WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF RICK RUTHERFORD'S COUNTRY
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Rick Rutherford's Country - The Australian Country Collections Shoppe boasts two stores in the NSW Blue Mountains. For full details click on the Stores button above. ********* What you're saying ... The latest feedback from readers as received via recent emails:
From Deb: Dear Rick, Fourteen years ago my first husband, who was only 39 years old, died from a brain haemorrhage whilst at work. I had only just said to him a few days before what a great year it was going to be. We were going to finally own our home. Then we could start doing things with our two children whereas before we could not afford to take them places ... not even picture shows and holidays because money was so tight. When he died it knocked the bottom out of our world. Anyway, what I wanted to say to you was that a few weeks after he died, and the kids were at school, I was in the newsagent, just wandering around to keep my mind off things, when I spotted a pretty cover on a book, so I picked it up and started flicking through it. It was Australian County Collections. Needless to say, I was totally hooked. I started buying the magazine as the words and thoughts you put into each issue lifted my spirits like you wouldn't believe. Even today when I get a bit down I still just reach for one of your books and re-read it. I have also used them to get my ideas for making furniture. Things have been too expensive to buy so I started making country style furniture myself. People who have seen the things I have made continually want to know where I have bought them. They can't believe that I have made them using your books as a guide ... not until I show them something in an issue that is the same. Where some things were made using timber panels I leadlighted them instead, which I feel enhances their look. I always stain the timber I use either a golden teak or mix the stains until I get the right colour. I love the warmth of timber. When you stopped producing Rick Rutherfords Country it was like I had lost a friend. Amazingly, my son and his wife bought me a computer for Christmas this year,and when I learnt the basics, one of the first things I did was type in your name. Now, thanks to the website, I feel I have my old friend back. What an amazing person you are. You have been gifted with a way with words that only a few people will have. (I am not one of them, I'm afraid). Whatever you do in life, and wherever life takes you, you are an angel and an inspiration to many people. For years I have wanted to write and thank you for keeping me sane but I have never had the courage (or spelling abilities). So THANK YOU and God bless you. Regards, Deb. From Wendy: Dear Rick, How are you? I pop into your website every now and then to catch up on your news ... I love collecting quotes and wanted to share some quotes with you that are very inspiring to me. Here they go: FRIENDS: Surround yourself with people who believe you can (Dan Zadra)
SUCCESS: Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming
Love & Best Wishes Wendy From Beck: Hi there. I was just looking at your fab site and saw you are after original prose or poetry. Well, it's not much but this came out of my mouth today when I was chatting to a friend about home decorating:
If you don't decorate your home with what you love then you won't love being there and it will never be HOME!!
From Karen: Hey there Rick, I was going through my journals the other day and came across this verse that I would like to share: The Difference: I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day; I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray; Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. "Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered: "You didn't ask?" I wanted to see joy and beauty,but the day toiled on grey and bleak. I wondered why God didn't show me. He said: "But you didn't seek?" I tried to come into God's prescence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided ... "My child, you didn't knock." I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.
From The Hall Family: Hi there, This was written by our ten-year-old son Calum - we thought you and your readers might enjoy it. It's all about Christmas decorating:
Oh no! It’s Christmas time. That means Mum’s Decorating the house With Santas and stockings And Rudolphs too, Snowglobes and holly Nutcrackers and elves To name a few. There’s the mistletoe Above the hall (I need to remember to avoid that). Hand-stitched quilts and cushions Appear in every corner. Snowmen and snowflakes Seem so out of place. And lucky last The Christmas tree or Should I say trees The house is like a forest. My favourite is the The great bushy Christmas tree In the lounge Covered in ornaments Such as baubles and Candy canes With the flashing star On top. Every room has something Christmassy inside it Not even the bathroom Is safe. Where will it all end? Then there’s the food Like puddings and gingerbread men Roast turkey, smoked chicken and The Darryl Lee chocolates It never seems to end ... Christmas isn’t just one day In my house It’s a whole month of traditions Like the advent calendar Mum made us a few years ago Music and carols fill the house Bing, Frank and Dean Croon away However, if I hear “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” Once more I will pull my hair out! Really there is no end! My Mum’s mad about Christmas And I mean really nuts But I actually like it I really have no other choice
If you would like to contribute comments, Feedback or quotes as the readers above have done, all you need to do it send us an email at rickrutherford@iprimus.com.au We look forward to hearing from you. *********
BOTH STORES NOW OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK! **********
ALONG THE WAY ... ‘While I Live I Grow’ Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow. (Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 – 1882)
But with each recent year, as December 25th has loomed closer, I have seemed to stumble to the ‘finishing line’ with a little less energy than the one before. And unfortunately, with exhaustion comes susceptibility to the thousand and one ‘lurgies’ that love to breed in the warm, humid conditions of summer and then inflict we simple humans with all sorts of aches and pains, coughs and sneezes. Unfortunately, though try as a I did – with double doses of vitamins and herbal concoctions of all sorts – this past festive season I again was unable to beat the dreaded flu, and ended up at the doctors for a little consolation and that all important antibiotic script. Whilst there, I asked my doctor to humour me and check my records from around the same time the previous year. Doing so, she burst into laughter. “Yes, you were here on exactly the same date last year (two days before Christmas), you had exactly the same symptoms and here’s a script for exactly the same drugs to get well again. You can work out from all this that, though I know you love the Christmas season, it annually exhausts you … so go home and rest, get well and have a Merry Christmas!”
