feeling the burn and the yearn

I took a wander around the garden to see if the hot day had wreaked any damage.  I noticed things in the garden that had been important to Sarah in 2015 but she appeared not to attach any significance to in 2017.  And I remembered that, while Georgia was on an exchange year to Norway as a teenager, we had the opportunity to buy a huge and fabulous house in Sandy Bay that I had lived in briefly.  We would have to sell our Bellerive house and my unit but knew it would be a good investment and a lovely place to live.  We agonised but decided it wasn't fair - Georgia loved 01 Queen Street, the Bellerive house.  When she returned and we confided to her our traitorous thoughts, she exclaimed that she would love to live in Sandy Bay.

the plant Sarah chose at Salamanca Market 2015

the heart she made to adorn the gate to the veggie garden 2015

The garden appears unscathed but, overcome with memories, I went inside and made myself a stiff Cointreau and lemon with plenty of ice.

reduced to rhubarb

The fruit glut is over so I had to cook rhubarb to have with my yoghurt this morning.

During the week Steve, Pharaoh Dog and I went for a drive so Steve could show me the beautiful road from Buckland to Campania - a circuitous way to get to Sorell.  We investigated an apricot and cherry farm.  I had a cherry icecream which was a bit watery but Steve pronounced his apricot icecream the best icecream he'd ever eaten.
On the way home we tracked down a house that Steve had spotted distantly from the highway and wanted to photograph to paint later.

Shades of the Arbiters of Taste days.  I sat primly in the car, not having been given the license, granted to Steve, to roam around and take photos.  But you get the idea.  It's in the Orielton area and I wonder if it was connected to Edward Lord - for those of  you aware of the chap.

Meanwhile in my unwatered garden the hollyhocks are mutating and appear to be bonsai'd but the seaholly is going great guns.
I keep meaning to share with you this lovely image I came across in The Anthologist book I was reading:

When the War is over and the sword at last we sheathe,

I'm going to keep a jelly-fish and listen to it breathe.

It's from an AA Milne poem, 'From a Full Heart'.  I've finished the book by Nicholson Baker.  I wouldn't rush out to buy it but I am keeping it to re-read because it is thought provoking.  I'm currently re-reading the Sue Grafton alphabet series.  Two friends and I decided we were going to read them in order from 'A is for Alibi' through to 'Z is for Zero' but sadly Sue Grafton died recently and Z may never be published.  I've just finished 'F is for Fugitive' but have to hunt down G and H before I can continue this noble quest.

Clafoutis

Yesterday at PUBS I told my companion-in-book-sales that I'd made a clafoutis last night.  'Is that like a faux pas?' she replied.  Which made me laugh.  'Clafoutis' has always seemed such a clumsy word to me.  It conjures up clubfeet and cleft palates.  When the Tour Down Under is on I think of the Tour de France and naturally that makes me think of clafoutis.  When plummy Poms are banished to France to live, travel and write cookery books, there's always a recipe for clafoutis.  I'm sure it's a provincial dish and not Parisienne.  Being a provincial sometimes Pom with a surplus of cherries I thought I'd have a go.

Not the prettiest thing I've ever made.  Looks a bit gravel rashy. Perhaps it needs to be cooked in an oven blackened skillet. It always looks so winsome in the accompanying little line drawings.

This little cutey is about to be returned to the PUBS for re-sale.  I couldn't resist a book written by Lady Fortescue and recommended by Kirkus.  It was written in 1935, in the days when it wasn't obligatory to include recipes.  It's the same old lark of living graciously while surrounded by funny little foreigners but Lady Fortescue does seem to be quite a Girl and there's a frisson cos we know that there's a war coming.  Lady F doesn't know and this book ends in 1937.  She has quite a following and now has her own website http://www.perfumefromprovence.com/ thanks to adoring fans.
I haven't investigated Kirkus yet. I did find this http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/learn-to-make-perfume-in-provence-an-idea-not-to-be-sniffed-at-552899.html . Perhaps one Easter for lovers of Chanel 5.


ps have now investigated Kirkus https://www.kirkusreviews.com/about/history/ .  Another Gal to know about.

even later that same heavenly day

I omitted to tell you that this was a very hot day by Tasmanian standards.  Replete with ice-cream I couldn't resist the cool allure of my room and a little reading.  I'm reading a book about a man who is trying to write an introduction to an anthology of poetry.  It is not the most gripping read though it does throw out some interesting points to ponder about language.  But I found myself pondering about Easter.  Whether to fly or drive.  And if I drive, what shall I take?  I recalled the delightful picnic I had on the Spirit of Tasmania when I drove over in 2014.  And the delightful picnic stop with Lady Jayne when we drove together from Adelaide to Melbourne in our separate cars.  I'd need a small jar of coffee.  Maybe take the vacuum flask.  The boiled eggs were a good idea.  Apples.  Carrots.  Dried fruit and nuts.  What will I put it in?  What happened to that lovely little box my sister kitted out for sewing but perfect for travelling with all its little pockets?  Haven't seen it in ages.
Hold on.  It's there everyday when I open my wardrobe.

