Hello welcome to my Blog

Mezze is widely served in the Greek and Middle eastern world. An assortment of little dishes and tasters which accompany a nice ouzo or a glass of wine. So when you read mezze moments you will have tasty snippets of life as I live it, India for four years and now Brisbane Australia, all served up with some Greek fervour and passion.

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Sunday 30 October 2022

Scenic Rim Farm shop and Goodna

The perfect Sunday outing - first to Scenic Rim Farm Shop for some fresh produce, a lovely lunch and delicious cakes. The jacarandas were absolutely majestic and the bees were buried deep in Elderflower Farm's blooms. https://www.scenicrimfarmshop.com.au/

On the way back a walk around the flowering jacarandas of Goodna.
A beautiful sunlight piercing the purple canopies.

Saturday 29 October 2022

Dandelions

 

The Dandelion Dance 

Dispersed and drifting 

Animating Breeze 

No one to guide you 

Do just as you please 

Each little movement 

Lost in the sky 

Invisible planting 

Of seeds, one cant buy

New plants, new cycle 


Despair is unknown 

Allows your purpose 

No judgement here shown 

Carefree acceptance 

Each seed is thus grown...

I took this photo and as luck would have it literally the next day I was reading this poem written by Nicki Cassimatis from her collection "The Cake Shop and other Morsels". I married them up and with her permission I am reproducing it here, a real favourite verse, capturing the essence of the dandelion. Nicki runs free workshops on "Poetry for Wellbeing and Joy" and the next one is at Albany Creek Library on the 5th of November - no fireworks- just soothing words.

To book go to https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/libraries/Events/WAMB/Poetry-For-Wellbeing-And-Joy-AC

Thursday 27 October 2022

Blessings and Blooms

Today is another special day - celebrating my Liverpudlian lad though he is miles away across the pond. He is forging an exciting and active life for himself in London. It is also the sudden arrival of summer - this may be a false start as we have some time to go before summer starts here officially, but the temperatures have soared, the skies are blue and my epiphyllum (a present from @PaulPerrett )has delighted me everyday with yet another flower. Here are some of the blooms for you all. 

Saturday 22 October 2022

Bondi to Tamarama - the best Art walk eva.

Nick's first day as an Aussie was blessed with blue skies and sunshine. Both have been in short order on the eastern seaboard due to La Nina being around for a third straight year - so we headed down to Bondi and began what is probably my favourite walk eva. Bondi to Tamarama headland to see Sculpture by the Sea. Sculpture by the Sea returns to Bondi after an absence of two years. This spectacular coastal walk will host some 100 sculptures by artists from around the world. It is amusing, breathtaking, surprising and such a delight every time. 

We started from Bondi towards Icebergs and encountered "Heads It Is" by Paul Caporn.

April Pines "Tidal" needed to be admired from many angles. 

I loved Keisho Ushi's Eternity circle and we chatted on the headland as he told me how he had created his work from a base of white Japanese granite which represented the waves of the sea and the circle of life with Spanish granite - the rough and the smooth being interwoven in an eternal cycle of life. 


There was Tony Davis's Interstice -a shard honed beautifully from wood. 

This water drop heavy with the detritus it gathers in the oceans. 

A bronze horse in search of pastures.
Cherries that glowed with the world gently engraved on their skins
A giant hook which had us all amused... and hooked.
An immense exercise of installation and creativity and a delight for all. Dont miss it. 

Wednesday 19 October 2022

Sydney for Something Special

October the 18th found us in Sydney joining Nick at Woollahra  Municipal Council overlooking the Bay. 




A beautiful building set in some lovely gardens where a diverse group of residents took the Pledge to become Australians. Nick was one of them. The Mayor gave a wonderful speech saying how happy she was to be holding these ceremonies in person again after many years on zoom. She spoke about how each new citizen was bringing their own culture into Australia's diverse and multicultural population and enriching it. Where equality and fairness were paramount - she congratulated them for passing the exam and welcomed all to share the joy with parents, children, babies and relatives. It was Aussie warmth through and through with lots of good humour too.  

Here she is saying she hadn't realised the questions were hard !


As Nick said today as we walked on the headland in Bondi in bright sunlight  -

 Australia you have got us hooked ! 

Tuesday 18 October 2022

Missing my Jacaranda but watch this space...

 It's Jacaranda time here in Brisbane and I miss my tree - so for old times sake here it is. 


