Christmas cake is best eaten when you are very hungry…. with a good, strong cup of tea. 🍵 🎄 Now this may be controversial, but I hate the addition of any sort of icing, especially that thick royal icing. You can just stud the top with almonds,
Read more →Well, I have to say that the 2005 novel The Oxford Murders may be the most irritating book I have ever read. I found it in our wonderful little Blackheath (Blue Mountains) community library in Wentworth Street. The title appealed to me because I love
Read more →Around the world, Hollywood was a magical place in the eyes of those struggling during the Great Depression. Tasmania was no different. In 1933 the following article appeared in a Hobart publication. Starstruck young people sent in their photographs and vital statistics and dared to dream.
Read more →Mutton Birds, what an odd, seasonal delicacy they were in my 1950s Tasmanian childhood. Oily, salty and yes, with a very strong aroma. 😎 I’m not sure whether I actually liked them, or whether I just enjoyed the novelty of something so different. I had no idea
Read more →A portrait of Senator Jacinta Price almost cost the Library of NSW its CEO. Here is some background. John Vallance was appointed State Librarian of New South Wales in August 2017. His mission was, in his own words to, ‘Turn the Library inside out.’ By this
Read more →In June 1906 the liner Omrah sailed from Australia to Great Britain. Arriving in Plymouth it unloaded what was then called a Tasmanian wolf (A Thylacine) and a Tasmanian devil. It’s a miracle the devil disembarked, as it had escaped its enclosure soon after the ship left
Read more →I have been fascinated by satin bowerbirds for many years, particularly the way the collections of blue ornaments by the adult males reflects our social history. Long gone are the days when blue berries and bird feathers were the favoured items. Most of the treasure these days
Read more →I’ve always wanted a walled garden, with espaliered fruit trees and roses growing against old bricks. Unfortunately this is completely out of my reach. For many years my husband and I owned a holiday lodge on an old estate at Marlow in the UK called Harleyford. Only
Read more →During the formative years of one’s life there is no-one closer than an only sister who is around your own age. My sister Robbie and I were born just 16 months apart (I am the youngest) Until we were eight or nine we even slept in
Read more →Home made magnolia syrup….what a joy this was to make and how delicious. I used the petals of the beautiful Magnolia stellata, one of earliest trees to flower here in the Blue Mountains. The mauve pink cups of Magnolia Soulangeana would be fine too. Here is a
Read more →