Heavenly

The morning was spent cleaning and tidying up after some time away but also decidedly outside rather than in. Gorgeous balmy weather, sun shining, and the garden is the place to be as it is infused with the scent of mandarin blossom, the azaleas are in flower, as is a little bush of yesterday- today and-tomorrow, that interestingly named multicoloured wonder. An evergreen shrub with purplish flowers in the cool weather, then lavender blue and finally white - all often appearing on the bush at the same time. Vibrant purple to start life, and then gradually fading. 

I take great delight in sweeping with my Baju hat on and in weeding flowers beds. I walk inside and think that if there is a heaven, this is what it must smell like.

The afternoon is more mundane with a visit to the local supermarket to shop - but as it turns out it is even more exhilarating then the morning. I am in the queue waiting to pay and literally from the side comes a little lady with a walking aid, sporting a jolly hat and a pink shirt, wearing bright red lipstick. On the seat are two bars of chocolate.

"Do you mind' she says "if I go before you? "
"No, not at all" I say and make room for her items on the conveyor belt.
"My daughter in law likes white chocolate so I thought I would come and get some for her, but you see my eyesight is not very good so I asked an elderly gentleman to help me and he got me this".
I look at the chocolate and say "This is Milk Chocolate, not White, would you like me to get you the White?"
"Oh she says "that is very kind". So I nod to the cashier that I will be back in a mo and rush off to get her a white bar.
"I show her it and she says - "Well I am not so sure now dear, I can't quite remember what she likes, maybe it is dark. I do get a bit confused sometimes, so I hope you don't mind I shall stick with what I got."
"No worries" I say in my best Aussie linguo and she is at the till paying,closely scrutinising the money she has taken from her wallet.
"Would you like me to help you?"
"No thank you dear, the doctor said I should use my eyes as they are, to stop them from deteriorating further, but I do struggle sometimes to see. Do forgive me I am a little old."
"I hope you don't mind me asking but how old are you?"
"102" she says as she wanders off.

I am so dumbstruck - I pay for my shopping, abandon it at the kerb side, and go racing up the road to find her. I interrupt her walking and ask if I may take a photo of her. She adjusts her hat, smiles graciously and lets me snap a photo of her.
I ask her name, Grace Rowlands of Ashgrove I am privileged to meet you and salute your resilience. She is surely destined for my heavenly scented heaven, but clearly not yet, if it has anything to do with her, as she continues on her daily shop. 

Sydney Fish Market and the Blessing of the Fleet

A highlight of our time in Sydney was a visit to the Sydney Fish Market. This is located at the end of the Pyrmont Peninsula and is a large area where all kinds of fish, shellfish, abalone, urchins and oysters are sold fresh or cooked. There is an enormous variety to choose from and it is an extremely popular venue for a lot of Asian families on a Sunday. If you want to see it on a less crowded day a weekday is probably best. We loved the variety and the freshness of it all. Here are a few of the items on sale with crabs of all sizes and types. You name it, they had it. 

At this time each year a special ceremony is held and we just happened to be there for it. It is the day the Fleet is Blessed. This is one of the oldest traditions in fishing communities around the world and here it is celebrated in association with the Association Bagnara Calabra. The fish market's success owes a great deal to the Italian Community of Sydney who were first involved. The name that is most mentioned is the Bagnato family who apparently dominated. There were other families as well who were involved at a later stage. The Italian community is here in force, an Italian Brass band with Italian colours on their uniforms is playing while a priest blesses the fleet, and calls everyone to prayer before the Madonna SS di PortoSalvo (literally translated as St Mary of Safe Ports or Safe Harbour) is paraded around the Fish Market grounds, followed by all the fishing families who proudly sport the T shirts. There are lots of activities organised for the day not least a spaghetti eating competition !

Sydney by the water - Pyrmont Peninsula.

If ever there is something that I envy my Sydneysider boys' life, is that they live within such close proximity to the ocean. Brisbane is on a river and it's just not the same. While there, at the weekend, I remembered how much I love a life lived by the water.

We walked the short walk from their apartment to Pyrmont, the peninsula which was a hub of industrial activity in the 19th and 20th Centuries.   We went down to  Pirrama Park, we explored the old wharves now happily converted into small and tasteful maritime enterprises looking after massive yachts moored there.  We walked along the foreshore and saw many beautiful sites along the way which we stopped to admire. It was quiet and not many people were around. We had the most leisurely and delightful walk to Sydney Fish Market no 10 on the map which will be my next blog. 

http://cdn.sydneycycleways.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Sydney_Foreshore_Loop.pdf

Along the way we came across the Tied to Tide Sculpture, elongated iron rods that bob up and down with the tides. 

 Evidence of very old wharves and industrial activity that was so much part of Sydney's development and growth now being made into public parks and boardwalks for all to enjoy.