And there it was. With Flowers the Bonne ready and waiting for the next adventure.  Easter serviettes already packed.

a little later lazy Thursday

I had just finished blogging when Steve came in and asked if I'd like an ice-cream. Well, is there a 'y' in the day... but he couldn't fathom how to drive and carry them.  I was so overcome at the time that I forgot that the Fish Van now sells ice-cream in cones, so we drove en famille to the Orford Roadhouse for our purchases and then back to one of our favourite little places.  I had intended this to be a wonderful photo opportunity for it is not often that the three of us (the Pharaoh Dog is in the backseat sulking because she didn't get an ice-cream) go out together.  Naturally I forgot the photos till the ice-creams were nearly finished.

Steve wants you to see the view of Maria

even better taken out of the car

We were keen to see the huge sand bags that have been put in to keep the mouth of the Prosser River open for boats.  They have become the new playground.  Rumour has it that fishing folk have poked holes in the bags to rest their fishing rods.

And I have no idea what that black sun is.  Must give the lens a clean again.

Lazy Thursday

I promised myself a lazy day today and I'm fulfilling it.  I'm also doing quite well with my New Year resolutions.  And it is one of my wedding anniversaries today - those promises didn't go so well...  If you are an Easterer check out the Floosie's Port Eliot blog post.  It's like being there.
I've been doing good works and reading so don't have anything riveting to report.

A cuppla days at the PUBS - pop up book stall.  The hardware store has closed and the new owner of the building offered it to PUBS for January.  A good idea because it lets potential tenants have a look through and allows us to raise money for local groups.  So far it's been very successful.  I've only bought six books and will be able to return some tomorrow for re-sale.
I've also spent time at the Gatehouse.

Not a great photo but I love the Triabunna shadow.  We had a working bee to check on the plants and sort them out a bit.  Some of them have grown crazily lately.  We still haven't had much rain but some of the plants seem to leap out of the ground when we do.

Another not so great photo but you can see how close it is to the school oval.  Which is handy when you have a lot of school garden produce to put on the stall.  Nicki from school and I did a bit of harvesting one day and she posted to the school's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TriabunnaDistrictSchool/  - you'll have to scroll down a bit to see the stall photos but on the way you'll see why I think this school could be one of the best in the world. There was an influx of tourists as we stocked the shelf and they bought up just about everything, being very impressed with the quality of the produce and the Gatehouse / school partnership.

I took some of our trimmings from the working bee and am having a go at propagating them.  Locals are showing an interest in the garden and it would be great to have the plants for sale.
In other news:

• Jill has had her final Dog School class
• our hot water cylinder packed it in - well, actually, it didn't but it looked like it was going to explode - on Saturday.  Fortunately fixed now.  You never crave a bath as badly as when you can't have one.  And we had a hailstorm as Kyrle, electrician, checked out the electrics.  Puck, his dog, confined the thunder and lightning to our western boundary while Jill Pharaoh Dog looked on in astonishment.
• I've finally managed to eat at our new Seafood and Wine Bar which is open between the curious hours of 8am to 7pm.  Great setting but I won't return until they do seafood platters or some tapas style fish dishes.
• I'm eating like a fruit bat.  People are giving me the most delicious plums, peaches and cherries.  Steve buys apricots cos he likes them best.
• There was a concert at the Community Hall last night.  I didn't go because I'd heard that tickets were selling well and didn't need my support.  Lovely to see the streets and car parks filled.  I watched Maigret on telly.  Took a while to get used to Rowan Atkinson as Maigret.  But lovely to see Paris.

I think that's all for now.  Over and out.

honey, honey

A little surprise for me when I opened the honey tub that Sarah and I bought from the Honey Lady last week.  Sarah has gone home to Korea.  She is now ten and had changed so much in the 2 years since I saw her last.  No dressing up in my clothes and red carpet fashion shows this time.  A calmer and more introspective girl.

daydream believer

Nearly fell over when I glimpsed this little van from our window.

They must be very good friends.

books

Much as I enjoy a good visitor, nothing gets in the way of my reading.  I live by the maxim:

I must admit I'm not into audio books yet.  Naturally, superwoman Georgia listens to audio books as she works on a million other things.  I'll listen to them when my eyesight fails.

