My Australia Day Dress Shock Another Early House and Swans

 My beautiful dress (previous post) and now look, worn by two men to a Ute Run in Darwin. Brothers Paul and Dylan wore the dresses and wigs for a dare, The dresses are a bit stretchy but I can almost hear sequins popping off. Even I would have looked better in the dress. I might cry when I stop laughing. Beauties rich and rare refers to a line from our national anthem and means the rich and rare beauties of nature. Not men in sequined dresses. Shock Horror.

 Now look at the catalogue and the girl bottom right. That's how the dress should look. I don't look like that and Paul and Dylan certainly don't.

But I did wear my dress to the barbecue. Daughter S suggested I turn it into an apron. So I added ribbon to the neck and waist, a few stitches joined the back to the front and my sparkly apron was a great hit at lunch. I love it so much it will be on permanent display with my aprons.

 An early Australian house I forgot in my previous post. A holiday cottage belonging to my paternal great grandparents. Possibly built around 1910 I only remember going there once as a child. That was long after my grt. grandparents had passed on. I think it only had 2 rooms and why would you need a bathroom with all that (salt) water around. The house has long gone possibly eaten by white ants, termites.

My paternal grt. grandparents. Amelia Louise French and Joseph Mason. She was the great grandaughter of convicts and he came from Durham U.K as a young man. Joseph's father was a miner so perhaps he came to Australia to escape the fate of mine work. They had 11 children, my grandfather Edward was the oldest.
Amelia sadly died in her fifties and Joseph lived to 90 years old.

My swan collection that I don't really mean to have but can't resist bargain swans. The red swan on the right is my latest. Like the others it is Australian lustre pottery from the early 1950's. Look behind the red swan, there is a pansy wall vase also early Australian pottery. I bought it years ago and will give it to B. who collects wall vases. (see earlier) I have no wall space for wall vases.