Back in Klemzig, it was time to curl up in the dappled sun and reflect

while others engaged in homely pursuits like fixing Mum's washing machine

and servicing my sewing machine.

Naturally, my mind was on higher things.

The Easterers met again for a dose of culture.  This opportunity really was too good to miss.

Pearl and I were entertained while we waited outside the gallery for Lady Jayne.  And afterwards as we made our way to our respective transports.

The exhibition proved just as uplifting.  Beautifully spaced and placed, it was just right to awe and inspire without sensory overload.  Well done Art Gallery SA.  Naturally we also availed ourselves of the restaurant facilities but just to get back in training for the big event.

Back to Longview for Sunday alla casa.  It was only a fortnight since Mum and I had last eaten there and the menu, being seasonal, was exactly the same so we knew what was coming up.  Such a joy for Mum and I to share this much loved experience.

We didn't think of photos till dessert was well on its way.  Four girls who like good food.

The next day was the big drive back to Melbourne which I managed well but couldn't relax till I was lined up next to the big boat.

Bye bye Melbourne,

hello early morning Devonport where I was reunited with my lost glasses and  case.

I found the bakery at Elizabeth Town and fulfilled my promise to buy date scones for Mrs Omniscient Henry.  I had a coffee and croissant for brekky and am hoping to return here for lunch soonish with Steve.  In the early morning it reminded me of the hotel Rosa Norte and I stayed in in Abergavenny.

Till the next Easter Dreaming.

Easter proper and otherwise

For the last few years we have started Easter on the Wednesday.  Being fiends for tradition, we did so again even though it involved me driving through the city in the early hours.  I left Mum's at 0600 and arrived in West Beach at 0630 having had a leisurely drive up North Terrace with scarcely a car in sight.  I loitered outside Pearl's until it was closer to my agreed arrival time, and then we shot through to loiter in the Ikea car park awaiting Lady Jayne's 'ready and waiting' txt.  Simultaneously, Lady Jayne was waiting with her bags outside the terminal for her scheduled airline ETA, her plane having landed super early.  We are all too too polite.  A short jaunt to Pearl's to unload and we were off to the city on the Glenelg tram.  It was after 9am by now so we could travel free as seniors.  Yippee!

We alighted in Victoria Square for the market and a dozen oysters to fuel us. It is difficult to see in the above photo (I was too busy eating oysters to move closer) but that strange contraption on the Providore counter was some sort of oozy chocolate foutain.  But we managed to resist.  Even chocolate can't surpass the tangy ocean hit that comes with a fresh oyster.  Brimming with zinc we made our way west to find the church in which Lady Jayne's forbears were married wayback.

It is surrounded by community gardens, op shop and offices of not-for-profit organisations.  The minister was charming as was the invocation to dance.

The church was destroyed by fire and has been rebuilt since the wedding of Lady J's great grandparents.  The windows were modern and beautifully done.  The photo below was supposed to showcase them but you'll have to content yourself with the woodwork instead.

We then sought out the mosque just to keep things in balance.  I was intrigued by the yarn bombed parking sign outside.

We wandered around without seeing anyone, past cleansing facilities and outdoor prayer spaces.

Having hedged our bets we explored this side of the city that was largely unknown to us.  Then down a part of King William Street far more westerly than we had ventured before.  We passed many a groovy little cafe / eatery and finally found a pub that we all felt was just right.

  The King's Head is totally devoted to South Australian food and beverages.  We felt very cool sitting among the young things on their lunch break.  We returned to the market to stock up on fruit, cheeses and far more bread than we really needed, then trammed home again, inadvertently illegally because it was just past 3 o'clock.  It took us a while to work out why our seniors tickets weren't working.  Actually someone on the very crowded tram explained it to us so we would stop monopolising the validating machine, causing all those boarding after us to also be travelling illegally.
That evening Pearl took us to another superduper place, Plant 4 in the former Clipsal factory.  It has an amazing range of food stalls and bars.  I was delighted that there was an outdoor area where people could bring their dogs to play while their owners could eat at strategically placed tables.  Very civilised.

view of Plant 4 from upstairs

view of very happy customer with fresh coconut juice bought at a bar

Thursday we wended our way to Normanville via an almost Vietnamese-style coffee shop at Aldinga, and then The Victory, a pub I've always wanted to try for lunch.  It did not disappoint.  The food was good and the wine (of a grape variety I'd never heard of) was made from fruit of the vines at the front of the pub.

