I love days when there is a breeze blowing in my yard, especially a coastal one, where I can just spend that mind-numbing time loading laundry and ironing the results. Purlease, lovely bloggers, do not get me wrong, I do not love chores, by any manner of means but the smell of clean, ironed clothes has gotta be the best reward for hours of work in the trudge of domesticity, surely?
It was one of those days today, I cannot tell you how long it took me to clear up after those other four and for sure those Beach Cottage kiddos seem to grow laundry, but oh what a fantabulous Autumnal day for it to blow in the air. As I pegged, it reminded me of the first few weeks in the Beach Cottage, where it was, if not, exciting, certainly chaotic. And all of a sudden we had no washing line. Of course we had a dryer, but euuuh, I live in the lucky country, where, people, you don't, for most of the year consider shoving your laundry in a dryer. Unless you are an environmental sadist.
Sooooo, I forced Mr BC to erect (dont' you just love that word?) a makeshift line, seeing as those lovely sweet previous owners of the Beach Cottage obviously never washed their clothes or took the washing line holes with them. Result was a piece of string (ok, I will admit, it was a rather rustic piece of string) strung between two orange trees.
I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, I mean, ya know, I have an ORANGE TREE, in fact I have two, and if, like me, you are not from lands where you can walk right on into your yard and pick an orange, this, as my kiddos would say, is quite an awesome thing.
But funny, that string line is still there, between the oranges and more, I still use that string line, even though we have a real, proper, in the ground line now. But I like the string one, it's kinda shabby, it gets full sun and my whites get a natural bleaching. Napisan eat your heart out.
Later, after the monotony of housework, I thought stuff the squeezed-for-time-thing and decided on a quick half hour on the beach before all the other kiddo duties of the day.
And this, for me, it seems is the easiest route to success in all the other areas – the kids, the husbands, the dinner, the housework – taking time-out to zone-out and enjoy the beauty very-much-in-evidence and often-sadly-taken-for-granted, all around me.
And it always surprises me how this re-charges me, it works for me. So I grabbed a bag, a hat and headed down the beach, just a short trip, kicking back and letting go…
I'd love to know what you do, to, ya know, zip on out of your day for a bit, because I'll try it, for sure…
…and don't forget there is a Beach Cottage Giveaway this week, postingt the wares tomorrw, all you have to do is leave a comment, pretty simple, or see below for more ways to win…
Don't forget the Giveaway – I'll be posting the goodies tomorrow, ooooh ye-eah, oooh ye-eah, with a tablescape, but I'll be drawing the winner from all comments, all week from Monday 04 through Sunday 10th.
And here's what to do if you wanna win…
Simple little rules, who wants those complicated ones?
1. Just leave a comment and that's it (just remember to leave your email!)
2. If you link to me from your blog I'll double all your comments all week – you can just do a regular old link or copy the code below and add it to the html section so you get the Beach Cottage button.
<href= http://abeachcottage.com><img alt="swing by the Beach Cottage Giveaway" src=http://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo10/abeachcottage/beachbutton.jpg border="0" />
4. Subscribe to my feed, just click on subscribe at the top of the page or click here and I'll add you soooo many times…just shoot me an email at abeachcottageblog@gmail.com with one of the secret little words…oooh yeah gotta love me a bit of espionage
blogged for Rhoda's Yard Event over at Southern Hospitality - head on over and start clicking!
Lovely post and photos again, Sarah. I live near the ocean too and love to hang washing on the line. I hate using the dryer – all that energy, crushed clothes, extra ironing! My orange tree is laden this year – it’s just a matter of beating the possums to them as they ripen.
Oh goodness, I would have a fit and fall right in it if I had actual lemons on a tree right in my own yard! Clothes hanging in the breeze. Can’t get any cozier than that. I’m going to try and put your little button in my sidebar, just cause you know how much I like you. But I’m not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. So we’ll see if I can figure it out, Sarah!
Brenda
The romantic side of me has always wanted a clothesline. I’m thinking of putting one up after we get a fence and deck built. I’m not sure I’ll be brave enough to put actual clothes on it, but our all-white sheets and towels would be perfect Clotheslines are NOT mainstream around here.
*Watch it, oh-so-talented-photographer!!! Yer giving “household duties” a beauuuutiful name!!!! Stunning pics~ so glad you shared!
Many thanks!!! Linda in AZ*
Your day at the beach looked so relaxing! What do I do to recharge? Drink some tea, have a treat, a glass of wine, read a magazine…all those little things make such a difference!
Carrie
yay! another giveaway.. thank you! I love hanging out the washing. I’m actually a bit OCD about it and have to have matching pegs in each section of the line…
I have girlfriends who love the ‘hung out in the fresh air’ laundry smell but try as I might I just can’t care about it! I know to achieve this it requires me to have to hang it up in the first place and I am far to lazy to walk out to the back yard…..racks in the laundry are about as much as I can handle!! Might I say though, that your photo’s could almost entice me to make the effort…..especially if I had a couple of those beautiful cami’s to hang on my clothes line. Anyway being such a beautiful day here I had better get out on that balcony and finish painting and sanding those chairs and they are not going to do it themselves!!
