new blog!

I have created a new blog called Metropolitain - www.lefrancemetro.blogspot.com

I decided to gather up my love for all things french and put it into a new special place.

Come on over and say bonjour!

welcome to our home

I love the entrance of any home. To me, the entrance tells the story about your home and the people who live in it.

It isn't just a place that you walk through to get to another room, it's the first thing you see when you come home and it's the last thing you see when you leave home. It's home.

This morning I took some pictures of our entrance to see what our story tells you, about us.
This family is not perfect and likes the unusual.

Our wonky door is over 140 years old. It doesn't sit in the frame properly and you can almost see the weather through the cracks. It has beautiful stain glass of a love heart with a rose in the middle.

The people who live here like painting pictures, like bird houses, old coat hooks and flowers.

Children live here.

My christening dress.

I printed Elton and Audrey's name and birth date on card and pinned it to the dress.

We like to read. The shelves are full of our books and Ben's cook books.

We have four babushka dolls that are meant to be us, all lined up in a row - The Brockliss Family.

We like to travel and have our favourite pictures hanging on the wall.

The people here want you to have somewhere to hang your coat when you visit.

I read a passage from my new book - Stitched in Time by Alicia Paulson and it is what I believe in and try to do at home -

"There is good reason to take the time and effort to preserve and create memories....it is an act of caring, and of taking care. I believe in art that is lived with, worn, slept under, used. I don't worry about whether it will last forever, though it might. I want it to works it's magic here and now."

My christening dress might be better wrapped in tissue paper because then it will last forever and won't get yellow....but who is going to get more enjoyment from it - the tissue paper that keeps it safe, or me - the person who gets to walk past it everyday and be reminded of our beautiful kids?

Some books could be sent to the secondhand place to make more room on the shelves, but then it won't be a jumbled clutter for Ben and I to rummage through and say "now which book did I read that in again?"

We could get our door fixed to open and shut properly, but then it would be just like any other old door and it wouldn't be our door.

Your life out on display is what makes memories and makes a house a home.

first bloom

Our camellia trees are now blooming.

Winter is almost here and they will bloom white, pink and red flowers until almost November.

I picked my first bunch yesterday evening.

yesterday...

I took more photos of Elton and Audrey.

I love these faces.

monday happies!

I just received a parcel dropped at the front door and I had forgotten all about it.

I went in a competition on the Posie Gets Cozy blog.

Alicia was asking people to submit their funniest engagement story and if you won you would get a copy of her book Stitched In Time.

I opened up my parcel and pulled out a copy of the book that Alicia signed plus some postcards that are going onto my pin up board as soon as I finish typing.

I can't wait to look through my book and try all the different projects. If you haven't been to her blog you should go and spend hours there. It is so beautiful.

This is my story - and I'm sorry it's rude.

Ok - our engagement story was a night and morning we will never forget.

I refer to these memories as "doodle-gate."

Ben took me to a beautiful chalet in the hills and we had a romantic meal. It rained, we had a fire, chocolates, wine - the works.

Ben and I got into the one size fits all white fluffy robes. I soon discovered that one size doesn't fit all, as when I opened my eyes (after my hubby told me to close them) there was my soon to be hubby on one knee with his wiener hanging out of his gaping robe.

Of course he did not know this and went into a beautiful, heartfelt will you marry me monologue and I was trying not to laugh, or stare.

The next morning we went home to see our new puppy.

Hank had been with us for exactly 4 weeks and this was his first night unattended.

Ben went out into the yard and I was on the phone calling my Mum to tell her our news.

Mum wanted to speak to Ben, so I handed him the telephone and Hank ran in to greet me.

I was patting Hank and giving him kisses and while I was doing this I was saying to Ben "why is he all wet?" and Ben was waving madly at me from the phone.

When he finally hung up, he said "I pee'd on the dog. I was out in the bush and the dog ran between my legs".....

You can't buy this sort of romance.

:)

searching for snow

On the weekend we went up the hill to see if we could find any snow.

The weather man predicted a snow fall at home, and although it was freezing (-3!) nothing happened.

We came home and Ben stoked up the pot belly. We usually only light it at night when Elton and Auds have gone to bed, but we are teaching them to be carefully around the fire and yesterday went really well. They didn't walk close to it and Elton helped Ben chop the wood and bring in the kindling.

Elton, Audrey and Ben made cakes on the computer (a kids program that they love), we had pea soup and watched the extended version of Lord Of The Rings. We made it through Fellowship Of The Ring and The Two Towers....we have one to go!

sleeve face

I love looking on the Internet because you never know what you might stumble across.

