show time !

 Living in the country means you bend to the season, and many of the annual rituals are a wonderful way for the local community to come together. The annual Robertson Show is such an occasion, where many of the hard working dairy farmers get to see their fellow farmers for a change. Dairy farming is often a lonely occupation.

THEY love it because on days such as this you can see the next generation coming through. Both cows and people !

The show encompasses everything,  cattle, chickens, horses, dogs, vegetables, flowers. It even includes baking, preserving, sewing and crafts.

THEY get thoroughly over-excited in the week leading up to the show, the preparations taking an awful lot of time.

these are HIS apples and grapefruit before cleaning up

and these are HER potatoes - Champion last year, sadly not to be repeated this year .

SHE entered HER hydrangeas for the first time this year

and wound up with the second prize

 Everything is in great good humour, with one exception. The competition in the dahlia section is fierce amongst the dairy farmer's wives - the shed has to be locked the night before judging to avoid any tampering of the exhibits !  THEY were quite sniffy about dahlias, but rather love them now. May be next year as SHE does grow a rather vulgar, rather large orange dahlia.

this is the competition that SHE will be up against

old boys with old toys - the Berrima District Old Machinery Club 

this old engine came from here, Lynwood, (it was made in America in 1926) - it now makes a rather dubious candy floss (never to be eaten)

perfect way to end the day at the show when HE won first prize for HIS grapefruit.

visiting cousin Sally

Sally lives in a most adorable house in our village - we go there quite a lot. Sally also spends a lot of time with Bella and me when her mother  Charlotte (THEIR niece) is at boarding school. 

old French side tables, brought back from Switzerland (Bella & I think it is very exotic for Sally to have a mother born and brought up there. But did you know that Bella's full name is Adorabella - that is pretty exotic too !).

 Cabbages & Roses linen covers

vintage table& chairs, painted white, check fabric from Campbell & Robertson, Bowral.

great mix of old & new: contemporary Aboriginal canvas (in the hall) in between an 18c portrait and an oil by Patrick Hockey.

"blue & green should be seen with no colour in between"

Sally, being an English cocker, is MUCH more obedient than we are. She is the pack leader.

one of the guest bedrooms with a pretty lamp from Pigott's

lots of delicious things are cooked up in here - we have to eat, however, in the laundry - its through that door 

books as tables

THEY love books - its hard for us four-footed's to grasp exactly why, but they seem to spend a lot of time with them. 

books

It is only in the country that we can get to know a person or a book. 

(Cyril Connolly)

the snug - where SHE keeps quite a lot of her gardening & design books

on this side of the snug its command central (lots and lots of military history books) but SHE's losing the battle on untidyness

this is the dining room where most of the biographies are kept

bookcase in the fuschia bedroom

and this is where most of the books end up, one way or another - especially on a rainy day like today (and yes, he's reading another war book - recommended by the very civilised & well read Mr. William Petley - thats me next to Hugh Mackay's new book).

Not just any tray

Being a Virgo, SHE likes trays because they organise things. I think, however, it is because they often closely resemble baskets - in some cases, they ARE baskets.

drinks tray in the sun room - carried back from Madrid, twig candle holders from William Wayne, New York.

soft drinks department in the servery

the most popular department, also in the servery

HIS department in the servery - I'll show you the wine cellar one day if I'm allowed to. Decanters from Grafton Galleries, wine funnel from the Drill Hall in Tasmania

the morning-after department

all the trays above from Pigott's Store, Sydney.

technology department in the TV room, book from THEIR favourite book shop Lesley McKay's

cabbage made by the late & lamented Dodie Thayer, lacquer tray from Kazari Melb

My favourite tray - where the treats live by the front door. THEY think we won't come in unless we are bribed - they're right !

HER kitchen is always tidy !

SHE struggles to keep HIS snug tidy.

HER favourite cup

tea at South Acres with Bunny & Penny

We all went to tea with our neighbours Michael & Jennifer Rose-Innes, where I saw my friends Bunny Williams and Penny Lane - I love Bunny because she is fun & the same size as me - THEY love her because she is named after Bunny Williams, who is an all-time fave decorator - you all know her book, An Affair with a House, but did you know about her blog ?

South Acres has the prettiest drive that a Shi Tzu could ever walk up !

the path to the front door

Jennifer is always welcoming, especially to four-footeds

the cozy hall sets the tone for the house

this is a another house where all sofas and chairs open to puppies - the furniture is covered in various lovely tweeds

HE loves Jennifer because she is SUCH a good cook

my friends Penny & Bunny, where they like to be most

but this is where they end up after they have been naughty in the garden

comfort

Comfort starts with a featherbed from the Mayflower Inn, Washington, Connecticut.

Featherbeds are bulky to carry home (HE calls himself the pack horse) but I think their bed is the most comfortable that I have ever slept on (not that I am allowed on many beds at all, really.)

The painted book case was from Ed Clark Antiques, Melbourne, all fabrics by Colefax & Fowler

the main bedroom - the little box at the foot of the bed is a stepping system for us

the bedroom as it is lived in - can't you tell ?

we love the bathroom (it has a heated marble floor that is very cozy)

the gas fire is a treat in the winter !

all photographs in this post are by Mark Jones, Sydney +61293107609