Swim Weekend

'Twas the night before solstice...  Actually it was Saturday afternoon, and the weekend before the winter solstice.

Maria Island looked like a volcano as we swept, cleaned and organised the Nippers shed for the Big Event the next day:  Spring Bay Suicide Awareness Network Annual Winter Solstice Swim at Raspins Beach.

Having made all presentable, we repared to Wattlebanks in Orford for a self-congratulatory coffee and even a bit of cake.  The mist still hung on the river.

We gathered at 6.30am on Sunday for final preparations.  The goddess was with us - no wind, no rain.

tea and coffee station

setting up for the choir

the choir in action later

congregating

Sue leads the charge in at 0800

Raelene leads the charge out, possibly at 0801

I'm in there, but obscured.  It is such a wonderful thing to be part of.  I felt so alive afterwards and ate 2 veggie patties for breakfast, and another 2 for lunch at home.  I hit the wall at about 1.30pm and allowed myself the indulgence of lounging on the couch reading The Wind in the Willows with the heater on all afternoon.

 I managed to be awake at 8.30pm to watch Miss Fisher, then Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Bobbin didn't quite make the distance.  We both slept very  soundly.

Bob and Maria

 

snow on Maria Island today

and still some hardy souls went for the Sunday Swim

I think the swim photos were taken by Bob.  Bob turned up at the back door recently.  Don the Postie introduced us.  If I understand correctly, Bob is from Mousehole, Cornwall, and Bob is short for Bobbin.

Now under contract for an appearance at the Winter Solstice Swim, Bobbin seems intent on relaxing until next Sunday.

I also am preparing for the big solstice event.  Curried scallops at the Tandara last week, and a Pepperjack Cab Sav.  A lovely lunch for the PUBS volunteers.  Tomorrow I am off to the Pop Up Book Stall to do my public holiday duty.  Given the weather, I'm not expecting many customers.

The Winter Garden

 

Long shadows in the morning

but very beautiful up close.  The yellow of the apricot leaves is one of my favourite colours.  Gardening Australia told me to prune apricot trees some weeks ago but I need to see those leaves!

I still have a cuppla figs ripening.  I wait for them to fall.  Even then they're not fully ripe, though the last bite, at the base, is delicious.

Tackled the last of the tomatoes today.  Now wondering what to do with the self-sown garlic.  Risk transplanting it?

This year 5 pumpkins emanated from the compost bin.  Haven't cut into any of them yet.

Kelly of the FoTR* gang visited while I was gardening.  He has eagle eyes for birds and keen ears for birdsong.  He was very excited that this bird (silver eye?) perched and watched us.  I also love this aspect of gardening but do not have the skill for identification, nor the memory, apparently!

The Kelly Bean was bringing me another book by Inga Glendinnen.  I am currently reading the one above.  She was such a talented writer and researcher.  Somehow, reading her is like participating in a wonderful tutorial.

I heard this chap as I was curled up reading in the sunny lounge window the other day.  There are lots of galahs around (!) but I have never seen them in this tree before.  The photo doesn't capture it (possibly muted by being taken through the flyscreen and window), but the pink of the bird was stunning against the gold of the leaves.

The pied oystercatchers are returning.

Maria Island is omnipresent, even in the East Coaster carpark.

*Friends of Triabunna Reserves.  We now have a website https://reserves-of-triabunna.org/

busy in Bunna and beyond

The busier you are the fewer the photos.  It doesn't seem appropriate to take photos at the Coffin Club even though the aim is to demystify death and dying.  The information provided was very good and the afternoon tea fare ridiculously unhealthy.

We don't get to see Georgia often these days as she works fulltime, and then some.  She did drop in to share the cider that I was given as a thank you from Russell and Laura's wedding.  I supplied baskets and gumleaves.  As I write, George has just started a 6 hour shift in Orford somehow involved in the election.

Last Sunday was the Village Market.  Jill PD and I graced it briefly to get some beetroots.  Steve volunteered to buy the veggies but I knew he would never think to buy beetroot.  As it happened, I arrived just as Steve was carrying out his assignment, and Georgia was also there.  This was a special moment.  I have never lived in a place where I am likely to run into family.  Another reason why St Davids is so special to me.

Steve's beard and the most amazing brussel sprouts

The next day was Breakfast Program at the school, then lunch in town with Madam Cyn. We went to a Punjabi restaurant in Moonah.  Moonah is becoming a multicultural food mecca and I have long wanted to explore it.  $13 at lunchtime for 2 curries, rice, unlimited roti and a gulab jamun to finish off.  And not a drop of alcohol.  Cynthia gave Jill a bag of food that kept the 3 of us going for days.

 a quarter of the paella intended for Jill PD

There was also roast belly pork with crackling and string hoppers with coconut sambal.

