The Old

 The other day (as I was coming out of the loo, actually), I noticed how good this little alcove looked

and this set me noticing other stuff,

like this very colonial glimpse of Triabunna that I pass at least twice a week on my way to Mrs O'Henry's place for tai chi.

Opening the gate at Mrs O's, I realised the much maligned shed next door is actually rather beautiful and much in keeping with Edna Walling's observation of climbing roses:

'In the country they will cover an old shed and make a picture of it with their foliage and flowers.'

In my garden

the Gold Bunny shines

and the Angel Face brings the same joy as did the full moon of a cuppla nights ago.

On the deck a cuppla old blokes reflect on family history in the kitchen window

while I steadily work through my library books.  Only got the Annie Proulx to go.  I thought I'd read The Shipping News yonks ago but I have no memory of it.  I think it's been overshadowed by Rocky's housekeeper's obsession with the shipping forecasts in As Time Goes By.  The Baldacci is a good go by a male at writing a feminist thriller.  At times it took me back to the sadly missed Alphabet Murders series by Sue Grafton.  Thursday Murder Club is good fun and, I suspect, deliberately satisfying for the older reader...  The Angry Women's Choir is so much more thought provoking and complex than Meg Bignell's The Sparkle Pages.  And Simon Winchester.  Well I love Simon Winchester books, and I am currently deeply embedded in China in the 1940s.  This is the biography of Joseph Needham, a scientist entranced with the loooooong culture of China, and its many scientific and engineering firsts.  If it wasn't NYE I'd be reading it now.

Now a flashback to Christmas.  I forgot to post this close-up of the beautiful Christmas Eve trout.

And another old photo:

My friend Bruce sent me this a few days ago.  He is one of the Maria Voices and this photo is taken from the choir looking to the audience.  It features so many of my favourite people.  I am in deep conversation with Hannah, berating her because she'll be leaving Triabunna soon.  Beast.

A little bit of new.  I looked out the kitchen window first thing yesterday and was greeted by a triangular flash of knickers, smalls and sundry others.

Cheeky blighters used their initiative and our carport post.

No-one has ever done this before.  I have to say that these campers looked very Chinese, and demonstrated the amazing problem solving skills that have dazzled me in China and Viet Nam.

So, goodnight until next year.

🎆🎆HAPPY 🎆🎆🎆NEW🎆🎆🎆 YEAR🎆🎆!!!!

The Good Christmas

So, I left you with bated breath awaiting the Christmas Parade.

here they come now

there was a rumor that real deer were involved - not sure about this one

wooden boats are good

kelpie driven boats are better

not everyone wanted to be there

but there's no stopping the Buckland Boot Scooters

Tess and Son showed initiative

 

as did this poor child dragging her float to the petrol station

it had been 3-4 years since the last parade.

Some were prepared to wait.

the Triabunna Christmas Tree, situated between the supermarket and the chemist

The really lovely thing about this event is that it was organised by 'old' Triabunnans, determined to get the parade back for their kids and grandkids.

After the excitement of the Friday night Triabunna Christmas Parade, came the Monday Carols in the Park in Orford.  This is the third year that the fairly recently formed Maria Voices have staged this event.

the weather wasn't perfect

but what did we care (Jac and David actually)?

the show must go on - Good King Wenceslas bosses the page

the Cheryls dress the tree

the Wily One is always The Foxy Fixer.

From then on, domestic pleasures:

Malcolm brought a crayfish for lunch on Thursday

Kyrle brought oysters on Friday

Judy surprised with an astonishing sponge cake on Saturday

Muirlands called for sushi

Taking us to Christmas Eve:

Georgia hailed the fire truck on its lolly run

John contributed a Derwent caught trout

Georgia gave me trout socks

And I nearly forgot, Georgia, Ella, Jill PD and I  joined the Blue Bottles for a Summer Solstice swim.

I have to say that I revere the Summer Solstice but I am sad that the mornings will start later.  I have been waking at about 5.30am, catching birdsong, basking in the rays of the rising sun and spending till about 7.30am floating in reverie.

and just like that

my gooseberries were gone.  I'm pretty sure the blackbirds are the culprits, so I'm in a bind.  They are robbing me and are an introduced species.  I should be ruthless.  But I love blackbirds: to me they are a symbol of 'home' and Steve has always painted one for me wherever we live.

'And just like that' is also the name of the next chapter of Sex and The City, this time featuring SJP and Co. living their NY lives in their fifties.  I watched the entire DVD (from the library) but it didn't grab me, whether that's because my New York adventures were so long ago, or because I can't identify with a widow whose husband leaves $1m to his first wife in his will and the concern is why he left her money.  The insane amount is not commented on.

In my financially impoverished Little Apple life, I have:

• been grateful for friends who send me books like this.  As the lady says, it ain't Shakespeare.  However I've never read a Shakespeare sonnet about an O-Bahn bus and travelling on the O-Bahn in Adelaide is one of life's great pleasures.

• celebrated Cray Season with an indulgent crayfish mornay lunch in the company of Georgia, John and some other mates at The Tandara.
• I have volunteered at the Pop Up Book Shop where I discovered this gem.
  
  
  
  I think Biology as a subject and this book were the most useful things I got from school.

And this ridiculously adolescent alteration took me right back to being in class with CKB, Pearl and Mr Bishop of the nicotine stained fingers.

• I have haunted churches.

Their Majesties and others singing in St Davids Cathedral, Hobart

I couldn't resist the opportunity to see inside the Mt St Canice Church.  For years I was the Director of Mt St Canice Migrant Centre but not once did I have the opportunity to go into the church.  As you can see, I got there early to have a good look around.

I had selected a seat beside the alter thinking this would make me virtually part of Van Diemen's Band, and I was right.  I can't remember what they were playing but it was, as usual, wonderful.

• I've stood at the bus stop at Rosny Park
  
  
  
  and pondered the truth of this.
  
  
  
  Then Steve, Jill PD, other friends and I went to Malcolm's place and saw that it is possibly true.
  
  
  Malcolm is building his dream home on his Triabunna block, starting with 3 dams.
  
  
• I have taken some other photos to demonstrate to you the rural nature of where I live.
  
  
  
  watching haymaking on the far side as I wait for Friends of Triabunna Reserves to arrive for a working bee
  
  walking to Anne's cottage past fields soon to be built on
  
  
• I have attended the annual Memorial Service at Spring Beach

with the casting of flowers on the water

and have sold tickets for the Triabunna Tivoli's latest screening from my caged ticket booth - much to the amusement of some.

And then there's Christmas.

the Community Health Centre has gone all out as usual

and some generational residents have decided it's time to get the Christmas Parade going again.  They've put a huge effort into decorating the streets with The Parade starting at 5pm tonight.

Plus the library has notified me that 5 books I have holds on have arrived.  Now that's Christmas!