What a lovely, normal, homely weekend we had! The sun shone, the garden grew, the cool spring breeze blew and our little family enjoyed every little moment on offer.
Friday night we had our lovely neighbours and their kids over for dinner. I cooked a vego dinner of stuffed pasta shells filled with Spinach & zucchini & ricotta and baked in tomato sauce and smothered in grana padano cheese with a side salad of rocket & parm cheese and some good quality bread. Dessert was dead simple Maggie Beer’s Burnt Fig ice cream (if you have not tried this get a tub NOW, that’s an order!) with strawberries. It was a simple dinner. Simple table setting. Simple flowers. Great company. Fabulous wine and well behaved kids – just about the perfect Friday night in this village.
I cannot get enough of these flowers. Hot pink roses are generally not my thing, but they were in the bucket at Harris Farm that has the flowers on the cheap because they are at the end of their tether, so for $3 a bunch I grabbed two, stripped them of most of their leaves, shoved both tight and cut them short and threw them into a preserving jar I had in the cupboard. The green stems are as much of a highlight for me as those hot blooms. LOVE.
Saturday we had out visitors cancel at the last minute. Again. So we made our our plans and called on some other friends to go out with us. Who is going to waste a booked in babysitter? Not us! We had a lovely dinner with new friends, ate some fancy food and enjoyed being out at one of the great local restaurants we have on offer down here and that has just landed itself a hat!
Sunday the sun was shining so we decided to get stuck into the garden. And boy is there ever always something to get stuck into. It. Never. Ends. Rob had made the lawns perfect for our non existent guests (I’m not going there) so we tackled some of the projects we needed to get done. My job was a garden bed that was FILLED with weeds. I knew they were there. I knew they were growing at a rapid rate. And I tackled them! Daisy helped me out and an hour later, we had a fresh bed of weeded and pruned agapanthus under our snow pear outside our bedroom window. A simple job but one that made me feel great when it was done – gardening can be such a great thing to do when you can instantly see results. And look at that white wisteria would you? I had that sweet scent by my side as I weeded so it wasn’t too bad at all. And Daisy with some seriously big garden shears – a great help!
Rob’s job was bigger and hard work. Our septic tank (well fancy enviro cycle thingy) is covered in native grasses that helps soak up all the water that seeps from the tank (on purpose though!). The grasses need to be cut back each year, and it’s a huge job. Rob tackled it and we both filled many bags with many dead reeds. But the end result? TOTALLY worth the effort. We could never have tackled this job a year ago – we’ve come a long way – and I’m very proud!
I stepped back, soaked up our huuuuuge garden and once again counted my lucky stars. This? Ours? And with all our hard work thrown in? Even better.
Glorious Beth – every bit.
As for the Maggie Beer – too true.
Happy day my friend, fill your lungs with that glorious spring air.
You know there’s a fabulous book (and maybe a TV mini series – Melissa George?) in this last couple of years, don’t you?!
Good on you for not letting (what I imagine to be) a disappointment ruin a gorgeous weekend.
🙂
Man, your Friday night dinner sounds amazing. Simple dinners are the best dinners. Haven’t tried Maggie Beer ice cream but have been meaning to for AGES. It’s perfect ice cream weather in Sydney today, so I may have an excuse to go and get some xxx
Wow! What an amazing weekend, & that table setting …
Too beautiful!
Ugh. Friends who continuously cancel at the last minute truly piss me off.
Sounds like you had a better night with new friend’s anyway 🙂
You seriously have one enviable garden! Grasses on the septic look great. I’m new to this septic thing and we’ve yet to work out what to do with that area.
And how are those hot pink blooms?! So beautiful!
Family time in the garden sounds a pretty perfect way to spend the weekend, and worth your efforts, it’s amazing! I love your table setting too, you’ve inspired me to plan a dinner party..
That is a mighty impressive effort, Beth. From the entertaining to all that weeding – I bet you now need a weekend off to recover! J x
those flowers, that garden, swoon.
I suddenly felt disheartened seeing your weed-free & fab garden. Why can’t I have it all!
Beth, your garden is ridiculous! It’s so much hard work and up-keep but it’s sure paying off for you guys!
…kinds puts my balcony strawberries to shame, really 😉 x
You’ve reminded me that I need to give my own weeds some loving attention. I wish I had that wisteria to keep me company too!! x
Am I game to admit that I haven’t ever tried that ice cream … but it sounds delish and I promise I will as soon as I can find it.
As for your garden – well that is bloody amazing.
And I agree – you don’t ever waste a babysitter EVER!
How good is that Maggie Beer? Riduculous huh?!
Who are these people that don’t turn up? Don’t they know what they’re missing out on?
There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting back and admiring a hard days work in the yard. It looks great Beth. x
It’s so good that you were able to spontaneously gather some friends and have a great time when your other invited guests were a no show! Maxabella has a little post on such issues! Lovely garden!
I love the flowers, a good idea i will have to remember! x
Oh that wisteria… anything but wistful, love it lady :o)
Also loving those hottie roses. You can now add florist to your long list of accomplishments, they look awesome in that preserves jar. Well done on all your combined hard work with the garden, it’s truly spectacular xo
I love the hit pink roses in the jar! And ilove your gardens. I keep showing my husband pi tures of your house trying to convince him to move out of the bloody city. Not working yet!
Bliss!!
Check out that table setting. You really truly are a proper grown up.
Rachel xoxo
(ps typo at para 4 ‘out’ vs ‘our’. tres school teacher of me, i know, but i always appreciate it when people let me know! xo)
. . . or maybe they were “out” visitors, because you were meant to go out with them?!?!?!
You know, if we were invited to your place for dinner, short of loosing a limb or a substantial amount of bodily fluids and/or blood we would never EVER cancel on you. Ever.