I have just finished The Writer's Garden.

This was a present from The Floosie.  I'm very proud that I waited until Christmas Day to unwrap and start reading it.  Actually it was Boxing Day before I got to present opening, wanting to wallow in the occasion alone.  It's a beautiful book and even got me liking Sir Walter Scott.  May even read something of his someday.  I was particularly taken with the idea of a 'committee of taste' to assist him in the building of his palatial house and gardens.  The Floosie and I used to be the Arbiters of Taste for the Bellerive Historical Society.  It was also a seamless segue (haven't heard that phrase for a while) from the lovely library book I was reading in Adelaide about Beatrix Potter's houses and gardens.
The Australian Coastal Gardens book I also borrowed from the library in Adelaide, and was so inspired by it that I thought of buying.  Fortunately reason prevailed and I have it from the library here.  I've read it from cover to cover and studied every photograph so probably don't need it any more.  I like the writer's style, though he does use 'tomentose' till you're nearly comatose, and call cray pots 'crab pots'.  We fishing port people know better.  He is a garden designer and commented on the freedom he now has as a writer to knock on people's doors and ask to look over their gardens.  A freedom known to, and exploited by, the Bellerive Arbiters of Taste thanks to the Bellerive Heritage series.  Glory days.

Steve bought me this book after hearing the author interviewed.  It is truly astonishing what this woman got away with, and a fantastical read.

I'm still making my way through this one.  Not because it is a difficult read but because it is a re-write of Tasmanian history and there is so much to absorb and contemplate.  I feel like I'm with old friends from my History M. Qual. days as the contemporary sources are quoted.

I'm also taking it easy with this one, another I discovered in Adelaide.  There's so much to learn and, so far, he hasn't used 'tomentose' once, though I've learned so much about how plants conserve water for their own use.

Here's my dry garden today.

And another of my secret escapes

more festive season

Not that we were really that more festive than usual,

though George and Matt brought Jansz for Christmas Day.  Normally I restrict my Jansz intake to Easter.

And we did have a surfeit of Christmas crackers - contemplating a bon bonfire.  There was no surfeit of home grown raspberries.

I grew raspberries and harvested the beetroots hoping to dazzle Georgia.  Raspberry plants obviously are not a companion plant to rhubarb.  I won't make that mistake again.  And Georgia so loves beetroot salad she came armed with baby beetroots fresh from Hobart's Farmers Market.  I won't make that mistake again either.  I'm a bit beetrooted out at the moment.

Georgia made and gave me this necklace and uplifting essential oil blend.  You put a cuppla drops of oil on the fabric and waft around in an uplifted cloud all day.  Highly recommended.  The other little necklace was a gift from the gym owner.  Everyone got one - including Sarah on her one visit.

My garden struggles on through the East Coast drought.

Once upon a time in Wentworth I worked with a great guy called Jamie.  I was his boss during school  hours and he was my boss in SES hours.  After he'd had some harrowing incident one weekend, he told me that he'd asked himself  "What would Maggie do?"  I was right chuffed because I would often ask myself "What would Jamie do?"  because he is so much more down to earth and practical than I am.  Now I ask myself "What would Georgia do?"  The girl is amazing:  pulling up floorboards, replacing them, sanding, painting the kitchen cupboards and front door, all while on holiday from Singapore.  Above you can just glimpse Kit - a rare moment when someone is actually standing still.

Georgia and I spent a few hours pulling up weeds in her back garden.  She is a little despairing because the uphill neighbour is an old lady who can't look after her garden anymore.  This was the view of the neighbour's garden from an upstairs window at Georgia's.  It is wild but you can see that it was one of those wonderful Australian Italian gardens that produces everything for the family.

Perhaps we spoke a little loudly because two days later she had a gardener in.  What a framework to garden in.  But I think George and Co. feel they have more than enough garden of their own.  Three boys at uni do not three gardeners make.

watermelon summer

It all started with this:

the watermelon lamp I bought from Curly Tree, the shop siituated in our former Riverbank in Wentworth.  Sandrine was with me at the time of purchase, and was later inspired to send me a windcheater,

seen here being worn by a mysterious creature with a ginger moustache, which was to cover Christmas and birthday presents.

Naturally I was very pleasantly surprised to also receive this from her for Christmas.  Not the actual watermelon, but a rather beautiful receptacle for objects such as sunglasses.  The actual watermelon has been seeing me through the warmish and very dry days of our summer.

As has this:

Watermelon tea kindly donated by Pearl when she knew of my watermelon lamp.