Now on the other side of all the festive mayhem and the new year 2010 well and truly unfolding, the things of December seem a bit of a distant memory … except for the dreaded lurgi. While antibiotics did seem to ‘almost’ do their thing across the Christmas and New Year period, I didn’t bargain on my young assistant Tomas bringing an exotic form of the flu virus back with him from family holidays in Darwin and sharing it so lavishly and generously with ‘mine self’! Incubating inside me for a week, it soon hit with a force that only massive doses of penicillin could combat. And within the midst of it all, Christmas had to ‘come down’. Thus, I guess, due to my health condition at the time and resultant weary state of mind, the whole process turned into a production of the greatest magnitude, all the more exacerbated by the fact that I had decided from the very start that there was not only to be a ‘de-Christmasation’ of two stores and ultimately my own home, but a complete cleaning, reorganisation, remerchandising and, in turn, the clearing of space for hundreds of new items of stock to really give both RRC stores a new lease on life for a new year. The staff groaned, but I was relentless. The flu bit back, I bucked and tried not to buckle under its hold. And so we packed away and we dusted, we rearranged and unpacked new things, we displayed and refurnished … we created a whole new feel and freshness in both the Leura store and Lawson gallery and then the orders started going out for even more new and interesting treasures to be sent so we could really restock the shelves anew. Since the start of the year overseas suppliers have been enlisted to scour their warehouses for brand new pictorial quilts, braided rugs, primitive stitcheries, and many other unique riches … even Christmas wares in time for annual Yulefest celebrations coming up in July.
But now that the packing away of all the precious Christmas treasures at home has finally been accomplished, and the ‘everyday’ has been returned to its rightful place (with a little alteration of some things, the removal of one or two elements and their replacement with a few new and special pieces acquired in recent times and gifted by loved ones during the season), I confess to feeling a sense of order and direction once again settle within me, and a regaining of health and vitality. There are so many challenges ahead for 2010, and many things to accomplish. And all will come to pass only with the ongoing support and encouragement of those near and dear … from staff and family to special friends and even a number of new acquaintances whose involvement in my life I presently view with interest, anticipation and a touch of ‘curious intrigue’. This, surely, is what a new year – and a new beginning – is all about too … building on the foundations one has already established, acknowledging and affirming the importance of such things, and at the same time welcoming in the fresh and unknown so that growth can continue to occur. My beloved late grandfather was one of the key staff members of what was once Australia’s greatest department store – Anthony Horderns. The motto of the business was ‘While I live I grow’. This is exactly what I believe 2010 holds for each of us who are prepared to face the challenges of the times ahead … unparalleled growth and lots of living! We must accept life for what it actually is – a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature. (Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 – 1894)
Until next time Rick
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********** NEW HOME TOUR COMING!
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She’s Back!!!
The original founder of the township’s renowned ‘A Country Lane’, Sue Hay is well and truly back in the world of country on the Queensland Sunshine Coast, heading up The Country Nook in Main Street, Montville. A proud sister store to Sue’s other country venture – Country on Tamborine – all the wonderful and unique lines Sue has become famous for are to be found at The Country Nook, including a huge collection of American-imported wares unique to the store, a vast array of handmade items (many by Sue herself) and an incredible collection of other country homewares and decorator goods … all coming together to make this Queensland’s best country treasure. Call in a say ‘Hi’ to Sue and her team … they are open 7 days a week (9am to 5pm) at 166 Main Street, Montville (in the Sunshine Coast hinterland), or phone (07) 5478 5713.
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Come Join The Party
There’s a party going on … somewhere! To be precise, it’s being staged at the Blue Mountain’s beautiful heritage country gallery Rick Rutherford’s Country, and the guests are being feasted to more than just a glass of vino or two! During the course of midyear Yulefest celebrations, this year Rick Rutherford’s Country saw huge numbers of new customers flood through the door who were drawn by the breathtaking displays and wonderful atmosphere of this unique mountain’s attraction. And many of them asked if they can ‘stay and party’, so the gallery has responded with an invitation to all to come and do just that! Due to so many requests from customers interested in visiting the store after hours - in the company of a group of their own friends so that they can all enjoy the hugest selection of wares the country store has to offer - an exclusive party plan concept has been launched. It’s so simple. A customer organises a group of 20 or more of their friends and relations who want a great night out and they then book the date. We supply wine for the gathering and the hostess supplies the nibbles. All guests receive 10% off everything in the store, plus the hostess is entitled to an extra gift of a $100 shopping voucher to be spent either on the night or at any other time within a year! It’s a wonderful opportunity to explore the gallery and shop in the company of your closest friends and like-minded country fans, as well as having the chance to view and purchase ahead of other customers many of the new lines that come into stock. And, on top of it all, it’s the promise of a great social activity combined with the prospect of being able to purchase some great homewares, quilts, exclusive handmade treasures, loads of Christmas items and unique gifts at better-than bargain prices. If you would like to ‘come join in the party’ all you need to do is gather up 20 friends and call us … we’ll organise the rest.
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