A SMALL PIECE OF WOOD Apparently wooden ‘dolly pegs’ were originally hand made by Gypsies in the UK, who sold them door to door. Sometimes they were carved from hedgerow wood, sometimes they were just a couple of sticks bound together with strips of tin. In Tasmania
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HUNG OUT TO DRY! Baby boomers like me may have memories of old ‘prop’ clothes lines. They had been around for generations, although there was an attempt to improve on them as early as 1889. An Australian invented a device for carrying a double line, which could be elevated
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Hello, this is Editor Des from the Blue Mountains. Well I went to the Winter Magic Festival in Katoomba. Pauline didn’t want to take me because it gets a bit crowded, but I had a special assignment with the Blue Mountains Council, so she had to. Haha.
Read more →My partner Rob and I are the most unlikely ‘activists’ imaginable, but suddenly we have become Wentworth Street Warriors. We may not live in the street, but as local residents we appreciate its beauty all year long. UPDATE – we have just been alerted by a local consulting arborist
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A story about birds by me, Editor Des WOT’S MORE SCARY….A COCKATOO OR A KOOKABURRA? Do you know what? A kookaburra called Toffee visits our garden every day. At first I was a bit scared of him, I thought he might start pecking my fur off for
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WHO GIVES A FIG? I DO! I love Sydney; for the harbour, the museums and theatres, but particularly for it’s amazing old fig trees. Could there be a more iconic image of the city than in the photo below? Sydney sandstone and fig roots inextricably entwined. That
Read more →DEMENTIA; THE SILENT THIEF A few months ago my mother-in-law Jean moved into a Sydney nursing home. She had previously been in residential care for eighteen months after dementia and failing physical health meant she could no longer remain in her own home. My husband and I live
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ARE MINTIES NUMBER ONE? It would be hard to name Australia’s most iconic lollies Fantails? Jaffas? Life Savers? Minties must surely be a contender. They were invented in 1922, by Sydney’s James Stedman, son of Australia’s first large-scale confectioner. The factory was located in Rozelle. Just look at
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How very special Australian native animals are, especially the echidna. The echidna has been known by quite a few names; spiny ant-eater, porcupine, even hedgehog! Its real name is Echidna acubata. Oddly enough it is a cousin to the equally weird platypus. This intriguing creature lays eggs
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THE BIGGEST SHOW IN TOWN Last week we went to the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. It’s a huge fair, and farmers and gardeners take their produce along and win prizes. Well some of them win. I wanted to enter some of my vegetables, but Pauline Conolly (she’s my guardian)
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