The absence of one however has pushed me to create another - so from the stone/pip/seed of Russ's avocado I nurtured it in a cup of local artist and ceramicist Tony Rice, until it suddenly shot up and declared its roots to the water. I was so thrilled to see that. Hubby has planted it in a pot and I have officially anointed the three men, Russ, Tony and Charlie to be godfathers to my new avocado tree. Long may it grow and flourish. 


When it is stronger it will find its place in the garden, already reserved for it. 

Tuesday 11 October 2022

The Road back to Adelaide

The road back to Adelaide was tinged with historical memories and monuments and great canvases of colour. We stopped off in Hawker for their unusual War Memorial. Seating and flowers, as well as Ned Kelly figures and old gun carriages but also plaques to fallen heroes and I stood horrified before this one where I noted that one family had lost seven members. Can you imagine the pain and grief of those remaining? 


From there to Peterborough, a much larger town of some 1500 people where I particularly appreciated the War Memorial once more - this time in the form of a beautiful bench. 

The town has a lovely railway museum and steam engine as well but best of all it is the home of Bob the Dog and his adventures. In September of 1884 he was a stray scruffy dog whose task was to catch rabbits.He was spotted and adopted by one of the guards Seth Ferry. To begin with Bob travelled with his owner but eventually he took to travelling by himself, on trains all around the country. He became quite well known. He wore a collar which said "Stop me not, but let me jog, For I am Bob, the drivers dog".
We travelled back through pastures with fat merinos and fields of Canola that were brighter than the sun.
We arrived in Glenelg in time to catch a stunning sunset - a trip that promised so much and delivered the best of the South Australian outback. 

Sunday 9 October 2022

Wilpena Pound

Wilpena Pound is an extraordinary geological formation, an amphitheatre of mountains - Its name suggests a place of bent fingers, cupped hands and you will soon understand why. The Adnyamanthanha tribe talk about the Pound- Ikara, the meeting place being formed when two dreaming serpents went there and gorged on people along the way and finally fell asleep there forming the scene we have in front of us today. St Mary's Peak and Beatrice Peak representing their heads. We took off from a small airfield. Kangaroos and emu dads with their young grazed in the field next to the runway. We saw forests of Northern Cypress pine, Callitris and witnessed hazy smoke rising from them - it turns out they are the spores being released into the air. 


I have reproduced this photo from https://misstourist.com/wilpena-pound-south-australia-flinders-range/as it is a good overall view of what we saw and experienced on our own adventure except that in our case the whole of the Pound and surrounding areas were so green due to recent rain. 

The Cypress Forests - Callitris trees, native to Australia, releasing their spores in the middle of this photo.
 
A view of Wilpena Pound from the side as we flew around. 
The bowl in the middle where unbelievably at some point in the past, some of the land was cleared for pastures. Attempts at farming here failed. See the bottom right of the photo. How did they even get there?!
The bowl in the middle - the whole area was unusually green and lush because of the rains.Normally this area is semi arid and receives very little rainfall. 
The two tallest peaks - said to be the heads of the dreaming serpents 
The Flinders ranges are the largest and longest in South Australia and were formed some 800 million years ago when an ancient sea deposited sediments in the Adelaide Geosyncline. Around 300 million of years later, the sediments were folded and literally pushed up into mountains during a mountain building period. You can see how they are pushed up in this next photo. 
Later in the day as we were driving away we were still in awe of what we had seen. 


Saturday 8 October 2022

Flinders Range- Ikara and Old Wilpena Pound

The region is renowned for its geological history, ancient fossils and Aboriginal rock art.

Well that sums it up in one sentence but the impression it leaves is very long lasting. 

We entered the Flinders Range- Ikara ( Meeting Place)  and drove down the Brachina Gorge. We stopped to see fossils in ancient rocks, shells, molluscs, worms and leaves all visible after so many million years. A little further trying to spot the yellow footed rock wallabies which can only be seen when they are moving, otherwise they blend right into the rock face.They have yellow ears and a long yellow tail.  And these rocks, the impressive slabs pushing sideways out of the earth, geological formations and layers going back millions of years were just jaw dropping. 

We drove to Old Wilpena Pound and walked around the homestead bathed in fields of purple flowers.This was an important pastoral station which was established in 1851 and which operated for 135 years. Nowadays it is a reminder of the way life was and the challenges it brought. 



Tomorrow Wilpena Pound and the drive back to Adelaide.