The development Edna Walling designed

Dear Trad Padders,

If you scroll down the sidebar you will come cross my links which are categorised.  One whole category is dedicated (with many links) to one woman: Edna Walling.  By the time you work your way through those links you should have a good idea of who Edna Walling was and why she and her work are so admired.

In the long ago, Edna undertook some real estate development.  The development was named Bickleigh Vale and is situated in the the outer eastern Melbourne suburb of Mooroolbark.  In Edna's time, this area would have been rural or semi-rural.  To-day it is suburban and, unless you know where to look, it is easily missed.  The development is situated around Bickleigh Vale Road, off Pembroke Road in Mooroolbark.

The road is a dirt/gravel road.  I think it is likely to be a "local road" where the local residents take responsibility for their own road.  It wanders between tall trees which appear, remarkably, never to have seen a bushfire.  Many of the houses are timber so I think the residents are probably very fire conscious since the old timber homes would probably burn like paper.

Recently one of the houses came up for sale and it had a great promotion in real estate section of The Age, one of Melbourne's major dailies.  I include some of these for your interest and titillation.  BTW, one needs something more than bottletops to purchase n this neighbourhood.

Related reading:

 

The Vision of Edna Walling: Garden Plans 1920-1951 

The Unusual Life of Edna Walling 

 

Gardens in Australia: Their Design and Care 

A Gardener's Log 

THE GARDEN MAGIC OF EDNA WALLING 

The gardens of Edna Walling 

EDNA WALLING'S YEAR: Ideas and Images from All Seasons 
Australian Roadside 
Letters to garden lovers 
Happiest Days of My Life 
Cottage and garden in Australia 
Gardens in Time : In the footsteps of Edna Walling 

For the love of Frida - and Salma

On Friday night, I went to the Shane Howard concert - which you can read about here.  I was on my own - and it is amazing how women chat and befriend one another easily - as I did with the owner of this remarkable black jacket.  It is a homage: to the wonderful, unique and extravagant Frida Kahlo.  And not only to Frida, but to the wonderful portrayal of her by the beautiful Salma Hayek.

And who could forget the remarkable tango from the movie.

BTW, my friend of the evening said that she had imbibed well before embarking on the paint job - which was done in poster paints so she dare not wear the jacket in the rain!

After the Winter Solstice, harbingers of Spring

Herself brought these in from the garden.

Yes, dear Trad Padders, I know there are no snowdrops here and it clearly relates to a northern hemisphere spring  - but I think this poem fits my mood.

THE hardy little snowdrop

Delicate... yet so strong

The ground's still frozen hard

When they come along

It's one of nature's mysteries

How they choose a brand-new site

Suddenly they pop up

It seems like overnight

They were never planted there

But oh! Such delight

White heads nestled in the green

It's such a lovely sight

They bow their heads like little bells

Against February's savage winds

Yet welcome in the springtime

As this brand-new year begins.

RAY JOHNSON, Chapel House, Newcastle.

Julia Gilliard, Prime Minister of Australia - where she lives

Picture from here.

Dear Trad Padders, I hesitate to bring politics over here.  I keep that to The Network.  But I ask your indulgence because Australia has just elected its first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard ,and you will find quite a bit of rejoicing  over at The Network about this.  

There is a little post at The Network - written before the sudden events which have thrust Julia into this most senior position in national affairs  - which suggests a place for Julia in a revised factional order of things.  Please go and have a look.

But over here at the The Trad Pad where we are interested in houses and gardens and the domestic,  I am so pleased that The Age has decided to keep us updated on the Prime Minister's domestic arrangements.  

But Julia is not Everywoman - except perhaps in terms of a certain generation, a certain demographic.  She has a male partner but is not married.  She has chosen not to have children - and, if a woman wishes to dedicate herself to a political life, this may not be a negative choice.  And Julia has announced that she will not move to The Lodge until she has been elected to office by the Australian people.  Five stars for this, Julia.  She says she is quite happy with her house In Altona and her flat in Canberra, our national capital.  The Age has given us some insight into the domestic arrangements of our new Prime Minister. 

Related reading:

Georgian Revival Architecture: Oval Office, the Lodge, Quadrangle Club, Albert Hall, Canberra, All Souls Church, Unitarian (Washington, D.c.) 

The Prime Minister's Lodge: Canberra's Unfinished Business

Official Residences in Australia: Government House, Canberra, Old Government House, Queensland, Admiralty House, Sydney, the Lodge

By popular Facebook and Twitter demand: Stephen Fry is coming to Melbourne

Don't know if Trad Padders have caught up with this story

of the power of Facebook.

