My birthday generally falls on, or near, the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend. This is a good thing. The long weekend aspect, rather than the Queen’s birthday.

Of course, the Queen’s birthday is actually in April (I think) and Australia should be a republic. They don’t get a long weekend for her birthday in England, or at least they didn’t when I used to live there. Anyway, I think it’s pretty great to always have a long weekend for one’s birthday each year and so I give thanks to her majesty (or more accurately, I give thanks to the Victorian Public Servants who long ago enacted a public holiday in the King’s honour). I have digressed…

Here follows a short overview of ‘Kate’s birthday long weekend’ (as we call it in our house).

SATURDAY (my actual birthday)

We didn’t have anything particular planned, mainly due to the stressful work-week I’d had. Lots of just hanging about and feeling loved (birthday phone calls, coffee in bed, pottering about).

We had lunch at one of our favourite cafes in Melbourne – the Famous Blue Raincoat in South Kingsville. We hadn’t been for ages as it is actually nearer to where we used to live in Newport. It was as good as I remembered, and is a really friendly establishment. They have a lot of live music, a great courtyard (although we sat inside on this chilly day), artwork on the walls and good food. I guess you might describe the decor as ‘shabby chic’ but I note that James and Kaz (the owners) describe it as “An eclectic mix of Parisian bohemia, contemporary flavours and New Orleans grooves” on their website.

We did some further pottering about in the afternoon (getting caught in a massive downpour at one stage making my blowdried hair decidedly frizzy). This included an op shop and the wonderful furniture shop in Northcote Grandfather’s Axe. I fell in love with many items without any purchase and Greg was very patient (knowing I have a bit of a thing for a beautiful chair).

We made scones with home-made clotted cream (I will do a separate post about this experiment) before rushing off to the movies in Yarraville to see Maleficent at the beautiful Sun Theatre. We were lucky to get the last two seats, but one seat was in front of the other. I then proceeded to be extremely uncoordinated (uncoordinatedness being a particular skill of mine) by spilling our bottle of wine all over my seat (before I’d sat down, in the juggle of coat and bag). This was most inconvenient as the theatre was full! However, it turned out that there were two ‘house seats’ not taken and the ushers let us sit there, together. Phew! After the film we had a browse at the Sun Bookshop (this is a post-film tradition) – it is a very fine bookshop – and returned home with a few items… The film was fun, and made me a remember a time when Sammy D and I dressed up for a party – actually as the wicked witch from Snow White rather than Sleeping Beauty  and I fished out this photo when we got home.

I also got to unwrap a beautiful present from my family (both sides together). Yay!

Part two to follow…

Waiting on the kitchen bench on my birthday morning.

The place to go in South Kingsville

Considering what to have for lunch

Good coffee at the Blue Raincoat

The inside of the Famous Blue Raincoat

They have many unusual salt and pepper shakers at the Famous Blue Raincoat

Mushrooms, goats cheese and a poached egg – yum!

Excellent Portuguese Custard Tarts and a satisfying pot of tea

Beautiful, original, and (therefore) expensive Featherstone chair at Grandfather’s Axe

The fabulous art deco cinema in Yarraville

Wrong fairy tale (Snow White not Sleeping Beauty) and 20 years ago (Yikes!). Kate and SammyD

A selection of classics on display in Yarraville.

Books, from an actual book shop! The Sun Bookshop in Yarraville

Jeeves and Wooster pose for a photograph

An exciting glimpse of what’s inside

Up close and personal. Can you believe I waited all day to open the box?

The colour is ‘truffle’. Thank you Family!