~Written and edited by Veronica Clark ~

Monday 25 June 2012

Wash Day Blues....

Hello everyone!!!

How was your weekend? Ours was wet and very cold. The kind where, the front of the fireplace is the only place you want to be with a throw, snoring dogs at your feet, a good red wine and a lovely pile of magazines and a good book!


Now its Monday morn and....

..well, I stumbled out of bed and poured myself a cup of ambition and viewed the bulging laundry basket with a look of utter dismay!! I swear it was empty on Friday!! Not even a lost sock in sight...and I was home alone all weekend and wore the same outfit twice???




I love these apothecary jars! Mine are all safely ensconced on my formal dining table and I am not sure that they are going to do duty in the laundry room just yet!



Let me explain.... I share the basket with a dance student, aka my son, Byron. He has perfected the fine art of "layering" for the cold wet winter's mornings of The Mother City. Please, let  me emphatically,  empathise that word "layering", hence, the pregnant laundry basket...sigh...a long layered sigh!!  And again.....s...i...g...h...





Glamorous chandelier for the laundry room and I have to say that the aqua colour of the walls would definitely have a calming affect for a labouring laundry maid!

His morning ritual ( can't really call it anything else than a ritual) of dressing for class is as follows .... first, his dance/jazz  pants with a sleeveless vest, followed by a tight long sleeve "under top" ( just until he is warmed up in class...), followed by an over top or two, depending on the frostiness of his bedroom chambers. Finally it is topped off with a hoodie, for... if it rains and then a jacket against the wind, you understand? Feet...ditto!
Thin ballet socks followed by thin actual socks, followed by thick woollen socks... I am surprised that he fits them, his socked up feet, into his shoes at all!!! All this for the walk from the car park to the dance studio...




Another glamorous chandelier for the laundry room! Have I missed a trend or what? Note to self... investigate laundry in new house to see if a chandelier might be an option....as chief laundry maid, I  defiantly need some eye candy in there to deter sighing and the odd screech... will fill you in , in due time....


 Oh yes, did I mention that it is winter here and that our winters are wet wet wet... and getting the laundry dry, without using the tumble drier and the entire supply of Eskom Electricity is a fine art in management that needs far more publicity than it currently enjoys. Sigh....electric one this time....




Serious electric consumption going on in here but glam all the same...check those jars out. Maybe mine should move from the dining table to the laundry...


Getting things dry is, well a stroke of luck really...  Time to top up my cup of ambition afore I tackle it, the pregnant basket, and wrestle it into submission...




This one might work for me...

I bet few laundries actually look as civilised as these do on laundry day....




What a great sorting system... one which will fail outright in my house with the dance student. Well, when he disrobes his layered self  at bath time from his sweaty layers he somehow manages to do it in one movement...yip all them layers lands, if I am lucky, into the laundry basket as if it one solid garment. Emphasis on solid!!

Enters the laundry maid circa 2012....fuelled up by two cups of coffee and on caffeine high ....



...what follows now is not for printing...but some choice words gets uttered whilst I try to disentangle the multiple layers!!!  This is not an exercise you wanna attempt when in a rush... you just quickly wanted to throw the laundry into the machine in passing out the door to do your shopping....no sirree this is a gym workout of approximately an hour, preferably done alone ( to spare anyone the words that fly randomly from your lips) whilst you yourself start to disrobe from the heat generated in your entangled wrestle.

The dog runs for cover. If the student was home on a Monday morn, well, I might be writing this from my cell and if the neighbour caught a glimpse of me in this instant I might I might be writing it from an asylum!!




Now, this might just be the answer....a sophisticated room where no choice language is allowed and a chair on which to perch, the calming sounds of Vivaldi's four seasons rings out while I sit and gently disentangle my dearest beloved sons dance ensemble while humming along!!!




...and when I'm done I will still be in the mood to arrange a vase or two...




Love this space and the colours




The red denotes my laundry mood!!!




A round of applause please!!! All the layers have been disentangled, I am still a free women, the student is alive and  was last seen roaming on the beachfront and it is not raining, it just looks rather bleak outside and the kettle is on of a top up on the ambition!






Live Well

Veronica

xxx

All laundry rants and screeches may be left in the comment box below, choice language...well...optional...and all sympathetic comments will get preference...

Images from Pinterest

Thursday 14 June 2012

Winter Settles In....

