Oh my cloche...a masquerade!

Hi dear ones! Marty at A Stroll thru Life (click to visit)  announced that she wanted to have a cloche party and since I missed the previous one, I made a mental note to join in this time. Very last minute again on my side but that's life folks... The theme was fall cloches but since we are supposed to be having spring...well, certainly not the last few days..its brrrrrr here, I looked around the house for some things to "do" my cloches with...

Yesterday, I drove to Franschoek and when I passed that wonderful shop called Masquerade in the main road, the penny dropped...So, I found all the Venetian masks and gave it a bash. Not the cloche....!!!

It looks all "autumny" anyway since my home is all in fall colours ...

I raided the kids bedrooms for theirs. The one leaning against the painting is my own one. The black one on the top of the cloche is my daughter's and the one in the cloche, my son's!

When we visited Venice, each one just had to buy their own and what a difficult choice it was to make, believe me it took an old age. I love all three and they fit together beautifully in the little  impromptu vignette.

This is my mask leaning agaist the painting and I adore the detail...

The bicycle always stands on the hall table...in case the car doesn't start!

Hmmm....but someone will have to do a quick "Honey I shrunk the Kids move " on me if I needed to use it...

It's quite a work of art in its own way.

From my "Kitch" collection I included the gondola that Mr. Tassels bought in Venice. You guessed it gals , its fantastic plastic! Shhh.... don't tell the Jones's.

I surrounded the bottom of the cloche with a pearl strand.

The mask inside belongs to my son thus the music notes.

 

The plastic was so dazzling that the my Canon wouldn't focus properly...

This one belongs to my daughter and is quite glam.
I am feeling a bout of "O solo o moi "( sung in my best operatic voice) coming on.

Okay, you can remove your earplugs, I'm done.

Africa sneaked into the equation in the form of the spear on the back of the book.

He doesn't normally live here in the entrance hall but was appropriated  from around the corner in the formal lounge.

I have two tiny cloches and last weeks rose bouquet fills them this week on the sill in my kitchen window.
They were drooping in the vase but I always struggle to throw them out and they have been sitting in a white bowl for a couple of days still smelling great.

The colours of the rose petals picks up those in the pictures.

Love the texture of the pot.

 

Lastly, I was now running out of ideas as well as time and started thinking of lunch instead...

Well, and then I popped the tomatoes under the last cloche.

They look luscious!

I will also be linking to Wow us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style here

Open House Thursday at No Minimalist Here click
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage here
Hooking up with House of Hepworths here
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home here
Feather your Nest Friday at French Country cottage here
Vintage Inspiraion Friday at On Common Ground here
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of a Home here
Sunday Best at My 1929 Charmer here

The tomatoes will end up in a tomato salad that I will share with you soon.

Phew... that was a cloche encounter! I have one more cloche left but came up blank so I am all eyes to see all the other cloches.

Lunch time...

Live well

Veronica

xxx

Leave me with some comments down below please...

Thanks for stopping by.

Japie's Paradise Part Two

Good morning friends from a wintry, cold and wet Cape Town. It seems that Spring has migrated to another part of the world and we are reaching for the winter woollies again instead of our bathers! It has been a busy few weekends of gallivanting all around the countryside visiting loads of wonderful open gardens! What a feast and over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing them with you. I think I have enough pictures to blog for a couple of years....sigh....

Well, onto today's post. Last week I shared part one of Japie's amazing tropical garden.  If you missed that post, and believe me you don't want to miss it, please click here to have a look.

Okay, so I made it to the front door snapping away like a garden paparazzi of note !! Japie graciously invited me in. A man of so many talents, he was busy cutting out shirts. Yip, he makes them himself! How cool is that? And might I add, that they were made with... you guessed it...attention to detail!

Lets go outside friends. There are many treasures here but the piece de resistance, for me anyway, is this.....

How amazing is that? And look at how lush it is. It is the best Staghorn fern I have ever seen!! Believe me when I say that the photo does not do it justice, it is quite magnificent! Take a closer look...simply breathtaking.

I could hardly move away and kept coming back to take another look. But let me show you the rest of paradise friends..

Please note the little punnets in front where more little treasures are been propagated.

Just look at the different shapes of the leaves and the colour...amazing isn't it?



The back garden is by no means large either, but Japie has made use of every inch of space and it displays maximum beauty. You need to take time gaze up into the trees , look and look again, else you will miss something...sigh...

There is just so much to see and capture with your camera.

Look carefully...

Talk about vertical gardening.

I am afraid that I am not able to do it justice, you need to be there...Looking up and with the light illuminating the multicoloured leaves of the bromeliads it is just magical. It feels like you are on the set of a fantasy movie not unlike Avatar. Pure magic friends.

