Approaching the recently launched Blackheath Creative shop in Station Street there is a heavenly aroma from Christmassy scented candles. I stopped outside to chat to friends and they asked if I had some exotic perfume on. But don’t just wander past…..walk in! Everything here is locally sourced
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Hello. It’s nearly Christmas and I have made my very own tree in the garden. I think I have done quite a good job. I pinch…sorry, borrowed the ornaments from Mother Nature. The tree is called Lycopodium, and the dinosaurs used to eat it! Well it has
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The Growers’ Markets in Backheath are always wonderful, but there was something a bit special about the twilight Christmas market last night. My partner and I arrived early when the stallholders were still setting up around 4.00pm. You simply cannot celebrate the festive season without cherries. We
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One Christmas when I was a child my father brought home a gum bough from the bush as an alternative to the traditional pine tree. We all loved it, especially the scent of eucalyptus throughout the house. My mother was delighted to have a break from falling
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Below is a photo taken in 1933, during the Great Depression. It is a field of Christmas lilies on a property at Pennant Hills, in New South Wales. The farm produced 100,000 cut flowers for the Australian florist trade that year. Ladies could pick up a fragrant
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BIRTH OF THE PUDDING The English have long been maligned for the uninspired stodginess of their cooking, particularly by their gourmet neighbours, the French. Nevertheless, it was a Frenchman, Misson de Valbourg who, upon visiting England in 1690, was moved to exclaim: ‘What an excellent thing is
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CHRISTMAS IS NIGH As Christmas approaches I love looking back at seasonal celebrations in my Blue Mountains village of Blackheath. The following is from The Lithgow Mercury in 1909; There was very little stir here during Christmas, and everything passed off quietly. On Boxing Night a
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MOMENTS IN TIME, BUT NO LONGER IN MEMORY Pop psychologists are always urging us to ‘Live in the moment’. I do try to do this, especially when it comes to enjoying my garden and the wonderful bird life around me. However, as a writer on social history and
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Sometimes the tiniest, least expensive gifts provide the greatest pleasure. When recipients acknowledge their delight in the manner of the examples below, the result it is a gift to us all. In 1989 The children’s author Roald Dahl received a small container filled with coloured
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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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