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OBE - over bloody eighty
"The advantage of being eighty years old is that one has many people to love." Jean Renoir My darling husband turned eighty yesterday. ...
Jul 1, 2021


A question
"What’s the one thing you did [in lockdown] that you won’t change?" Rachel Cooke - The Observer As Sydney plunges into lockdown and here...
Jun 28, 2021


A winter picnic
"Everything tastes better outdoors. There is something about fresh air and the liberating effects of nature which sharpens the appetite...
Jun 21, 2021


Zoom food for the soul
“Happiness [is] only real when shared” - Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild Yesterday was our postponed Zoom cooking class - and here we all...
Jun 15, 2021


A special bargain
"Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny." Plutarch I'm trying to get back to the David's...
Jun 12, 2021


Random ramblings
"The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will...
Jun 3, 2021


First day of winter - sun and lockdown
"Even in winter it shall be green in my heart." Frederic Chopin It's the first of June today which in Australia means the first official...
Jun 2, 2021


Ordinary and exceptional
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. C. S. Lewis I consider myself to be an ordinary person. Indeed a...
May 30, 2021


A moment in time - feedback/comments
Feedback: information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement....
May 13, 2021


May Day
"As full of spirit as the month of May". William Shakespeare It's May 1st. May Day. The heralder of Spring. Well not here in Australia....
May 1, 2021


"The past is always present"
Alan Garner wrote those words - the title of today's piece - in a wonderful very short children's book called The Stone Book. The...
Apr 20, 2021


Goodbye Jenny
Last night my beautiful sister-in-law - my husband's sister Jenny - died. She was just about the same age as I - a few months younger in...
Apr 16, 2021


The shock of the new
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Seneca Back to my arty desk calendar. Yesterday it was the Mona Lisa - the...
Apr 6, 2021


The great barbecue debate
"I love how the men stand around cooking the barbie while the women have done all the work beforehand doing the marinade and making the...
Apr 2, 2021


Some more weekend oddments
"Make everyday your weekend. Make everyday a play-day …” James A. Murphy It's the weekend again and again I find myself searching for...
Mar 27, 2021


Same old, same old ... Part 2 - cooking
"Cooking is not something you do, and then it's finished with. It is a thread woven through our lives ... It can never be an end in...
Mar 20, 2021


Same old same old ... Part 1 - Parmesan and ricotta
Every day - 365 days a year - for I don't know how many years now, this lady makes ricotta twice a day, and helps her husband make...
Mar 18, 2021


A moment in time - men in cafés
"Men - the art of the cafe is mostly a male preserve – have been nattering in cafes for centuries." Brian Johnston - Traveller.com...
Mar 9, 2021


Ordinary
"We have enough masterpieces, what we need is a better standard of ordinariness." Jane Grigson I've been feeling a bit uninspired when...
Mar 6, 2021


The end of summer
“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” William Shakespeare And suddenly summer is gone. Here in Melbourne I wonder if it ever...
Mar 1, 2021