This is a website called sleeveface and it is a whole site dedicated to record sleeve art and it so clever and funny.

I am always left thinking the same things -

this is so funny

how clever

how come I can never think of something like this

everybody else probably already knows about this site and I am a late bloomer

I better get the chops out of the freezer or they won't defrost

chilly weekend

We had the most lovely visit from my cousin Michelle and her man Roger this week.

It was such a great day and we went on a tour of the Dandenongs, had coffee and then came home for chicken and salad on the deck.

Michelle is such a wonderful person and Roger is a good man. They are a lovely couple. I look forward to seeing them again soon.

After having such fine, sunny weather, the weekend forecast is cold - top of 9 all weekend and rain. Perfect Ben's pea soup weather.

Ben has an early mark today and is going to chop a whole stack of kindling for our fire.

Sunday we are going to the Basin craft market to have a look. The Basin is on the other side of the Dandenongs in dense forrest.

Grandma and Grandad sent a jigsaw book for Audrey for her birthday and some recipes for me to try. I will do some baking on Sunday. Thank you Gma and Gdad for the present.

Have a lovely weekend!

skipping girl

This is the first neon sign in Australia - Little Audrey or Skipping Girl.

It's on Victoria Street in Abbotsford (inner city) and the sign was used to advertise Vinegar. Little Audrey has skipped since 1936.

Little Audrey has been taken down at the moment and she is being fully restored and when she is put back up on her building, she is going to be powered by green energy. Her skipping rope lights up in 4 areas - so it looks like she is skipping.

Little Audrey is an icon, skipping on the Melbourne skyline. I think I will do an embroidery of her to hang on our wall.

madeline

Bec had a post on her blog this week about a little girl named Madeline.

I followed the link and came across a beautiful blog written by Madeline's Mum, Heather.

Madeline was a beautiful little toddler who was born premature and after living her very short life of 17 months, she died.

I can't stop thinking about how her parents would be coping with losing their child. I would not know if I could cope if I lost Elton or Audrey.

Heather is still writing on her blog and I can't believe where she is getting her strength from to keep going. What an amazing person.

It will break your heart to read the posts, but you really should. If not to appreciate how strong people can be, that life sometimes can be very unkind and that you should hug your own children and never let go.

A flower for the little girl who loved purple.

birthday girl

Audrey celebrated her 2nd birthday on Saturday and we think she had a lovely day.

We had presents in the morning. I made Audrey a quilt and we got her a beautiful Dora dolly and Granny and Papa sent lots of clothes and shoes.

Elton picked out her card - a Thomas The Tank 2 card and an ice-cream cake.

We went to the movies and saw Monsters v Aliens and then we had lunch at the Puffing Billy Cafe.

I can't believe our little baby is 2 years old. We love you Audsey.

audrey's many faces

Our little lady is turning 2 on Saturday.

2.

Where does the time go?

Name: Audrey Isabelle Brockliss

Nicknames: Aud, Auds, Audsie, Audi, Muffin Jocks

Likes: Mummy, Diddy, Helton, Oy the Cat, Dora, DJ Lance, Justine, wearing her dressing gown over her clothes, chalk, chuppa chups, the tupperware cupboard, putting dog biscuits into the central heating vent

Dislikes: headbands, bandaids, Dad's blower vac, hot weather

Favourite Food: dad's homemade pizza, apricot chicken

Favourite Drink: lemon cordial

Favourite Show: Dora, Yo Gabba Gabba

Favourite Movie: Madagascar 2, Kung Fu Panda

Favourite Song: Dancing Face by Justine, Close to You by The Carpenters

Best Toy: hard hat, polly, baby and her pram

Audrey is my best girlfriend and we love her dearly. We wouldn't know what we would do without our Audsie.

quilt

I received some gorgeous, old material from Jennifer (her beautiful blog) and turned it into a quilt.

I love the blue, green and purple combination and it looks so nice on our bed.

Tinkerbell loved it too.

easter

We had a wonderful easter.

We had an easter egg hunt and Elton and Audrey wandered around the garden with baskets and collected the stash of eggs.

Then we went down into the back garden and had a bush bbq in our home made bbq pit. It was fantastic.

We sat outside on benches that Ben and Matt carried down. Tinkerbell found a little grass hollow to sit in. We made lots of coals burning all our sticks and branches and watched the meat cooking away.

We had jerk beef, potato's, chicken and salad and the meat never tasted so good.

It was a great day.