We soon made ourselves at home at Pebbles Cottage where we had a light evening meal of Adelaide Market fare, a little bit of wine, and lots of Poldark after a bracing evening walk accompanied by a cacophony of barking dogs.  Some of us enjoyed this more than others.
Good Friday we explored Normanville and environs by foot and walked to the pub for dinner.  We had a great meal there but a little sad cos there weren't many other punters, and management and staff were disappointed.

Saturday we explored the Second Valley market.

(proof)

This turned out to be a great little market, small but with good quality produce, arts and crafts.

Pearl went crazy for the metal ware, filling the car boot with treasures.  This added an extra thrill to the event because parking was confined to a very narrow road with many bends to keep you guessing when the next 4WD would come screaming along and flatten you.  We also investigated property for sale at a little hamlet opposite.  Very nice.

We checked out Second Valley beach which teemed with jaunty people.  The sea, however, was calm and clear.  In the spirit of adventure fully indulged at Easter, we tried the restaurant in the old mill.  This is a charming building with tables in the gardens or inside with lovely artwork.  The meal was exquisitely presented and we paid over $80 for food that would have fitted in a sardine can with room to spare.  Total wanky rip-off.

At Pearl's brilliant suggestion we repaired to the Surf Lifesaving Club at Normanville Beach (which, like Second Valley, is no longer a sleepy hollow) and consumed a bottle of their best bubbly on a deck with unbeatable views.

Very happy, we walked home to Pebbles for more market delicacies and Poldark.

Sunday we woke befuddled because it was April Fool's Day plus Easter Sunday plus end of daylight saving and we had dutifully put our clocks forward the night before thus robbing ourselves of 2 hours beauty sleep.  Chocolate and sugared almonds and lots of coffee did atone for this to some extent but I still can't work out which day we found the Yankalilla Cemetery above, plus visited the plant nursery and very nice Visitor Information Centre.  I do know that we set off for another lunch at The Victory on Easter Sunday, this time to rendezvous with some of Lady Jayne's rels.  We went the long way round to take in Myponga Beach which none of us could remember visiting before.  I have to mention that we happened upon Maggie Beer.  Previously we had met Simon Birmingham and daughters on the bike path to Normanville. You can't move for celebrities in these parts.
After another yummy Victory lunch, though there was a strange interlude when we discovered that  you had to go down into the cellar if you wanted to buy a bottle of red which seemed both pretentious and difficult for the less ambulatory, we were invited to Aldinga for a cup of tea and family history chat, then drove Pebblesward in the dark, a rare event for us Easterers.
Easter Monday was time to say goodbye to Pebbles.  We took a long soulful walk along Normanville Beach as we did as teenagers, though much water has passed under the bridge since then and we've gained a lot of soul.

Lady Jayne's scullery maid did a fine job of the final clean up, and possibly the bottle of red.  Then the drive to Pearl's at West Beach to pick up my car, drop Lady J at the airport to pick up a car, and back to Klemzig to start planning next year.

unreal time

Going to the Knopwood do curiously coincided with the former Mrs History's photographer husband sorting out some photos.  The former Mrs H sent me these.

Mrs H and I.  I think we're at the Bellerive Bluff fort.

The launch of Bellerive Heritage Volume One.

The President with Andrew, Jane and Jill who had done all the hard work.

This truly was an unreal time.  We all worked full time, exercised, ran the Bellerive Historical Society, produced its monthly newsletter, and collaborated in putting the book together.  Andrew and Jane were also parents of young children at the time.  I have no idea how we did it but it seemed so natural then.
Thank you Mr and Mrs Floosie for the memories - and wonderful friendship.

real time

I shall continue Easter but thought I'd better let you know that life goes on at Tribes.

I've finished these 2 books kindly donated by The Floosie during our frantic Easter catch up.  The Bay of Fires book evolved very slowly but it always interesting reading plots set up the road.  I am keeping it and will take it to Mum next time.  The main character is a woman who loves fish and fishing and thus knows about tides and rips, not a device you encounter often in literature but right up Mum's alley.  I'm sold on the Rowland Sinclair books after this introduction.  Set in Sydney (clue on cover) in the 1930s, it's a dashing read.  I kept expecting Miss Fisher to put in an appearance.

The market on Sunday was a bit of a disaster.  The wind blew unabated all day and the French cars that were expected to arrive in droves failed to appear.  I consoled myself with a bottle of Spring Bay gin.  Actually I tasted it at the market but haven't opened the bottle yet.  I've never been into spirits but have been intrigued by people's knowledge of and love of whisky - a new world to explore perhaps?  Spring Bay Distillery does make a whisky, which I may get to later..., but I've always loved the idea of gin being made from juniper berries, and you can taste the botanicals in this.  Almost a gardening experience.

