Summer...I love it and then I hate it...

After a hard days work in the hot hot sun, attacked by bush flies and brambles, I'm ready for summer to be over.  We have a long line of berries that go off for what feels 9 months of the year.  The gardening books (i love you Peter Cundall)  don't quite paint an accurate picture of just how thorny and how hard it is to wrestle with those thorns to get good berries and have them not take over the whole property.  The berries have to get netted to keep the birds off and the cable ties (which I unfortunately cut and then the Beekeeper said I could have loosened them with a screwdriver and reused them) hold up the net over the orchard door so we can get in,  Those eggs were the last eggs we've seen for months!  No idea why the chooks so slack lately.  If I don't put the tools in the basket I lose them.  The berries are the one job I have to do all by myself.  The taste and goodness of the berries are what motivates me.  The child loves them and I like that I don't have to keep recalling them - like the suypermarket ones. 

For many years Elixir Honey has been sold by the good people of Land Of Soy & Honey at the Queen Victoria markets....

We are very grateful to them.  They are lovely to deal with.  The markets are an amazing foodie festival filled with people that is wonderful for a rural business to get to. 

​Last thing from Guildford Lane I promise.  What was it about this lane?   The people.

This is my kind of shop...

I had a dolls house with a Victorian shop and always thought it would be a great place to work.  When I saw this 'unmodernised' shop I just had to stop and appreciate it.  You can almost hear the chime of the little bell attached to the door as you go in?  The craftsmanship in the door alone is to die for.   How can we put this kind of love and attention and pride into our daily work?

So nice to see the old buildings...

I can imagine that this nice three story old Melbourne hotel with arched windows gets so little rent compared with the tall block building behind, but good on the people who did not let it get replaced.  It makes the city so much more manageable to little people like me.  In Sydney the builders union had a green ban on where they refused to work on any building sites that pulled down the old buildings around The Rocks - that's why we get to enjoy the history there, and the biggest things there are the cruise ships.  I admire those people that stood up to the constant growth and development.  I think the only sustainable growth is personal growth for good.  Business can't keep growing.

Again in Guildford Lane Melbourne with street art...

I love the green in what would have been a nasty, hot alley, and the humour.  Inspired to try and rewild everywhere I go, with beauty and sense of fun.

Such true words from the folk of Guildford Lane.

We were walking , walking, walking on a hot hot day in Melbourne.  My teen was cross with me and with the walking.  My mum was cross with me and with the fact we got lost.   I was cross with my teen and my mum.  Then Guildford Lane happened.  Cool.   Green.  Cared for.  Loved.  And the magic spilled over to us, cross, lost, hot, far from our beautiful calm, quiet, cool forests and we felt the love.   
​I want my time and love to help too.

When I was gallivanting in Melbourne (no more of that this year of next) I came across Mrs Fredrick Pedley...

I love these old tiles - built to last...

Found this lovely floor outside the convent in Abbotsford, Melbourne.  As someone who appreciates beauty and good work (that's my number one talent!?), I always am intrigued by things that have stood the test of time and then I immediately go into asking what of my work would be around after 100 years?  Probably none, but hopefully nothing damaging to our planet.

The marri flowers are falling...

The redgum (or Marri as we call it in WA) trees are flowering at the moment.  The blossoms start to fall.  The black cockatoos love them and sit in the trees, tearing them off and having big parties.  The March Flies go crazy for them too - but that does not stop then biting us and the dogs.  The bees are busy busy and we've taken our first load off.

I'm always interested in time tables.  The possibility of having such a structured life with high levels of self discipline intrigue me.  As I lack both.  I also suspect that it would bore me senseless, but you've got to agree it woudl simplify everything.

This timetable was not a happy one.  The poor little orphans and wayward girls at the Abbotsford Convent in 1866 worked in the laundry and lace making.  But they seemed to fit a lot of variety into their day.  I like that the time table is signed by the Superioress!  A good name for a queen bee.

I'm not a huge fan of Rudolf (except for biodynamic farming) but I liked this - especially with the sunlight on it.  

These very purple, tempting donuts with blueberry icing came from the special donut bakery right outside the door to the fifty storey apartment I stayed at in Melbourne while gallivanting January was happening.

My question is how were they to be resisted.  Especially as they tasted so good.  All the trappings of inner city living.  So convenient.  So more-ish.  So close by...

Sad to have to rely on an eye catching mural of a bird instead of the real thing.

 I really missed the birds while gallivanting around the cities ini January.  In the country birds are everywhere.  A delight to see and hear.  Unless they are eating your fruit.

The 1750's cottage was bought brick by brick from England.  

Looking at this roofline with very close together living spaces, 

I love that these old steps have been repaired over the years as nature is pushing its way through to reclaim the space.  

You got the impression the tree was going to win.

Rubbish bin at light rail station with clear plastic bag - is it to shame people into putting the right things in the right bins?

Not sure it was working if it was.  But I liked the transparency.  Sometimes I wonder if recycling is worth the effort - or if we just need to move towards not buying anything in a package.  Could that ever be possible I wonder?

A new monster big cruise ships pulls into Sydney harbour every day.

In my tiny town of 5,000; it's hard to fathom that all these 1,000's of people come off these ships on a daily basis in Sydney.  While of course I knew about cruises, seeing one up close made me appreciate how many people they carry.  They have pools and water slides and people jump on for long trips and short trips.  The energy around Sydney Harbour was exuberant.  Catering wet dreams?

Refreshing that this inner city Sydney alley is allowed to have a frangipani growing at odd angle into path.

I love that the Sydney council has allowed this frangipani to grow into the lane way and that all the cars would have to go around.  Seems like a logical and sensible and beautiful decision to me.  Imagine if that's what we did always - people go around plants and animals (while we are at it).  :)

I'm a sucker for beautiful old things.  

Arrived at the Sydney train station after a long bus ride from Canberra made stressful by the thought of bushfires and trying to find bearings in the hustle and bustle of the big big smoke, found this cafe called Eternity with lots of space to leave your suitcases around you and booth seating and these beauties (stained glass windows)  to look at; back from the time that the railways were a thing.  Next to us was a table of 6 who where having sign language conversations.  Very soothing it all was.  Fortified me for the public transport trip to Glebe. 

Still in my favourite Melbourne alleyway.  I just loved this plague.  It maybe graduated from the CD case quotes?  

I would like to train myself to incorporate this thought into my planning day to day.  Some days it might just be 'wash the dishes' but other days ...it could be really awesome?!

My favourite Melbourne alleyway...

this is the alley where the residents grow lots of pot plants.  In addition they had a cafe where you can pat cats (not my thing being horribly allergic and freaked out by the Australian wildlife they destroy), and some nice sayings and quotes.  This one resonated and I love how the quote has been placed in the old  CD case.  2020.2.9  Leo Tolstoy quote: One of the first conditions of happiness, is that the link between humankind and nature is not broken.

Getting fatigued with gallivanting around Melbourne in January with the left hand picture being the norm.  Then we stumbled on an alleyway where the residents had plants growing all the way along.  

We all have stange and interesting things that we like to eat...

At Captain Cooks Cottage in Melbourne the hawthorn hedge surrounding the cottage is supposedly edible.  It was the most prolific looking 'food' in the whole garden, set out as it would have been in Captain Cook's mother's time.  James Cook was born in 1728 - so I guess the cottage was built around 1750 in the UK.  It was not tasty, but maybe in the 1750's it would have been?  Honey was around then so at least they had something delicious to fall back on.