In which we find out all sorts of Stuff

It has rained, it is warming up.  Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of some unpleasantly hot weather, but never mind.  We are Ozzies.  We are tough.

Two more houses were made, a house of cats ('cathouse' has, I believe, unfortunate connotations) and a flower house with a lairy door.

And a lovely surprise - two houses were received from Sally, after flying all the way over the big ocean!  One even has an American flag displayed in the window, so we know where it was built.  

Thank you, Sally - how nice is that!  The darker house takes me to autumn, and the blue house is definitely spring.

Now - are you sitting comfortably, with a cuppa and perhaps a snack to hand?

This watercolour painting, bought many years ago (sometime in the 1990s from memory; I wish now that I could remember, but never mind) has quite a story.  The caption reads 'Mallee Parrot', and it is signed by 'E.W. Elmslie'.  I loved it at first sight but it was out of my budget at the time.  Occasionally I would check out the antique/junque shop to see if it was still there......and one day, it wasn't.  Oh well, I thought to myself, someone else obviously loved it too, and thought nothing of it.

Then one day I found it again stacked on the floor at the back of the shop with a considerably reduced price because the glass had cracked - so it came home with me.  After we moved here I had the uninspiring frame replaced but couldn't do anything about the brown mount, because the painting and mount were glued to a backing and removing them would have caused damage.  Deep teal and white boards were chosen to compliment the paint colours and cover the old mount, and the new frame resembles a smooth tree branch.

From time to time I looked up "E.W. Elmslie' but could only find out about a British Architect of that name, however that was before the wonder which is Trove, a repository of digitised media.  One day I found out that Miss E.W. Elmslie had won a prize for two watercolours of birds at the Dubbo Show in 1914 and, while this may be one of those, I have no proof that it is or isn't.

This morning I looked up Miss Elmslie again and found information that hadn't been there in earlier searches.  Her name was Edith Ward Elmslie and she remained 'Miss' all her life, which was from 1862 to 1921.

Miss Elmslie's father was Lt James Aberdour Elmslie, RNR (1827-1908) and for many years he was captain of the 'Sobraon', a famous clipper ship of the late 1800s, which made many voyages between England and Australia.  It was later acquired by the Australian Navy as a training ship and renamed 'Tingira' after which it became a floating school for boys at risk, until being broken up during WWII.

Now, this is where we cue the creepy music......

Kevin's grandfather Adolphus Peter Robilliard (1849-1933) was a merchant seaman who worked on the 'Sobraon/Tingira'.  What are the chances that, all those years later, I would buy a painting by the daughter of my husband's grandfather's captain?

"Table manners and etiquette.

It is of the highest importance that all persons should conduct themselves with the strictest regard to good breeding, even in the privacy of their own homes, when at table: a neglect of such observances will render one stiff and awkward in society.  There are so many little points to be observed, that unless a person is habitually accustomed to observe them, he unconsciously commits some error, or will appear awkward and constrained upon occasions when it is important to be fully at ease."

I concur.  Even if you aren't particularly 'well bred' there is nothing to stop you from acting as if you are.

Enjoy your days!