, which is for my bookclub. I'm not sure what possessed the girl who chose it in the group to select a book in excess of 700 pages, but I've been wading through it - it's a history of Communism through the life of one family in China - a biography that is celebrating it's 21st year since it was initially published. I've enjoyed it, but have had some strange dreams whereby I'm a Communist in China in the 1950's. Disturbing. I've stopped reading it before bed as a result.
Hope you've escaped the Plague in your house and had a better week than me! xx