"No Dawdling Please"

I probably only have one or two school excursions left in me.
The kids are growing up, The Stylist is off to high school next year and school day trips where parents round up strays and tie droopy shoe laces while filthy dishes congeal in the sink at home, will drop off.
So I jumped at the chance to take in a bit of local history with The Stylist's class.

The front entrance of Queensland Parliament House, a magnificent building nestled between the Botanic Gardens and the Brisbane River.  The House was occupied from 1864, yet construction wasn't finished until 1889.
We're lucky this beautiful part of Brisbane's heritage is still standing.  During the 1980s, the scandal-ridden state government of the day decided to pull it down after the discovery of a serious West Indian termite infestation.
Heritage groups kicked up a fuss and five years of work to treat the building and restore its interior saved it for us to enjoy today.

Back of the House, the wee nippers are getting ready to go in for a tour of the grand staircase and the Upper House before taking our seats in the Lower House public gallery, just in time for some playground hijinks by the politicians.
The kids thought their behaviour rather amusing.

"Watching the Grass Grow" - seriously.

Prince Albert died while this magnificent 4.5-metre stained glass piece was being commissioned.  Thereafter, Queen Victoria was never officially portrayed wearing anything other than black and white, so this was the last piece of her wearing colour.

Even though these two stained glass portraits of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Denmark stand over two metres high, they are rather conservative in size and colour compared to the magnificent piece of Edward's mother, Victoria.
It must have been extremely challenging for Edward and his siblings to live in the shadow of their powerful mother.

I could barely snap a clear pic of this enormous crystal chandelier, it was so big.
It was wonderful to watch the children's faces as they enjoyed some of Brisbane's most magnificent architecture.
They were damned well behaved too, not that I expect kids to be seen and not heard, far from it in fact.

Fuchsia and orange carpet in the Upper House and original tiles in the foyer.  That's style!

Then it was down to the Botanic Gardens for lunch and hi-jinks.  This is a peepul tree and I would have needed to stand about 70 metres back to get it all in the frame.
The gardens have been there since around 1864 and are home to rare and valuable flora.  We suffered a 10-year drought starting in 2001 and it was terrible to see the suffering of such a beautiful park and gardens. 
So many of the plants which thrived in our sub-tropical climate had to be removed and replaced with drought-tolerant species.
To me, the Gardens are valiantly recovering, but I can see evidence of the past stress.
Still very beautiful and peaceful though.

That's a water dragon.  They're everywhere and they love to bask on the rocks then dive into the ponds for a feast.

This, I don't know what it is and it's vaguely disturbing.
The council have created a beautiful new playground and there were six of these strange pods at different angles. Eeeek!

I didn't wear this outfit on the excursion, these pics were taken a couple of days later when I *gasp* wore my Franken-Frock two days in a row.
I've given up hope of getting any winter this year so I'll stop moaning and get on with enjoying my light frocks.
I wore vertical striped leggings the previous day, I so enjoyed extending the Franken-Frock theme to my legs for two days in a row.

 Frock and bag - handmade by me

Necklace - gift from Helgalicious

Shoes - Melissa

Leggings - Black Milk

Zip hair clip - gift from Erica 

Earrings - Bones Couture

I hope you've all enjoyed a wonderful weekend.
D x

Schools for the Deaf in 1950s ... and Ballet

Skimming Blogger search stats is a rather amusing way to waste a few seconds.
Yet I'm still scratching my head over how someone landed on my blog while looking for 1950s deaf schools.
Nevertheless, real life has been a little more interesting than some people's strange internet habits these past couple of days.
For a start, it's been deliciously "wintery" here in Brisbane.
Snort away, I realise how utterly ridiculous autumn temperature ranges from 7-19 degrees celsius must seem to people living in climates that enjoy four proper seasons.
But it's all relative to what one is used to isn't it?  After all, I can stomp around in Docs and long sleeved shirts to avoid sun damage when it's 30+ degrees if necessary.

Early yesterday, this was the morning view from the back deck where I enjoyed my coffee.

Later in the day, my attempt to distract about 200 school girls from their soccer matches was a partial success.
It was The Stylist's special request that I "dress crazy" to come and watch her game ... I told her I would just wear my normal clothes, yet I must have looked like a neon orange field line marker judging by the sweet gasping faces.

Yesterday The Phoenix bought last minute tickets for The Stylist and I to see the ballet Coppelia last night.
So she and I got to wear fur and tights and sleeves.
And go out.
At night.
Woohoo!

I found her owl patchwork bag in an op shop this week for $4.  It's brand new and she loves it.  Win.

The wee lassie is rocking one of my 1940s fur capes and my comic tights.
I love that she can wear some of my gear now, no doubt the next thing will be shoes at the rate she's growing.

Killing time at the train station and on the empty train to South Bank.

Once we got to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (with bright pink blusher intact) we were very pleasantly surprised that the ballet patrons had bothered to dress up for the occasion.
This good news follows sharp on the heels of the rant in my last post, complaining about the casual culture that seems to be poisoning our DNA.
Bravo to heels, sparkle, hair-dos, bling-bling and eyebrows, it was a feast for the eyes!

There was a children's story time telling the story of Coppelia and colouring-in between acts, which was lovely as there were people of all ages attending.  A little girl told her mother at the next colouring table: "I want all of that lady's outfit!"
Clearly a child of discerning taste.

Not a very exciting shot, but as you can see we were seated in "the gods" because it was a last minute ticket race, yet it didn't hinder the performance in the slightest, the theatre is so beautifully well-designed.
The theatre filled up quickly while the wonderful orchestra warmed up.

And these are some of the images I nicked off the intawebz of the Queensland Ballet's performance coz obviously no pics allowed during the performance and rightfully so.

I hope you have a fab weekend, tomorrow's Mother's Day here and we've got a full house tonight. 
Baci, D xox