The Garden Edition

I'm taking the easy way out and showing you the garden.  Still got reporting to do on the last few weeks but in the meantime...

the irises

The garden this morning.

from the irises to the house

from the snapdragons in the path to the studio

snapdragons on the wild path to the deck

some of the poppies

looking to the orchard

ixias with pink daisies beyond

Photos from the last week or so.

beautiful bog iris

lily of the valley on the south side

Solomon's seal

playing with orange and red on the north facing

last Friday night's pizzas on the terrace

Shadowing

It's a very busy time here in Tribes and I haven't got around to blogging the end of the Adelaide trip.  As scheduled, I spent the last few days with The Floosie at Encounter Bay.  Fortunately she has blogged about my stay so you can catch it here .

And, if you keep up with the Floosie's adventures, you'll see she went to Melbourne.  Well so did I about a week later.

Georgia and I went to see Ella's end-of-year exhibition but our more imminent need was banh mi for lunch.  Lugging our bags around the city in the rain, and being babes in the wood, it took us some time but we found a great little place just before the lunch hour rush.  To my glee, softshell crab banh mi was on the menu.  Beyond my wildest dreams!

With tummies full and lips tingling, we set off to find our hotel, encountering some paranoia inducing messages along the way.

Our destination was The Miami Hotel in West Melbourne.  It is basic but met our needs perfectly, and we could walk to it from Spencer Street Station - though we  had taken the long way.  After settling in, we explored our new neighbourhood.

Being the nerds we are, we had a look at the local library and Georgia reminded me that she had recommended this book, so I now have a hold on it at our Tassie library.

We also loved the colour and vibrancy of this part of Melbourne.  Being a little tired by now, we fortified ourselves with a nice lie down in our hotel room, then set off by tram to meet Ella under the clocks.  It was still wet and windy and we were early so I showed off my local knowledge and suggested bubbly at Young and Jackson's, a place I had been introduced to early in my romance with Georgia's father.

We found Chloe and, enroute, saw the cocktail menu and switched from bubbles to Sidecars.

A happy decision.  Sidecars are very much part of my history.  My parents had a motorbike and loved travelling to Wales on it.  Just before Mum died she veered in and out of reality. My sister reported in a text message '...then she's off to Wales on the motorbike, eating gooseberries with Dad at Conwy Castle and all's well again.'  I have the same love of motorbikes and the exhilaration.  When I was born, they bought a sidecar.

Georgia appeared to enjoy her Sidecar too.  Ella and her uncles arrived.

They very kindly shouted us a superb Italian meal in Lygon Street.  Later we shared a tram to the city

then George and I braved the elements to walk back to the hotel.

The next day we met Ella under the clocks and headed for the Pierre Bonnard Exhibition at NGV.

As a Friend of Triabunna Reserves I was enthralled by these moonwalking neon birds on St Kilda Road outside the NGV.  How fabulous to have something like this at the entrance to each Triabunna Reserve!

first glance at the exhibition

Georgia and Ella critique

Having no knowledge of art techniques, available paints, art history, etc, I enveloped myself in the story and lifestyle of the painter and his muse / wife, and the beauty of the paintings and exhibition decor.  The Bonnards loved dogs and were seldom seen without one.  I got engrossed in the biographic movie at the end of the exhibition, and then in the Gallery Shop.  Philistine.

Georgia and Ella leave the NGV

and off to lunch at a sushi train

Ella had to be back at uni for 1.30pm so we made our separate ways.  George and I had a bit of a look at some shops

then returned to The Miami for a little rest.  I attempted a Bonnard style domestic Still Life

and a 'view from the window'

without great success.  Then it was back into the city by tram, the now requisite Sidecar at Y&J

and a bite to eat at tiny Iraqi restaurant we found down an alleyway.  A bit more shopping on the way home and another perfect day brought to a close.

Friday was our free day and, to our mutual astonishment, we both confessed to intending to go to St Kilda, so we went together.  I have to say St Kilda has seen its glory days but it was a good jaunt down memory lane and there are still cake shops.

