Sunday drive plus mental health week sundries

 Being a Van Diemen's Band groupie, I couldn't resist the chance of a recital at Richmond.

We all politely queued up outside the doors of St Luke's Church and were most impressed when they opened sharp at 10.30am, just as the promo said they would.

There are many things I like about attending events on my own.

No compromises!  I worked out where I wanted to sit, ie first row behind the reserved pews.

Harpsichord, violin and organ - 2/3 my not favourite instruments but these are all Baroque originals and sounded All Right!   It also wasn't my favourite VDB concert.  A bit long.  Even the organist stood up and bowed 2 segments before the end of a Papa Bach piece.  The harpsichord player soon put him right.  However it is always a delight to hear Julia Fredersdorff, VDB Artistic Director.  She is a virtuosic player and really good fun.

Parking around the church was at a premium.  These clever people avoided the teeming Richmond streets and parked downhill of the church - a good trick to remember if you don't mind dirt roads.  I had parked some distance away, on the residential side of the famous Richmond Bridge.

Strolling back to my car, I enjoyed the ye olde worlde ambience and had the opportunity to visit the Peppercorn Gallery which is currently holding some of Georgia's work.

looking over The Bridge towards where I'd parked

I also had the opportunity to drop into the Brinktop Winery which opens only at the weekend.  It was absolutely jumping and warrants further investigation.

Briefly returning to wrap up Mental Health Week:

the Weily Fox was nearly as useless as me gunwise

not that we're laughing at her

This was actually taken by The Fox as we packed up after the event.  Cheryl, our mayor and former Australian representative in Olympic Shooting events, sports her Dangerous Woman carry-all.

We were all given an orange clay target as a keepsake.  I carelessly put mine above the wood heater,

discovering it blown to pieces in the morning - something I'd failed to achieve while shooting.

happy memory of Maria Voices belting out sea shanties during the intermission of Fisherman's Friend movie

I was sent to report on the Sleep Workshop - even The Weily Fox can't be everywhere.  Tash, the presenter, was very good as was the PowerPoint Presentation(!).

And we all got a Trauma Teddy to take home with us.  There are good people in the world.

I get along without you very well.

A message from my garden. 

So lovely to get home to a garden that makes its own way.  Mostly self-seeded.  I just weed out what I don't want.

Chihuly

Georgia had told me about the Chihuly Exhibition at the Botanical Gardens and there was no escaping it on my arrival at Adelaide Airport.

So, back on the J2 and another walk along North Terrace, this time all the way along to the Bot Gards.

The entrance avenue displayed these imaginative collections of potted plants but the way to the exhibition wasn't clear to me until I glimpsed this:

From there it was 'follow the fairy lights'.  It would have been magic to be there at night but I found the drizzly rain rather pleasant for glass viewing.

and not just for glass viewing

another striking glass-less image

umbrellas add even more colour

spot the duck on the rill

I was waiting for people to pass out of photo range.

but I could wait no longer

A quick look around the always inspiring Diggers Shop.  I was particularly taken with the finials that fit on top of 4 garden stakes to make a stylish pyramid.

Then into the Museum of Economic Botany, past one of their usual displays

and into the Jam Factory pop up shop.  The Jam Factory is famous in Adelaide for its quality art works, including blown glass.  These dishes are in the $13,000 range - I think genuine Chihuly.

Back to the garden

and this mind boggling piece of glasswork.  A number of us gathered to speculate what happens in high wind.

I tried so hard to get the 2 blue images together but this was the best I could do.

Overcome by human achievement, it was restful to just look at nature's handiwork.

J1 and J2

I write in praise of the J1 and J2 bus services.  The Js were buses that I could catch from the O-bahn bus station near Mum's place to town.  They also continued on to the airport, something I found very useful once I moved back to Tasmania.  I hadn't realised that they continue on to Harbor Town, conveniently stopping by Pearl's Resort.  I love the idea of a bus link direct from Mum's to Pearl's.

To catch the J2 from Pearl's to the City is a joy for me.  I can imagine it's wildly frustrating for commuters to have to take the detour to the airport, but I love seeing who's just arrived and listening to their excited conversations.  We return to the main drag, pass the garden with the bountiful lemon tree entwined with purple bougainvillea, pass the jute shop where I bought my bag, pass the old church where the Spinners and Weavers Guild meets, pass the private school where the students were just as obnoxious as at any other school and I'm jubilant that I no longer have to go Relief Teaching, over the railway where you catch the interstate train and into the city, through Light Square and the arts education precinct, over King William Street and into the shops and a short walk to North Terrace.

I also love North Terrace.

I was there on a Sunday.  This is North Terrace, possibly on a Sunday but back in 1888 (from memory).  The old library building opposite the war memorial was open and housed a number of displays, including this photo of the railway station  area.

There was a Democracy Exhibition and I particularly liked this quote.

There were works from students exploring ways Australians have connected over generations.  Audrey's entry resonated with me, from blue airmails, hand written envelopes to SMS.  What a lot we've seen!

And then there is the actual old library.  Whooooooosh off to Hogwarts.

Leaving the hallowed library and out to North Terrace,

for years I have been impressed with the landscaping on the civic side.  I was very concerned some time ago when they started rejigging the Terrace but I think they've done it beautifully.  I would never have thought of featuring agapanthus and dianella together.

Over Frome Road now and past what's left of the hospital.  This stretch is so much more elegant these days.  Beautiful buildings revealed and inspiring landscaping continued - kangaroo paw and (difficult to see at back) strelitzia.  Who'd have thought.

This poster outside the Museum says it all.  Perhaps that's why I remember this holiday as sparkling.