Croc country

Bellerive Bardot has finally had the chance to assert herself.  She and a former rescue dog descend daily to the beach and, leaving her crocs in a secret rock space, wallow in the pleasures of sea and sand.

The tides make each day exciting and new.  In high tide we paddle through swirling waters at the base of the dunes.

Recently we were greeted by an exceptionally low tide,

revealing unexpected aspects of the coastline.

The beach is forbidden to dogs between 10am and 6pm during December to March so hordes of jolly dog walkers pound the sand before 10am each morning.  Balls, sticks and pine cones crisscross midair.  Most dogs have eyes only for their own missile.  Others have a more sporting attitude and give chase to all thrown objects.  Somehow it all works out.  Camaraderie rules, and we humans are all mindful of getting off the beach by 10am.  We reference Cinderella at midnight and South Australia's former 6 o'clock Swill.  Jilly has new friends: Tupac, Maude, Brian and Nell.  Olley she also knows from Triabunna.

A rainbow arced across the bedroom window this morning.  By the time we got to the beach, it was a wide brush stroke of colour washing Hobart and the mountain.  As we returned to collect my crocs, two pied oystercatchers called out and landed on the sand.  Good omens.

I have become a regular user of the library, borrowing books and dvds.  On one occasion I was there when a large group of adults and children were enjoying Toddler Story Time.  Two staff were presenting, one working a Bingo hand puppet, the other chanting 'I've got a dog, a counting dog, woof.  I've got a dog, a counting dog, woof woof.  I've got a dog, a counting dog, woof woof woof...' I think you've got the plot by now.  The children were so immersed.  It was magical for me knowing that the Jilly Pup was waiting outside, possibly counting the long minutes.

'Persepolis', a Graphic Novel, is the most impressive book so far.  Thanks to the lovely Ella (who is working on her own graphic novel) for telling me about this one and 'Maus'.

With my new found interest in Charmian Clift, this was an inevitable read.  It's a well written story but also a record of the research process, though I'm still dumbfounded that the author could find out so much in only a year.  I have to confess that I also have a liking for Gina Chick.  I'm not a fan of 'survival tv' but for some reason saw the show featuring Gina Chick in the Tasmanian wilds.  I loved her commitment to understanding and working with nature rather than considering it something to be overcome and conquered.  She won.

I'm also a great Heather Rose fan and slipped easily into the beautiful language and quiet observations of 'A Great Act of Love'.  It's a grand story but, I have to say, highly improbable.  And while we're on the subject, I read Erin Hortle's 'A Catalogue of Love'.  It's a book of mature realisations about relationships and living on Bruny Island.

I also had a great adventure with another Tasmanian book/author but I'll tell you about that some other time.

Living local

Living local is a necessity with a dog but no car.  Walking everywhere is required when dogs are forbidden on public transport. Fortunately Bellerive is an interesting place to live.

A milepost !! where Wentworth and Clarence Streets intersect

egg and bacon pie from former Gough's Butchery

I also tried to re-create a potato, strawberry and mint salad I had in a pub in England many years ago.

The Bellerive Community Arts Centre 50 years celebration:

the wonderful and long-retired Robin Pulford who played such a big role in helping us to establish the Bellerive Historical Society back in the days when council supported  history

also long retired the dynamo Marjorie Luck, Community Arts Officer and  huge supporter of the creation of the Bellerive Historical Society

the 99 year old man who established the Bonsai Society from the Community Arts Centre back in the day

note glasses and print size - where's there a will...

my favourite artworks on the day - almost inspired me to re-explore embroidery...

All this time, the wonderful Jilly Pup had been waiting patiently outside.  She was rewarded with cake and a visit from some of the ladies.

Then we rambled downhill to the Boardwalk, one of Jill's favourite places.

I bought a calamari souvlaki, Jill did a lot of sniffing, and we both gazed at the Community Arts Centre's temporary glass cube exhibition space.

Other local gazeworthies:

a sign at the school entrance that I find amusing

a house on South Street doing what I think Bellerive should

I don't always have to leave home.  Fortunately the universe sometimes brings amusements to me.

The Schools Triathlon Challenge, for example.  It started with a bit of setting up just outside the garden.

a short stroll revealed a lot of bikes

Back at my place, the students did their bike laps after their swim at Bellerive Beach.  Then they did running laps around Bellerive Bluff.  About 3,000 of them apparently (students, not laps).  It had a great carnival atmosphere.  I could just imagine Corinne and I slinking off somewhere while Bronny and Heths battled it out for Gilles Plain's glory.

