My partner and I were driving to Sydney from the Blue Mountains one Sunday when we were caught up in the most horrendous traffic jam. After inching along for half an hour or so we were diverted off the Great Western Highway….into another dreadful jam. Apparently there
Read more →The Take Home Busker, by Tony Smith Since my partner and I have had fewer restrictions imposed on our time by work commitments, I have reinvented myself as a folk musician. We attend festivals, do CD reviews, write songs and perform in ‘sessions’. Undoubtedly, one of my
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WRITING TO SANTA IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS; AN ILLUSTRATED ESSAY BY EDITOR DES…. ER, THAT’S ME! Well here is a letter to Santa written by a little Australian boy called Paddy, over a hundred years ago. Who do you think Paddy was? (see answer at the bottom
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CHRISTMAS DOWN-UNDER John O’Grady once wrote a best selling book called, They’re a Weird Mob. It was about Australians and yes….we are a bit strange. What do you expect when we live in an upside down world? Alice in Wonderland described our fair country as; WHERE
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Hello, Editor Des here, Well I have been searching all over Sydney for the best Christmas tree. I found the first one in Cremorne when we were having a little holiday. I thought I really set it off. I’m a true ornament. Hahaha. Red and green
Read more →JINGLE BELLS….. You could decorate a Christmas tree with the sweet, native bell flowers that flourish in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. In fact, I have done this in my garden at Blackheath. I used correas, cinnamon bells and apple berry blooms to adorn a
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HEAVENS ABOVE….DUCKS! I wandered out into the garden one spring morning and heard a soft clucking coming from high in a gum tree. It was a goose like duck, which was soon joined by a wooing male. Such handsome birds. They are Australian native wood ducks, and
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Perhaps the most entertaining and interesting bird in my Blue Mountains garden is the Australian Satin Bowerbird. The difference in appearance between females and juveniles and the adult male is hard to believe. Initially the birds are olive green, with cream and brown scalloped chests, bronze wings
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THIS IS A TRIBUTE TO LYCOPODIUM – A PLANT YOU CAN PLAY TRICKS WITH. 😎 A few years ago I discovered a most extraordinary Australian native plant thriving in my Blue Mountains garden. Mind you, for some time I did my best to eradicate it. My worry
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THE YELLOW ROBIN AT HOME It lives in the mountains where moss and the sedges, Touch with their beauty, the banks and the ledges. D.F. Thomson Australia’s Eastern Yellow Robins are as trusting as the English redbreasts, although they are not related. They will hop about your
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