Picket Fence Fancy Road Trip

Mr Picket Fence, the Picket Fence Children and I have  just returned from a weeks holiday to Dubbo. We are lucky enough to have a set of parents in Dubbo NSW  and an Aunt and Uncle on a Farm an hour and a half further in a place called Mendooran. Think outback NSW , Banjo Patterson, dust ,cattle and shearing sheds. We split the road trip over several days. About 10,000 green bottles sitting on the wall, lots of laughter, a number of antique shops, an equal number of country Bakeries, two motels and about 500 toilet stops later , we had the perfect holiday / escape for our coastal family. I will show you what I bought in another post, but for now, here's some photo's to give you an indication of how much fun we had.....Jump off now if you don't love, sheds, dust , sheep, frost and windmills ...this is my idea of heaven.

 One of the Picket Fence Uncles was confused as to my fascination with his rusted out vehicles... Now this is industrial art at it's very best.

 Bonding :)

  Treasure !

  See how much wider the sky is in Mendooran !

 Worlds coldest garage sale !!!!

 Windmills everywhere.

 Wellington Caves , NSW. One of my favourite places we explored with the children.

 We stopped at Cockington Green in Canberra, a minature village,cute ,English , a little kitsch and absolutely brilliant. I might add that the roses here are exquisite , a must to visit in Summer.

Ahem...yes...we did stop here :)

 More beautiful Rust.

Charley the Sheep.

 Picked crates full of Oranges..

 Love is being carried home when your legs get too weary to carry you further xx

  Beautiful old train station in Wellington NSW.

 Iron Lacework everywhere.

 Oh I could go on and on and on about the architecture these buildings display.

 Imagine inside this beauty !

 A Car show made Mr Picket Fence smile... for hours .....  x

 Country cafe at Canowindra

 We stopped at Questacon, The National Science and Technology Centre , fun and educational, Mr Picket Fence and I enjoyed it as much as the children.

 Western Plains Zoo 

A wonderful time was had, and it was lovely to catch up with the ones we love. A whole lot of the best kind of family memories were made! Can't wait to reveal my op shop and antique store bounty next week  Stay tuned :)

An Australian Beach In Winter / How To Find A Tradesman .

Here at the Picket Fence house, there's meant to be a whole lot happening home improvement wise.
Solar Panels on the roof, a new (old) front door, a vege garden, and a chook pen.

 Over the years we have learnt that this place we live in is special. It's a coastal community, relaxed in it's lifestyle, balmy in climate, and with a surf culture like no other. At the beach  you can find at any given day (when the surfs up ), your builder, plumber, glazier, dentist and perhaps now and then the milk man...it's an enviable lifestyle, however....

 That can sometimes mean that it takes a little bit longer to get a door put in, or your house wired, and a dentists appointment may mean a 4 week wait....in summer.....

One learns to be patient.

  But then, of late, with the temperature reaching around 17 degrees in winter, I can't imagine any place I'd rather live.

 This will be me one day ;)

 It's always this good.. and sometimes even better .....

 Hoping you are all having a gorgeous July holiday... a short post today, because I'm trying to find a tradesman :)

Could take a while for that blog post about my new door :)

Linking up with Sarah at A Beach Cottage Wednesdays

Red Shoes

Well hello again :) It's School holidays at the Picket Fence House so time for relaxing, getting out and enjoying this amazing winter weather we're having and pretty much  just appreciating what we've got. It's not a bad world , we are blessed xx

I guess for those who don't know me, you should know now, that I love the colour red, I love splashes of it here and there , little splashes to accentuate a vignette,  and big splashes to add some industrial vintage  "wham bam " to my world . I love it in clothing and I especially love red shoes.... Dorothy had it going on in the Wizard of Oz...red shoes rock.  I am a completely boring non drinker , alcohol doesn't float my boat, but if I did partake , you can guess the colour of the wine I'd drink :)  I grow red apples, red roses and yep , paint my toenails... surprise surprise ... Red.  Red is a true colour, honest and sincere, vibrant and positive ... some times over the top, I think if I was a colour , for sure, I'd be red :)

I  have an artist /antique dealer/vintage industrial specialist friend in the mountains , the best kind of like minded friend, she gets my need for vintage and can talk fluently about patina. She loves Chesty Bond and gardens and photography ....Alicia :) You win the gold ribbon for classy friends xx Click her name to visit her Face book page, make sure you hit "like" ....  check out her blog , I am sooo lucky to know this woman she's a legend !

This is what she sent me this week,

A red fire bucket ( I mentioned patina ) ......Enid Blyton's  Mr Meddle is red too :)

An awesome piece of red vintage cast metal..... for the days when you have no friends at which to sock a tennis ball.....

And some shoe stretchers , ( because lovely as they are, Dorothy's shoes wont fit me)

Here at the Picket Fence house we are working on our chook yard ..... Hen's on Holiday :) It's a work in progress but here's a taste. They are going to live in here .Once the Reno's and polka dots are finished , I'll add some bunting  and frock it up further.

Second thing you need to know about me ... I do nothing by halves :)

Baby Picket Fence loves red !

Red antique tins, of which I confess I have far too many,

Vintage industrial red bottle carriers , great for holding a vase of flowers on the table, or throwing bunches of flat ware into when you're having  loads of friends around for a meal .... great to just sit on the shelf and look ...well...red :)

This old Rabone measure reminds of my father, when I was a young girl, I'd spend what seemed like hours attached to the end of a similar tape measure as he planned and dreamed, and made memories I  now treasure.

After my last post, I was over whelmed by the number of lovely emails I received sharing my love of vintage colour ( some of you I can't reply to as your web pages had no reply email contact.. If this is you , I apologise...consider me grateful xx ) I love my colourful walls too, it's me, it's my style and I agree, I'll never fit into the white wall thing... It's like those stupid designer skinny low rider jeans that are everywhere these days ... some things will NEVER fit this Picket Fence Chick, so I'm not even going to try ;)

I love your comments so please say Hi , and I love followers so join my cheery crew and follow my ramblings,  the link is in the side bar under the follow me heading , I'd love to have you :)

Oh and put on those red shoes , I'll look out for you !!  

Sharing with Sarah at A Beach Cottage Good Life Wednesday
and Courtney's  Feathered-Nest-Friday