Note the smaller staghorn fern to the right of the picture in the tree.

Looking across the pool to another interesting and seductive corner...

Note the texture of the tree trunk. If I remember correctly it is the Paperback Melaleuca and so ideal for what Japie has done here..

Wow! the colours and pattern...

Treasures abound...

Tree ferns are always so majestic and just adds so much grace to any space and here it is just perfect. Look at the pattern on the bark. I used it in the mosaic above as well.

Railway sleepers have never looked this good...

I just love the textures here...

So striking ....

Looking across the koi pond to an interesting corner of the garden.

Luminous lime like you haven't seen it before...highlighted to perfection by the red of the bromeliads

Delicate and lacy

Acer's leaves frames the pond

 I will be joining the following lovely ladies to  share with.
Our World Tuesday here

Mosaic Monday at Little Red House here

Creative Bloggers Party at Homemaker on a Dime here

Debbie Doo's Newby Party here
Market Yourself at Sumo's Sweet Stuff here

Amaze me Monday at Dittle Dattle here

Savvy Home Made Monday at Home Savvy here

Blooming Tuesday at Mrs Green Thumb Jean here
Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer here
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style here
Wednesdays Bunny Hop at Bunny Jean 's here
Cottage Floral Thursdays at Fishtail Cottage here
Potpourri Friday at 2805 here
Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time here
The Rosengarden in Malevik here
Inspiration Friday at The Picket  Fence here

That's it for today folks. Next I will be showing you the rest of the front garden. I have received so many email regarding Japie's garden and queries for names of plants. Thank you. I have answered most of them and just one or two remains where I need to get the names of plants
I do not know. I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for all your interest and wonderful comments. I will be sure to pass them on. It has indeed been a wonderful privilege to share this with you and for being able to visit such a magical garden.

Live Well

Ps: I would love to hear from you so please leave me your comments below or email to ronnieclark@mweb.co.za

Veronica
xxx

Jukebox Memories...

Hello dear friends.

Great to have you back here and welcome to all my new followers.

 I recently had the pleasure of attending a charity spring tea celebration thanks to an invite from a friend. She said I would adore the attention to detail and that it was an event not to be missed. And my oh my.... do these ladies know how to lay on the glam!  This was in no way just cake and tea my friends. Oh no... the tables were veritable works of art!

Each table was hosted by a lady who did the decor and the eats and let me tell you that it was a feast to the eye let alone the tastebuds. There were various themes for the hostesses to choose from to decorate their tables in and wonderful prizes to be won for the best in each category.

I was seated at table thirty four and the theme was "Do you still Remember the Fifties?"

Well dear hearts, I don't as I was not about in the fifties!!!!

But...

We did have long playing records....do you remember?

They seem ancient nowadays, don't they?

So this was a blast from the past....

Have a look at some of the song titles...No 1 Country Hits....

Go on, get yer glasses lassy!

I bet you know some of those tunes.

We were welcomed with a smoothie milkshake..

Popcorn was right on cue...

A mini jukebox set the mood....

How about that cake?

I wondered if it was to be consumed later or was it just decor?

Under the cake stand were twirly lollies.... my hat, those were the days...sorry, I was beginning to feel like a kid again...

I told you these gals know how to lay it on...

But, before we got to the sweet stuff we each had a basket of treats to breakfast on....atop a long playing record charger.

 

Have a peek inside... and note the serviettes  liner please.

How many of you made out in the back seat of a car like that on the serviette....hmmm?

Remember the song "At the Hop?"

A wonderful morning of entertainment and speakers followed a fashion show of the most adorable little kiddies.

We were treated to these desirable morsels of sweetness...

....followed by decadent chocolate mouse

The cake stand had finery of its own, in the form of these little

beauties...

Take a look...at those shades doll!

Well, by this time it was way passed lunch time.. honestly!

And another cup of freshly brewed coffee was in order.

Accompanied by this!

Goodness but it looked intimating but seductive none the less... so the cake was not just decor after all...

Hmmm... I was not going to manage this ...

So I turned it on its side to see if it looked more manageable,  but alas, it seemed to be larger that way...



I did try my best to do it justice as best I could,  but in the end had to opt for a "take away"

...along with my goodie bag of toffee and sweet treats.

I had to...it had my name on it!

It was a wonderful day spent for a great cause and I will be sharing some of the other amazing tables over the next few weeks.

So folks, put in another nickle into the Nickelodeon... and while you take a trip down memory lane please leave me a comment of your favourite jukebox song...

Thanks for stopping by.

Live Well and keep those songs rolling

Veronica

xxx

I will be joining Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch here

Freshman Friday at Home Savvy A-Z here

Inspiration for Celebration October Celebration Linky Party here