Other domestic events:

the masked lapwings aka plovers enjoy a drink from Emma's old dog bowl

a cane bee acts very realistic

Jilly remembers the carpets of self-sown poppies in the Triabunna garden and wonders where have all the flowers gone

Not so amusing was last week's 5 hour unplanned interruption to the water supply.  The newly built mega house on Gunyah Street had called in Backyard Blitz or similar, and somehow the water supply to 30 houses was blitzed.  It was very annoying to have no freshwater to give Jill, to wash or to make coffee.  I have long been grateful for the ease with which we in suburban Australia can have fresh, clean water, and this really brought it home.  I stamped my foot a bit and Taswater brought me a slab of bottled water and installed a temporary tap.

it was amusing but humbling to watch neighbours filling their buckets at the tap - like many of the world's people

slightly scary, we've had warmish weather and the ice-cream van returned yesterday

and another Bellerive house doing what I think it should

Back to Bunna / Some like it hot.

The Weily Fox invited me up for a big Tuesday in Triabunna:  Suzie's birthday, visit my car, Remembrance Day, lunch at The Village, see Jilly at Georgia's, dinner at the East Coaster and then Mama Mia at the Triabunna Tivoli.

We started with a swim on Spring Beach at 6.30am.  The Weily one had already been for an hour's walk.

bathers for every day of the week

and some stunning apres swim gear

Next was the Remembrance Day Service

good singers and good friends - Maria Voices

then a visit to my car, now at the bodyworks.  There's hope it can be repaired if the parts can be found.

Lunch at the Village was next, and I crawled from there up the road to have afternoon tea with Georgia.

Jill, Miya and Bilbo Baggins being very good

The Foxy One picked me up,

we drove home through a hailstorm and then bedecked ourselves for the evening and had espresso martinis and chips for dinner at the East Coaster.  Then off to the Triabunna Tivoli.

Contrary to appearances it was not a drag show but Mama Mia, with a best-dressed prize.  Not being much of an ABBA fan, and never liking their clothing choices, I didn't participate.  But it was a fabulous night with dancing, singing, and the movie too of course.  It was also a tribute to David and Gavan who started the Orford Odeon and mentored the Triabunna Tivoli.  Sadly they died this year within a few months of each other.  A truly inspiring couple.

Not getting to Suzie's house earlier, we dropped her birthday card into her letter-box by moonlight.

The next morning was set aside for The Big Event.

The Big Truck pulled into the driveway right on schedule.

Sadly the sauna man had based his delivery plan on google maps, not realising that the Fox, though Weily, had failed to inform Mr Google that she had planted a nature strip garden which precluded the truck being easily reversed into the backyard.

A lot of resting and thinking.  Eventually it was agreed that a Big Crane was needed for the job.  Since this had to come from Hobart, Foxy and I went for a swim.

The Big Crane arrived

 and swung into action,

scaring the bejeezus out of us

as the wind rose.

The driver lowered the sauna 'blind' as I ran back and forth relaying the instructions yelled by the exhausted sauna man.

Right in place.  I congratulated the Big Crane driver on his skill,

" bin doin' it since I was eleven" he replied.

Naturally, The Fox is very happy with her Hobbit sauna and couldn't wait to get it cranked up.

I'm not a sauna fan so, as arranged, went to Georgia

who drove Jilly Pup and me home to Bellerive with a bunch of flowers from the Weily One's garden.

Culture, heritage and home sweet home

Romeo and Juliet may have disappointed me

but Van Diemen's Band at St Davids Cathedral was paradise enow.

The second Tuesday in November saw me at The Shoreline for a Melbourne Cup Lunch with the Bunna Babes.   Caz (in the middle) boldly got into the spirit and came third in the Ladies Best Dressed.

The following Friday saw me at the St Mark's Church market, delighted by the remaining flowers.

This rose is borrowed landscape from the garden next door.   I had been tempted to use it as part of my Melbourne Cup regalia.

my nasturtiums catching the morning sun

Saturday brought a feast of opportunities with the Architecture Open Day Tasmania.  I couldn't make much use of the day without a car but I did catch the bus into Hobart to explore the controversial 'Red Awnings' in Murray Street.  Formerly a bank, it is  now in private hands and scandalised many when the red canopies were installed.

I was very excited to learn the sandstone came from Kangaroo Point aka Bellerive

I love the red blinds

Now, I lived in an old bank but not like this!

through the front door

I had thought it would be nice to have a piano...

we did have a vault to store wine

a ceiling feature is always nice

as is a good library

and my kitchen was also much admired, perhaps not on quite this scale

Sated, I strolled through Salamanca Market,

Cary Lewincamp playing

caught the ferry to Bellerive,

unknown couple on ferry

and visited our old home in Queen Street, now part of the Cottage School.

the space under the house has been converted to classrooms

and I am very proud to say that the silver birches I planted remain

A walk along the beach to Alexandra Paradiso and through my new front gate,

past the onions that are doing exactly what I want them to.  A most satisfactory day.