Here are two men, one from the left of Australian politics, one from the right. Appropriately Labor’s Barry Jones (1932 -) is shown below at left. Conservative, long serving Prime Minister John Howard (1939 -) is on the right. This odd couple are linked by their engaging
Read more →Singing a song of Sixpence. 💛 During a major decluttering, some dusty life vests turned up at our Blue Mountains Home. Dear me, they were very bulky compared to modern ones. And as I was ripping up old diaries I found this gem from the early 1980s.
Read more →The screen on my Dell laptop computer suddenly froze a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t even turn the damn thing off. Panic! Thankfully we have an extended service warranty, so my partner rang up and was patiently taken through the complicated steps to fix it. There
Read more →PERILS OF THE CHARLESTON When the ‘flappers’ of the1920s took up the exuberant Charleston, a London medico declared the new dance craze a risk to life and limb. Writing in the Daily Graphic in 1926 he said; Women are the chief victims of the Charleston, for the
Read more →Hello, Editor Des here. We have been doing a lot landscaping around our new house, digging trenches for pipes and stuff like that. I was helping the men the other day when I spotted something VERY interesting. It looked a bit like the moon, or a miniature
Read more →The original Parliament House in Canberra was opened by the Duke and Duchess of York on May 9, 1927. The luncheon menu appeared in the papers. Turtle soup would be frowned on nowadays, but I thought Canberra pudding was a creative touch. CANBERRA PUDDING The following recipe
Read more →During my 1960s childhood saveloys were a winter treat. We lived on a dairy farm in Tasmania, but my siblings and I did not really appreciate the fresh produce my father produced. We adored anything ready-made… and shop bought. Our saveloys were made by Lionel Johnson, a
Read more →The rivalry between Australia’s biggest cities reached a peak with Federation. Melbourne was the temporary base for Parliament, and hence the centre of festivities when the Duke and Duchess of York arrived for the formal opening of proceedings in 1901. I love this report from a seething
Read more →When Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten announced their engagement in July 1947, Australians were as excited as the British by the prospect of a royal wedding. With a November 20 date set, time was short, but every State came up with what they considered an appropriate gift.
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