Tuesday was zumba and then lunch with Anne of the Stone Cottage. We had steak pie with mashed potatoes, carrots and those brussel sprouts from the market - cooked to perfection.  Delicious apple crumble with no oats, and cream for dessert.  And a bottle of red.  Wednesday was a biggie with a meeting of the school lunch mob and the Canteen Association.  The  young women from the Canteen Association were most impressive.  We dear oldies were given online Food Safety training to do.  In the afternoon the FoTRs gathered to pick up rubbish around town and then meet at The Spring Bay Hotel for a self-congratulatory feast.

I had kept Thursday free with a number of possible options to suit my mood.  It was a cold windy day and I decided to just stay home

Jill gazes wistfully out the window

and do nothing (although I did some lawn mowing) until the big event, ie a William Barton concert with the TSO  at The Odeon in Hobart.  I did my usual trick of leaving the car at Rosny Park and catching the bus into Hobart.  It's so quick and easy.  I got there in plenty of time and soaked up the atmosphere as the concert hall filled and the orchestra assembled.  William Barton was amazing and I felt proud to be Australian.

The drive home was slow.  Fortunately the moon was bright, which I think means fewer animals out and about, and I made the journey without mishap.

Friday was yoga, tai chi and Suicide Awareness Network in the afternoon.  Then I completed my iviewing of Keeping Faith in preparation for Series 3 which started last night.  Today was given to reading, voting, mowing the lawn and completing my Food Safety training.  I've even got my online certificate but for some reason it won't download for me to show you.  The training is designed by an English company and is charmingly preoccupied with rice pudding, crisps and pickled onions.

Home - something to write about

On Monday I had School Association treasurer duties to perform, ie banking money raised from the Easter Raffle and Mothers' Day stall.  The closest Bendigo Bank is either Sorell or Swansea, so I chose Swansea of course.  Jill PD accompanied me as Security.  We stopped a couple of times for wees, poos, scallop pies and a good look around.  It is a beautiful drive.

I have been wanting to give a Garden Report but there is not a lot to report photographically.  We've had some potatoes, fartichokes, beans, small onions and the inevitable (sorry FF) rhubarb.  But there are also leeks enough for Friday night pizza.  The apple crops were good this year but codling moths also enjoyed themselves - another lesson learned for next year.  The pears, however, have been plentiful.  I have learned how to ripen them, and they are delicious.  It is the last of the crop and, of course, they're all ripening at once.  I've been tempted to dry some and will do so if we have a similar harvest next year.  But today I decided to make a pear, fetta and walnut tart for lunch.

Not bad at all.  I love having the rocket and mache to nonchalantly garnish.  The Floosie sent me a Monty Don garden quote which I love:

" The whole point about gardening is not to learn how to garden, but is to find solace, is to be happy, is to make beauty, is to have spiritual communion, is to have fun and muck about. How we do that really, really doesn't matter".

I'm sure Monty is my soul mate... though I think the quote applies to life and not just the garden, if you are lucky enough to live in a place of peace and plenty.  I suppose that is paradise enow.

In other news:

we Friends of Triabunna Reserves are very relieved to see a Pied Oystercatcher back in Tribes

I am sporting reddish legs myself in celebration

I bought the uggies in Adelaide.  They are made just up the road from Pearl's place.  A lovely adventure to meet the people who actually made them.

coasting

One of the many good things about travel is the chance to think.  My journeys up and down Adelaide's west coast made me realise that it is the vast open sea that fills me with a sense of peace.

Hallet's Cove Beach looking north

looking west

and very civilised looking south

In Tasmania on the East Coast, islands and peninsulas break up the seascape.  To me, this somehow looks less tranquil but more sacred.

Here are some of my favourite SA things.

spot the magpies?

2 really pretty plants, probably natives, in planter boxes at Brighton Station

Pearl's place

wine made by Pearl's rels

the city's mix of old and new

the recently opened gateway from the Adelaide Railway Station to the banks of the Torrens

across to the cricket ground

back into the railway station

But let's not forget what the trip was about:

I usually get lunch specials from Sunisa's Thai restaurant down the road from Mum's nursing home.  This time I finally got to take Mum into the restaurant.

The menu took a bit of study.

Mum had her first Green Curry.  She was moderately pleased with her choice - the vegetables could have been cooked longer...

books borrowed from the Atrium at the nursing home

Pearl and I returned to the  Indian restaurant at Henley Beach.  My plan was to have the chocolate samosas again.

Foolishly, I thought I'd try a non-alcoholic pina colada instead of wine.  After biryani, beef curry and garlic cheese naan, there was no room for samosas.  Next time.

And then it was time to return to Tassie, leaving Pearl's at 6.30am.

lovely to watch the day dawn

by the time I got my phone out, the chap had stopped playing

Never know where a grand piano is going to turn up these days.