Daydreaming in our pandemic iso-world is a national pastime. Here is an imagined dinner, hosted by myself and my partner Rob in our new house at Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. There are four courses (well sort of), and four dinner guests from
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I was intrigued to come across a reference to one of my articles on the internet recently. It was included in the description of a rare and beautiful item offered for sale by Hordern House Rare books, located in Sydney’s Surry Hills. This tiny object was of
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The Avalon Restaurant and Cocktail Bar at Katoomba is housed in the old Savoy Theatre (constructed 1936). The venue is full of vintage memorabilia. What a sense of fun there is here. It has a definite Alice-in-Wonderland quality. Upstairs is the dining room. For a sense of
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It is mid winter here at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, cold and very wet. I have been watching Monty Don’s TV series on French gardens. Oh dear, the longing it evokes is almost physically painful. How long will it be before we can enjoy that beautiful
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I’m pretty sure these old tweed pants are the most ancient piece of clothing I own and still wear. I bought them at Bloomingdales on a visit to New York about twenty five years ago. I was delighted, because they were only size 4. Mind you, this
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Well during this creepy Covid-19 crisis my guardian Pauline Conolly has been using a funny little dumpling recipe. She heard about it on ‘Aunty’ ABC radio. It’s just self-raising flour and soap, sorry soup (tee hee, my little joke)….yes, that’s it, very simple. I said even I
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OK, so it’s difficult to know what to give my guardian Pauline Conolly for Mother’s Day. Well I’m in lock-down, and I can’t get to the shops. Yes, I could pick a bunch of flowers, but that’s a bit ho-hum. Anyway I decided to be creative and
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Most visitors to this website are familiar with my associate, Editor Des. His dear friend Milly lives in his shadow somewhat, but today she ventured out with me on my Covid19 walk. The ducks were as content as ever down by Blackheath’s Memorial Park. The playground is
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Wow, did we ever see such clear blue skies? Not that pollution is a problem in Blackheath, well apart from bushfire smoke. The birdlife has been extraordinary over the last couple of weeks. I think I see more varieties during autumn than any other season. Down in
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A BRIEF BREAK FROM SELF-IMPOSED ISOLATION Yesterday I ventured past my driveway for the first time in ages to walk to the chemist in Blackheath village. My little camera is always in my pocket, so here are a few pics taken along the way. April is such
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