A visit to Boort

Thought I would post these charming photos after a visit to Boort (Northern Victoria) today. Note the lovely childrens merry go round that is available for hire - how delightful! And what about the pub !! Great 'bones' - dont know about the colour scheme!!!! I had a terrific rummage through the Boort op shop and came home with some great vintage fabric and patterns. There are also a couple of very artistic, creative and vintage shops that make it well worth a drive if you live in the nearby area........little country towns are just gold for character and great discoveries !

Mildura Art Deco Walking Tour Map

Click on the image to enlarge.....oh for the heydays of these elegent, classy buildings ! Do you think people will ooh and ahhh over a Safeway complex in 80 years time????? (My sincerest of apologies for dreadful way this map has come through. We have a new computer that is proving extreemly hard to navagate - especially the image related programs! Grrrrrrr)

Mildura - Provincial Art Deco City

We have just returned from a lovely little jaunt to Mildura, pop. 60,000, on the wide banks of the Murray River. What a stunning town, full of friendly people, some great eateries, and pleasant shopping, but the thing that impressed us most was the architecture! Mildura is overflowing with art deco era buildings, both public and private, and we had a wonderful time exploring their "Art Deco Walk" which is a self guided tour of these gracious old buildings. Hats off to the Mildura City Council for recognising that value of these beautiful buildings and making them a feature of their town. We pondered why Mildura would have so many great examples of 1920's-1930's architecture, and had to conclude that they were obviously smart enough (or did not have any rough shod developers) in the 60's, 70's and 80's to avoid destroying buildings that, at that point in 20th century history, were not valued as they are today. Bravo Mildura !!

Some snaps of what we saw.....there were many many more buildings that I simply didnt get a chance to photograph due to chasing three bubbies, but I am sure this will give you the idea !!! I will also attatch the map of the walking tour as it has lots of interesting heritage details......

Brisbane Retro/Antique Shopping Guide

A wonderful map detailing all the retro, vintage and antique shops in the charming Australian city of Brisbane. Enjoy ! (Click on image to enlarge)

Old Fashioned Flower of the Season - Winter 2009

WINTER IRIS

This adorable little flower lights up our garden in the winter time.....and TOUGH ! This is the toughest plant I have ever come across - a must for water restricted gardens. A lovely green stappy leafed plant (the kind that are oh so popular right now), winter iris flower from June to September with a stunning little purple iris flower and look brilliant when mass planted. I have planted them just outside my front fence between the rence and the footpath, in rough imporverished soil. Nearby on the nature strip are two large ash trees that compete for moisture, and they are up against our concrete brick fence, which, unfortunatly, is also a mositure sucker ! In this hostile environment they have done wonderfully well with little or no care, attention or water - even during our last horrific Australian summer with two weeks of temperatures above 40 degrees !!! They truely are amazing little gems.

Winter iris will require watering through their first season to get them established, but after that just leave them be and enjoy their stunning, easy care display time and again. Their latin name is I.unguicularis and they can be ordered in Australia from Tesslars (online ordering).