A bit of history and an amazing gift

A few weeks ago I was involved in an event which highlights the heritage of the lovely city I call home. Twice a year three generous owners open their heritage homes to the public. The latest were...

..the Victorian era Rhossili..

Federation period Ballachulish...

...and 1850s Claremont.

The best part of the day however, came later that evening, when  the call came telling me my beautiful daughter was about to receive an amazing gift.. She had been waiting for many months now for a lung transplant and thanks to a wonderful family's generosity, she has a chance for a longer life to enjoy all the things most of us take for granted. She is recovering well and is determined to honour her donor's gift by living well.

I am so very grateful.

Last hurrah..

from my roses that is... lots of blooms before their winter shut down and pruning.

I am sometimes amazed that they bloom at all, as I'm not the most consistent gardener. Aren't they lovely!

I've been a bit wrapped up in heritage stuff the last couple of weeks so I thought I would share one of the gorgeous houses open in Ipswich last weekend as part of the Heritage Festival. This is 'Toronto'.

And it is every bit as cute on the inside as it is on the outside! This is what it looked like in the 1970s.

Looks a bit different now!

A little busy...

... but not with crafty stuff, more of the heritage stuff. We had a very busy Mother's Day at Wolston House, so I didn't catch up with my children that day except by phone.
On the Monday, my daughter took me out for morning tea at Top of Town, Ipswich, which has all sorts of shops with lots of vintage goodies on offer. This was my haul.

If you are ever in Ipswich looking for vintage treasures, the place to go is The Vintage Advantage. That's where I found the milk & sugar set and the salad servers (with bakelite handles). Yummy morning tea at Laneway 17.

Visiting friends

Last Friday a National Trust group visited this gorgeous house in Ipswich as part of a bus trip. I wasn't on the bus of course as I live here, and because the owners of the house are friends of mine, I went over early to help with the setting up. It was a beautiful day and its beauty was only exceeded by the morning tea.

The owners won a Heritage award for their restoration of this house; when they bought it, it was divided into two flats and the verandahs were enclosed. The garden is also delightful and has been part of the Open Garden scheme.

Even the birds were impressed, although, as you can see, there wasn't much left for them.

After a lovely lunch at the nearby City View Hotel (not that we needed it!) we visited the Antiques Centre for a leisurely browse.

Just a lovely day out, and best of all, I didn't have far to travel home.

Quilt show

Last Friday I popped in to a little show here in Ipswich. Quilts and craft were on display in St Paul's Anglican Church, one of the oldest churches in Queensland.

The quilts look lovely draped over pews and hanging from the rafters. My new camera is taking a bit of getting used to and most of my pictures of quilts were too blurry to use. This one with hexies turned out OK.

On show also were the Queensland Quilters 2012 Challenge quilts. This is the winning one.

 Ipswich Spinners and Weavers and the local lacemaker's guild also had crafts on display. A lovely way to spend an hour or so.

Day 2 - Blogtoberfest

Today was my first paid gig as a tour guide as I took a group around my home town of Ipswich, showing them all the wonderful heritage homes. We stopped for morning tea and a tour at this fabulous home, "Goolawan", whose owners consider themselves as custodians and graciously allow groups to wander at will (after first treating them to a fabulous home-baked morning tea served on beautiful china in an exquisitely furnished dining room). I was in heaven.

The garden was lovely too!

Tuesday Treasures

Living in a city, even a small one like Ipswich, requires a few spaces being left to nature or planned as parklands. My favourite local park has been around for almost as long as the town. Queens Park has it all- open spaces, playgrounds for children, a great cafe and a nature park complete with bilbies and Australian native animals and birds- free of charge for all visitors.

There is also the Japanese- style Nerima Garden with an authentic Japanese Tea House. I love to take my visitors there as it is a combination of heritage spaces such as the greenhouse and fernery dating back to the 1920's-30's and the more modern Queens Park cafe (replacing the much older kiosk) and environment centre.

My grand-daughter loves the animals and over the years we have watched swans breeding (one day we were there when a cygnet hatched!) and the introduction of the bilbies and quolls. There is also a little section for farm animals and there are always calves, piglets and chickens to pat.

In the park also is one of the few buildings left standing that were designed by Walter Burley Griffin (the designer of Canberra). It started its life as an incinerator to burn the city's rubbish, but has long had a second life as the home of the Ipswich little theatre group.

A real treasure for the people of Ipswich to enjoy.

Pop on over to Melody's to see who else is sharing today. You'll have to click the link on the right as I'm still having problems with Blogger.