Oysters and kelp in abundance

Fabulous views of the Anzac Bridge 

The old boards and signs from the Colonial Sugar Refining Company founded in 1855. With the kind permission of travels with Joanne who took these photos of the signs.
https://www.travelwithjoanne.com/pyrmont/

Two of the boys 

 The enormous balls which also came from that same Factory sit in a clump of three as a reminder of the importance of this area as a hub of industry and prosperity for the city.

Most poignantly of all, as we walked by, I stopped to look down at what I thought I saw, yes it was a teddy bear in the water and of course a thousand thoughts came into my head about the child whose teddy this was. Was it lost at sea together with a life, was it tossed in anger from a push chair, had it been perched on a sailing boat, looking out to sea when the wind changed and threw it overboard, leaving a bereft child on board? We will never know.

Morning Music

If you read my previous post you may be excused feeling a little sorry for me, or perhaps thanking your lucky stars your households aren't as exacting as that.  I may need to lower my standards but that is for another day. Today I am going to relate a different day to you, one which starts on the bus journey into town with a smiling happy bus driver and a lovely lady who struck up a conversation. I often talk to strangers.

In town I did a few errands but at midday headed to the magnificent Brisbane City Hall where I listened to an hour long programme of the most beautiful classical music - One of Brahms sextets in three movements was outstanding by Camerata https://camerata.net.au. This is part of the Lord Mayor's year long series of concerts which are offered free to all Brisbane Citizens on a Tuesday lunchtime with different artists performing each week. https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/parks-venues/brisbane-city-hall/whats-on-city-hall.

That was good enough but then I walked into the Queen St Mall, the main pedestrianised shopping area of the city, and heard this wonderful mix of jazz and pop and saw to my utter astonishment a group of four men, in army fatigues who are the Australian Army Band. They were performing for anyone who cared to listen - and I was one of them. As Dave the lead singer said: "If you know the words we welcome you to sing along, if you don't shut up as you will ruin it for the person sitting next to you!" (just love their no nonsense approach to life). Great songs, fabulous saxophonist. Good popular songs that everyone could relate to. Interestingly one of their more soulful songs was called "I was only 19"- the song of a young man becoming a soldier and his emotions about the enormity of war. https://genius.com/Redgum-i-was-only-19-lyrics

Yes another free concert - is this unusual? Well, this is the time of the Brisbane Festival and if anything they are even more abundant than usual. These free music events are provided here for everyone to enjoy on a regular basis. Brisbane City do a grand job for their citizens.   

Needless to say I was late getting home and cracking on with all those other jobs which wait for me at home, but diversions and distractions are the order of the day on a beautiful Brissie day ....

Today

Today with various hats from my various lives I:
Washed the French windows in the house,
Vacuumed and mopped the floors,
Ironed sheets and made all the beds, as lotsa boys coming,
Did the washing and the ironing as lots more next week,
Dusted all those bits my lovely male cleaner doesn't,
Swept the yard back and front,
Polished some silver,
Planted spinach and dill,
Baked for charity and boys,
Cooked for book group,
Checked my strawberries for needles, yea nah dont ask,
Went shopping with my trolley,
Tamed my hair,
Wrote an article for a friend to support her,
Checked up on the family and a couple of friends,
Made coffee for a workman who said cool a lot.
Felt coolly confident he could do the job
Though in the end he was very hot.
So happy all my lives chip in, and make the day productive and fun, so finally...
I can sit down on my deck, with good friends,  to breathe in the mandarin blossom scent from my tree.

Just in case you are tempted to ask - and what did you do today ?

From MM to DD

So I have risen to the elevated status of Dumpster Diver according to my lovely Aussie neighbour Russ. Last week a house up the road was being cleared to make room for renovations and new tenants. A skip sat outside it. As I walked past, Russ came out from behind it with a sheepish grin on his face. He loves rummaging around in skips. The news is that so do I. I stopped and looked into this overflowing metal container of a life, and this beautiful mosaic flower pot caught my eye. Look at those dragonflies, aren't they magnificent?

I looked right into the bottom and saw a metal frame which looked beautiful. 

"Russ" I said, "I want that" - doesn't it look wonderful". It took him several hours of adjusting all the stuff in there, pulling out what he needed before he could get to the one I wanted but he managed it in the end and here it is in all its glory. He even found the granite top that goes with it which is in my favourite colour. This is the bottom of a Singer sewing machine with beautiful iron work which will be topped with the granite. And just to add to my joy a second one was retrieved as well which is German and holds the image of a little bearded man on the side and the name Wertheim Frankfurt. 

So my list of names grows longer - Baju, the garden sweeper, Mangoes, the Marvellous Aunt, and now Dumpster Diver extraordinaire. The key to a long and happy life is clearly having several personas all merrily co existing. Time for a little celebration.