It took me ages to see what was not quite right in this snap of a Melbourne suburban garden, but once I did, it was impossible to ‘unsee’ it. The… Read more

I recently bought a new pair of shoes. There was a brochure in the box telling me how to look after them to keep them looking good for as long… Read more

Our back gate is iron, similar in appearance to a pool safety fence with a 20 cm gap underneath. The other day I saw a family of ducks come under… Read more

Shapely Topiary is ‘the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes.’ I was… Read more

I opened the washing machine ready to get the clothes out to peg on the line and to my dismay saw white tissue confetti over everything. Someone (oops) had left… Read more

Earlier this year we were in the USA and seemed to spend the duration ‘tipping’ people who served us in cafes and the like. The waiters and waitresses were very… Read more

I have a new steam iron that has a brilliant quality called ‘OptimalTEMP’. The feature almost instantaneously works out how much heat is required for the material you are ironing,… Read more

A friend bought her husband an expensive watch for his 60th birthday. He has had no end of trouble with that watch and it is now out of warranty and… Read more

When we were in San Francisco earlier this year we went on a tour of the city which included a stop at the visitors centre near the Golden Gate Bridge…. Read more

The other day I bought a new saucepan and was somewhat amused to see that it came with a 6-page user guide. I had a look through the guide and… Read more