WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF

RICK RUTHERFORD'S COUNTRY

 

Major updates and new products in the online shop -

click the tab above to look and buy!

 

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.

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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)

SHARE:    Somewhere someone is looking for exactly what you have to offer (Louise Hay)

SHINE:     Remember when you were at your best? Now be there again! (William Patterson)
         

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
          odds. (19th century American writer Orison Swett Marden)

I love all that you do and will always be a dedicated follower of the world of Rick Rutherford Country,

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.

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Lawson Parent Gallery

Scroll Down for: * Along The Way * On-Line Shop News * Home Tour Update * Call For Feedback * Gallery Review * Biography * Montville Store Update * Leurafells B & B * Party Plan

Leura Concept Store

 

BOTH STORES NOW OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK!

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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)

What an enormous undertaking. Owning two country stores and a home ‘in the hills’, the festive season each year seems to draw more and more on resources, time and energy … especially in terms of the physical side of its ‘production’ – the setting up of trees, decorating and displaying stock, the conduct of many special events on behalf of various special interest groups and customers, and countless other day-to-day activities that are undertaken during this special, magical time of the year.

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!”

“That’s all very well for you to say” I thought as I bid my dearest doctor the very best of the season and made my departure. How could I be expected to rest when one of my country two businesses is located slap dab in the middle of the Blue Mountain’s busiest tourist villages, with no one available across the holiday period to man the post except for yours truly and my marvellous ‘Jewish grandmother’? A very good rest indeed!

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.

Once all this organising was in hand I then focused on the task of removing the festive finery bedecking the rooms of ‘Wroxton’ – my home here in the Blue Mountains. The fact that over 30 Christmas trees had already been stripped from my two stores before I focused my energies on the home front, compounded by the ‘inconvenience’ of a bronchial infection bordering on pneumonia, added up to making the job seem almost Herculean, and for two weeks it seemed easier to pretend that the eight foot towering evergreen in the dining room, covered in hundreds and hundreds of glass baubles – some dating back to the 1920s – wasn’t really there at all. Surely it was a figment of my imagination!

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)

 

Already the new year has presented a range on unexpected incidents for many of us, and added a ‘red herring’ or two into the mix. But the real test is to keep one’s eyes on one’s goals, and not to lose sight or courage along the way. Life will always throw each of us a curved ball, but when faith and conviction are one’s guide, we will always walk the right path – albeit perhaps even a different path than the one we first anticipate. But it will always be in the right direction all because we have kept focus and endured. So I encourage each of you to stay strong, focused and healthy for the year ahead as we individually and collectively head towards our goals … and at the end of the year, another 30 Christmas trees awaiting from someone (like me!) to adorn and decorate!

Until next time

Rick

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The RRC On-Line Store ... More for 2010! Our on-line catalogue - a random sampling of the thousands of items held in store in both our Lawson parent gallery and Leura concept shop in the NSW Blue Mountains - is a principal point of focus for RRC in 2010. On a regular basis we will be adding a host of new items so that, within a very short time, we hope to achieve our aim of offering many hundreds of wares from which on-line shoppers from all over the world can choose. So please call by each week to discover the new items we have added as we continue to build a comprehensive online catalogue that is a true reflection of the many decorating styles and themes showcased with the RRC Blue Mountains stores.   To shop, simply go to the On-Line Shop tab above.

 

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NEW HOME TOUR COMING!

	Gracious heritage home in the NSW Blue Mountains - a place to call home for Rhonda Emerton and family ... the focus of the next Home Tour currently being completed, to be added to the website next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CALL FOR FEEDBACK With the extensive updating of the on-line magazine here, I am eager for all your feedback and input. Do you have something to say? A house you would like to see featured in the House Tours section? Some poetry or prose to contribute? Maybe even a business or interest you would like to plug. Whatever it is you would like to share, please contact me via rickrutherford@iprimus.com.au and I'll be delighted to respond. Rick

GALLERY REVIEW: 2010 Brings New Looks for the RRC Gallery Below is just a sample of some of our fabulous new collections - call into the Lawson gallery or Leura concept store to much more!   BOTH SHOPS NOW OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK!

Biography - Rick Rutherford 'Who is this man' I have often heard asked? What is his claim to fame? I aspire to no notoriety - I just have a passion for what I do and where I live, and am abundantly blessed to be able to combine the two, touching the loves of others in the process as I champion the cause of putting one's heart into one's home ... to celebrate its true meaning and value. When I set out to undertake formal studies in the area of journalism and communications many moons ago, I knew I wanted to ultimately 'write country', but exactly how, when and where were certainly unclear in those formative years. Once I gained my degree I launched into a career in public relations, took a side track for a few years in the rag trade where I had my own clothing label, and then came back to journalism where I wrote, amongst other things, a regional title called Farmers & Graziers. A love of the rural way was thus instilled. But not so much a hankering to don an Akubra and graze 1000 head of cattle, but more a passion to pursue a career investigating and writing about the look that is so firmly rooted in the countryside; is inspired by the colours and materials of Nature; and is continually evolving, exciting  and vibrant. Such a passion ultimately led me to conceive and launch onto the Australian market the hugely-successful Australian Country Collections, a magazine which held my attention, and my heart, for over 10 years and 39 issues! But if it's true that with 40 comes a mid-life crisis and a hankering for change and new directions, then a mid-life magazine crisis was certainly had as I ultimately decided to face the new (and I'll admit initially daunting) challenge of translating passion, skills and experiences to a fresh and exciting medium - the web. And so www.rickrutherford.com came into being. Then in early 2005 my very own national title Rick Rutherford's Country was launched. The bimonthly magazine quickly earned the same strong and dedicated following I experienced when running Australian Country Collections. To this band of wonderful readers across the nation and even in far-flung reaches overseas, I will always be indebted. But life continues to change and is ever offering many new challenges. One such challenge has been the translation of Rick Rutherford's Country from printed title to Australia's first online country magazine. It is been an exciting new frontier to forge, and a new phase in life, as I have had the unique opportunity to reach a much broader audience across the globe. The ultimate challenge however came about in late 2007 when I embraced the opportunity to finally translate 'words into reality' and establish Rick Rutherford's Country - The Australian Country Collections Shoppe within a wonderful heritage building in Lawson, in the very heart of the NSW Blue Mountains. Then, at Easter 2009, a second store was launched - in the Blue Mountains famed heritage village of Leura. The two stores and the on-line magazine here have now become the main focus of my business activities, My regular column - called 'Along The Way' - which appeared in Australian Country Craft and Decorating for several years has now been tranferred to the website here (there are several editions archived here on-line for all to read) and another book and several other projects are also presently 'on the boil' for future development. Indeed life is full, rich and rewarding, the greatest blessing being the kindred hearts with whom I continue to connect via the various professional interests with which I am involved.

The Place to Stay ... For all those travelling to the NSW Blue Mountains to explore the sights - and visit yours truly in the gallery in the process! - there is now a wonderful place to stay that offers fine heritage-style accommodation that is like a home away from home. And it's decked out in quilts and other lovely accessories from RRC too! Make a magical weekend of it and stay in traditional mountains' style at Leurafells. For all the details click on www.leurafells.com.au