Isn’t the country a great place to live! I live in the midwest US & my favorite place to go for a time out is through the trail in our woods to our point on the lake. DH has made sure I have a bench to sit on there – a very rustic homemade one carved with our initials by himself! I bring our lab with us & she either lays in the sun at my feet or goes swimming on a hot day. I go as often as I can; in the winter with snow & ice out or even on rainy windy days.
Taking time like this works for me too. I love your special spot. I could never get tired of the ocean. Jen
I love these pictures! The orange tree reminds me of way back when I was a child and we lived in Australia…I still can remember the smell of the blossoms and orange…everyday it was a feast! I also can remember us having a treehouse in the peach tree and the soft warm peaches when we plucked them….I MISS THOSE DAYS!!!! I wish I could go back for only one day! To feel and smell my childhood in Australia!! God how I miss it!! That’s why I’m sooooo glad I found your blog…It’s become my shelter where I can daydream of long gone & ‘better days’. Guess I’ll never get over the fact that my parents moved back to Holland. After we’d gotten back, I was very unhappy and noone knew why, until the doctor heard about our abrubt move: she has experienced a trauma, he said…and God knows how right he was! When I see and read your posts, it is as if I’m there! Thank you for posting!
Love your clothes line! It reminds me of simplier days when I was a girl! No cares or worries, just had to hang the laundry and I was off. I can feel the sun of my face and the cool breeze just looking at your pictures.
Beautiful pictures, Sarah! Any excuse to do the chores outdoors works for me! I am happy you got to go to the beach to recharge your batteries. Lately for me, I just have to ride it out!
Please include me in your give~away. I am having one too!
Hi !
I love to hang out laundry too ! I don’t have a citrus tree but do have the Rocky Mountains in my background. I love the smell and the laundry gets done alot quicker !Have a great weekend !
Hugs ~ Kammy
Gotta just love the smell of laundrey when it comes off the line, Ive done 5 loads today!!!!! thank god for sunny Autumn days.
Oh forgot to mention in my last comment I have also subscribed to you, yippeee more entries huh
Don’t forget to have a great day… hope you are pampered.
Are those white roses in your beach tote? I notice in your tablescapes that you mostly have flowers. Do you normally just pick them up from the florist? Are they a typical gift from your husband? Or do you have a garden/friend with a garden?
Great pictures. I dry my things on clothes drying racks. I am in the middle of the country I like the fresh air smell of my laundry. But your blog made me fantasize about how great it would be to have that sea side smell on my clothes. Then I could smell like vacation even while at work.
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
G’day ladies, oooh have I got a good Beach Cottage recipe for you or have I got a good recipe for you. Â Well it’s actually not Beach Cottage, I cannot claim that… So, a couple of months ago I met up with a couple of blogging friends, AllConsuming and Mrs W for a lil [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? Â The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
 1. beat the cream cheese  until it is soft
2. Â whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
Â
6. layer on top the cream combo
Â
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
Â
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)Â
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. Â I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.Â
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Â Oh yeah. Â Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. Â C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
Lovely post and photos again, Sarah. I live near the ocean too and love to hang washing on the line. I hate using the dryer – all that energy, crushed clothes, extra ironing! My orange tree is laden this year – it’s just a matter of beating the possums to them as they ripen.
Oh goodness, I would have a fit and fall right in it if I had actual lemons on a tree right in my own yard! Clothes hanging in the breeze. Can’t get any cozier than that. I’m going to try and put your little button in my sidebar, just cause you know how much I like you. But I’m not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. So we’ll see if I can figure it out, Sarah!
Brenda
The romantic side of me has always wanted a clothesline. I’m thinking of putting one up after we get a fence and deck built. I’m not sure I’ll be brave enough to put actual clothes on it, but our all-white sheets and towels would be perfect
Clotheslines are NOT mainstream around here.
Hello,
I find your blog to be so delightful, I too love to have my clothes hung outside to dry. Thank you for sharing . Sue
*Watch it, oh-so-talented-photographer!!! Yer giving “household duties” a beauuuutiful name!!!! Stunning pics~ so glad you shared!
Many thanks!!! Linda in AZ*
Girl, you have some GORGEOUS laundry!!!!!
Oh, and those tiny roses peeping out of the straw bag – - – how lovely is THAT!?!
the photos are lovely! white (very cool) clothes against the darker gray of the fence and the color of the oranges. all fabulous.
Your day at the beach looked so relaxing! What do I do to recharge? Drink some tea, have a treat, a glass of wine, read a magazine…all those little things make such a difference!
