ciao for now

Off to Canberra for a week tomorrow to visit Lady Jayne.  Thought I'd better give you a domestic update before I go.

the garden is flourishing with all the rain

the sunflowers tall and flowering

Steve planted 4 mixed chillis - a banana chilli perhaps?

If so, I once had these stuffed with a spicy rice and salmon mix.

a small sample of the tomatoes

The Weily Fox and I have slaved over the Suicide Prevention Network strategic plan,

while conducting her favourite science experiment.

Same gin, same tonic.  How is it so?

On Sunday Jill PD and I walked the clifftop to Spring Beach.  This is always a spiritual experience for me.

Maria looked particularly goddess-like

While I've zoomed in here to bring Maria Island closer, this is how it seemed on the day.

As we approached the beach the sound of the waves was exhilarating.

You'll just have to trust me on this, but there were fairy terns and a pied oystercatcher on the beach.

Yesterday Steve had further dental work in Hobart.  This time I decided to spend the one and half hours in Bellerive.  The Pup and I parked at Kangaroo Bay, much changed since we lived there but impressive and much used. 

I am very impressed with the landscaping using local native species.

I was also impressed by this sign highlighting how artists have long used Bellerive / Kangaroo Point as a place from which to paint Hobart and Mt Wellington / kunyani.  Mrs History and I had commented on this back in the day.

The floating restaurant in Bellerive seduced me with a scallop pie and Thai salad for $17.  It was garnished with 3 battered scallops, which Jill PD and I shared.

I had to take this photo for Fleurieu Floosie, formerly Mrs History.

And I have read this book on the recommendation of Madam Cyn.  It is beautiful.

Saturday holiday

Getting a tad historical here.  Feeling a bit fragmented at the moment - seem to be jumping all over the place.  But today I have devoted to Catching Up, and so far it's going well.  The Saturday referred to was a couple of weeks ago.  There was an exhibition at the Allport Library & Museum which I wanted to catch and it was ending early March.  I decided to take the bus in.  It's so civilised.  Catch the bus at 10.05am at the end of the road, enjoy scenery from high bus windows, arrive Hobart CBD approx 11.30am, and no worries about parking.  The return bus is at 4pm.  Perfect.

First get some sushi in a brown paper bag:  brown rice rainbow veg; crispy tofu; seaweed inari.  Delicious.  Fuelled up for The Allport.

The exhibition was small but beautiful.  Rodney Gardner's paintings, mostly of Launceston, are the smudgy watercolours that I think best capture the mood of Tasmania.  He also has portraits of contemporary palawa leaders juxtaposed with portraits of Aboriginal people from Baudin's exploration of Van Diemen's Land.

I explored the Allport Museum where I discovered some treasures.  Above is a painting of Bellerive by an unknown artist in the 1920s - note railway pier.  I couldn't believe I had not seen this before.

And there were Peron's sketches of structures the Baudin exploration found on Maria Island.

note looming photographer in foreground

Well satisfied, I trotted up Davey Street

passed St David's Park - note your taxes at work - to Hampden Road and Markree House. 

photocopied handout at house - but good info

I love Arts and Craft houses.  This one is a joy and I was totally overwhelmed by the furniture and architectural detail.  I could only take in the ground floor and will have to make a return visit for the upstairs.

shades of Edna W

It was a lovely garden to wander around on a warmish day.

Next door is Red Knights.  The two houses are complementary, one having been built for the Baldwin family, the other for The Aunts.  The gardens were connected by a rose arbour, sadly no longer there.

I walked back via Salamanca Market, buying a rose quartz and amethyst because my Chinese horoscope for the Year of the Tiger predicts I will need them to protect my health this year.

Then it was back to the bus-stop to read my book for 10 minutes before the prompt arrival of the bus.  I was also amused by a very stationary big gull.

Hobart calling

 Steve has been in a lot of pain this week.  In addition to his usual arthritis pain, he had toothache.  The day to visit his dentist finally arrived and it necessitated going to Hobart.  Due to my expert driving we got there an hour early so killed some time somewhere I have long wanted to have a look at.

Look familiar?

Not the good old River Rat aka Azaria, parked to minimise the need to walk.

This may help.

Yes, we're in Battery Point with the unmistakable Empress Towers, a nestled cottage and views across the Derwent.  The attraction was the The Signalman's Cottage as seen on Restoration Australia a while ago.  Mission accomplished, Jill PD and I dropped Steve at the dentist for his 1.5 hour appointment.  It was tempting to rob a bank in anticipation of the account, but we chose an equally historical activity and walked the Hobart Rivulet Track in South Hobart.

Here is a painting of the Hobart Rivulet some time ago - John skinner Prout from memory.

It is somewhat changed but still a very pleasant walk with some features extant  This is Milton House about which you can read more here .

I was particularly taken with the native planting that has been very thoughtfully used.

I got some ideas for my own native Tassie patch, including massed dianellas.  I've usually seen them planted individually.

On our return walk to the car, I was a bit annoyed by these people on electric bicycles whizzing past us.  Transpires they were parents picking up their children from school.  I couldn't wait around to see how this was actually effected.  Did the children run behind?  Were they donkeyed / dinked?  Did the bike carry provisions which were munched as they all walked home?  More research is needed.

One little chap who didn't make it home was Wildfred Bandicoot who died in a car accident according to his epitaph.

Season of the which...

It is that glorious time of the year when the self-sown seeds develop into little plants, and decisions have to be made:  weed out or keep for later foraging?  Yummy fun.

going to the portaloo at day break has its previously unseen pleasures

sea holly and transplanted lavenders outside Steve's Studios 1 & 2

bit of clearing out  for the next plan...

which involves converting this dark corner to natives

fungi on a chopped pittosperum

looking back to the dark corner from the netted Cox's Pippin

 

finally got something to grow in the window box of Studio 3

where potager and Tassie native garden meet

main self-seeding and future foraging area

the private corner where I take bucket baths in the absence of a bathroom

simple pleasures - rhubarb in Georgia's kitchen

our Chinese New Year feast

🐯HAPPY🐯 YEAR🐯 OF🐯 THE🐯WATER🐯 TIGER

🐯🐯🐯

The Domestic Front

 The deck is finished and the bathroom just begun.

cruddy but homey bathroom as it has been for over 2 years, awaiting builder

demolition commenced last Saturday

concrete floor sheeting went in today

In the meantime this is our wonky 'amenity'.  It looks like the Tardis from our kitchen window.

looks quite good from this angle

Jill PD is taking all this in her stride.  In fact she loves the party atmosphere as The Daves strut their professional stuff:  Dai The Build, Dai The Slave, Dai The Plaster.  The plumber's name is Jack.

Holiday fiction reading is continuing

with one beautiful non-fiction.

I have met Madam Cyn for lunch at Magnet Court, Sandy Bay,

and collected my long-promised birthday present from Rosa Norte.  Sadly the lemon tree is so large that Steve couldn't fit all of me in the picture.

I actually made this cake, though I used almonds and kirsch instead of pistachios and orange flower water.  I made it for our 21st wedding anniversary.  I was going to do a whole Wedding in Wentworth Revisited but I can't get to the photo crate which is beneath all the new bathroom fittings in the shed.

Steve and I (and half of Triabunna) had our booster shots in the Community Hall which was once home to the glorious Orford Odeon: $5 admission, $3 red wine, $2 Mars Bar, $5 raffle tickets.  Those were the days.  The films were good too.

And there was the first BBQ Chez George.  She has a special area for such events, and beautiful it is too.