My favourite picture of FootFoot

I love old children's boooks...

...and the drinking duck

O, the golden domes....

I have discovered the golden domes of the

Russian Orthodox Church at Brunswick

For furry friends

For all those good, loving and kind furry friends, Santa could put this under the Tree.

Shh...don't tell anyone

Gerda, herself, and meself went to lunch to-day. In Sassafras. Gerda lives in Sassafras and we live down the mountain in Upper Gully. We went to Ripe. Ripe is in the main street of Sassafras. But you have to know where it is because it is not signed. It is deliberately not signed. If you don't know where it is you may well get lost. Plenty of us do the first time. It is kept a secret. Miss Marples - just a couple of doors up- is a tourist mecca, and justly so, where you often have to wait to be seated. Ripe doesn't want to be like that. You stumble on it, or a local lets you in on the secret, and then you feel you have discovered something very special - which you have. We had a wonderful meal complete with Yarra Valley wine - and star gazing. Russell Morris was on the terrace at the front, Sue Ann Post - who had popped over from Monbulk - on the terrace out the back. Sue Ann would like us to buy her book - so we have pictured it.

Rose in repose

Rose in repose in partial sun on the dining table
Rose is a male cat.
Herself had picked the name
before she picked him up.
Weeks later - not a female as purported.
If he spoke English, we believe,
he would sound like Russell Crowe.
He is a Gladiator, a Spartacat.
His contribution to the household to-day:
One mynah bird, one fieldmouse - deceased.

It is November and the world is gold

It is November and along the length of eastern Australia from the pointy end to the Prom the world is golden with the Silky Oak - Grevillia Robusta - in full and glorious flower. I love it in the present - but I love it in the past. I remember the silky oaks in my grandparents garden at Cannon Hill in Brisbane in a part known as Gallaway's Hill. When people got on the bus to Cannon Hill and asked to go to Gallaway's Hill there would always be confusion. There is a properly named Galloway's Hill in Brisbane. But for a very long time the top of Muir Street was known by locals as Gallaway's Hill because my great-grandmother, and my great-uncles and my great-aunts lived there and two doors down lived my grandparents.

Grange

Last night, herself and I watched - as devoted Aaron Pederson fans would have done - Grange. The stars are Aaron and Wadi Dona and one of Australia's most famous and valuable products, Penfold's Grange. How we enjoyed it!

And then to bed. And herself dreamed! She dreamed she had invited Aaron to Christmas Dinner. Her good friend, Leigh, arrived and sat down beside him. Thinks herself - You're not going to sit there right through lunch. But guess what? She did - putting herself into a simmering steam and great disappointment when she awoke this morning. As for me I once got a great big hug from Aaron. It was about seven years ago - and I still bask in the warm glow of the memory.