Carrie
I miss having a clothes line. Had one in Oregon and California. Area we live in know does not allow it. You have a wonderful blog.
yay! another giveaway.. thank you! I love hanging out the washing. I’m actually a bit OCD about it and have to have matching pegs in each section of the line…
Just came across your blog and it is absolutely adorable! Wonderful pictures and Ideas!!
Hava a great day!
T
I have girlfriends who love the ‘hung out in the fresh air’ laundry smell but try as I might I just can’t care about it! I know to achieve this it requires me to have to hang it up in the first place and I am far to lazy to walk out to the back yard…..racks in the laundry are about as much as I can handle!! Might I say though, that your photo’s could almost entice me to make the effort…..especially if I had a couple of those beautiful cami’s to hang on my clothes line. Anyway being such a beautiful day here I had better get out on that balcony and finish painting and sanding those chairs and they are not going to do it themselves!!
Seriously you need to send your pics in to a mag…..soooo gorgeous. cherry
Hi again… I think I have used my dryine maybe twice in a year…I just love the fresh smells and feel..I know what you mean. Marilyn xoxo
Isn’t the country a great place to live! I live in the midwest US & my favorite place to go for a time out is through the trail in our woods to our point on the lake. DH has made sure I have a bench to sit on there – a very rustic homemade one carved with our initials by himself! I bring our lab with us & she either lays in the sun at my feet or goes swimming on a hot day. I go as often as I can; in the winter with snow & ice out or even on rainy windy days.
Taking time like this works for me too. I love your special spot. I could never get tired of the ocean. Jen
Beautiful post and I will link you up on my sidebar! Hope I win…
I love these pictures! The orange tree reminds me of way back when I was a child and we lived in Australia…I still can remember the smell of the blossoms and orange…everyday it was a feast! I also can remember us having a treehouse in the peach tree and the soft warm peaches when we plucked them….I MISS THOSE DAYS!!!! I wish I could go back for only one day! To feel and smell my childhood in Australia!! God how I miss it!! That’s why I’m sooooo glad I found your blog…It’s become my shelter where I can daydream of long gone & ‘better days’. Guess I’ll never get over the fact that my parents moved back to Holland. After we’d gotten back, I was very unhappy and noone knew why, until the doctor heard about our abrubt move: she has experienced a trauma, he said…and God knows how right he was! When I see and read your posts, it is as if I’m there! Thank you for posting!
Love your clothes line! It reminds me of simplier days when I was a girl! No cares or worries, just had to hang the laundry and I was off. I can feel the sun of my face and the cool breeze just looking at your pictures.
Beautiful pictures, Sarah! Any excuse to do the chores outdoors works for me! I am happy you got to go to the beach to recharge your batteries. Lately for me, I just have to ride it out!
Please include me in your give~away. I am having one too!
xoxo
Jane
Beautifully captured, ALMOST makes me want to iron (well, not really), and sure enough makes me drool over the orange trees and sand!
I wish I could hang my clothes on a line. But, my stupid dogs would ruin that for me.
Hi !
I love to hang out laundry too ! I don’t have a citrus tree but do have the Rocky Mountains in my background. I love the smell and the laundry gets done alot quicker !Have a great weekend !
Hugs ~ Kammy
I’m so jealous of these beach pics! We wanted to go but it is probably going to rain tomorrow, ugh!
Gotta just love the smell of laundrey when it comes off the line, Ive done 5 loads today!!!!! thank god for sunny Autumn days.
Oh forgot to mention in my last comment I have also subscribed to you, yippeee more entries huh
Don’t forget to have a great day… hope you are pampered.
Lyn xxx
something real special about clothes blowing dry on a line, love the smell.
lyn…
I’ve had a wonderful time peeking around..I’ll be back, for sure!
Blessings,
Spencer
Your blog is so wonderful. Like a breath of fresh air. (Salty air. Tee hee) I can hear the waves. Everything is beautiful. Ü
Love clotheslines…and yours is lovely. Can I take one of those pretty lace trimmed cami’s and put it on? tee hee. Love to wear pretty things too.
Are those white roses in your beach tote? I notice in your tablescapes that you mostly have flowers. Do you normally just pick them up from the florist? Are they a typical gift from your husband? Or do you have a garden/friend with a garden?
I just found your blog. I’ve goteen so many ideas! Wow!!!!
mj.coward@gmail.com
I subscribed in Google Reader!
mj.coward@gmail.com
I can just imagine how wonderful sheets and pillowcases would smell being dried by an ocean breeze, wonder if there’s a candle with that smell.
Love this blog. The content is great. Nice pics.
Deirdre Gonzales
What’s a beach house without a clothesline?
Great pictures. I dry my things on clothes drying racks. I am in the middle of the country I like the fresh air smell of my laundry. But your blog made me fantasize about how great it would be to have that sea side smell on my clothes. Then I could smell like vacation even while at work.