After exhaustive window shopping we plumped for Le Bon Continental Cake Shop .  I was lured in by rhubarb shortbread.  Georgia had the raspberry vanilla slice.  You can see that we had also bought  some flowers for Ella's  Big Night.  A little later we discovered a great book shop and a tantalising gem shop.

 

Back in the city, George wanted to show me the State Library.  I'm so glad she did.  It is a mesmerising building.  Sadly I couldn't help but see carrot sticks radiating from a bowl of hummus, though few seem to share my vision.

Just time for a final Sidecar, 

then back to the hotel to swank up a bit to be chauffeured to  Ella's exhibition by Uncle Keith.

Sam, Ella and Georgia doing something weird

Ella's work on display

Ella's amazing Alice in Wonderland book

We left Ella to do studenty things, and we four went to get some tapas style food somewhere.  Georgia and I were totally lost by this time.  I also had my first glass of absinthe, which may have contributed.

The next morning we ate a hearty breakfast at our new found favourite breakfast and juice place, then ambled along to Spencer Street Station to catch the airport bus.

saying goodbye

to the strange beauty

of the city.

Of course, no holiday of mine would be complete without catching  up with a demonstration.  Despite being curious as to its nature, we walked on, boarded the Airporter easily and arrived at the airport in plenty of time.

Adelaide in a cuppla nutshells

With no Mum to visit, I had unanticipated time.  We went to the local library for some quiet browsing and community comfort.

This one leapt out at me because it is so beautiful and I've always been interested in calligraphy.  Last Friday I went to a finger painting class at The Village and, thinking about it now, this book may have influenced my attendance.

This is a book about Epicurus and his influence on philosophy.  It meshes nicely with my attitude to life.  The cover is so peaceful and I can see my reflection!

Of course, this one spoke to me.  You can see what beautiful books they have in the West Torrens library.  Sadly this one is only available as an online resource from our library service.  Part of the pleasure of the book is its delicate size and textured cover.

The cover of this one is not so beautiful but I was curious to know what Nikki Gemmell had to say.  Strangely until I started writing this I could not remember a thing about the book but it's coming back to me now - and I now remember enjoying it.  I also chose to read it because Steve had given me Wifedom, a book about George Orwell's wife (who knew?) and I was looking for parallels.  And found them.

Shortly after Mum's death I decided to have my haircut, not as an act of mourning but because I remembered that I had been growing it to show her there was still some curl.  I saw a man in Harbor Town with a style I liked (no photo - his wife was suspicious enough as it was) and asked him where he'd had it cut.  He said 'Madame Josephine's', which sent Heths and me into peals of laughter.  Back in the 1970s Madame Josephine and Arturo Taverna were The Place To Go for the sophisticated (older) woman.  We would never have dreamt of going there.  But go I did

and asked for George, as instructed.

I described the style to George, technically Giorgio, and asked if it would suit.  Yes, he said, it will look fabulous and also make you look    (bated breath)      taller.

You can be the judge - and I am sitting down.  It's not quite what I was after but it's getting there.  Back at Madame J's my curls looked wonderful on the salon floor.  I wish I'd taken a photo, and could have shown it to Mum.

However, you can see that my pursuit of pleasure led me to Mercato, a place Mum and I loved and where I feel totally at home.

Heths seemed pretty happy too.  She had a zeppole and I had the most curious mix of focaccia, pecorino, black pepper, kalamata olive oil and honey.  It was certainly a taste sensation, but the serve was far too big and it definitely required a glass of red.

Mum

Mum died at the nursing home on Wednesday 30 August.   The nursing home had been Mum's home for 2 years.  It seems fitting that she died there with Helly, Willowa and Daphne Greyhound with her.  For us, dogs are always part of the family and, to me, this seems the best way to go.

Helly, Willowa, Tamasin and I still celebrated her birthday on September 2nd.  As planned previously we had sushi and the rhum babas that Mum loved.  We went to the Botanical Gardens at Mt Lofty, and picnicked at the Magnolia Gully, a favourite place of Mum's, especially in early Spring.

We were not alone.

It was magic.  Mum would have loved it.  Perhaps she was there too.