Hi Everyone!!

Cape Town is looking fabulous today. It is sunny and clear but cold. Last week's solid rain is completely forgotten, but for the wonderful fragrance of damp leaves and moss.

Winter has settled in and evenings are for fireside lounging with a glass of red, a good book and snoring dogs at my feet! The only problem with that lil picture is... when the fire dies down and I have to brave the cold to put the dogs to bed in the shed outside and wait around for them to find a suitable spot for their deposits!!! No amount of encouraging helps to speed up the selection and they merely regard me with a forlorn look of slight irritation... 

Please note, that if it is raining, they both look at me as if I am completely crazy and retreat rapidly back to their snoring pad in front of the fireplace.


After locking up I race to the bathroom and hop around until my warm bubble bath is drawn!!


Now, I know that our winters simply does not compare on the scale of cold, to my friends in the Northern Hemisphere, but it is all relative...isn't it?



What a number to wrap up in for winter.... Love the warm and rich colours and hope that it is faux!! Time to whip out the  brick red lipstick which is only a good idea, in winter for me, anyway.






Where was this picture when I did my post on orange and blue??

So much to take in and so much warmth.




Mary Mc Donald




Maybe just a touch of faux fur is a better idea than a full coat. What do you think? Do you wear faux fur?

Again, just adore the colours...




Have a closer look at the painting above the fire place. It almost resembles a mirror. I adore it and would love to have it above my fireplace.





A Wonderful combination of faded denim and tweeds is just timeless and my favourite informal look. I will never forget how we used to scrub our dark jeans with a brush and vim in the days before we could actually buy faded ones!!

By the way, my best loved items in winter is my woollen hiking socks! Very unglamourous, I know.... but no one sees them in my boots! A small price to pay for toasties toes!




Gorgeous wooden panelling and textures abound creating a cosy ambiance and it would be very hard to get up from here to brave the cold outdoors for doggies call of nature....sigh!





Winter white wonders....





Whipped cream elegance ...







Love the hat, Madam...






Of course, you have seen this picture before, but I find it hard to resist! Fireside heaven...






Paris....of course...cafes, opinionated waiters and a coat to start a conversation or a mini revolution?





Chianti or Shiraz?







My style...






A bold look.




Thank you for your warm company...

Live well and keep warm

Veronica

xxx

Images ~ Pinterest

I await your comments below..am all ears...

Monday 4 June 2012

At the Touch of Love, Everyone Becomes a Poet ~ Plato

Hello everyone

My posts have been few and far between while I am busy selling my house and getting my new life in order. I hope to change that soon and get back to posting regularly but in the meantime, I thank you all for bearing with me. I miss it soooo much!!

But, I could simply not miss out on our monthly " By Invitation Only" party!! So come with me...


From This Moment on....





I invite you to a special place, to share a few very precious moments with me...



Once in awhile,
Right in the middle of an ordinary life,
Love gives us a fairy tale. ~ Anonymous




You have your invite...





The cakes are baked....





... kissed by a butterfly...




...decorations are done...




....flowers arranged in my favourite urns, of course ( you know me...)




Tables are decked in the garden of the Abbey for...





...  for a quick refreshing drink, before you go inside ....





...and maybe a light nibble ...






Lil girls are dressed and whispering secrets ...






The bride is getting ready...






perfection....





A long awaited moment....




To love and be loved is to feel the sun
from both sides. ~ David Viscott





A part of you has grown in me. And so you see,
it's you and me forever and never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart.

Unknown




You know you're in love when you can't fall
asleep
because reality is finally better than your dreams.
~ Dr Seus ~



Now, lets head to the reception













 The drinks lobby is so very festive....





.... come on, take a closer look ...




If I could reach up and hold a star for every time
 you've made me smile,
the entire evening sky would be in the palm
of my hand

~ Author Unknown ~






Silver candelabra, flickering candle light fragranced by St Josef's lilies, crystal, taffeta and a string quartet....





Food of love...


Breathtaking...


A feast of love...




I think, that we should nip into the Opera House for a couple of pics...





Just Married!!




Now, do not forget to hop on over to join us at our International Link Up over at my dear  friend Marsha from Splenderosa for a feast of love!


All images from my Pinterest Boards




Thank you for you company

Live Well and Love Well

Veronica

xxx

Your comments are so special to me and I appreciate each one....