The wonderful Mr Fry was headed for Sydney,

merely Sydney!!

Up sprung a Facebook Cause

(which Miss Eagle duly joined)

Dear Stephen Fry please come to Melbourne in July, not just Sydney.

to bring Stephen to the cultural capital of Australia,

namely Melbourne!!

Many thx to one Ronan McEwan.

Anyway tickets go on sale

this Thursday 24 June

for the 31 July event at the Regent.

The inimitable Mr Fry's conversation

will range across

  travel, art, TV, the internet and Twitter over 90 minutes.

Miss Eagle would suggest an additional topic:

Alan Davies.

Related Reading and Viewing:

Stephen Fry in America: Fifty States and the Man Who Set Out to See Them All

Jeeves & Wooster: Complete Series (8pc)

QI: Advanced Banter

Making History

Transfiguration - a festive re-creation

To-day is the Feast of the Transfiguration. Three years ago, the fruit tree beside my home office window was covered in blossom (the picture is from 2005) but my fruit trees have very few blossoms at this time and my magnolia seems to have blossom as a permanent condition since they have been there so long without flowering.
In the Northern Hemisphere, Easter coincides with new life in nature. In the Southern Hemisphere, Easter happens in Autumn when the leaves are falling and nature prepares for Winter.
I love the Feasts but, on those occasions when we observe those that are not Easter and Christmas, I think we talk about them in a way which does not give any depth to the experience. I think that, in the main, this is how the Transfiguration is treated.
The Transfiguration was a supernatural event intervening in the natural order of things. It was transforming and predictive of the new life to come. Just like the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing at this time. How wonderful then if people in the south of the globe could take this great season of the soul and transform it to mirror the wonder of regeneration that is happening in the environment. We could then experience both the transfiguration of our environment and of our spirits.

The Transfiguration Lyrics

The song is on this YouTube videa at approx 42mins

Wikipedia entry on the album, Seven Swans

Books at The Trad Pad

Over at I op therefore I am, I have reported on Herself's recent book purchases.
I thought I would continue the story here
by showing you, dear Reader,

what she does with these beautiful books.

...and are the tables set for Tea?

A week ago I was thinking of the morrow, Saturday 28 June 2008. Can you please mark the date? Major achievements must be recorded with the time (the invitation said to be there at 1.30pm) at the Zetland Hall in Kyneton. Three of us were taking the trip to Kyneton: Gina of Patra's Other Place, Helen of Helen's Haven and Miss Eagle. Our blogging friend, Leeanne of Pear tree cottage! was organising a Ladies Afternoon High Tea to raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Here are the tables all set up waiting for the guests.

But I think we should begin at the beginning - or working from the bottom up.

Leeanne has long been a collector but in the year leading up to the High Tea she excelled herself at collecting. Above is detail of some of the cloths that graced the tables of the Zetland Hall.

And then there were the trios - cups, saucers, plates

Bone china galore!

Some were retro, some were vintage, and some were ancient treasures.

Beside each setting were exquisite napkins. Detail above.

Placemarkers!

And then there was the food - and the teapots

And then there were the people.
Leeanne's mother - she of the 250 scones - top left and bottom right.

Leanne, the wonder woman, second from top left and bottom left.

Miss Eagle is on left second row from bottom;

Gina is in the middle in a pink top; and next to her in elegant black is Helen.


The men of the Zetland Lodge waited on us and modelled the auction items.

And Master of Ceremonies and Auctioneer was Rob, Leeanne's Dearly Beloved.

It was a magnificent afternoon. Such an achievement! The Mount Everest of feminine hospitality. For most of us if we had organised an event in such detail for six of our friends we would have considered it well done. Leeanne did this for 104 women. Can you imagine - the trios, the cloths, the napkins, the tea and coffee pots, the cake stands! And each place had a novelty and a gift and a place marker. And then there was the wit and whimsy! Gina is a great collector of embroidery - and a great favourite is the crinoline lady. We were seated at a table with the most exquisite crinoline lady cloth. I noticed the beautiful plate on which our scones were placed. But as we ate our way through the scones, a crinoline lady appeared. Matching cloth and plate!

Thank you Leeanne - and to Rob and the men of Zetland Lodge - for an absolutely amazing afternoon. Extraordinary! It will live long in the memory. Blessings and bliss!