Tuesday night we were spoiled for choice.  We chose the concert above.

Sadly it was poorly attended and we were right up there in the front seats, which was lucky for us.  Always nice to gaze upon a young man from Barcelona.  They are amazing players.  The competition was Paddington 2 at the Orford Odeon - it is school holidays.

Last night it was more culture, in the big smoke this time.  I wasn't keen on driving at night but crept home at 80km/hour seeing only one possum seated on a post and a cat crossing the road in Warrane.

Bit hard to tell from these photos but the do was in the Rosny Barn, an homage to Reverend Robert Knopwood who arrived in Tasmania in 1803.  I'm not sure why he has suddenly come to the attention of the Clarence Council arts scene.  It was a lavish event with a lecture followed by food from the era,

not captured very well in these photos!  Jean Green Bean's Botaniko group's paintings of plantings from Knopwood's garden festooned the walls, which was how I got an invite.  Floosie, you would have loved it.  And it would have been much easier to just walk home by starlight around Kangaroo Bay to Bellerive.

Easter 2018 diary

I always look forward to the indulgence of our Easter trips but this year I had even higher anticipation.  Eighteen is my significant number and I have pledged myself to make 2018 super special.
17/3 I set off on St Patrick's Day for the ferry at Devonport.  I knew this was the easiest part of the journey.  My fear was getting off the boat in Melbourne and finding my way to the Westgate Bridge and onward to Ballarat, and the high probability of getting hopelessly lost.

18/3  The morning dawned broodingly but with a glimmer.  The mud map I got from the tourism officer on the boat was the best gift I could have got for my birthday - easy and memorable directions to get to and from Station Pier, berth of The Spirit of Tasmania.  In no time at all I was across the bridge and approaching Ball City in teeming rain.

I didn't stop until I pulled over in Wail, well after the rain.  I discovered I really truly had somehow lost my reading glasses on the boat.  I savoured the honey and yoghurt I'd brought from Tassie and remained hopeful that the day would come when I'd be re-united with my glasses and their beautiful Monet Waterlilies case.  The parking bay was wonderfully bizarre.  Last Easter I had travelled that railway line en route to Horsham to meet Sandrine.  I arrived in Adelaide at about 4.30pm.  I think Mum and I had the first of many sushi feasts for dinner.
19/3  Nice easy day to recuperate from the long drive.  Perhaps we went to the bank and Mercato.
20/3  The Big Day - the long booked consultation with hairdresser extraordinaire Elayne. The salon in her house at Rosewater is a dream.  Elayne and her dog greeted me while I was still in my car waiting for Pru.  Pru is the one who had told me about Elayne and given me her details.  We made our way along a verandah strewn with dog toys and I knew this was going to end well.  Elayne and I chatted as she studied my hair, face, head shape, etc.  Pru arrived and occupied the dog while Elayne started on my hair.  I am very pleased with the results.  Pru and I coffeed in Semaphore to celebrate then, after meeting Reggie the Greyhound, returned to Klemzig to show my new do to Mum, who was contemplative...
21/3  I took Mum to her regular doctor's 3pm appointment and was glad I'd declined the invitation to Salsa with Tamasin and Nima because we didn't get home till 5pm, the time at which Salsa starts.
22/3  Mum didn't feel up to the Mystery Bus Tour that we had booked so I went with her friends Pat and Lee.  The main event was the Gooseberry Hill flower farm at Meadows which was rather idyllic.

gratuitous watermelon photo for Sandrine whose birthday it is today

We lunched at the Meadows pub, which is not an object of beauty but does a very good lunch.

I took Mum home some Bells of Ireland (which one day I'll have a go at growing) and Gomphrena 'Globe Amaranth' which I'd neither seen nor heard of before.
23/3  Pedicure at Marden - very luxurious including chair massage and nail polish - $30!!
24/3  Can't remember but I saw Willowa, Tamasin and David sometime.
25/3  Another much anticipated day - Mum and I lunched at Longview Winery in Macclesfield, one of our favourite occupations.

26/3  Can't remember. Mostly the days I can't remember were taken up with shopping, gardening and a bit of housework.  I also walked to the library, Marden and Campbelltown at various times.

sumptuously mosaiced stormwater drains at Lochiel Park

27/3  Yoga at Encounter Bay with Fleurieu Floosie who had painted her nails in anticipation.

After a good ommmm, we returned to The Floosie's for lunch, catch up, garden tour, book swaps and birthday presents!  My favourite things.

to be continued