Shame on me for treating Pip Williams’ The Bookbinder of Jericho so badly. In my defense, it wasn’t in pristine condition when I picked it up from our local street library. I was reading it among the giant rhododendrons in the park at Blackheath, in the Blue
Read more →Enid Blyton was an integral part of my rural Tasmanian childhood, as she was for most ‘Baby Boomers’ around the world. In later life we discovered that the prolific author entertained us at great cost to her own children, but that’s another story. My siblings and I
Read more →The Studio was home for myself and my partner Rob while we built our new house at Blackheath, in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Now that we have moved out we have decided to let the detached property to birdwatchers, bushwalkers and nature lovers on a short stay
Read more →Butter is one of the joys of life in my opinion. Mind you, I’m a dairy farmer’s daughter, so that’s hardly a surprise. But..er, 😎 can this age old, natural product be improved upon? YES IT CAN! COMPOUND BUTTER Compound butter is simply butter incorporated
Read more →Scallop pie…🥧 it’s a desecration in my opinion. No-one loves pastry more than me, but the delicate Tasmanian scallop should never be interred in a ‘coffin’, especially not with curry! How it became so popular in the land of my birth is a mystery to me. Naturally
Read more →Hello, this is your Christmas correspondent, Editor Des. Have you heard of a Santa’s Nice List? Well a lovely lady called Amelia at our village laundromat put one up in her front window. It’s in Wentworth Street at Blackheath. That’s in the Blue Mountains in case you
Read more →Elizabeth Macquarie kept a diary during the long voyage to New South Wales in 1809. She confessed that life afloat had its advantages. For once, her husband was not absent due to matters of business; ‘I have spent my time in the manner which entirely suits my
Read more →My guardian Pauline Conolly and I were digging a hole for a little maple a few weeks ago when we found buried treasure…and that’s no yoke, I mean joke (sorry) .😛 It was hidden under dirt and decaying leaves. Pauline told me it might be one of
Read more →Dr John Yeo and Dr Robert Costa are two men I feel extremely privileged to have met. Co-incidentally, they are both medical men. Dr Yeo is retired now, but he was a highly respected spinal surgeon at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital. I first met him in
Read more →It has taken me nearly thirty years to visit Nutcote, the artist May Gibbs’ harbourside home in Sydney. Why I left it so long I have no idea, but it was certainly worth the wait. After almost being lost to developers the property opened to the public
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