A Tale of Two Uncles

My Grandfather had two uncles.

They both answered the call of "Mother England" as Britain was called in NZ in 1914.  Strange isn't it, how even after several generations have lived in another country it is still not home.

No doubt both their parents were  both proud and very torn  that their beautiful young sons were about to board a ship that would take them to the other side of the world to fight a battle for "King and Country"

This is Uncle Henry Fulton, my Great Grandfather's brother, a beautiful young man off to France on a grand adventure (or so he thought).  He thankfully returned....


My Great Grandmother apparently adored her brother Gordon, so it must have been truly devastating to receive this.....

My dear Great Grandmother never got over it, this was by her bed until she died.  Florence named her baby (my Grandfather) after her brother, but I don't think it was ever the same...

He was buried in England at a  Military Cemetery, so no one could grieve at his grave,
no one could put flowers there to honour him.

Anzac Day is always Uncle Gordon's day for me. He went to War to defend what he believed to be right.  There was no conscription in NZ, so he went willingly, he volunteered along with thousands of other bright young men in their prime.  He died in a foreign country, with no loved ones by his side, he died so that we could live in freedom, and I am fiercely proud of him for that....

Princess Mary's Gift Book - 1914

I came across this amazing book several weeks ago on one of my thrift shop adventures, and absolutely feel in love with it.  Not only the book itself, but the sentiment behind it, which was to raise funds for the then Queen Mary's "Work for Women" Fund,  set up to help the enormous amount of needy women during WW1 (not only British women, but the floods of refugees that came into the country as well).

The thinking behind the fund was that it was better for women to work than to accept charity, so the fund provided money to help women secure paid employment - feminism at it's best - empowerment rather than penury.

Princess Mary was the daughter of King GeorgeV and Queen Mary and was born in 1897. Here she is at the time of the publication of this book. (photo taken from the book). She would have been about 17 years old.

The book itself includes short stories and poems from all sorts of well known authors of the time, such as J.M.Barrie and Rudyard Kipling.    The coloured plates are simply stunning and I have captured (somewhat badly) a selection of them to share with you!!

 This is "Fleur-de-Lis" painted by Carlton A. Smith, R.I.

"Instructing her dolly in the art of going off nicely to by-byes" - Painted by M.E. Gray

"A Spell for a Fairy" by Claude A. Shepperson, A.R.W.S.

Of course given the times, their were stories and poems of heroism, and patriotism as the poem below illustrates.

Princess Mary continued her charity work, her other most important contribution of this period being the "Princess Mary's Christmas Gift Fund" through which 100,000 British pounds were raised to send gifts to all British soldiers and sailors for Christmas 1914.

Princess Mary died in 1965, leaving a wonderful legacy - that of women helping each other to succeed in life.

Source: Wikipedia.

Today I Made Strawberry Jam.....

Today I made some Strawberry Jam.  The house smelt of strawberries, outside smelt of strawberries. My husband, who shall from henceforth be known as "Himself" came in to see what I was doing and he was super impressed...

I'll show you what I did....

 First of all I got 2 kilos of these beautiful strawberries and hulled them...

Then I chopped them in half and put them into my big soup pot.....

Then I added 2 kilos of sugar - yes 2 kilos - it has to be equal amounts

Then I let it boil for 20 minutes... it looked all pink and frothy and gorgeous.

While that was happening I put some clean jars into a hot oven to sterilise them ( and because you have to put the jam into hot jars)

When the jam was ready (see below for hints) I added the juice of 1 lemon as it improves the flavour

Helpful hints from the "Edmonds Cookbook"

Then it was into the jars and covered whilst hot.

Presto - yummy jam!!! Yay!

Finally I went to see Nellie, my cockatoo, she didn't want to talk to me...

Until  she saw what I had saved for her.....

One happy cockatoo!!!

Vintage Ramekins......

I love my collection of vintage ramekins.  There is something about holding one in your hands that is full of delectable morsels of yummy food....fabulously cold ice-cream with strawberries and chocolate, fruit salad and yoghurt, yummy leftovers heated up for lunch, piping hot pumpkin soup on a cold Winter's day.... A ramekin holds them all and usually has a little handle to make eating your favourite tidbit on the couch watching a movie all the easier!!Here are some photos of some of my favourites from my own collection...

 I love the black outer and coloured interior of these ones......

 The chunkiness and contrast of these ones....

 Delectable strawberry pink, such a great colour with the blue interior..

These are all from the 1950's, but plenty abound from many different eras - get some and try them out for yourself - I'm sure you'll grow to love them too!!!

Bridge Coat of Printed Velvet....

I go Vintage hunting every day I can..it seems to be an obsession and has been since I was a teenager.  One of the things I love most about it is the thrill of finding what appears to be a very non-descript item and discovering that is full of fabulousness!!! (not sure that's a word but never mind!)

That is exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago when I sighted the blue dustcover of this book on the shelf, and as it looked kind of vintage, I gave it a

peruse.....

The first thing I noticed was that it must have been printed during the Second World War as it was printed to "War Economy Standard", so far so good...

Inside were such visions of loveliness!!! Beautiful 1930's fabric design and dresses and illustrations that set my heart aflutter!

 First a lesson in the difference between machine printed material (on the left) and handprinted (on the right), both divine in my humble opinion!

And then the first dress  - a handprinted voile afternoon frock no less!

Cushions...

Fabulous 30's designs....

A Nursery hanging....

 A handprinted elephant crepe dress....

An amazing wall hanging.....

 An absolutely divine voile afternoon frock......

And finally a bridge coat of printed velvet - who ever heard of a bridge coat - let alone one of handprinted velvet!!!!  Oh my goodness I so want all of these!!!


 So the book stays on my shelf instead of in my stall which is where it should be ...because maybe, one day, I'll use this book to teach myself to do this amazing stuff... or maybe not, but I'm not over looking at it yet.....

Oh I Do Love to Be Beside the Seaside.....

As we here in Australia are celebrating our National Day today, I got to thinking about how enormously blessed we are to live in a part of the world where the beaches are free to sit on and beautifully clean to swim in.  I have lived within a 10 minute drive of a beach my entire life and I sometimes take it for granted, but I know I would find it hard to live without.

My family have been beach lovers from along way back - here is my paternal Grandmother looking fabulous in the 1920's at the beach in Newcastle NSW - she had a great shingle bob and I LOVE her hat!!!


This is a picture of me as a child at the beach as a child in the 60's (now I am showing my age).  I loved the fringe on the top I am wearing in the photo.  My Grandmother (maternal), made the outfit for me.  It was green and white.

In this photo from the 70's my older brother was trying to look cool as was the girl in the yellow halter neck dress who was a family friend and was the same age as my brother.  He had a secret crush on her at the time, and as you can see she was older and much more womanly than myself!!!  We are all with my Father.

And to adulthood where I married my husband in a very mpromtu affair at the surf beach close to our house.  It was just beautiful.......